Relisha Rudd was absent from school for 30 days before school officials notified the D.C. Child and Family Service Agency on March 13. It was another six days before the agency began their investigation. Now Relisha is the subject of an intense manhunt by the FBI and other law enforcement agencies who believe Kahlil Malik Tatum, 51, killed his wife and took the 8-year-old across state lines to Atlanta.
Tatum is charged with murdering his wife, Andrea Tatum, according to AJC.com. Police believe Tatum has ties to the Atlanta area.
Police believe Kahlil Malik Tatum, 51, a janitor at the homeless shelter at the old D.C. General Hospital, where Relisha lived, killed his wife and now has the girl. They are looking for them up and down the East Coast.
With the search now into its eighth day with no breaks, Relisha’s difficult past is coming into focus. Guardians, social workers and employees at the subsidized shelter had extensive contact with Relisha but missed or ignored repeated opportunities to intervene weeks or even years ago, records show. And her mother, who allowed Relisha to be with Tatum, told school officials her daughter was missing school because she was sick, an explanation that authorities say delayed their ability to respond.
City records show that D.C. agencies had contact with Relisha and her family beginning in 2007, when the girl was 1 or 2. The records show instances of physical abuse, filthy living conditions and a lack of food. But social workers did not remove Relisha and her siblings from the home, city records show.
More recently, officials at the shelter failed to notice Tatum offering children gifts and spending time alone with Relisha, both fireable offenses. READ MORE
Thanks to loyal reader E. Brewer for the tip.
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