CHRISTINA DAVIS (SWINT) - 12 yo - Upper Marlboro MD

Tobie Swint says he remembers seeing his 12-year-old granddaughter
sitting up late on the night of May 30 when he went to bed. In
retrospect, the girl seemed like she was waiting for someone, Swint
said.The next day she was gone. Her bedroom window was open, and alarms on
the front door had been disabled from the inside, said Swint, of Upper
Marlboro. All that was left was a note, which her grandmother, Mattie
Swint, can recite from memory: "I know what I'm doing is wrong. It's
just something I have to do. I'm going out, but I'll be back. I won't
do this again."With that, the search began for Christina Davis, who turned 13 on
Monday. Friends and relatives say Christina is a quiet, well-behaved
girl who had disappeared twice before and who was seen talking to an
older man in the months before she went missing.
Mattie Swint said she has no way of knowing whether her granddaughter,
whom she raised for most of her life, is safe or even alive."I started to pat my heart [when I found the note]," she said. "I don't
understand—Why? Why?... What was so important that she had to do?"John Nielson, a pastor at Melwood Church of the Nazarene, which is just
up the street from Christina's home, said Christina went to church at
least two days a week and was involved in youth programs there.Christina was friends with Nielson's daughter, Nielson said, and while
she was shy around adults his daughter made her feel comfortable, he
said.Nielson, who said he and church members have been putting up
missing-persons fliers and praying for Christina every Sunday during
services, said he is becoming increasingly fearful for her safety.
"The longer it goes, the greater these fears are," Nielson said.
"We're getting anxious."Christina disappeared mysteriously in April, her grandparents said. She
returned the next day claiming she had been kidnapped and taken to
Baltimore's Inner Harbor, where she was released and was able to stay
in a motel.Her grandparents said she refused to tell them what happened and
insisted on talking to police outside of the house, where her
grandparents could not hear her. But Mattie Swint said she and the
police officers doubted Christina's story because she could not
describe either of the men that kidnapped her, and because they doubted
a motel would let her stay for free without contacting the authorities.
At some point after that, Christina's sister saw her sitting with a
middle-aged man in his car parked in their driveway, Mattie Swint said.
She called the police again, and officers questioned the man before
releasing him. The officers said the man was 42, said Mattie Swint,
adding that she believes her granddaughter might be with that man now.
She was angry with police for not arresting the man immediately, she
said.
"I don't know why they let him go, after a 12-year-old girl is sitting in the car with a 42-year-old man," she said.Christina also disappeared in December. Mattie Swint said she started
calling every phone number in Christina's phone bill until she reached
a 19-year-old friend who admitted he had driven her to the Addison Road
Metro stop. Christina returned the next day with a Metro ticket from
Virginia in her pocket. Her grandparents said she would not tell them
what happened.Maj. Andy Ellis, a Prince George's County Police Department spokesman,
confirmed that her grandparents reported Christina missing in May and
on Dec. 27 and April 11. In both cases her grandparents reported they
found her the next day, Ellis said.Ellis said the detective assigned to the case has followed leads in
Washington, D.C., and other places in Prince George's County and has
spoken with Christina ‘s relatives, teachers and others who knew her.
The detective has also entered her information into a federal database
of missing persons.
But Mattie Swint said she is increasingly frustrated with the inability of police to find Christina."I am getting frustrated, because I can hear nothing, and I want to
hear something, and I'm not hearing it," she said. "I guess they can't
give it when they don't have it."Many members of the community have come together to help find
Christina. Erika Daniels, a neighbor, said she has been spending hours
every day putting up missing-persons fliers. She went to Costco on
Wednesday, where she bought $100 worth of goods she wants to sell in
order to raise money for a reward for information leading to
Christina's safe return. She also has received donations from local
stores and help from other neighbors.Daniels said she has driven as far as D.C. to distribute fliers, adding
that she wants permission from her homeowner's association to put out a
collection bowl at an annual picnic on Aug. 1.
"I feel like she was one of ours," Daniels said. "If she were one of mine, I'd want [people] to do the same."Mattie Swint said she appreciates the neighbor's help, but finds it
hard to take comfort from such things while her granddaughter is
missing."You don't know what this is doing to me," she said. "Come on home.
Come home, I don't care what condition she comes in… Just come home."

A 13-year-old Upper Marlboro girl who went missing May 30 has come
home, to the relief of family, church members and neighbors who
launched a search and put up missing-person fliers during her two-month
disappearance.Christina Davis called her grandmother, Upper Marlboro resident Mattie
Swint, on July 30 and said she was on her way home. The next day, a
taxi pulled into Swint's driveway around 7 p.m. and Christina climbed
out, asked her grandmother for $20 in cab fare and went upstairs to go
to bed, Swint said.Swint, who raised Christina for most of her life, said she is grateful
her granddaughter is safe but frustrated by the fact that two weeks
after her return, Christina has not told her anything about what
happened.
"You know as much as I do — and that's nothing," she said.Relatives described Christina as a quiet girl. Despite her
grandparents' pleas to open up, she said she did not want to discuss
her disappearance during an interview at her house Aug. 6. She stood by
her grandmother, who uses a wheelchair, and seemed engrossed in her
iPhone.
"School," she said when asked why she returned.
But her grandparents said they are thankful Christina at least got home safely.
"It could have turned out a lot worse than it did," said her grandfather, Tobie Swint.Mattie Swint said police questioned Christina the night of Aug. 1 at a
police station, where she was kept until the next morning. Cpl. Mike
Rodriguez, a Prince George's County Police Department spokesman,
confirmed that Christina was questioned Aug. 1 at a station in Clinton
but could not say how long she stayed there.Christina was considered a "non-critical" missing person, or a person
who investigators did not believe was in danger, Rodriguez said. He
said that for such cases, an investigator would periodically follow up
with hospitals and correctional facilities and stay in touch with the
missing person's relatives.Tobie Swint said he remembers seeing Christina sitting up late the
night of May 30. The next morning, her grandparents found a note saying
running away was "just something I have to do. I'm going out, but I'll
be back. I won't do this again," according to Mattie Swint.The Swints described Christina as a well behaved girl who had been
acting strangely recently. She disappeared on Dec. 27 and returned the
next day, according to police, and her grandparents said she had a
Metro ticket stub from Virginia in her pocket. She disappeared again
April 11 and returned the next day, claiming she had been kidnapped and
taken to Baltimore's Inner Harbor, her grandparents said.Erika Daniels, a neighbor, said she and other local residents raised at
least $650 from collection baskets and food drives, money that was
supposed to be a reward for information leading to the missing girl.
Daniels said that, with Christina at home, she will either put the
money into a scholarship fund for Christina and her sister or give it
to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
But Daniels said she worries about Christina and thinks she should be put into counseling or a mentoring program."Christina's kind of lost," she said. "[A neighbor who talked to her]
got the impression this might not be the last time this happens."
Mattie Swint said she is happy that, at the very least, Christina came home safely.
"I've been sick over it," she said of the disappearance. "I'm still sick about it, but I feel better."