Relisha Rudd would be 20 years old today. She has been missing for 12 years, and the case that gripped Washington, D.C. in 2014 remains open — no body found, no charges ever filed, no resolution for a family still searching for answers.

Relisha was eight years old when she disappeared on March 1, 2014, from D.C. General Shelter, a family homeless facility on the city's northeast side where she lived with her mother, stepfather Antonio Wheeler, and two younger brothers. According to Fox 5 DC, her absence went undetected for 18 days. It was a school counselor — not her family, not shelter staff — who finally raised the alarm after noticing she had stopped attending Payne Elementary School. The absence notes that had been submitted to cover for her were signed by a "Dr. Tatum," a name that led investigators to the man at the center of the case.

Kahlil Tatum was a janitor at D.C. General who had developed a close relationship with Relisha and her family, giving her gifts and taking her on outings in violation of shelter rules. Her mother eventually permitted Relisha to spend nights with him under the belief that she was staying with his family. Tatum had a prior criminal record and, according to reporting, should never have been hired at the facility.

Surveillance footage obtained by investigators showed Relisha inside a Washington, D.C. hotel with Tatum in February 2014. The case escalated sharply when, on March 20, 2014, authorities discovered the body of Tatum's wife, Andrea Denise Tatum, shot to death in a motel room in Oxon Hill, Maryland. A warrant was issued for Kahlil Tatum's arrest.

Before police could reach him, Tatum was found dead on April 1, 2014, of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound at Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens in Northeast Washington, D.C. Investigators have long believed he killed Relisha before taking his own life. Her body has never been found.

The Metropolitan Police Department renewed its public call for information in early March 2026, on the 12th anniversary of Relisha's disappearance. "Relisha Rudd's case remains open, and the officers and detectives of the Metropolitan Police Department will never give up the search for her," the department said in a statement, per Daily Voice.

The Black and Missing Foundation released a short docuseries in October 2025 — what would have been Relisha's 20th birthday — titled "The Vanishing of Relisha Rudd: A Cold Case Reexamined," in hopes of generating new leads. Some investigators and advocates have raised the possibility that she may have been a victim of trafficking. Wheeler, her stepfather, has maintained publicly that he believes she may still be alive. "No matter how we're going to put it out there, we're going to get it out there," he has said.

A $50,000 reward remains available for information leading to Relisha's location and return. Anyone with information is asked to contact Senior Officer Michael Fulton at 202-497-3470, the D.C. Metropolitan Police Real Time Crime Center at 202-727-9099, or submit an anonymous tip by texting 50411.