The death of a 16-year-old foster girl in a Baltimore hotel room while in the care of the state has been ruled a suicide by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, a spokesperson said Tuesday.

The cause of death of Kanaiyah Ward is diphenhydramine intoxication, said Stephanie Moore, special assistant to the medical examiner. The drug, the active ingredient in Benadryl, is an antihistamine available over the counter used to treat allergies.

Baltimore police found the girl’s body Sept. 22 at the Residence Inn by Marriott at the Johns Hopkins medical campus on Wolfe Street, while responding to a call about an overdose at the hotel. In what has been a controversial practice, Kanaiyah was staying in the hotel with a caregiver under contract to the state Department of Human Services, which

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