By Tashi McQueen
AFRO Staff Writer
tmcqueen@afro.com
Relisha Tenau Rudd should be preparing for a birthday right now– a milestone one at that. On Oct. 29 Relisha should be turning 18 and stepping into adulthood- but there’s just one problem: she’s still missing.
Instead of birthday candles, friends, family and supporters around the county will light memorials on Oct. 29, celebrating a birthday fraught with sadness.
Relisha vanished in 2014. She was just eight years old at the time of her disappearance in the nation’s capital.
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Relisha was seen on Feb. 26, 2014, in a surveillance video with Kahlil Tatum, 51, inside of the Holiday Inn Express at 1917 Bladensburg Road NE, Washington, D.C. In the footage, Tatum and Relisha can be seen walking down the hotel corridors, with Relisha wearing the purple Helly Hansen winter jacket and pink boots she often wore.
She was last seen alive on March 1.
This week Tom Lynch, supervisory public affairs specialist for the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), spoke with the AFRO about the case.
Lynch confirmed that on March 19, a social worker from Relisha’s school reported her missing. The eight-year-old student had racked up weeks of absences at Payne Elementary School, but her doctor had explained that she was sick.
The social worker went to the shelter where Relisha lived with her family. He was in search of answers, but instead of finding “Dr. Tatum,” who had sent excuse letters concerning Rudd’s absences, the social worker discovered a custodian for the D.C. General Shelter.
On March 20 Tatum’s wife was found shot to death in a Prince George’s County hotel. By the end of the month, he was found dead by suicide in Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens in Northeast, Washington, D.C., according to FBI records.
Still today, the service providers who came in contact with the young girl, seek answers, along with the general public, mystified by how Relisha could slip through the cracks.
“I hope she’s out there, I hope she’s safe, I hope she’ll be found,” said Jamila Larson, executive director and co-founder of Playtime Project, a group that works in conjunction with shelters and community organizations to create safe spaces for children to play.
Playtime Project provided services to Relisha for 18 months before her disappearance.
“I can’t imagine something more sad than if you’re missing and people stop looking for you or assume you are dead. I never want to do that or contribute to that energy,” said Larson. “I owe it to her to light a proverbial candle in hopes that if she’s out there, she’s safe and will come home.”
Though there are things Larson believes D.C. leaders need to work on, she pointed out a few changes that the city has implemented since Relisha disappeared.
“Shelters are mandated to count children in their beds every single night,” said Larson. “Caseworkers at shelters are mandated to make sure that those kids are going to school.”
Sadly, tragic stories like Relisha’s are echoed throughout the country.
According to the Black and Missing Foundation, a non-profit focused on bringing attention and resources to cases of missing African-American people, 563,389 people were reported missing in the United States last year. About 40 percent of people reported missing were minorities and 162, 755 of them were under 18.
Black and Missing acknowledged a disparity in media coverage of missing Black people when compared to White people. Black and Missing found that people of color often do not receive as much media attention due to over-criminalization and minority youth initially being classified as runaways.
To this day, the search for Relisha persists.
“Since 8-year-old Relisha Rudd went missing ten years ago, her case remains open. MPD has received thousands of tips regarding her case, and we are encouraged by the public’s commitment to finding her,” said Lynch. “We will continue to pursue every lead until we have answers.”
Anyone with any information on Relisha’s whereabouts can contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI.
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