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A Missing Baby Girl And A Cloud Of Suspicion: Relisha Rudd Disappearance A Perplexing Case With Many Unanswered Questions

Her story is the biggest news headline in Washington D.C., but even with extensive local media coverage the disappearance of young 8-year-old Relisha Rudd has failed to garner the kind of national attention that a high profiled child abduction story should receive. It was a case that almost never made it to press because the child’s disappearance seemingly wasn’t even under her family’s radar. If not of the concern for the little girl’s well being having been investigated by a school official, no one would have known that she was missing at all. The strange circumstance of a man name Kalil Tatum listed on school records as her doctor brought suspicion from a keen school counselor, who notified authorities during a home visit after discovering that he had the child in his care, and was only a janitor working at the shelter where Relisha lived with her family. Once the alarm of an Amber Alert was sounded, the search for Tatum commenced. The story became even more Bizarre when Tatum’s wife was found dead at a hotel in Oxen Hills Maryland. That mysterious discovery was only trumped by Tatum’s body being found also, a short time later from what police describe as an apparent suicide.

Media coverage of the case unveiled security surveillance footage from a hotel on February 26, 2014, that depicted Tatum escorting young Relisha to a room. It was a gripping image that sent shock waves of fear through most following the story, as the video seemed to illustrate a haunting portrayal of a 51-yer-old pedophile luring the child into an isolated place to met out sexual perversions upon her. That video surveillance has led the public to believe that Tatum was the last person to have Relisha under their care, but the conflicting stories of her family members cast doubt that her disappearance actually occurred in the manner they have told the authorities. Kalil Tatum’s unfortunate death by suicide has created a tremendous burden on finding young Relisha, and to obtain knowledge related to exactly what kind of relation he had with the child, or arrangements that her family made with him regarding his supervision of her.

The complexity of this child disappearance case is exacerbated by conflicting stories from her mother, aunt, maternal grandmother, and who all collectively can’t determine as a matter of fact the last time either of them had the child under their care. More importantly, Shameeka Young (Relisha’s mother) has admitted that nineteen days had gone by without her having any physical contact with her daughter. Her claims that she left Relisha in the care of her sister has been disputed by the child’s aunt, who states that she gave Relisha to Tatum at her direction. With Tatum out of the picture, her family has turned this tragic case into a saga of finger pointing, name calling, and bashing each other with threats of violence. Most followers of this child’s story would agree that the public has shown more genuine concern for locating young Relisha, while her family seems focused on deflecting blame of her disappearance on each other.

TPC’s close observation of the Relisha Rudd disappearance case offers a volume of unanswered questions. If Kalil Tatum is in fact responsible for the child’s disappearance, why would he suddenly take her from her family now, when he had a pattern of supervising her and bringing her back safely? What prompted him to murder his wife (if you believe he is responsible)? Why was Tatum and another man (Stokes) known to rent hotel rooms when they both had residences of their own? Why did Tatum take Relisha to a hotel and not his home if she was suppose to be interacting with his daughter/granddaughter? Why did Kalil Tatum purchase garbage bags, lime, and a shovel? Was those items for the purpose of disposing a body, and if so, was that person Relisha or his wife? Media reports that establish three people being at a hotel with Tatum, when one person returns the following morning, and recalls observing Tatum’s wife spread out across the bed while Tatum denied him access to the room, creating suspicion as to why all of these adults may have been in a hotel room with an 8-year-old girl. A theory detailing what ever was going on in that hotel room almost certainly may have led to the demise of Tatum’s wife whether he was responsible for her murder of someone else, becomes a very compelling scenario.

However, if we follow the storyline with the belief that Tatum is responsible for whatever happened to Relisha, we have to contemplate why the child’s family members are telling some many lies regarding what happened. If Tatum is responsible, just tell the cops what you know so they can establish what happened to her. The vicious attacks against each other, coupled with their lack of authentic concern for finding Relisha points to complicity of what happened to her by her own family. Why was Shameeka Young so complacent pertaining to Relisha’s interaction with this man, who purchased expensive gifts for her without drawing her suspicion? Did she know what Tatum was doing with her precious child? When the cops became involved in the case, she appears to have given statements that have come back to haunt her.

Shameeka Young says that she last saw Relisha on March 1, 2014 when she dropped her off at her sister’s home. A witness has come forward and dispelled her claim after revealing that he saw Shameeka give her daughter to Tatum at a D.C. bus stop on March 7, 2014. Her sister Ashley says she gave Relisha to Tatum on March 2, 2014 at Shameeka’s request. Relisha’ stepfather says they last saw Relisha on March 8, at his son’s birthday party which was held at Asheley’s home. Sadly, none of the little girl’s closest family had a handle on her whereabouts or didn’t seem to care who had her. The gravity of the family’s inability to get the story straight leaves the door wide open for speculation that at least one of the family members, if not all of them, knows exactly what happened to young Relisha. The murder of Tatum’s wife and his subsequent death by suicide are disturbing and alarming aspects of the case, but eyewitness statements and accounts by the little girl’s own family establish that Shameeka Young had contact with her daughter at least a week after the time frame she has given to the authorities.

It seems that the more Shameeka Young talks about her daughter’s disappearance, the more contradictory her version of what happen appears. Why has her story consistently changed? Some attribute her inability to get the dates correct, to suspected narcotics use. However, if we offer the benefit of the doubt pertaining to her allege poor memory, I’m sure most would agree that at the very minimum, there is an expectation that Shameeka should have the ability to recall the actual event of when she last saw Relisha. If she can’t recall the date when she last saw her daughter, it’s simply unbelievable that she is confused as to who she last gave the child to. The failure on her part to recall the date she last saw Relisha appears to be a smoke screen. She has consistently given March 1, 2014 as the date she last saw the child, but it’s a date that seems purposefully chosen for some undisclosed reason. Ashley (Relisha’s aunt), Daniel Roberts, and Antonio (Relisha’s stepfather) all gave statements revealing that Shameeka Young had her daughter beyond March 1.

Even more suspicion is centered around Shameeka’s date memory fiasco when other statements she has made regarding the case are considered. Shameeka Young told KWDC Radio on Blogtalk that she never gave her daughter to Tatum or never allowed her to go anywhere with him. Her statements stand in strong contrast to comments she made on live television, when she told a reporter from NBC Washington Channel 4 “I thought he was a nice person, and thought I could trust him,” and indicating that she had in fact given her consent for Tatum to care for her daughter. See the interview below:

In the same interview Shameeka Young initially told the reporter that she wasn’t under the impression that Relisha was missing, but when the question was rephrased, she admitted not calling the cops surrounding Relisha’s disappearance out of fear that she could lose her other three children. Her conflicting statements only serves to construct a spinning web of untruthfulness that may land her in the hot seat facing criminal charges related to the disappearance of her daughter. Others believe that Shameeka has been coached on most of her statements surrounding the case, and because her comments aren’t her authentic thoughts, she has struggled to recall what she was told to say. Even during her interview on KWDC Radio, listeners could hear people in the background telling Shameeka what to say. One caller who posed questions to her, even called her on it and asked if others were telling her what to say. Shameeka denied that assertion, but clearly she was being given comments to say by others with her the night she spoke on the air.

So, the facts in this missing child case remain very cloudy and unfortunately, the little girl’s own family appear to be the greatest hinderance in the case, prohibiting authorities from determining what happened to this beautiful little girl. We can no longer look at the surveillance video from the hotel depicting Tatum escorting Relisha to a room as the smoking gun evidence establishing that he was solely responsible for her disappearance. When others place the child with the mother well after that video, it raises a mountain of suspicion whether the child’s family were in fact responsible for her disappearance themselves, and may simply be attempting to cover their tracks with a volume of deception. D.C. child protective services has several case files related to allege physical abuse of Shameeka Young’s children in the past, and it’s quite possible that the little girl suffered some traumatic incident at the hands of her family. There are so many unanswered questions surrounding this tragic story, and the cops should start at the very doorstep of the child’s parents. Where are you Relisha?

To Be Continued ..

 

 

The People’s Champion

I’m David Adams

David Adams

A Self proclaimed geek, Sympathizer for the homeless, Social Change Advocate, Crime Blogger, Promoter of Awareness for Missing and Exploited Children, and a mobile technology enthusiast. A recognized Journalist and Human Interest Writer championing the plight of the masses whom are without a voice of their own.

More Posts - Website

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Her story is the biggest news headline in Washington D.C., but even with extensive local media coverage the disappearance of young 8-year-old Relisha Rudd has failed to garner the kind of national attention that a high profiled child abduction story should receive. It was a case that almost never made it to press because the child’s disappearance seemingly wasn’t even under her family’s radar. If not of the concern for the little girl’s well being having been investigated by a school official, no one would have known that she was missing at all. The strange circumstance of a man name Kalil Tatum listed on school records as her doctor brought suspicion from a keen school counselor, who notified authorities during a home visit after discovering that he had the child in his care, and was only a janitor working at the shelter where Relisha lived with her family. Once the alarm of an Amber Alert was sounded, the search for Tatum commenced. The story became even more Bizarre when Tatum’s wife was found dead at a hotel in Oxen Hills Maryland. That mysterious discovery was only trumped by Tatum’s body being found also, a short time later from what police describe as an apparent suicide.

Media coverage of the case unveiled security surveillance footage from a hotel on February 26, 2014, that depicted Tatum escorting young Relisha to a room. It was a gripping image that sent shock waves of fear through most following the story, as the video seemed to illustrate a haunting portrayal of a 51-yer-old pedophile luring the child into an isolated place to met out sexual perversions upon her. That video surveillance has led the public to believe that Tatum was the last person to have Relisha under their care, but the conflicting stories of her family members cast doubt that her disappearance actually occurred in the manner they have told the authorities. Kalil Tatum’s unfortunate death by suicide has created a tremendous burden on finding young Relisha, and to obtain knowledge related to exactly what kind of relation he had with the child, or arrangements that her family made with him regarding his supervision of her.

The complexity of this child disappearance case is exacerbated by conflicting stories from her mother, aunt, maternal grandmother, and who all collectively can’t determine as a matter of fact the last time either of them had the child under their care. More importantly, Shameeka Young (Relisha’s mother) has admitted that nineteen days had gone by without her having any physical contact with her daughter. Her claims that she left Relisha in the care of her sister has been disputed by the child’s aunt, who states that she gave Relisha to Tatum at her direction. With Tatum out of the picture, her family has turned this tragic case into a saga of finger pointing, name calling, and bashing each other with threats of violence. Most followers of this child’s story would agree that the public has shown more genuine concern for locating young Relisha, while her family seems focused on deflecting blame of her disappearance on each other.

TPC’s close observation of the Relisha Rudd disappearance case offers a volume of unanswered questions. If Kalil Tatum is in fact responsible for the child’s disappearance, why would he suddenly take her from her family now, when he had a pattern of supervising her and bringing her back safely? What prompted him to murder his wife (if you believe he is responsible)? Why was Tatum and another man (Stokes) known to rent hotel rooms when they both had residences of their own? Why did Tatum take Relisha to a hotel and not his home if she was suppose to be interacting with his daughter/granddaughter? Why did Kalil Tatum purchase garbage bags, lime, and a shovel? Was those items for the purpose of disposing a body, and if so, was that person Relisha or his wife? Media reports that establish three people being at a hotel with Tatum, when one person returns the following morning, and recalls observing Tatum’s wife spread out across the bed while Tatum denied him access to the room, creating suspicion as to why all of these adults may have been in a hotel room with an 8-year-old girl. A theory detailing what ever was going on in that hotel room almost certainly may have led to the demise of Tatum’s wife whether he was responsible for her murder of someone else, becomes a very compelling scenario.

However, if we follow the storyline with the belief that Tatum is responsible for whatever happened to Relisha, we have to contemplate why the child’s family members are telling some many lies regarding what happened. If Tatum is responsible, just tell the cops what you know so they can establish what happened to her. The vicious attacks against each other, coupled with their lack of authentic concern for finding Relisha points to complicity of what happened to her by her own family. Why was Shameeka Young so complacent pertaining to Relisha’s interaction with this man, who purchased expensive gifts for her without drawing her suspicion? Did she know what Tatum was doing with her precious child? When the cops became involved in the case, she appears to have given statements that have come back to haunt her.

Shameeka Young says that she last saw Relisha on March 1, 2014 when she dropped her off at her sister’s home. A witness has come forward and dispelled her claim after revealing that he saw Shameeka give her daughter to Tatum at a D.C. bus stop on March 7, 2014. Her sister Ashley says she gave Relisha to Tatum on March 2, 2014 at Shameeka’s request. Relisha’ stepfather says they last saw Relisha on March 8, at his son’s birthday party which was held at Asheley’s home. Sadly, none of the little girl’s closest family had a handle on her whereabouts or didn’t seem to care who had her. The gravity of the family’s inability to get the story straight leaves the door wide open for speculation that at least one of the family members, if not all of them, knows exactly what happened to young Relisha. The murder of Tatum’s wife and his subsequent death by suicide are disturbing and alarming aspects of the case, but eyewitness statements and accounts by the little girl’s own family establish that Shameeka Young had contact with her daughter at least a week after the time frame she has given to the authorities.

It seems that the more Shameeka Young talks about her daughter’s disappearance, the more contradictory her version of what happen appears. Why has her story consistently changed? Some attribute her inability to get the dates correct, to suspected narcotics use. However, if we offer the benefit of the doubt pertaining to her allege poor memory, I’m sure most would agree that at the very minimum, there is an expectation that Shameeka should have the ability to recall the actual event of when she last saw Relisha. If she can’t recall the date when she last saw her daughter, it’s simply unbelievable that she is confused as to who she last gave the child to. The failure on her part to recall the date she last saw Relisha appears to be a smoke screen. She has consistently given March 1, 2014 as the date she last saw the child, but it’s a date that seems purposefully chosen for some undisclosed reason. Ashley (Relisha’s aunt), Daniel Roberts, and Antonio (Relisha’s stepfather) all gave statements revealing that Shameeka Young had her daughter beyond March 1.

Even more suspicion is centered around Shameeka’s date memory fiasco when other statements she has made regarding the case are considered. Shameeka Young told KWDC Radio on Blogtalk that she never gave her daughter to Tatum or never allowed her to go anywhere with him. Her statements stand in strong contrast to comments she made on live television, when she told a reporter from NBC Washington Channel 4 “I thought he was a nice person, and thought I could trust him,” and indicating that she had in fact given her consent for Tatum to care for her daughter. See the interview below:

In the same interview Shameeka Young initially told the reporter that she wasn’t under the impression that Relisha was missing, but when the question was rephrased, she admitted not calling the cops surrounding Relisha’s disappearance out of fear that she could lose her other three children. Her conflicting statements only serves to construct a spinning web of untruthfulness that may land her in the hot seat facing criminal charges related to the disappearance of her daughter. Others believe that Shameeka has been coached on most of her statements surrounding the case, and because her comments aren’t her authentic thoughts, she has struggled to recall what she was told to say. Even during her interview on KWDC Radio, listeners could hear people in the background telling Shameeka what to say. One caller who posed questions to her, even called her on it and asked if others were telling her what to say. Shameeka denied that assertion, but clearly she was being given comments to say by others with her the night she spoke on the air.

So, the facts in this missing child case remain very cloudy and unfortunately, the little girl’s own family appear to be the greatest hinderance in the case, prohibiting authorities from determining what happened to this beautiful little girl. We can no longer look at the surveillance video from the hotel depicting Tatum escorting Relisha to a room as the smoking gun evidence establishing that he was solely responsible for her disappearance. When others place the child with the mother well after that video, it raises a mountain of suspicion whether the child’s family were in fact responsible for her disappearance themselves, and may simply be attempting to cover their tracks with a volume of deception. D.C. child protective services has several case files related to allege physical abuse of Shameeka Young’s children in the past, and it’s quite possible that the little girl suffered some traumatic incident at the hands of her family. There are so many unanswered questions surrounding this tragic story, and the cops should start at the very doorstep of the child’s parents. Where are you Relisha?

To Be Continued ..

 

 

The People’s Champion

I’m David Adams

David Adams

A Self proclaimed geek, Sympathizer for the homeless, Social Change Advocate, Crime Blogger, Promoter of Awareness for Missing and Exploited Children, and a mobile technology enthusiast. A recognized Journalist and Human Interest Writer championing the plight of the masses whom are without a voice of their own.

More Posts - Website

Follow Me:
TwitterFacebookLinkedInGoogle Plus

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