Detectives Had Never Seen Such Callous Behavior In Their Entire Careers! | True Crime Documentary

Relicia Rudd. >> Relicia Rudd. >> Relicia Rudd. >> R E L I F H. >> On March 19th, 2014, police arrived at the DC General Shelter because an 8-year-old girl had not been to school for a month. Her name was Relishia Rudd. Her mother said Relishia was away with a doctor at a medical conference in Atlanta.
Later, she claimed the girl might be staying with her grandmother or aunt. But neither her grandmother nor her aunt had seen Relicia in weeks. When an officer called the doctor, he discovered that no such doctor existed. There was only Khalil Tatum, a 51-year-old shelter janitor. He gave Relicia money and gifts, took her to the movies, let her stay overnight at his place, and often spent time alone with her without other adults around.
The next morning, police filed a missing person report for Relicia. That same day, officers went to a motel room in Maryland. Khalil Tatum’s wife, was lying on the bed. She had been shot. Surveillance cameras showed that the day before, Khalil, his wife, and four other people entered the room. Less than an hour later, three unidentified people left.
Then a few days later, investigators found video showing Relicia walking beside Khalil. It was the last recording in which she was seen alive. Hey guys, let me grab you for just a second. I’m really curious where my audience is watching from. So, I’d love for you to drop a comment and tell me what city you’re in and what time it is for you right now.
Thanks for taking a moment. Go ahead and share that in the comments. And now, let’s keep going. >> Sure to give us some place to stay. Relicia Rudd lived at the DC General Shelter with her mother Shemica, her mother’s boyfriend, Antonio Wheeler, and her three brothers who were 7, 5, and 4 years old.
They had all been staying at the shelter for 1 or 2 years, and life was difficult for Alicia and her siblings. There were allegations that their mother, Shemica, left the children alone for long periods of time and that the conditions in the homes where they had lived before were unsafe or unsanitary. There were also reports of possible medical neglect and physical abuse involving Relicia and her brothers.
Relicia herself did not like living at the shelter. She called it a trap house. Hundreds of families lived there and the number of children staying there at one time could reach 500. Relicia’s family shared one room with another family, so the space was extremely cramped. The building had once been a hospital, and it stood on a street near a jail and a methadone clinic.
Reports said there were rats, cockroaches, bed bugs, and lice inside. Spiders often bit people while they slept, and the dirty showers caused rashes. Residents said the heat regularly went out and temperatures inside could drop below freezing. To get in, residents had to show identification and pass through security and each floor had separate security.
That meant people could not move freely between floors. There was also a curfew and children were not allowed to leave the shelter without a parent or guardian. But the shelter itself was repeatedly accused of failing to enforce those rules. There were reports of underst staffing, broken surveillance cameras, and visitors who could come and go without signing in or showing identification.
The curfew was also reportedly violated on a regular basis. Complaints were allegedly ignored and staff members were reportedly threatening to evict residents who dared to speak up. Employees faced repeated complaints of misconduct, including sexual abuse, taking photos of people in the showers, and attempts to involve residents in illegal tax schemes.
Residents reported numerous incidents, which led to several employees being fired, but the misconduct continued for years afterward. >> Wait, okay. A counselor at Payne Elementary School, where Relicia attended, contacted DC Child and Family Services because school staff were concerned about how many classes Relicia had missed.
By March, they had determined that she had accumulated a large number of unexcused absences, so they tried to reach her family. On March 5th, the school spoke with Shemica about her daughter’s absences. Shemica attended a parent meeting focused on poor attendance, but nothing improved. In fact, no one had seen Relicia since then.
During a later call to the family, a social worker was told that Relicia was too sick to attend school and was under a doctor’s care. They were also told that she had severe headaches and seizures. A few days later, a relative of Relicius, sometimes described as her grandmother, Melissa, and other times simply as an unnamed family member, came to the school with a piece of paper.
It had the name Dr. Tatum and a phone number written on it. On March 10th, the school called that number and Dr. Tatum answered. He confirmed that Relicia had a neurological disorder and was receiving treatment. But to document such a long absence and medical condition, the school needed medical records confirming that information.
It was reported that Dr. Tatum would either leave the medical records at the DC General Shelter or that officials arranged to meet with him. On March 13th, Relishia received another unexcused absence. Under the law, the school was then required to report educational neglect to the Children and Family Services Agency.
Unfortunately, that report was delayed slightly to give the doctor and the family more time to provide the paperwork. The social worker and Mr. Workman did not consider Relishia’s absences a high priority matter. Mr. Workman later admitted that this was a mistake. 6 days later, officials arrived at the shelter, but no medical records had been left there for them.
They began asking people about Relicia, but no one they spoke with had seen her recently. In fact, even her own mother had not seen her in weeks. Her account changed several times, but early on she said a few things that definitely caught the officer’s attention. At first, Shemica said that on March 8th, Relishia was with Dr.
Tatum at a medical conference in Atlanta. She did not know when they would return, but said she had just spoken with Relishia on March 17th. She added that she had not seen her daughter in weeks. Then her story changed. Maybe Relishia was with her grandmother Melissa or her aunt Ashley. But when officials asked Melissa and Ashley, both said they had not seen Relishia in weeks either, and that they were not supposed to be caring for her.
When the social workers spoke with Shemica about the conflicting stories of where her daughter was, she said she did not want to file a missing person report. She allegedly feared that if police got involved, her other children would be taken away. Either way, the contradictions in her statements were striking.
Shemica insisted that she told police Relicia was with her grandmother, but police said she repeatedly told them Relicia was safe with Dr. Tatum at 9:39 p.m. On March 19th, one of the officers called Dr. Tatum’s number. We’re sorry. The number you have dialed is not in service at this time. >> The following morning on March 20th, police filed a missing person report for Relicia Rudd.
There were conflicting accounts of when she had last been seen. Police stated that the last day anyone had actually seen her was March 1st. Had Dr. Tatum been around lately? No, there was no Dr. Tatum. There was a 51-year-old man named Khalil Tatum, but he was a janitor, not a doctor. He had worked at the shelter for 2 years, but there was a rule prohibiting employees from interacting with minors.
So, if he was not a doctor, he had no reason to be with Relicia. Police asked people about Khalil and learned that according to some, he was a good employee. Some shelter workers said they had never seen him with Relicia, but there were other accounts. Many residents felt uncomfortable around him. They said he was overly familiar with some of the mothers and their children, but never with boys.
They also said he tried to give them money and gifts, violating the shelter’s safety rules. One mother was celebrating her daughter’s 4th birthday in the shelter cafeteria when she saw Khalil try to give her daughter $2. While police were gathering this information about Khalil, they received a call from a man whose name has never been released.
It was 5:40 in the morning on March 20th when he told police about room 132 at the Red Roof Inn in the 1600 block of Oxen Hill Road in Oxen Hill, Maryland. When officers entered the motel room, they found a 51-year-old woman lying face down on the bed. There was a bullet wound behind her left ear with an exit wound through the right side of the front of her other ear.
Other than that, there were no bruises, cuts, or signs of a struggle on her body. An officer soon learned that her name was Andrea Denise Tatum. She was Khalil Tatum’s wife. The investigative team went doortodoor through the motel, interviewing people and speaking with employees who had worked during the previous 24 hours. They soon learned that the couple had checked into room 132 at 10:04 the night before on March 19th.
Four other people had also been there, but only one of them was ever identified. Less than an hour after the group checked in, surveillance cameras captured three unidentified people leaving the room. Investigators also learned that although the couple had been married for 24 years since July of 1990, they had filed for divorce in February of 2014, just weeks before Andrea’s death.
Andrea’s daughter told police that she knew her mother had been considering leaving Khalil. Although court records showed that Khalil filed for legal separation on February 7th, the company that hired him as a janitor was the community partnership for the prevention of homelessness, a nonprofit organization that operated the shelter under a contract with the city.
The organization told police that when it hired him in 2012, it conducted a background check, but found nothing that would have prevented him from getting the job. He had been in prison from 1993 to 2003 and then again from 2004 to 2011. He had been convicted of theft and unlawful entry offenses in Virginia. But because of how much time had passed and the nature of the offenses by the time of the background check in 2012, those charges were either too old or not the type of crimes that would have prevented him from being hired. At this point, the
Metropolitan Police Department continued searching for Relishia, and authorities announced that they believed she might be with Khalil Tatum. The MPD issued an Amber Alert for Relicia, and police obtained a warrant for Khalil’s arrest. The Amber Alert described Relishia as a girl who was 4T tall, weighed between 70 and 80 lb, and had black hair, brown eyes, and a medium dark complexion.
We received a new timeline about 5 tonight from DC’s deputy mayor for safety and justice. [music] It chronicles hourby hour, daybyday police broadcasting information to other states about DC’s Amber Alert for Relicia Rudd. But nowhere does it support the police department’s original claim that Amber Alerts were issued anywhere but within district lines.
>> COME ON, RELICIA. FLEX. A stark contrast to a somber news conference when for the first time the police chief acknowledged the Amber Alert she had claimed was issued from Pennsylvania to Delaware down to Florida was actually just an exchange of information about the Amber Alert activated only in DC. >> I only have the authority to issue in my own jurisdiction.
But as soon as that Amber Alert is issued in the jurisdiction, we make a request through emergency management that that Amber Alert that we issue here in DC be pushed out through MNET, which is an emergency management network across the country. >> Just 3 days earlier, the chief denied our findings that outside DC there were no Relia Amber Alerts.
>> That’s not true. I actually looked into that when I got that allegation. The Amber Alert was issued uh as far north as Pennsylvania and Delaware and as far south as Florida. >> If that had only been true, TV stations across the East Coast would have been broadcasting religious [music] disappearance.
But our investigation found the Amber Alert was only activated in the District of Columbia. And last month, except for DC, Maryland, and Virginia, where stories had aired when we checked our Ganette sister stations and CBS affiliates from Delaware and Pennsylvania to Florida, none had done a single story on Relicia Rudd, as they would had an Amber Alert actually been issued in their states.
But that all changed March 27th. At our request, stations W USA9 contacted in every state agreed to run a story on Relicia Rudd. But that was 7 days after that DC-on Amber Alert was issued. >> The be on the lookout alert also listed a white 1976 GMC pickup truck as a vehicle of interest in the investigation. At 700 p.m.
that evening, police found the abandoned truck in the 1600 block of Eastern Avenue in Chapel Oaks, about 10 mi from the shelter. They also searched Khalil’s home and found several cell phones, children’s clothing, and shoes along with a photograph of Relicia. But Khalil himself was not there. >> Missing child.
I want to go to our exclusive guest, Danielle Rothman, who worked with this missing child at the shelter. She is site manager for the homeless children’s playtime project. >> She is adorable. We love her. She’s a [music] sweet girl. She’s a trusting girl. She’s a caring girl. and we want to do everything that we can to make sure that we bring Relishia home safely.
[music] I mean, I you know, I’m not I don’t know what the family was thinking [music] or what was actually going on with uh Mr. Tatum and the family, but you know, we really just want to make sure that we’re focusing all of our energy on instead of placing blame on really working to [music] make sure that everyone is out there looking for Alicia um and trying to bring her home safe.
>> Now, now I I understand, Daniel, I’m not trying to place blame. I’m trying to understand how because now, you know, February 26 to now is a long time and and let me just ask you to stand by for a second. John Lieberman, what have we learned about this man that they’re hunting and also another individual who was lurking around, another man? >> Well, let me start with this suspect.
First of all, he has a lengthy wrap sheet uh back from the early 1980s through the mid 2000s for things like breaking and entering lararseny and the like. There are no sex crimes, no violent crimes up until him being accused of this murder. I can also tell you this, I’m told by law enforcement sources that he has property, a cabin [music] in Frederick, Maryland.
So, police are searching those suburbs of Washington DC around Frederick. The other guy who was named in the Amber Alert in the very beginning, he has now been ruled out uh in connection with this case. So, they’re only looking for this suspect. And I’ll tell you what, my [music] police sources are saying they’re frustrated because they don’t have a good timeline here.
They don’t know for sure when this little girl was last seen because she wasn’t reported [music] missing right when they believe she went missing. >> On March 25th, the FBI released surveillance video from the Holiday Inn Express on Bladensburg Road Northeast, just 6.6 m from the shelter. The motel was often used for temporary housing for people who would otherwise have had to rely on homeless shelters.
In the video, Relishia was wearing pink boots and a purple Hely Hansen jacket with white stripes. She was carrying a plastic bag and walking beside Khalil. The video was recorded on February 26th. During questioning, both her grandmother Melissa and her stepfather Antonio said they believed Relicia was supposed to go to a pool party with Khalil’s granddaughter.
It was believed that the plastic bag she carried in the surveillance footage contained a swimsuit that Khalil had taken her shopping for. However, when other members of Relicia’s family were questioned, it became clear that reconstructing an exact timeline of the events leading up to her disappearance, including who she was with and when, would be extremely difficult.
Different relatives gave many conflicting accounts, and the credibility of some of them was also called into question. The investigative team learned that Khalil was often alone with Relicia. During questioning, her grandmother explained that Relishia often wanted to wake up early and have breakfast in the shelter cafeteria.
But because neither her mother nor her stepfather was awake yet, she had to find someone else who could take her there since shelter rules did not allow her to be there without an adult. That adult was Khalil. He often took her to breakfast with other children. He also gave Relishia gifts, including $20 bills and a Kindle Fire tablet, and took her to the movies and to Disney on Ice.
>> Unraveling how Relishia ended up in his care for such long stretches is tangled in contradictions. Her mother, Shemica Young, said she last entrusted Relishia to her grandmother, Melissa Young. In the aftermath, the two of them pointed fingers at each other, each insisting the other bore responsibility for what went [music] wrong.
If they think they know where she may be or if they think there’s some other possibility that we haven’t checked, we want to know about it. >> Melissa Young began to notice Tatum, the shelter janitor, hanging around Militia. She asked her daughter Shemica who he was. >> My daughter says, “Mom, that’s Mr. Tatum.
” You know, I say, “But it’s not going to look right for your daughter to go.” She said, “Mom, he goes, she going to play with the granddaughter. It’s fine. Every time my granddaughter comes back, she tell me, I had fun with Mr. Tatum’s granddaughter. You know, I want to go back.” Melissa Young adds that all the attention Tatum was paying to Shemica’s children was something the family had grown used to.
>> People just love Shemica kids. So, it’s it’s it wasn’t strange for us to see that somebody was doing something, you know, in their time of need. >> And the more Tatum did, the more the family trusted him. >> I’ve been around this man like if he is getting off from work and he’s coming down going on his way home and he see me walking, he will pick me up and give me a ride.
So, I have been in this man’s car by myself and I didn’t get no uncomfortable feeling. >> There were also reports that Relicia was repeatedly allowed to go with Khalil and stay overnight at his place. Usually, the explanation was that Khalil’s granddaughter would be there. Relicia’s family clearly knew she was spending time with him, and they even referred to him as her godfather.
Antonio’s mother, Belinda, said that both Antonio and Shemica knew the girl was with Khalil and that he always brought her back on time. Shemica said she saw him as someone who was helping out, but she did not realize Relicia was spending so much time with him. >> Is it possible you may never find Relishia? >> You know, I I hate to say that.
Um, you know, we’re going to continue looking, but it is possible. It is possible. What really hurt us was not even becoming aware of her being missing [music] until almost three full weeks after the last time she was seen. That is that’s a killer. >> Also frustrating fake tips and hoax Facebook sites like this one of someone claiming to be Khalil Tatum and claiming Relicia is really his daughter.
>> How angry are you that people would be uh creating jokes about this missing 8-year-old kid? Well, I mean, we fortunately we realize right away that this is not um real and that somebody is doing as it a hoax. >> Khalil Tatum’s on the FBI’s most wanted list tonight. DC police believe he’s still in the area.
They think at some point he went to Kennallorth Park in [music] Northeast. That’s where officers have been searching all day and into the night. News4’s Jackie Benson is there with the latest on the investigation. [music] Jackie, during at this hour, all of the entrances to Kennallorth Park remain sealed off by DC police. By nightfall, the active search of the 700 acres that make up Kennallorth Park and Kennallorth Aquatic Gardens in Northeast Washington was suspended until Friday.
DC police cadets, K-9 search officers, and detectives spent the day on a grim mission searching for signs of 8-year-old Relishia Rudd missing now for weeks. The investigation continued and detectives focused on the last known time Relicia had been seen. During a press conference, DC police chief Kathy Laneir confirmed that Relishia was last seen in the 1600 block of Maryland Avenue.
Reports said it happened at a Days Inn, another motel used for temporary housing for people experiencing homelessness. That final confirmed sighting was on March 1st, just 3 days after the earlier hotel surveillance video. The next day, March 2nd, surveillance cameras captured Khalil entering a Home Depot and buying large contractor trash bags, a shovel, and a bottle of lie.
>> We cannot um ignore the possibility that he may have killed her. >> Shortly afterward, he was in the area around Kennallorth Park and Aquatic Gardens. Over the next several weeks between March 2nd and March 20th, he continued going to work and was also seen multiple times [music] in different parts of DC.
But Relicia Rudd was not with him during any of those sightings. There were also long stretches of time when no one saw him at all. >> We begin our team coverage with News4’s Shamari Stone who just spoke to Relishia Rudd’s mother. Shamari? >> Well, tonight Relishia Rudd’s mother is speaking out for the first time about [music] this latest development.
She says that she defends her decision not to call police [music] after her daughter went missing over approximately three weeks from the DC General family shelter behind me. >> I love you and come back home to your mother safely. >> Shemica Young speaks out to her missing daughter, Relishia Rudd, holding on to hope the 8-year-old is alive.
>> And if you do return back unhome, you will never ever go with anybody else. she would be next to my side. >> Shemica shares her reaction with me to the latest development in her daughter’s disappearance. Tonight, two DC police sources tell me Tatum bought lime and a shovel in addition to the contractorsized garbage bags on March 2nd.
They’re searching a park for Relishia. DC police believe she’s possibly in danger. >> That got my head messed up. >> Shemica says she trusted her 8-year-old with 51-year-old Tatum, a janitor at the shelter where she and her kids lived. Why did you trust him? >> He didn’t look like that type of person. >> Police say he’s suspected of killing his wife last week and he’s on the run with Relishia.
Some people would say, “Why didn’t you call police if your daughter was missing? >> I ain’t want to lose my [music] other three kids.” >> Today, we’ve learned the last time anyone else is known to have seen Relishia was on March 1st, and she was with Tatum. Some say you did you refused to fill out a missing person’s report. Is that true? and we’re going to get that clear. No, that’s not true.
They never asked me to issue out a missing person report. >> Police say Relishia’s mother gave her daughter to Tatum. She says [music] he would take her to Disney on Ice and bought her gifts. Shemica tells me she loves Relishia and she’s a loving mother. >> I’m a hell of a good mother and I am going to say this.
There’s kids out here that wish they had a mother like me. >> And tonight, something interesting to note. Shemica tells me that Relishia was in the care of Shemica’s mother and sister at the time of her disappearance. Well, I called the mother and sister and they say that’s absolutely not true. Now, one thing seems to be clear.
They all hope that Relishia Rudd is alive and they want Tatum behind bars. On Sunday, March 30th, the investigative team brought in police dogs trained to detect human remains along with divers who searched the 700 acre Kennallorth Park. The search continued the following day.
Search teams in yellow vests combed through the area while other crews checked vacant homes nearby, but they found nothing. Meanwhile, digital billboards featuring photos of Relicia and Khalil were placed along roads from Maryland to Georgia. To encourage people to come forward, the FBI offered a $25,000 reward for information that could help locate Relicia and bring her home.
The DC police chief said the search was most accurately described as a recovery operation. >> Search teams have been scouring a wooded area where Taum was last seen after buying large rubbish bags. >> We are still in the park area here. This is over 700 acres of land. Um the search that we are conducting right now is a very technical search.
So uh 700 acres of land and lots of small bodies of water. An arrest warrant has been issued for Tatum in connection to the murder of his wife who was killed in a hotel room last week. He’s considered armed and dangerous. Now on the FBI’s most wanted list, his image alongside Relicas can be seen on digital billboards across a 700 mile stretch from Pennsylvania to Florida.
The FBI have released video footage of Relicia in a holiday in with Tatum on the 26th of February, the day she was first left in his care. Relicia was then repeatedly absent from her school. The alarm wasn’t raised because her mother said she was sick and in the care of a doctor who turned out to be Tatum.
It’s now emerged that the janitor had contact with other girls at the shelter, something his position should never have allowed. Police say the length of time Relicia has been missing is discouraging, but they insist they’re not giving up hope that she might be found alive. >> The search for Khalil did not last long. >> We begin tonight with new developments and the search for 8-year-olds Rudd.
>> Yeah, police in Washington say they found a body tonight in a park where they have been searching for this little girl, but it’s not her. >> During one of the searches of Kennallorth Park, the team came across a shed near a soccer field. Inside was a dead man who had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Based on the level of decomposition, investigators believed he had died anywhere from 36 hours to several days before he was found. A preliminary identification was quickly made because of a distinctive tattoo, a cross with a loop at the top, an ancient Egyptian symbol of life. Khalil was known to have that tattoo on his left bicep.
He left no note or anything else that could have revealed where Relicia was. The only items found near him were his glasses and the gun he used to take his own life. It was also confirmed to be the same weapon he had used to kill his wife, Andrea. >> Melissa, I am so sorry that you’re going through all this.
I know it’s got to be gut-wrenching, heart-wrenching. But you have told us that you do not blame the now dead janitor Khalil Tatum for murdering his wife or kidnapping your missing grandchild. Why not? And look at this precious child. >> Um, >> what I said was I don’t believe that he killed his wife. >> Uh, why not? >> I I what I said to the reporter that interviewed me, I never said I don’t blame him.
What I said was I don’t believe that he killed his wife. What I believe, what I feel right now, and what I believe since finding out that he was found murdered, well, that he committed suicide, I believe his wife walked in and interrupted something or heard something or seen something that she wasn’t supposed to see or know, and that’s why she lost her life.
>> Well, if he didn’t kill her, who did? >> I don’t know. Maybe it could have been one of the ones that left that was seen at the hotel with him. uh one of the ones >> I don’t know who could have killed. >> So tell tell us tell us about that because authorities are saying and we see the surveillance video of your precious grandchild with this man this janitor on February 26 walking into a hotel room.
Never a good sign for an adult man and an 8-year-old girl to be walking into a hotel room. There it is. Now authorities haven’t said about anything else about anybody else, but you’re giving us new information. What are you saying? what the family got far as that video about him being him and her being seen in the hotel in the confident over there on uh well that hotel over there on New York Avenue.
She was she went to a pool party. They were supposed to have a her granddaughter 9-year-old granddaughter was supposed to have a pool party at a hotel a indoor at the indoor pool there at the hotel. >> You mentioned something about >> indoor I don’t know if a party took place there or not. You said just now about something about other people.
What other people? >> The hotel where his wife was found was in Oxen Hill. The hotel where Relicia and Mr. Tatum were seen at is here in the District of Columbia. >> Right. >> It was five people. It was three other people seen entering that hotel room with him and his wife. So, we don’t know who could have killed his wife.
Maybe one of them, maybe Mr. Tatum. We don’t know. Only those that was in the room know who actually killed his wife. >> Now, some might say, why are you so quick to defend somebody who um your granddaughter disappeared on his watch? Um and let me just set it up >> defending him at all. My thing is you got two people that turned up dead.
Okay. In Mr. Satum’s case where they found him at, they searched that same very exact location when they first started searching for my granddaughter. On Monday, Monday just passed, you get a tip that leads you right back to that location. What you find when you get back to that same very location that you already searched prior to beginning the search for my granddaughter and you find his body? That should tell you something.
So you’re suggesting that somebody somebody dropped his body there and planted his body there. You’re almost suggesting a conspiracy. >> That’s what I feel that someone showed him someone else and put his body there and then called Metropolitan and told him to go back that they will find something. >> What do you think happened to your granddaughter? >> I don’t know what happens to her.
See, it’s right now it’s only like I said in his wife’s case, the only ones know that killed her is the ones [music] that was there. the whereabouts of my granddaughter. The only one that knows whereabouts right now is Mr. Tatum and he’s deceased. >> What you’re suggesting is also if you extrapolate, you’re suggesting maybe he didn’t kill himself that he was killed [music] and planted there.
Oh my gosh, my head is exploding with this conspiracy theory. >> Suggestion that’s that’s what I feel. That’s that’s my my opinion on how they found the body and where they found the gun laying at. That’s my opinion on it. The agency responsible for child protection in Washington DC, the Child and Family Services Agency, came under intense scrutiny as questions began to emerge about how many warning signs had been ignored and for how long.
Years before Rishia disappeared, the agency already knew her and knew about the situation within her family. Shemica gave birth to Relicia on October 19th, 2005 when she was 19 years old. By the time the girl was just one, social workers had already visited her home, and what they saw immediately raised serious concerns.
There were reports that the child was not being fed enough, that the living conditions were unsanitary, and that Relicia may already have shown signs of physical abuse, including injuries, with no clear explanation. Unfortunately, although the social worker assigned to Relicia’s case noted that she was deeply concerned about her, no action was taken because there was not enough evidence of abuse.
Shannon Smith was Relicia’s cheerleading coach at her first school. Shannon noticed that the girl always wanted hugs, and when Shannon hugged her, she could tell that Relicia needed a bath. Before long, they had a routine. Every morning, Shannon took her to the nurse’s office so she could wash up and put on lotion.
Shannon sometimes looked after her on weekends, and whenever she bought clothes and toys for her own granddaughter, she always picked out something for Relicia, too. In her free time, Relicia often attended the Homeless Children’s Playtime Project, an afterchool program where children were encouraged to do creative projects, play, sing, dance, and take part in many other activities.
Relishia would arrive early to help set things up and stay after the program to help clean up. One of the project’s co-founders said Relishia’s disappearance exposed a number of problems at the DC shelter, including a lack of support for families experiencing homelessness. According to her, children at DC General had been neglected for years before Relicia Rudd disappeared.
She became a symbol of every gap in the child protection system and of all the ways vulnerable children in the community had been failed. Shemica’s former partner, a man named Irving Rudd, was also the father of Relishia’s brother. Shemica later had two more children, both boys, with another man, Relishia’s stepfather, Antonio Wheeler.
Eventually, Shemica, Antonio, and the children were evicted and stayed for a time with Shemica’s sister, Ashley. But Ashley was unhappy with Antonio’s behavior, including his fighting. So she told them they had to leave. And that was when the family ended up in a homeless shelter. By 2010, the agency had begun documenting even more warning signs, including allegations of medical neglect and reports that the children were being left unsupervised in conditions investigators described as dangerous to their health and safety. These were not
isolated incidents. They were a pattern. In November of 2013, police were called after a report that a child had been injured. A social worker wrote that one of Relicia’s brothers had been thrown to the ground and struck in the face. The children said their mother verbally and physically abused them and often left them home alone.
The Children and Family Services Agency was criticized for not responding sooner to Relicia’s school absences and for failing to remove her and her siblings from an abusive environment. But the abuse experienced by the family did not begin with Relishia and her siblings. It had started long before as part of a history of generational neglect and mistreatment.
Relishia’s mother, Shemica, grew up moving in and out of homeless shelters. At 9 years old, Shemica was removed from her mother, Melissa. Her father left the family when she was only two and her mother struggled with cocaine addiction. After that, Shemica spent years living in different foster homes with her three younger sisters and brother.
Then, as a teenager, she was diagnosed with a mild intellectual disability and placed in an inpatient psychiatric facility. Her case manager described her as a very sad and angry teenager. She does not make eye contact and does not speak without significant encouragement. She cries easily and reacts angrily to sudden changes.
In 1998, Shemica was removed from one foster home at the foster parents own request. They cited behavioral problems including stealing, lying, refusing to cooperate, and bedwetting. Those issues became the reason her placement with that family was ended. After Alicia disappeared, Shemica’s three other children were placed in state custody.
While the investigation into the girl’s disappearance was ongoing, authorities decided the other children could no longer remain in the same circumstances. Relicia’s father, Irving Rudd, filed for full custody of Relicia and her brother twice in February and September of 2012, 2 years before she disappeared.
He asked the court to place the children entirely in his care, but in the end, he was only allowed visitation. In 1992, Irving’s 17-month-old daughter from a previous relationship was taken to a children’s hospital. She had a split lip, a fractured skull, and bruises all over her body.
The toddler’s condition was so severe that law enforcement immediately became involved. Irving was later charged with firstdegree murder. The investigation focused on what had happened to the girl before she was hospitalized. Two witnesses told authorities that he grabbed his daughter by the neck, pinned her against a coffee table, and then hit her in the chest.
These were serious allegations that became part of the case record. One witness said the toddler lost consciousness after Irving threw her onto a couch. According to that witness, the girl struck her head on the couch’s wooden back rest. he told police. Even though I killed her, I did not mean to, and I understand that I did something wrong.
He explained that when the child began to whine, I picked her up by the neck, then let her go. When she did not stop, I took her to the bathroom and held her [music] under the faucet. Her mouth was open because she was whining, so the water just went inside. The officer asked whether he had hit the child before, and he replied, “Not this one.
” We both spanked the other twin too hard and broke her leg. With that information, police went to the family home. There, officers found another child with similar injuries and a critically low body weight. That discovery only underscored how dangerous the conditions may have been for the children in that family. In the end, Irving was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
The court imposed a sentence, but it could not undo what had happened. In 2002, Irving was released. By the time Relishia disappeared, she was already growing up in circumstances shaped by instability, hardship, and trauma that had existed long before she was born. Her childhood began in an environment where the consequences of old tragedies and difficult choices were still deeply felt.
Those hardships became part of the backdrop of her childhood. They were there long before she could choose or change anything. It was a reality she had no control over and bore no responsibility for. And yet, while that history helped explain the difficult circumstances of her early life, it did not answer the question now haunting investigators.
Where was Rishia Rudd? The past could explain why her family had become vulnerable, but it did not explain her sudden disappearance. Worse still, the one person believed to have known the answer was now dead. Investigators were left with very few leads. They had to piece together the case from fragments of information, contradictions, scattered accounts, and a trail that grew colder with every passing day.
According to Relicia’s grandmother, Khalil was someone they trusted. Relicia trusted him, too. To the family, he was not a stranger they expected to be dangerous. She was the kind of child who would have said something if she felt uncomfortable. Melissa was certain that if anything had happened, Relicia would have told someone.
That was why it was difficult for her to believe the girl could have been hiding fear or danger. But Melissa also spoke about how easily Shemica trusted other people with her children. According to her, that trust was not always cautious or justified. She trusted her children with everyone. >> People are asking the question, who [clears throat] failed Relishia? Who do you think failed Relishia? >> Honestly, I think it’s more that the government could have did.
>> I think the school failed her, too. >> Why is that? >> Cuz if they would have came out with a name from the start, something could have been done from the start. >> If they would have what, I’m sorry. >> Came out with the name of a doctor, something could have been started. Instead of them approaching my significant other as tell Miss Young, her doctor’s called and she’s clear he could approached it another way, but he didn’t.
>> Relishia’s mother, Shemica Young, blames everyone but herself and Khalil Tatum, the man police say abducted her little girl, Relishia. >> Did she ever stay with Mr. Tatum at his house? >> Not that I know of. >> Do you blame him at all in this? >> I choose not to ask that those questions. >> Are you angry with uh Mr.
[music] Tatum? I’m I’m probably angry with everybody. The world, the media, >> everybody. >> Why are you angry with the media? >> They just switches my words up. They don’t let me be heard. They don’t let my voice be heard out there. >> What do you want to say? >> Honestly, I don’t know what I want to say cuz I have so many mixed thoughts in [music] my head.
So, I don’t know what I want to say at this time. It’s not just the media, but social media that’s questioned Young about why she allegedly lied to investigators, potentially delaying the search for her daughter. She denied she lied and tried to explain to me why she hasn’t been at any of her daughter’s vigils. >> Love you. >> I did want to support the walk and pray thing for my daughter, not once, but twice, but I couldn’t due to all the threats.
>> What kind of threats were you getting? >> Um, I was getting all types of threats. People saying they was going to kill me, shoot me, and what they going to do to me and what they not going to do to me. >> Are you in hiding now? >> No, not hiding. I don’t have nothing to hide from. >> Well, from people who say they want to kill you.
>> I ain’t even got to hide from them cuz I walk these streets alone. >> While Shemica couldn’t remember the actual date she last saw Relishia, she remembers where it was. >> Over here at my sister house, I did her hair. I bought her some shoes, some Jordan flights, some 2013 Jordan flights. >> And she revealed to me for the first time that her daughter often spent time away from the shelter with other family members where she said Tatum [music] would pick up Relishia.
>> She didn’t go missing from the shelter. It is a rule in the shelter that kids are not allowed to enter nor exit the facility without their parents. And I feel as though I should put that out. >> Do you think Relish is alive? >> Yeah. >> Why do you think that? >> I always have strong hopes. You can’t never let your hopes down.
And God don’t play with babies and food. >> If she is alive, where do you think she could be? >> I don’t know. >> In December, another large-scale search operation began near the Days in Motel where Alicia was last seen alive. This time, investigators focused on a 15 acre construction site, a large open stretch of land where any important detail could have gone unnoticed.
About 80 officers and cadets joined the search. Some worked alongside dogs trained to detect human remains. They methodically combed through the area, checking tall weeds, uneven slopes, and hills of hard red clay step by step. The work was exhausting and slow. Every part of the site had to be carefully searched because the teams could not afford to miss even the smallest trace.
It was another attempt to find answers in a case that had haunted both the girl’s family and investigators for a long time. Unfortunately, investigators found nothing. The search ended without results, leaving another large area checked, but bringing the case no closer to an answer. >> Sunday [music] marked one year since the last time anyone saw Relishia Rudd alive.
>> Relishia Rudd missing for 3 years now. Today marks 10 years since the disappearance of 8-year-old Relishia Rudd. >> Think about her every day. It’s been 11 years since the disappearance of Melissa Young’s oldest granddaughter, Relishia Rudd. >> Melissa was my best friend. I miss my baby. It would be a relief.
It would be a big relief for me and my family to have the answers that we’ve [music] been waiting for for 11 years. >> It is still unclear exactly what happened [music] to Relishia Rudd or where she is now. Many years have passed, but the case has never produced a final answer. Based on all the available facts, investigators have still been unable to determine what happened to the girl after she disappeared.
Although her family still hopes that she will one day be found alive, an important shift in the police response supports the theory that Khalil killed her. Authorities later changed the operation from a rescue effort focused on finding a living child to a recovery operation focused on locating human remains. That change showed that investigators were increasingly taking the worst possible scenario seriously.
One theory that became common online was that Relicia may have been a victim of human trafficking. That idea repeatedly appeared alongside speculation that she may have been moved elsewhere and disappeared without a trace. However, there is no convincing evidence to support it. Law enforcement has also never confirmed any connection between Relicia’s case and human trafficking.
At this stage, the theory remains internet speculation, not a confirmed direction of the official investigation. But the chief discounted public suspicions that the janitor at the shelter might have been involved in child porn or child sex trafficking. >> That is not something that we believe that he was heavily involved in.
>> Chief Lenir not convinced Relishia was sold into sex trafficking, but tonight Andrea McCarron talks to other activists who fear that she might have been. >> If they’re vulnerable, then they’re at risk. >> Like many child trafficking victims, she says Relishia was vulnerable. Khalil Tatum, a skilled child predator.
[music] >> He really seemed to know what he was doing and how to lure a child, buying gifts, making friends, even the trick of using another child to make Relishia feel safe and comfortable. Very common tactic. >> We got to keep [music] looking because that child still could be alive other. >> The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is assisting in the ongoing search for the little [music] girl with a sweet smile and a lifetime ahead of her.
In April of 2014, Washington DC Mayor Vincent Gray announced an investigation into the city’s response to Relicia’s disappearance. The decision came as more questions emerged about how city agencies had acted before she vanished and whether they could have recognized the danger sooner. As part of the review, officials examined all available facts connected to the district’s involvement with the family.
They reviewed agency actions, decisions made by the employees responsible and the information available about Relicia and her relatives. The goal was not only to determine what had happened within the system, but also where possible to recommend policy and program changes that could prevent similar cases in the future.
The report’s findings stated, “Even if every policy and practice recommendation outlined in this report [music] had already been in place and fully implemented, the review team found no evidence that these tragic events could have been prevented. Many people in the community along with Relicia’s family disagreed. To them, what happened could not simply remain another tragic story.
A child’s disappearance had exposed serious problems that had gone without proper attention for far too long. After her disappearance and the widespread coverage of the shelter’s problems, Mayor Muriel E. Bowser closed the shelter and made sweeping changes to the city’s shelter system. It was a response to circumstances that could no longer be ignored.
As a city, we said, we do not want to lose another child. Today, a child in circumstances similar to Relicia’s would have a very different experience in a homeless shelter. The system that once failed to properly protect a child began to change after this case. First, shelters are now much smaller. They are easier to oversee, easier to manage day-to-day, and better able to give more attention to each family facing difficult circumstances.
They also have more shared spaces with couches, play areas, computers, books, and playgrounds. The goal is for these places to be more than temporary housing. They are meant to be spaces where children can feel at least a little safer. In 2026, it will have been 12 years since Relicia Rudd disappeared. But despite all the years that have passed, police are still no closer to a clear answer about exactly what happened to her or where she is today.
Her case remains an open wound without an ending, without clarity, and without the answers her family has waited so long for. >> Wait, okay. R E L I S H A >> Rishia Rudd has been missing for far too long. Too much time has passed since then. Years without an explanation, without answers, and without any certainty for those still waiting for the truth.
The time for silence has long passed. Somewhere, someone may know more about what happened to Relicia Rudd. Maybe that person has carried this information for years. Maybe they saw, heard, or noticed something that seemed unimportant at the time, but could be crucial today. It is long past time for the truth to come out. It is time for the silence to end, and for every hidden detail to finally be known.
And above all, it is time for Elicia to finally come