I remember first posting her story via the Black and Missing Foundation, Inc. a little over a year ago, to think this baby has been missing for over a year without a trace breaks my heart. Relisha was last seen alive with a janitor at the shelter where she lived with her family. He later committed suicide. This month marks one year since she went missing and if you are like me you still believe there is hope she is alive. Let’s revisit her story in hopes that one day she may be found. Here’s a great recap courtesy of TheRoot.com!
Eight-year-old Relisha Rudd was last seen on Sunday, March 1, 2014, in Washington, D.C. She was in the company of Kahlil Tatum, a janitor at the homeless shelter where she was living with her family, and who police say killed his wife and then himself.
But police have found no trace of Relisha, and on March 2, D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser marked the first anniversary of Relisha’s disappearance, saying the city has not given up on the “bright-eyed second-grader who captured our hearts,” according to the Washington Post.
Bowser and top city officials from the police department, the Department of Health and Human Services and the FBI gathered at the police department’s headquarters in an effort to renew publicity for Relisha’s case.
“Quite frankly, today she should be doing the things little girls do,” Bowser said, writes the Post.
The second-grader’s case highlights hardships that homeless children endure at some shelters. Shamika Young, Relisha’s mother, has said that she frequently allowed her daughter to stay with Tatum and relatives to provide the child some relief from the unpleasant conditions at the shelter. But city officials, writes the Post, say the family may have neglected the girl, who had missed more than 30 days of school.
The FBI is offering a reward of up to $25,000 for information leading to Relisha’s whereabouts, notes the report.
