D.C. Police Continue Search For Relisha Rudd Near National Arboretum

WASHINGTON (WJZ) -- Where is Relisha Rudd? The little eight-year-old vanished more than two years ago. Now there is a new effort to find what happened to her.

WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren the search is underway at the National Arboretum.

No one has seen eight-year-old Relisha Rudd alive in more than two years, but her loved ones never gave up hope.

"I just hope somebody, anybody, run into her or whoever got her just return her," Rudd's mother, Shamika Young, said.

Now police are conducting an exhaustive new search at the National Arboretum. The chief explains why there and why now.

"We got new information in on the case that has led us to different search areas, and this is one of those areas," said Chief Cathy Lanier, Metropolitan D.C. Police.

The area is adjacent to a Holiday Inn, where surveillance cameras captured the last known images of the little girl. She was with Khalil Tatum, who worked as a janitor at the homeless shelter where Rudd was living with her family.

Tatum later murdered his wife in Maryland before killing himself. If he knew, he took the eight-year-old's whereabouts to his grave.

"As a father, you are a protector. There be times I feel as though I failed to protect my own daughter," said Irving Rudd, father.

Several large-scale searches for the girl over the past 25-months have happened in Maryland. The new search at the National Arboretum includes a body of water.

"It's not a large body of water, but it's going to take the divers some time to get through it," Lanier said.

Police claim Rudd's family left her in Tatum's care and misled them about her initial whereabouts. She'd been missing for days before anyone reported her gone.

"It's just sad I have to help my daughter make them type of arrangements. I just need my closure," said Melissa Young, Rudd's grandmother.

The search will resume Thursday morning.

Police continue to encourage people to come forward if they have tips.

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