The Disappearance of Relisha Rudd

If you’re a parent or a caregiver of a child, I want you to stop and think about where your children are right now. Now I want you to think about how long you've gone without knowing where they are. Has it been while they ride a bike to a friend’s? Have they been at a camp where you’ve known they’re in someone else’s care? You probably get a check-in from them here and there though, right? You’re aware of their safety and you know that if anything went wrong, you would hear from another responsible adult.

If your child misses school, the school typically notifies you in the event that you failed to notify them first. This is done to ensure the child’s wellness and safety at all times. I’m a mom myself, and I know without a doubt that if my child were to be missing for an entire eighteen days, I would know about it. It would not be possible for my child to be gone that long before it was brought to my attention. It almost seems unthinkable, right? Well, 8-year-old, Relisha Rudd of Washington, D.C. was missing for eighteen days before her mom, Shamika Young, was approached by social workers asking her where her daughter was. Please realize when I say this, that I mean Shamika did not know her daughter was missing - the social workers informed her.

Relisha has been described as an upbeat, smart, and spunky little girl who loved going to school and interacting with the other kids. Her home life was less than ideal, as Relisha and her family, her mother - Shamika, her 3 younger brothers, and her mother’s boyfriend Antonio Wheeler, were living in the old Washington D.C. General Hospital, which had been converted into a homeless shelter - the largest shelter in the district, actually. I have read reports that this shelter was never even fully converted - that random doors would have boxes of medical records and medical supplies behind them, but then also that there was so much security in this building, that residents were the only ones authorized to be in the building, and that they had to go through a security checkpoint almost like TSA style before they could enter the building. Further, there were employees stationed in the corners of the halls with the keys to each resident’s room, because the residents themselves didn’t have keys. The door would lock automatically behind the resident as well. Children were not allowed anywhere on the premises without either a parent or guardian. From what I understand, most of the residents there were single mothers and their children. Now, Antonio was Shamika’s boyfriend, not her husband, but he was also the father of two of Relisha’s younger brothers, and that’s why he would have been able to be there as well.

On March 19, 2014, Mr. Wheeler was just getting back to the D.C. area after completing some work out of town. He arrived at the shelter, and in an interview with Jonquilyn Hill, he talks about how while smoking a cigarette before going inside, he was approached by a shelter employee who told him that the authorities had Shamika in a conference room and were asking her where Relisha was and that Shamika wasn’t cooperating, so he’d better get in there quickly. He says he had no idea what was going on at all. Upon arriving in the room, the authorities asked Mr. Wheeler to encourage Shamika to cooperate with them the best he could - that Relisha had been missing from school, social workers got involved trying to locate her to check in and make sure she was okay and in the process of all of this, the social workers were told that Relisha was sick - so sick that she was in a doctor’s care. They had been by the shelter to pick up medical documentation that would verify what the doctor on the phone had said about Relisha having a neurological issue and that she was in the hospital. This doctor, Dr. Tatum, was supposedly leaving the records with the shelter. The shelter knew nothing of the records, and even more concerning, there was no Doctor Tatum, but there was a janitor employed at the shelter, named Kahlil Tatum.

After begging Shamika to say something to the police to help, she told them that she had left Relisha with her mom, Melissa, and her sister, Ashley (Relisha’s grandma and aunt) and she was probably still there with them. So hoping this would solve the mystery, the authorities go to Ashley’s house and she agrees to let them search the property for Relisha for any indication that she had recently been there, and they found none. Obviously, they’re looking to track down Kahlil Tatum as well because according to both Shamika and Melissa, that’s who Relisha was with, The thing is though, that according to Shamika - Melissa let Relisha go with him, and according to Melissa, Shamika let Relisha go with him. Neither will budge on pointing the finger at the other. At this point, when was the last time Relisha had even been seen?

Let’s regroup here.

It’s March 20th and mom didn’t even know that her 8-year-old was missing. Frankly, I don’t care who she thought Relisha was with - she should have known. No mom-shaming or anything like that - you should know who your child is with - especially at this young of an age. This makes no sense to me at all. Supposedly, back in February - around the 25th - Kahlil was taking Relisha to the mall to buy a bathing suit for her for his granddaughter’s pool party which was going to be at one of the hotels. This seems so wrong, on so many levels. BUT, I also have heard that Shamika claimed that Kahlil was taking her to get a dress? So, the most reported is the bathing suit, and this just doesn’t seem okay to me. The police were able to find footage from the Holiday Inn Express in Northeast D.C. dated February 26th. She is seen walking down the hall to their hotel room and she doesn’t look unhappy or even close to scared. Then, there is footage of Relisha on March 1st, on Shamika’s Instagram account as well as footage of Relisha at a Days Inn also in Northeast D.C. It was pointed out on the podcast, “18 Days,” which I highly recommend listening to, that this Days Inn was used for overflow housing for the homeless, as was the Holiday Inn that Relisha was seen in. I’ll get back to this later on in the episode.

On March 2nd, Tatum is seen purchasing a box of 42-gallon, self-tie, contractor trash bags, a shovel, and lime. He was then spotted around Kenilworth Park and the Aquatic Gardens.  Again, I will let you know what I think was really happening here in just a moment. Fast forward to March 13th - we are still an entire week away from law enforcement becoming involved, but at this point, Relisha’s whereabouts are unknown to her mom and her grandma. The school notifies D.C.’s Child and Family Services Agency because Relisha has now reached ten unexcused absences from school. March 19th, a social worker visits the shelter and is able to piece together that Dr. Tatum is not really a doctor, but a janitor at D.C. General. Relisha’s family is questioned by social workers and her grandmother is brought to the conference room as well.  The next day, on March 20th, D.C. police hold a press conference and make a plea to the general public for any information that may lead to the safe return of Relisha Rudd or the arrest of Kahlil Tatum. It is at this time that they finally issue an Amber Alert (18 days after the last time she was seen by friends/family). And as if that isn’t enough, later that day, Kahlil’s wife, Andrea, is found dead at the Red Roof Inn in Oxon Hill. She had been shot in the head, execution-style - no sign of a struggle. Security cameras show that Kahlil and his ex-wife checked into the hotel just the two of them, no Relisha, but then that separate footage shows Kahlil with Relisha, no wife. In that video, dated February 26th, Relisha and Kahlil can be seen walking together down the hotel hallway.

Several days later, on April 1, 2014, Khalil Tatum was found in a shed at Kenilworth Park with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Police were able to surmise that the gun that was used to kill Khalil Tatum was the same gun that was used to kill his wife, Andrea. I want to note here, that while on the Steve Wilkos show, Shamika very clearly says, “it’s pretty hard to shoot yourself in the head twice,” which clearly implies Khalil had more than one gunshot wound to his head. Maybe she was confused, maybe she has details about the shooting that we don’t - since it does concern the disappearance of her daughter, but every other source I’ve come across just says that he was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

It’s hard to say what information comes from where with this case. A lot of fingers are pointed and a lot of he said she said has gone around. According to some, an unusual relationship began between Kahlil and Shamika, or more accurately between Kahlil and Relisha. Staff wasn’t supposed to have relationships with residents, but of course, that didn’t stop Khalil. It was said that he would bring gifts to many of the kids there. While some parents had their children avoid him as much as possible, Shamika entrusted her daughter to his care and worth noting, she had never sent any of her sons to stay with Kahlil, only Relisha. According to the podcast, “18 Days,” the shelter staff was interviewed and no one had “seen Kahlil with Relisha or with any of the residents” for that matter. They make it very clear that it would have been impossible by shelter security standards, but clearly, it wasn’t so impossible after all. It’s also said multiple times that he never could have walked out the front door with her, because the campus was rather heavily guarded and protected, and again, while this may be true, it was also mentioned that there was a back entrance to the shelter that residents typically would not have used - but staff may have.

By the time the Amber Alert had been issued on March 20th, no one had seen Kahlil for quite some time either, and wouldn’t see him until they found him in the shed in Kenilworth Park, deceased.

Few leads turned up in this case, as it seemed they had their kidnapper, and that he was dead. His wife was dead. They had nobody, and they were behind 18 plus days in the investigation. Relisha was gone - but what happened???

When I tapped into this case - I did so after someone had tagged me in an Instagram post on her photo. I had already seen her face, and until I went to tap into her, I didn’t realize that I had already decided she was passed. Relisha, you beautiful girl. I am so sorry. This case hit me a little differently than any other one has so far. Frankly, it shook me for days. This is where I want to really stress that it is my ultimate goal to bring awareness to these cases and these causes, not just yammer on about blood and guts - because these are someone’s loved ones.

I went outside to sit on my back deck and connect in the sunshine - outside is always ideal for me if it’s possible that day. I sat down with a glass of water and a notebook and pen, and for whatever reason, I asked out loud this time, “Relisha, what do you have for me? What happened?” It was like a movie started playing in front of my eyes. I spend readings telling people, “It’s not like in the movies where you see this person appear and show you every little thing that happened,” but in this instance, it was very close to that.

I saw her leaving out of the back door of a building holding the hand of an adult man. I heard the word, “airport.” This made zero sense to me whatsoever. The vision jumped to her in the passenger seat of what I believe was a large white van, and I heard the words or something similar to them, “transit van” or “transport van.” It was so bizarre how clear that phrase was to me, but not as bizarre as what would follow. It’s as if I’m sitting with her in the passenger seat looking out over the water that we’re driving past, and there are buildings in the background and I get the words, “warehouse. Hangar? Warehouse.” in my head and I can’t decipher which it is that I’m supposed to be focusing on. At this point, I ask her, “Relisha, where are you going?” I hear clear as day, “Route 233.” This was so clear, that I had to whip out my phone and pull up a map of the D.C. area to see if Route 233 was even a thing over there. Lo and behold, Route 233 is a feeder road - to the Reagan International Airport. I feel very strongly that this is a case of human trafficking. I know that police have said that they have looked at the case as if it could have been, but that there were no indicators, and I have to say that I just have to call bullshit.

I see Relisha and two other children in what looks like a warehouse, but when I say this, please know that I see a large white building with vehicles around, large garage door-like openings, and I see a van like she would have been brought in the van I described earlier, a white transit van/cargo van. She is alive and has a bag like a shopping bag with her. I am under the impression that Kahlil tricked her into thinking he was taking her to her Aunt’s house and really was taking her to essentially sell her. He took her to the hotel room to photograph her for his buyer, and Shamika knew that he was grooming her daughter. She looked the other way because she was compensated for it. It is said that Shamika even said that Relisha was with her “Godfather,” and meant Kahlil when sources actually identify her brother-in-law, Ashley’s husband as Relisha’s godfather. I believe she was selling her daughter to Kahlil and Kahlil saw this as an opportunity to make money off of her as well. I believe that these hotel visits maybe didn’t have other men present, but possibly on camera, they were? Or in some way, I am telling you, there were more people involved. While I see them on airport property, I do not think these children actually left the country. When I connected to this image the first time, I saw Kahlil so brightly and so vibrantly and I didn’t know at the time that he had been shot and killed, but seeing him like that, I knew he had passed. Kahlil’s eyes locked on mine and you could feel the evil and desperation in his soul. It was not comfortable energy to be near whatsoever. I thought about connecting to him to see his side, but I didn’t want to get closer to that energy.

Kahlil took her to the airport to finalize a transaction in which she would no longer be his responsibility and he would be compensated for it. He had filed for divorce against Andrea not too long before all of this happened, and I feel this is because he thought he would be able to be “shifting careers,” and living a different lifestyle if he delivered in this scenario - almost as if he was working his way up the ranks so-to-speak. I believe that Andrea knew more than she was supposed to and that he lured her to that hotel to kill her. The “kill kit,” he had put together from Home Depot was going to be used to dispose of her body, but I believe she was found before he could complete that. I think he was working way out of his element and way in over his head. Furthermore, once whoever he was working for made sure that Andrea was a loose end that wouldn’t need any more fixing, they got rid of him. He was undoubtedly going to be caught and they were as I said, tying up loose ends. I do not believe his gunshot wound was self-inflicted, but rather it was made to look that way. I think he was meeting someone there about receiving payment for Relisha and instead they shot him.

Now yes, I realize how outlandish this sounds. I really really do. Trafficking circles are real though, and if you think for one second that shady coverups don’t go on, then you’re kidding yourself. I do not believe this case will ever be solved because I wholeheartedly believe it will only be allowed to go so far up the chain of command before things start getting shut down. I think Kahlil had an opportunity to exploit the vulnerable members of society, and even more so, exploit their children. I believe that he painted it to look as if he was helping the single mommas or just being a good guy, but all in all, he was setting traps left and right, and unfortunately, Shamika and Relisha fell straight into one of those traps. Don’t get me wrong - I do not think Shamika is innocent here. At the very least, it blows my mind that she was never arrested for child neglect or anything like that.

At this time, Relisha’s case has been unsolved for 7 years. Seven years. If you can find the time, please go listen to, “Through the Cracks,” and “18 Days,” on iTunes or Spotify. “18 Days” features interviews with Antonio Wheeler and the ache and pain you can hear in his voice is gut-wrenching. He loved Relisha and her brother even though they weren’t his own.

If you have any information about the disappearance of Relisha Rudd, please contact DC Metro Police. 

Love & Light my friends.

Sources:
For all source information, please visit the episode on Spotify, iTunes, or any other major podcasting platform.