A Hotel Surveillance Video Still Haunts a Family: What Happened to Relisha Rudd, Who Vanished in 2014? By Jeff Truesdell

Eleven years have passed since Antonio Wheeler’s then 8-year-old stepdaughter Relisha Rudd vanished in 2014.

Eleven years without seeing Relisha’s wide smile and joyful spirit, or experiencing her love of reading and math, or watching her stand up for her two younger brothers in the face of any disrespect thrown their way.

Eleven years that Wheeler says brought sleepless nights and cold sweats, and “a lot of unsettling thoughts” about what happened to the girl last glimpsed on surveillance tape in a Washington, D.C., hotel with a man Relisha and her mother had trusted, and who subsequently killed himself as police pursued him to ask about the murder of his wife.

“I got through it by just praying to God and hoping that one day I can see her again,” says Wheeler, 38. “Just praying to God the same type of prayers. That she’s okay. And she’s alive.”

Nothing indicates she isn’t. And with Relisha’s milestone 20^th birthday on Oct. 29, a two-part docuseries from the Black and Missing Foundation aims to put Relisha’s story front-and-center again, with the goal of shaking loose any clues that could finally help solve the mystery.

“Someone out there knows something,” says Derrica Wilson, who co-founded the organization along with her sister, Natalie Wilson. “We just need that one person to come forward and help bring answers and justice for Relisha Rudd.”

Trust Exploited, Warnings Missed

Relisha was living with her family — her stepfather, Wheeler; her mother, Shemika Young, and her two younger stepbrothers — in Washington, D.C.’s General Shelter for the homeless in 2014 after an eviction from the family’s apartment.

The shelter was built and previously run as a hospital without proper facilities for housing families, says Jonquilyn Hill, who reported an eight-part series on Relisha’s case in 2021 for public radio station WAMU. There, Relisha was befriended by a janitor, 51-year-old Khalil Tatum, whose felony record for crimes including burglary and breaking-and-entering meant he should not have been hired there in the first place.

Defying a no-fraternization policy between shelter staff and residents, Tatum brought the girl gifts and took her on outings, eventually winning the mother’s permission to keep Relisha out overnight, purportedly to spend time with Tatum’s granddaughter.

“Relisha’s family really was living kind of a cycle of trauma,” says Hill. Both of Relisha’s parents had partly grown up in the foster care system themselves, Hill reported. Although Wheeler lived at the shelter with Young and the couple’s children, he frequently worked in construction out of state, and Young had her hands full with the younger boys. 

“I do think Khalil Tatum knew who to take advantage of,” Hill says. “I think he knew who to go to, who wouldn’t talk, who wouldn’t know to talk, and who was having particular struggles and issues.”

She adds: “He kind of swooped in and was like, ‘Oh, well, I’ll take Relisha off your hands. I have a granddaughter, they can play together. I’ll make sure she’s taken care of.’ And I think there is a part of [Young] that trusted that, and so did not ask questions when she hadn’t seen Relisha for a while.”

A school counselor first questioned Relisha’s whereabouts after a run of classroom absences. By then, a series of purported doctor’s notes forwarded by Relisha’s mother, and signed by a “Dr. Tatum,” had excused those absences.

Concerned, the counselor called the provided phone number only to reach the shelter, which reported there was no “Dr. Tatum,” just a janitor who shared that name.

“That was the moment they realized something was wrong,” says Hill. “And when that happened, 18 days had already passed between them and the last time Relisha had been seen.”

The school alerted law enforcement. Authorities quickly turned up surveillance footage that showed Relisha with Tatum on Feb. 26, 2014, in a hallway of a Washington, D.C., Holiday Inn Express.

Barely a month later, authorities on March 20 found the body of Tatum’s wife, 51-year-old Andrea Tatum, in a separate Maryland motel. An arrest warrant charged him with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution in his wife’s murder, and added that he was “believed to be traveling” with Relisha.

But before they could find him, police on April 1 discovered Tatum dead by suicide near a park in Northeast D.C.

Natalie Wilson, of the Black and Missing Foundation, says the nonprofit swiftly partnered with D.C.’s Metropolitan Police to help search and spread fliers. “Time is of the essence when someone goes missing,” she says. “Thankfully the school counselor sprung into action. But there were so many systems that failed [Relisha], I think if we had known earlier that she was missing, it could have been a different outcome.”

11 Years Later, a New Push for Answers

With the docuseries – two parts, each about 10 minutes each – “we know that it will spark new leads, new tips, but most importantly, grow awareness,” she says. “We hear all the time, ‘Is Relisha still missing? What do you think happened to her?’”

Derrica Wilson believes Relisha may be a victim of sex trafficking.

Since the foundation’s beginning in 2008, “we have been able to bring reunions, answers or justice to over 500 families,” she says. “We’ve seen miracles happen. We have seen so many cases where individuals have been missing for an extensive period of time. And with the renewed efforts of law enforcement, the media, the community, we can actually solve these cases. So yes, that is absolutely our hope.”

The case remains open, says a statement to PEOPLE from D.C. Metropolitan Police. “We are committed to never giving up on the search for her,” the agency says. “Every lead matters, and we will continue to investigate until we have answers about her disappearance.”

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Relisha’s stepfather says he believes she’s still alive — and he hopes the answer will lead to Relisha telling him again how much she loves him.

“She was always looking to help other people, other kids,” Wheeler tells PEOPLE. (He and Relisha’s mother are no longer a couple, and the mother did not participate in the docuseries.) “She was always like the big sister to all her friends, her siblings. She was the first one up, the last one to go to bed.” On more than one morning, Wheeler says he woke to find Relisha sitting on the bed, her clothes already laid out for school. “Daddy, I was waiting for you to wake up,” she said. “Those were times I wish I could have back.”

“Her eyes, her smile just brightening up the room,” he recalls. “She didn’t want people to be sad.”

In the docuseries he says: “She’s got brothers who still talk about her, who miss her. She’s got a whole city, the whole world, that wants her back home. So we’re just looking for her. You’re never giving up.” 

The D.C. Metropolitan Police Department is asking anyone with information about Relisha’s disappearance to call (202) 727-9099 or text 50411 with tips.

The Vanishing of Relisha Rudd: A Cold Case Re-Examined is now streaming on the Black and Missing Foundation’s YouTube channel.