Have We Forgotten About Relisha Rudd?

Poor Relisha Rudd. The eight-year-old D.C. girl was last seen nearly six months ago — March 1 — in the company of 51-year-old Khalil Malik Tatum, a janitor at the D.C. General homeless shelter where she lived with her family. Tatum, reportedly dead by his own hand, is believed by police to have abducted Relisha.


You haven’t heard much about her in recent months. She’s been replaced in the news cycle by stories about soccer stadiums, the travails and triumphs of area bike riders, and the first coming of the Silver Line. In recent days, Donald Trump and his merry band of grinning D.C. politicians at the groundbreaking of Trump’s new downtown hotel have drawn more press coverage than the whereabouts of that innocent little child.

More Reading: On Relisha Rudd and Why We Must Care for Black Girls Before They Go Missing

Not that we haven’t been promised more information. On April 8, at the height of the public furor over Relisha’s apparent abduction, Mayor Vincent C. Gray ordered a thorough review of the city agencies that had contact with the missing girl. He said he had directed Beatriz “BB” Otero, deputy mayor for health and human services, and Abigail Smith, deputy mayor for education, to oversee the review.

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