Relisha Rudd Search Finds No New Evidence

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Police launched a new search around Anacostia Park in Northeast Washington Friday morning for the remains of Relisha Tenau Rudd, the 8-year-old girl who went missing from a homeless shelter nearly four years ago. No evidence was found related to her disappearance Friday, police said.

"The Metropolitan Police Department received information that potential evidence related to the 2014 missing persons case of Relisha Rudd was in the area of Anacostia Park," police said in a statement. "A coordinated and thorough search for the evidence in that area began during the morning of January 26, 2018."

Cadaver dogs, dive teams and a large police squad searched an area of the park near D.C. General, the homeless shelter Relisha disappeared from on March 1, 2014.

Relisha was last seen with Kahlil Tatum, who was the janitor of the homeless shelter she lived at with her mother and siblings.

Police say Tatum killed his wife, Andrea Denise Tatum, 51, also of N St., Southeast Washington. Her body was found in a motel room in the 6100 block of Oxon Hill Road on March 20, 2014. She had died from an apparent gunshot wound.

Tatum himself was later found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in Northeast D.C. The Metropolitan Police Department confirmed on April 1, 2014, that Tatum was found deceased in the area of the Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens.

On March 2, Tatum bought contractor-weight trash bags and spent a considerable amount of time in a Kenilworth area D.C. park where investigators and search dogs focused efforts.

Police can't ignore the possibility that "he may have killed her," the police chief said of the girl's fate in March 2014.

Social workers had been to Rudd's house several times over the years and found evidence of neglect and abuse. The family later began living at a homeless shelter at the old D.C. General Hospital, where she met Tatum. Police think that her mother, Shamika Young, handed her daughter over to Tatum, a charge that Young has denied.

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Antonio Wheeler, the little girl's stepfather, says Kahlil Tatum was seen at the D.C. homeless shelter on March 19, 2014. He then vanished when Wheeler asked him to bring Rudd home; authorities have said the family trusted Tatum and Rudd often stayed at the Tatum house.

The FBI is offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to the location and return of Rudd.

At the time Relisha went missing, she was described as black, standing 4 feet tall and weighing between 70 and 80 pounds. She has black hair, brown eyes and medium complexion. Weeks prior to Relisha being reported missing, she was known to wear a purple Helly Hansen brand winter jacket and pink boots, the FBI said. Relisha would be 12 now.

>> If you have any information concerning this investigation, please contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI, or your local FBI office or the nearest American Embassy or Consulate. You can also submit an anonymous Tip online.

Photos of Relisha Rudd, courtesy of the FBI.