From the July 30, 1994 edition of the Baltimore Sun...
On the Wednesday night prior Darntrell Denise Griffin, 21, had called police to report her daughter Shante, 3, had disappeared during a shopping trip to Security Square Mall in Baltimore County. However, when authorities checked surveillance videotapes taken by security cameras in the mall, they saw Ms. Griffin and, her boyfriend - but Shante was not with them, said police. The following Thursday night, acting on a tip, a combined force of Baltimore City, Baltimore County and State Police mounted a 12 hour search with bloodhounds and a state helicopter in Leakin Park. But it was not until Mr. Eric Duane Dorsey, 22 and boyfriend of Ms. Griffin, led them to the precise spot that investigators found the tiny body. Both Ms. Griffin and Mr. Dorsey lived at the 800 block of Vine Street. Darntrell Griffin and Eric Dorsey were each charged with first degree murder, assault with intent to commit murder, child abuse and common assault.
In the August 2, 1994 edition of the Baltimore Sun we learn new details about how Shante Harris was beaten. The child had been abused several times by her mother and boyfriend. Witnesses who were not named in the court files told detectives that they saw Shante being hit in the abdomen with belts and extension cords on several occasion in the past. They also said the girl had been handcuffed by her feet to chairs or doors. The state medical examiner's office said that Shante died of a head injury, but the court papers say the boy friend struck Shante in the stomach several times and the victim stopped breathing. The boyfriend, put the victim in to a garbage bag and transported the body to Leakin Park, where he carried the body into the woods and discarded the naked child behind a tree.
The Baltimore Department of Juvenile Services had tried to investigate the family on Saturday, July 23. Spokeswoman, Sue Fitszimmons said her agency received one complaint alleging child abuse, but a police officer and a social worker were unable to locate anyone at the house when they visited. Four days later the couple reported Shante missing.
Court documents say that although the mother was not directly involved in the slaying she admitted her involvement with the abuse of the victim. The mother never questioned the whereabouts of her daughter when she came home and found her missing the court documents say, adding that she conspired with her boyfriend to file a false missing person report with Baltimore County police.
Ms. Griffin had no prior criminal record. At the time of the slaying Mr. Dorsey was out on bail stemming from an arrest two weeks earlier on three drug-related charges, including the possession of drugs with intent to distribute.
Neighbors on Vine Street remembered Shante as a lively girl who spoke well and walked with a jaunty step.
According to the Judiciary Case Search Darntrell Griffin and Eric Dorsey pleaded guilty of second degree murder and child abuse. As of 11/2010 Mr. Dorsey resides at the Maryland Correctional Institution at Hagerstown, MD and Ms. Griffin resides at the Maryland Correctional Institute for Women in Jessup, MD.