Relisha Rudd: The Girl Who Disappeared for 18 Days Before Anyone Called Police

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Clues with Morgan Absher and Kaelyn Moore

Episode Title: Relisha Rudd: The Girl Who Disappeared for 18 Days Before Anyone Called Police
Podcast: Clues (A Crime House Original)
Date: May 6, 2026
Hosts: Morgan Absher, Kaelyn Moore
Theme: The disturbing, unresolved disappearance of 8-year-old Relisha Rudd in Washington, D.C., and the systemic and personal failures that allowed her to vanish without notice for weeks.

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Overview of Episode

This episode dives deep into the mysterious disappearance of Relisha Rudd, an 8-year-old girl who vanished unnoticed from a D.C. homeless shelter in 2014. Morgan and Kaelyn examine the timeline leading up to her disappearance, the complex family dynamics, the failed safety nets in D.C.’s shelter and welfare system, the predatory actions of shelter worker Khalil Tatum, and the aftermath that left more questions than answers. The hosts emphasize the human tragedy behind the headlines and the devastating impact of systemic failure on vulnerable children.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Humanizing True Crime

• The hosts stress the importance of remembering that every case involves real people and real families—not just headlines.
  • "Everyone we're talking about is a real person." (Kayla Moore, 03:45)
• Audience contributions and missing-person spotlights illustrate the broader impact and foster community involvement.

2. Relisha's Background and Family History

Timeline and Context

• Relisha, her three brothers, mother Shamika, and stepfather Antonio were living in dire circumstances—shuffling between homelessness, unstable housing, and the decrepit D.C. General Family Shelter.
• Multi-generational trauma and poverty defined Relisha’s upbringing, as did exposure to abuse, neglect, and instability.
• Her mother, Shamika, had a troubled past, including being raised in foster care, experiencing generational addiction and trauma, and grappling with intellectual and behavioral disabilities.
  • "Shamika's family ... seemed to be like a massive amount of generational trauma." (Co-host, 07:12)

3. Shelter Conditions & Systemic Failures

Life at D.C. General

• The shelter was notorious for squalid, unsafe conditions: overcrowding, pests, lack of hot water, suspected drug and sex trafficking, and staff-resident boundary violations.
• Staff often ignored mandatory check-ins, enabling Relisha’s prolonged absence to go unnoticed.
  • "Parents would take turns staying awake at night to brush the bugs off of their sleeping children’s faces." (Morgan Absher, 24:08)
  • "Shelter staff did admit that they basically just knocked on the doors and asked how many kids were inside." (Morgan Absher, 28:20)

4. The Disappearance: Timeline and Missed Warnings

Days Before Relisha Went Missing

• Last seen by her Aunt Ashley on March 1, 2014.
• Absences from school escalated without adequate intervention; a school social worker finally triggered a missing child investigation after 18 days.
• Family excused absences by concocting tales of medical care, involving a mysterious "Dr. Tatum."
• The social worker’s discovery that “Dr. Tatum” was actually shelter janitor Khalil Tatum was the catalyst for police involvement.
  • "As soon as Laubonnet found out that there was no Dr. Tatum, he... had a sinking feeling that something was really wrong here." (Morgan Absher, 21:25)

5. Khalil Tatum: The Predator in Plain Sight

Manipulation, Grooming, and Systemic Lapses

• Tatum was a shelter janitor and convicted felon, improperly hired for work with vulnerable families.
  • "Why are we having someone who is going in and working with vulnerable mothers and children at a shelter and this person has been in jail for years and years?" (Morgan Absher, 34:41)
• He cultivated a trusted relationship with Relisha and her mother, presenting himself as a benevolent “godfather” figure—gaining permission to take Relisha on outings and even overnight stays.
• His attention focused exclusively on young girls, never including Relisha’s brothers, which was a noted red flag among some relatives.
  • "He only took Relisha… he was only playing favorites with the young girls at the shelter." (Kayla & Morgan, 32:12–17)

6. Timeline of Key Events (Chronologically Ordered)

| Date/Time | Event | |-----------|-------| | Late Feb 2014 | Relisha stopped attending school (05:16, 18:53–19:13) | | March 1, 2014 | Last seen by Aunt Ashley (06:09–13; 48:14) | | March 3–13 | School social worker grew increasingly alarmed as absences mounted (18:55–19:52) | | March 13, 2014 | Relisha hit 10 unexcused absences—mandatory report triggered (19:13–21:02) | | March 18–19 | Social worker learns Dr. Tatum is not real—calls DCFS (21:14–22:29) | | March 19 | Police search for Tatum and Relisha begins (22:33–25:12) | | March 20 | Amber Alert triggered; Tatum’s wife Andrea found murdered in hotel (44:44–46:46) | | March 27 | Intensive searches at Kenilworth Park begin (50:28–51:05) | | April 1 | Tatum’s body found—suicide; no sign of Relisha (51:30–52:41) |

7. Critical Evidence and Turning Points (“Clues”)

• Clue 1: Discovery of “Dr. Tatum’s” real identity (janitor, not a doctor) (21:25)
• Clue 2: Shelter’s horrific living conditions, enabling factors in Relisha’s disappearance (22:53)
• Clue 3: Relisha’s family providing misleading/conflicting information (26:46)
• Clue 4: Tatum’s “godfather” relationship and history of crossing boundaries (29:25)
• Clue 5: Key surveillance video of Tatum and Relisha at a Holiday Inn (35:35–38:29)
• Clue 6: Body of Andrea Tatum found in hotel, murdered by Khalil Tatum (44:44–46:46)
• Clue 7: Last confirmed sighting of Relisha at Day’s Inn, March 1 (47:48–49:02)
• Clue 8: Tatum buys trash bags, shovel, and lime at Home Depot, March 2 (49:13–50:28)
• Clue 9: Tatum’s suicide in Kenilworth Park—ending hope of learning Relisha’s fate (51:30)

8. The Fallout: Systemic and Personal

Systemic Reports and Critiques

• Subsequent reports cited hiring failures, lack of system oversight, and poor communication among agencies; however, no agency accepted formal blame.
• Policy and reporting on missing children changed in D.C. as a result.

Family Fallout

• Shamika (mother) and Antonio (stepfather) lost custody of Relisha’s brothers; the family splintered.
• Shamika gave a disastrous interview on the Steve Wilkos show, refusing a polygraph and further alienating public sympathy (54:13–55:02).

9. Theories, Speculation, and Loose Ends

Leading Theories

• Majority believe Khalil Tatum killed Relisha and hid/disposed of her remains.
• Some advocates (notably Derica Wilson, Black and Missing Foundation) believe Relisha may have been trafficked and could still be alive.
  • "She thinks that Relisha was trafficked." (Kayla Moore, 57:26–28)
  • "The biggest theory now is just that Tatum probably killed her and hid her body and they'll never find her." (Co-host, 57:36)

Problematic Family Dynamics

• Questions about how stepfather Antonio could afford luxuries while living in a shelter (rumors of possible trafficking connections).
• Family’s shifting narratives and lack of immediate urgency drew suspicion, but hosts urge compassion and contextual understanding, noting cycles of trauma.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On generational trauma and systemic failure:
  "It’s a powerful message … about how vulnerable these young kids are, especially young girls in shelter situations, and how much more advocacy and work needs to happen to make sure people have safe housing and resources." (Morgan Absher, 57:50)
• On failures of mandated reporting:
  "Officials delaying their mandatory reporting obligations—also botched." (Co-host, 53:16)
• On Tatum’s hiring:
  "Why are we having someone who is going in and working with vulnerable mothers and children at a shelter and this person has been in jail for years and years … It’s getting a mark on the botched board." (Morgan Absher, 34:41)
• On the impact of trauma:
  "There’s so much generational trauma … that a lot of us cannot relate to." (Morgan Absher, 40:33)
• On what went wrong:
  "The system, the police, everyone—everyone failed Relisha." (Antonio, as relayed by Morgan Absher, 59:13)

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Activism, Resources, and Call to Action (MM:SS timestamps)

• Black and Missing Foundation:
  • Donate or submit tips: blackandmissinginc.com/tipline (61:53)
  • FBI continues offering $25,000 reward; tips to MPD (202-727-9099) or text 50411
  • Relisha would be 21 years old this year (55:56)
• Spotlight on ongoing cases:
  • Missing person of the week: Jordan Allen, missing since Oct 28, 2023, D.C. (63:44)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Timestamp (MM:SS) | Segment | |------------------|---------| | 05:16–14:45 | Relisha’s early life and family trauma | | 18:53–21:25 | School absences and discovery of the impostor “Dr. Tatum” | | 21:25–25:12 | Police involvement, shelter conditions | | 26:46–29:25 | Family’s misleading information | | 35:35–38:29 | Surveillance video at Holiday Inn | | 44:44–46:46 | Andrea Tatum’s murder; Amber Alert | | 47:48–49:02 | Last confirmed sighting at Days Inn | | 49:13–50:28 | Tatum’s Home Depot purchases (trash bags, lime, shovel) | | 51:30–52:41 | Discovery of Tatum’s body (suicide) | | 53:09–53:44 | Government report on system failures | | 54:13–55:56 | Shamika's public appearances & family outcomes | | 57:26–57:49 | Human trafficking theory from advocate Derica Wilson | | 61:51–62:54 | Activism & tributes to Andrea Tatum | | 63:44 | Missing person of the week |

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Final Reflection

This episode exposes a shocking breakdown of all supposed safety nets protecting vulnerable families. Morgan and Kaelyn show how poverty, systemic neglect, and individual predation allowed a bright, loving eight-year-old to slip away unnoticed for 18 days—her disappearance still unsolved over a decade later. The hosts drive home that, while Tatum most likely either trafficked or killed Relisha, the wider responsibility lies equally with failed systems and a society willing to look away.

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If you have tips regarding Relisha Rudd’s disappearance, please contact the Black and Missing Foundation (blackandmissinginc.com/tipline), the FBI, or Washington Metro Police (202-727-9099 or text 50411).

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Transcript

[News Anchor]

Foreign.

[Morgan Absher]

This is Crime House.

[Kayla Moore]

An eight year old girl goes missing

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

from a shelter in Washington, D.C. nobody

[Kayla Moore]

reports it for weeks, not even her own family.

[Morgan Absher]

By the time police realize Relisha Rudd has gone missing, her case is shrouded in lies. From a mysterious doctor to a bizarre hotel sighting. Investigators don't know who they can trust. Who took Relisha Rudd, and can they finally bring her home?

[Kayla Moore]

Hi, welcome to Clues where we sneak past the crime scene tape to explore the key evidence behind some of the

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

most gripping true crime cases.

[Kayla Moore]

I'm Kayla Moore and I'm going to be the one digging deeper into the timelines, the backstories and the court files

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

released on these cases.

[Morgan Absher]

And I'm your Internet detective, Morgan Absher. I'm the one who's diving into anything I can find online to talk about those lesser known details and pull up the threads that just aren't adding up. Don't forget to share your thoughts on social want ad free listening and early access. Subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts and make sure to go back and listen to our previous episodes wherever you get your podcasts. Now let's get into Relisha Rudd's case and the clues that defined it. Another one of this week's partners is Solace. Navigating the healthcare system can be impossible. Impossible to do it on your own. What if your claim's denied? What if you're not feeling heard by your care team? What if you're dealing with caregiver burnout? That is where solace comes in.

[Kayla Moore]

Solace matches you with a dedicated advocate, experts who take on the hardest parts of your healthcare. They find doctors get insurance to cover your care, keep your doctors on the same page and work with you one on one for as long as it

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

takes to get the care you need.

[Morgan Absher]

There's studies that show that 98% of patients feel more in control of their care after working with an advocate.

[Kayla Moore]

And this is something that I'm seeing

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

play out in real time right now. I have. You know, my grandmother has Alzheimer's. It's so hard to watch her go through the medical system without an advocate

[Kayla Moore]

because she forgets everything her doctors tell her. Like, it's so amazing when you can

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

have someone who's actually paying attention with you and helping you throughout this entire process.

[Morgan Absher]

It's incredible. And some of Solis advocates are registered nurses or other healthcare professionals with an average of 16 years of experience.

[Kayla Moore]

Go to Solishealth.com to see if you qualify. It takes about two minutes and it's covered by insurance. That's Solish. Health.com must be 18 or older. Advocates do not provide medical or legal advice.

[Sponsor Voice]

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[Kayla Moore]

All right, we have a big case

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

today, which I feel like we say about every single one.

[Kayla Moore]

But one thing that's been interesting as

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

we've covered more cases on this show is hearing from you guys and the personal connections you've had to a lot of these cases.

[Morgan Absher]

Mind blowing for me. Like the last episode I looked at the Ben Renick episode. So many people had like seen him at snake conventions or yeah, knew him because they're also in the snake reptile world. So I really appreciate when you guys comment and share your personal connections to the case and sharing your story or any bits of information you guys have.

[Kayla Moore]

It's a reminder that everyone we're talking

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

about is a real person.

[Morgan Absher]

Absolutely.

[Kayla Moore]

Throughout the headlines, the research we do,

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

all the stuff we read about them, like at the center, these are real

[Morgan Absher]

people, people, people that you guys out there listening knew or could have known or was your dentist or was your doctor. It's all of these cases deeply impact people and the communities around them.

[Kayla Moore]

And every week when we do our

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

missing person spotlight at the end of the episodes, that's all coming from you guys. Like we are always pulling those from the audience. So keep them coming. Let us know if there's other ones that you want us to highlight. And with that, let's get into this one.

[Morgan Absher]

This one is a big one. I think a lot of people are going to hear relicious case and just be baffled, be confused, be angry, be angry.

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

For sure. There's a lot to be angry about in this case. A young girl who was wronged by a lot of people.

[Kayla Moore]

And if you're watching on YouTube, just

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

a reminder, you're going to see some

[Kayla Moore]

images, some videos, maybe some maps that will help you visualize the case. And if not, you can find all

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

those same things on our Instagram that's Clues podcast on Instagram. You should follow us there. Anyways, we cover a lot more about the cases there. We, we get into some stuff behind the scenes and some things that we left out of the episodes. It's just good to Follow us on

[Morgan Absher]

Instagram and a warning before we begin, this episode does contain discussions of murder, child abduction, child abuse, sexual violence against minors, sex trafficking, domestic violence, suicide and other potentially distressing topics. So please listen with care.

[Kayla Moore]

So this case starts on Friday, February 28th of 2014. That day, eight year old Relisha Rudd

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

was absent from school.

[Kayla Moore]

There was no excuse that was given,

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

but this wasn't necessarily abnormal for Relisha because she had been missing a lot of school lately.

[Kayla Moore]

The next day though, March 1st, her aunt Ashley reported that she spent a

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

lot of time with Relisha at her own apartment.

[Kayla Moore]

So even though she was missing school,

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

she was still seeing family.

[Kayla Moore]

Relisha and her brothers would spend a

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

lot of weekends over at their Aunt Ashley's because they wanted to get out of the shelter that they were living in. That morning Ashley did Relish hair. She added pink and white bows to the top of her braids. Relish was all smiles when her family got their phone out to record a quick video for her mother Shamika.

[Kayla Moore]

In that footage, Relisha grins at herself in front of the camera and repeats

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

after her aunt we chillin at Aunt Ashley's house. Hi Instagram.

[Kayla Moore]

Shortly after that video was taken, Relisha

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

put on her winter coat and pink

[Kayla Moore]

snow boots and she said goodbye to her Aunt Ashley.

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

And then she left. And Ashley had no idea that she would never see Relisha again.

[Kayla Moore]

But before we get into how the

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

second grader disappeared, we need to start at the beginning.

[Kayla Moore]

So in 2014, Relisha Rudd was eight years old. She was the eldest of four siblings raised by her 28 year old mother,

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

Shamika Young and Shamika's then fiance, 28 year old Antonio Wheeler. Relisha and her oldest brother were full siblings sharing a mostly absent father at the time named Irving Rudd. The younger two boys were Relisha's half brothers, Antonio's biological children, though he played

[Kayla Moore]

the role of dad in the lives

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

of all four children.

[Kayla Moore]

But things were incredibly tough for this

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

family at the time of Relicious disappearance. They were all sharing a room in a crowded shelter for the unhoused in Washington D.C. but their problems, or rather Shamika's problems, started long before Alicia was born.

[Kayla Moore]

Shamika's family on all sides carried, I

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

mean from the research we've done, it seemed to be like a massive amount of generational trauma.

[Kayla Moore]

Her mother, Melissa Young basically raised herself coming of age on the streets of

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

Washington D.C. in the early 1980s.

[Kayla Moore]

This was right in the middle of

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

the era that's now known as the crack epidemic.

[Kayla Moore]

Shamika's mother, Melissa, gave birth to her

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

when she was just 17 years old. And at the time, she was addicted to cocaine and alcohol.

[Kayla Moore]

Now, Shamika Relish's mother went on to

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

be the eldest of five, but was very close with her sister Ashley. For a part of their childhood, they lived with Melissa in a shelter for homeless people. But as Shamika got older, things only got harder. She was diagnosed with a mild intellectual disability, along with emotional and behavioral issues.

[Kayla Moore]

And eventually, in 1999, 13 year old

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

Shamika was involuntarily committed to a pediatric mental health facility. After that, she went to a group home in Virginia. And Shamika eventually aged out of the system, as a lot of kids do, and she turned 18 in 2004.

[Kayla Moore]

In her first few months as an

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

adult, she started dating Irving Rund, who at the time was 34 years old. And just a warning, I mean, this episode's gonna get darker as we go, but the next part of the story does cover disturbing acts of child abuse. So skip ahead for about a minute if you need to.

[Kayla Moore]

So Irving had been released from prison

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

two years earlier, in 2002, after. And this hurts me so, so, so, so deeply to say, but he killed his 17 month old daughter, one of a set of twins. The story is heartbreaking behind this. So Irving was 22 at the time. He claimed that this was accidental. He said that he was trying to reprimand her for crying, which at 17 months old, you can't really reprimand a child for crying. They don't have the cognitive abilities to be like disciplined. He also confessed though, that he spanked the surviving twin so hard once that it did break her leg.

[Kayla Moore]

So Irving was charged with first degree murder.

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

However, a jury ultimately convicted him of involuntary manslaughter. He went to prison for a little bit of time, and after he served his time, he reportedly got a job as a custodian at a place called Catholic Charities.

[Kayla Moore]

It's a place that provides food, shelter,

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

and mental health support to people in need.

[Kayla Moore]

While he was there, he met 18 year old Shamika.

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

And within a few months, Shamika was pregnant and Irving was having more children.

[Morgan Absher]

It's so devastating because you look at how vulnerable of a position Shamika was in.

[Kayla Moore]

Yes, it's unclear if she knew exactly

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

what he had done in his past, though, at this time, just to be

[Morgan Absher]

an 18 year old and you have this 34 year old person who's working at the place you're living.

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

Yeah, it's horrible.

[Kayla Moore]

On October 29, 2005. Relisha Rudd was born and she looked

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

exactly like her 19 year old mom.

[Kayla Moore]

They had the same light brown skin tone, the same naturally arched eyebrows, the same high cheekbones, and the same big

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

eyes with very thick eyelashes.

[Kayla Moore]

Shamika's mom, Melissa, was actually at the

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

hospital for the delivery. She cut the umbilical cord and she gave Shamika some parenting advice. After Relisha was born, she said, quote,

[Kayla Moore]

be the best mom you can be

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

because it's easy for your children to go into foster care, but it's hard to get your children back home with you where they belong. It was a lesson that Melissa unfortunately learned the hard way.

[Kayla Moore]

But she hoped that she could spare

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

her daughter from the same suffering, like maybe stop that cycle in its tracks and maybe her daughter would have a better life than she had.

[Kayla Moore]

And luckily, Shamika had a few people

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

in her life that she could lean on to help her and make sure that that didn't happen.

[Kayla Moore]

One of the people Shamika and Relisha

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

was closest to was her aunt Ashley.

[Kayla Moore]

Shamika was embarrassed about becoming a teen mom.

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

She felt like she was setting a bad example for her little sister, who

[Kayla Moore]

was 17 at the time and was

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

still in foster care. But Ashley and Relisha bonded instantly. Ashley referred to herself as Relish Rescue

[Kayla Moore]

Auntie, because Relisha would always come crawling

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

to her if she needed help with something.

[Kayla Moore]

Shamika was glad that her sister liked

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

to babysit though, because by the time

[Kayla Moore]

Ashley turned 18, Shamika was pregnant with

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

her second child with the now 35 year old Irving Rudd. And that's when Relish's brother was born in 2007. But Shamika and Irving broke up soon after the birth. Then shortly after that, someone else came into their lives and that was 21 year old Antonio Wheeler.

[Kayla Moore]

Now, like Shamika, Antonio had struggled with

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

behavioral issues as a kid and he

[Kayla Moore]

ended up in a group home. And he thought that he might never

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

find someone who could relate to that experience. But that is until that day in 2008 when he got on a city bus and he saw Shamika sitting with two year old Relisha. When their stop arrived, Relisha ordered Antonio to get off the bus and come home with her and Shamika and her little matchmaking attempt worked. Five months later, Shemeka and Antonio moved in together.

[Kayla Moore]

And around 2009, the two of them

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

had a baby boy. Their second son after that came along

[Kayla Moore]

the following year, Relisha, who was now

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

the eldest of four and she was nicknamed Lil Mama because she acted more like a second mom than A big sister.

[Kayla Moore]

It was Relisha who told her brothers when they were eating too much candy. She was the one who got their baths ready at night. But despite her best efforts, Relisha couldn't

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

protect her siblings from the grown up problems of her family.

[Kayla Moore]

In 2012, when Relisha was six or seven years old, the family was evicted

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

from their apartment after falling four months behind on their rent.

[Kayla Moore]

And after that, Relisha, her mother Shamika,

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

and at least one of her brothers lived in a car for a little while. Relisha's cheerleading coach, Shannon Smith, could tell

[Kayla Moore]

that something wasn't right at home.

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

She noticed that Relisha hadn't been bathing, and she seemed starved for affection.

[Kayla Moore]

So Coach Smith did her best to help.

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

Every morning before cheerleading practice, she would take Relicia to the school nurse's office to wash her up and change her clothes.

[Kayla Moore]

And sometimes she would bring Relisha to

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

the nurse's office for baths, basically. And Coach Smith could fix her hair and apply lotion.

[Kayla Moore]

She even babysat Relisha once in a while.

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

And Relisha loved Coach Smith just as much as she loved cheerleading, being girly, and dressing up as a princess on Halloween. Art and drawing also, you know, became a big part of her life. All of this served as a temporary escape, a way for her to forget, at least for a little while, that she didn't have a bedroom to go home to. And eventually, Relish Aunt Ashley stepped in to help them out too. Ashley had just gotten an apartment in southeastern dc.

[Kayla Moore]

It was a one bedroom, but Ashley was willing to squeeze seven people in

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

there if she had to. So Relish, his whole family moved in.

[Kayla Moore]

But the landlord was not thrilled to

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

have six new tenants who weren't on the lease.

[Kayla Moore]

And since Ashley was on a government

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

housing subsidy, she couldn't take a chance at keeping the entire family there.

[Kayla Moore]

So she told Shamika, Antonio, and the

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

four kids that they did have to find somewhere else to go. At least that is Ashley's side of the story. That's what she says happened.

[Kayla Moore]

In an interview with WAMU, Washington D.C.

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

's National Public Radio affiliate, Antonio claimed that Ashley kicked his family out of her apartment because she didn't like his relaxed parenting style. Either way, Shemeika and Antonio were back on the street, literally.

[Kayla Moore]

And this time they contacted the local

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

Family Resource center about going to a shelter.

[Kayla Moore]

But there weren't any that could take

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

in a family of six right away. That was a lot of people.

[Kayla Moore]

And after a year of staying at

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

a days in motel provided by the Resource Center. The family got word in 2013 that there was a spot ready for them. Unfortunately, it was at the D.C. general Family Shelter. It was a spot that was notorious for being unsanitary. It was bug infested and above all, it was unsafe. You know, despite that, it was a place where parents and kids could stay together, unlike other shelters, which typically would

[Kayla Moore]

split men and women up.

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

Plus, this was really the only option that the family had.

[Kayla Moore]

By late February 2014, eight year old

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

Relish's family had been living at D.C. general for seven months. Relisha was a second grader at Payne

[Kayla Moore]

Elementary School in the city's Hill east neighborhood.

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

Hill east did have a persistently high

[Kayla Moore]

crime rate, but Payne was the closest

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

elementary school to D.C. general.

[Kayla Moore]

One in five students enrolled at Payne

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

for the 20132014 school year was classified as unhoused.

[Kayla Moore]

But Relisha seemed like she was handling

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

the situation as well as she could.

[Kayla Moore]

At least her brothers would sometimes get in trouble with their teachers, but Relisha never did.

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

She paid attention in class.

[Kayla Moore]

She always remembered her manners. She was popular with her classmates.

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

She made some close friends at school.

[Kayla Moore]

She also would get up early every morning and help her three little brothers

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

get ready for the day.

[Kayla Moore]

In the evening, she wouldn't go to

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

bed until they were all done with their homework. And everyone who knew Relisha could see how important, even at such a young age, education was to her.

[Kayla Moore]

She would get up early in the

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

morning just to pick out her outfits for school before everyone woke up. And that is why it was so strange when one day she just stopped going to school.

[Morgan Absher]

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[Kayla Moore]

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[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

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[Kayla Moore]

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[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

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[Morgan Absher]

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[Kayla Moore]

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[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

be a lot of what ifs. When we were starting a podcast, we

[Kayla Moore]

came up with what if no one listens?

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

What if we never find our community? What if it's bad?

[Kayla Moore]

But Shopify can ease some of those worries with their expertise, their helpful tools

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

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[Kayla Moore]

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[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

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[Morgan Absher]

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[Kayla Moore]

It's time to turn those what ifs into with Shopify today. Sign up for your $1 a month trial today at shopify.comclues. that's shopify.comclues shopify.comclues that takes us back

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

to Monday, March 3rd.

[Kayla Moore]

On that day, Relisha missed school again.

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

She had been out for that entire week.

[Kayla Moore]

There was a social worker at Payne Elementary School. Her name was labone Workman and she

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

started getting worried that she was missing so much school.

[Kayla Moore]

By March 13, Relica had racked up 10 unexcused absences and that within this

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

school system, triggered a mandatory reporting requirement.

[Kayla Moore]

At that point, Labonnet was legally required

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

to open a case with the D.C. child and Family Services Agency.

[Kayla Moore]

At first, he wanted to give Relish

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

Family a chance to prove that her absences should be excused. This wasn't necessarily the first time that Relisha had missed school. She had been absent now a total of 30 times that school year.

[Kayla Moore]

But this time was different, because typically,

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

her family would send in notes in the past that excused most of those absences. Typically, that was due to illness.

[Kayla Moore]

But eventually, the school wanted to see

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

more than a note from home to keep excusing Relisha.

[Kayla Moore]

They wanted an actual doctor's note. So once Relisha reached five unexcused absences

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

in a row, labonnet called Shamika.

[Kayla Moore]

And Shamika said Relisha was seeing someone named Dr. Tatum, and that was for migraine headaches. Labonais explained that the school was going

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

to need to see a letter from this doctor if that was the case.

[Kayla Moore]

So then later that week, labonnet said Relish's grandmother Melissa brought in a note

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

with a phone number for Dr. Tatum.

[Kayla Moore]

Melissa denies that she ever delivered this message, but labone maintained that that is

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

where he got it. And he called that number right away just to see what was going on, just to see if this absence could be excused.

[Kayla Moore]

And after a little bit of phone

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

tag, he speaks with Dr. Tatum, who

[Kayla Moore]

confirms over the phone that he was

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

treating Relisha for, quote, neurological issues and

[Kayla Moore]

that she would be discharged probably by the end of the week, meaning March 14.

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

Labonnet then told the doctor that he would need proof of Relish illness sooner rather than later.

[Kayla Moore]

And Dr. Tatum promised that he was going to send over the proper documentation so her absences could be excused. But that paperwork still hadn't arrived by

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

the time Relisha reached that crucial 10 absence mark on March 13.

[Kayla Moore]

The doctor said he was having trouble with his fax machine, so labonnet still

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

gave him the benefit of the doubt.

[Kayla Moore]

But by the following Wednesday, March 19, Labonais patients had worn completely out.

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

So he made one last ditch effort to get that medical documentation.

[Morgan Absher]

That day, labonnet went to the shelter to see if anyone there knew where Dr. Tatum's office was. But Labonais got nothing back except blank, confused stares. There's no Dr. Tatum here. Finally, he was able to find a case manager who said they didn't know of a doctor by that name, but there was a shelter employee named Tatum. Which brings us to our very first clue. Dr. Tatum's true identity. It turns out his real name was Khalil Tatum, and he was actually an employee at the shelter. He worked there as a custodial worker. He held other positions there, too. Sometimes he worked in the cafeteria or the kitchen, but he definitely was not a doctor. As soon as Laubonnet found out that there was no Dr. Tatum, he. He had a sinking feeling that something was really wrong here. So before he even left the shelter that day, Labonet called the Child and Family Services Agency hotline. He wanted to report a case of suspected child abuse.

[Kayla Moore]

So when CFSA got this call, they

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

took it very seriously.

[Kayla Moore]

Officers from DC's Metropolitan Police Department arrived

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

at DC General within minutes. Obviously, the first person that they wanted to talk to was Khalil Tatum, but

[Kayla Moore]

he was nowhere to be found. He wasn't at work that day. Every time they called his cell phone,

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

he never picked up. So MPD officers began the search for him.

[Morgan Absher]

In the meantime, a few detectives stayed around the shelter to learn more about Relisha and to just try to get a clear idea of what Relisha's life was like before her disappearance. Which takes us to our second clue. Relish's experience and the conditions at D.C. general. Now, as we mentioned, the conditions at this shelter were not great. This was an old hospital that had been retrofitted to now become a family shelter, but it was supposed to be temporary, so none of the modifications they made were great. At the time Relisha disappeared, March 2014, there were nearly 600 kids living at D.C. general, with up to 270 families crammed onto just four floors. Every family shared a single room, and those were small, unrenovated former hospital rooms. I saw in one source that sometimes multiple families shared just one hospital room.

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

Yeah, that makes sense.

[Morgan Absher]

And if you've ever been to a hospital or visited someone in them, the rooms aren't massive.

[Kayla Moore]

No.

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

And it's like dorming.

[Morgan Absher]

Yeah. And Relicious family is a family of six. I mean, this is a big family. So the conditions were pretty terrible, to say the least. But this next part, you guys like, you're literally gonna start to feel itchy. There were bedbugs, roaches, mice. Sometimes there were even raccoons rolling around. Some parents would take turns staying awake at night to brush the bugs off of their sleeping children's faces. The hot water would go out, often for weeks at a time. The elevators regularly got stuck with people inside. Children passed around ringworm and scabies. I mean, this was horrible. Horrible living conditions.

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

It's also, I mean, illegal. You can't, at least in la, you can't not have hot water, not for weeks. Violates tenants rights.

[Morgan Absher]

Exactly. And residents even reported seeing others with guns, knives. I mean, there were rumors of drug trafficking and sex work within this shelter. Despite Their strict policy that workers weren't supposed to fraternize with residents. A lot of residents did see staffers pursuing sexual relationships with people living at the shelter. There were also a lot of complaints from former residents about shelter employees claims of sa voyeurism, staff offering residents money for sex. And there was even reports of one staff member who supposedly parented a child with a resident. And given all this information, it's not surprising that Relisha hated living at D.C. general. Whenever she left, she begged not to go back. She asked if she could just stay at school overnight. She would ask teachers to stay with her after school and hang out even if there was nothing to work on. She just loved being at school and away from this environment. And when she visited family, she didn't want to go either. There's one account we have that she faked an asthma attack, hoping that they would let her stay there to recover. Once investigators discovered how miserable Relisha was at the shelter, they kind of realized something. Relisha may have walked out of there with anyone if they were promising her a better life. Knowing that, it became even more important to find out exactly how long Relisha had been missing and how far she might have traveled. So investigators pulled 28 year old Shamika and her fiance, 28 year old Antonia Wheeler, into a conference room at the shelter for questioning. Detectives immediately ran into a huge problem. They were finding that the people who should have been the most motivated to find Relisha were not being helpful at all. Which brings us to our third clue. The misleading information from Relisha's family. When police first questioned Shameika that day, she was seemingly angry about it. She kept insisting that Relisha was perfectly safe and the police were just wasting their time. And she even told them a completely different story than she had told Labonie Workman, that social worker from the school. Remember, she had mentioned Relisha was being treated at the hospital out of state migraines. Now, she was telling police that Relisha was with Dr. Tatum at a medical conference in Atlanta. In fact, Shamika said that she had spoken to Relisha on the phone just two days earlier on March 17, and she'd last seen her in person before Relisha and Dr. Tatum left town on March 8th. Now, it's unclear if police still hadn't told Shameika that they knew the truth about Khalil Tatum. Like, ma', am, he's not a doctor. We know he works as a janitor at the shelter. But regardless, like, she is still doubling down on her claims that he really was a doctor. None of it is adding up. So investigators end up getting in touch with Relisha's grandmother, Melissa. She told them that she thought Relisha was with Dr. Tatum, too. She claimed that she had spoken to Alicia on the phone earlier that very same day, and she was going to pick up Relisha from Tatum's apartment that evening, but had gotten delayed. Detectives didn't know at this point if Melissa was also lying or if she really did think Relisha was at Tatum's apartment. But detectives couldn't confirm Shamika or Melissa's claims that they had spoken to Relish on the phone recently. Nobody else at the shelter had seen Relisha since the beginning of March. And while the shelter was supposed to do nightly bed checks where they went in and confirmed who was in each family's room, shelter staff did admit that they basically just knocked on the doors and asked how many kids were inside. It wasn't as thorough as it was intended to be. And so by this point, they don't have any idea when Relisha was last there. And investigators are pretty sure that Relish's mom and grandma are hiding something big. The question is why? So at this point, detectives are like, we need to figure out who Khalil Tatum is. We need to know more about this guy. So they start digging and find out that Khalil Tatum is a 51 year old, and he's been a part of Relish's life for the past few months. Like all shelter employees, Tatum had signed a DC General's non fraternization policy when he was hired, again prohibiting personal relationships with shelter residents. But some of those residents said Tatum was still known to give gifts and pay special attention to his favorite residents, especially young girls. And 8 year old relica was very clearly one of his favorites. Which is our fourth clue. Tatum's connection to Relisha. Ashley and Melissa had very similar things to say about Tatum. They both said Shamika had begun referring to Tatum as Relisha's godfather shortly after they moved to the shelter. Ashley and Melissa, again aunt and grandma, also noted that Shamika allowed Tatum to take Relisha off shelter grounds alone. And this was actually like, a pretty common occurrence. It first started with daytime activities like trips to national monuments, but then it grew into longer trips away. Ashley said that she first met Tatum when he came by himself to pick Relish up from her apartment. She basically describes, like, him showing up and being like, how did you even get my address? Who are You. Why are you here? To take care of my niece. She's confused. Doesn't want to let Relisha go with him. She's like, this is weird. And so she ends up calling Shamika, who just insisted that this was okay. And that's kind of when Shamika was like, no, no, no. This is Relish's godfather.

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

Yep. Okay.

[Morgan Absher]

And Ashley's like, this is news to me. But at this point, Ashley was also afraid that if she made it a big deal and was like, no, I'm not letting her go with this Mr. Tatum guy. Shamika would keep her from seeing Relisha again in the future, especially because the two of them weren't really in a good place. And there are a lot of sources that say, like, Relisha did really like Tatum. Relisha would beg her aunt Ashley to call Khalil Tatum from her apartment, and if he picked up the phone, she would beg him to come get her and take her somewhere. Ashley said Shamika didn't tell her that Relisha's new godfather was a custodian at the shelter. She actually found that out through police when Relisha went missing. Melissa Grandma also said that Shamika allowed Tatum to babysit frequently. Sometimes that included Relisha staying overnight at his place with him and his wife, Andrea. And Melissa admitted that she was uncomfortable with this at first, too. But after spending some time with Tatum, she did begin to trust him. I mean, he was a step grandfather and said his grandkids liked to play with Relisha. Unlike Ashley, though, Melissa did know that Tatum was a shelter employee. She often picked the kids up from school and dropped them off at D.C. general. So she ran into Tatum there. But one thing she did notice about Tatum, he never offered to take the boys anywhere. Remember Relish? Three siblings?

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

Yeah, her brothers.

[Morgan Absher]

Her brother, too. He only took Relisha, and he was

[Kayla Moore]

only playing favorites with the young girls at the shelters.

[Morgan Absher]

At the shelter, however, Shamika's story was completely different from Ashley and Melissa's. She said she never let Tatum watch Relish unsupervised. When pushed, she blamed Melissa for actually sending Relisha to Tatum's apartment overnight. But Shamika's fiance, Antonio, did back up Melissa and Ashley's claims. He pointed the finger at Shamika for allowing Tatum to babysit. Antonio didn't even realize at first that Relisha was actually spending nights and weekends at Tatum's apartment. You see, Antonio had a job in Pennsylvania at the time, so he was gone a lot. He was traveling and staying at other locations for work. So he wasn't always at the shelter to see where the kids were going and who they were with. And when he found it out, Antonio said he confronted Tatum directly. He told him to stay away from, from Shamika and Relisha.

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

Let's rewind just a little bit because I want to talk about who Tatum was outside of Relisha because his history ends up being pretty important to this case.

[Kayla Moore]

He was born Carl Lee Tatum and grew up in the D.C. area. By his late teens, in the early

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

1980s, he had already racked up a criminal record for breaking and entering, burglary and larceny. He was incarcerated for two long stretches.

[Kayla Moore]

The first one was 1993 to 2003

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

and then again from 2004 to 2011. That was three years before Relisha went missing.

[Kayla Moore]

And during his time in prison, he

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

changed his first name to Khalil.

[Kayla Moore]

When he got out, he applied to

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

work for the nonprofit that managed the D.C. general Shelter. And despite his history, despite too long stretches in jail, he did get the job working with incredibly vulnerable people at the shelter.

[Morgan Absher]

Yeah, I'm giving it a botchboard. I know we typically reserve this for the investigation, but there's so many checks and balances and systems in place to make sure vulnerable people do not have this happen to them. And like this is one of those where he shouldn't have been hired.

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

I almost feel like there's not really that many checks and balances. You read about this all the time in LA shelters, that the people working there are often the problem and it's

[Morgan Absher]

not supposed to work like that. Like there are supposed to be these systems in place that protect such vulnerable populations.

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

I had to get a background check to work at a McDonald's, like, and

[Morgan Absher]

that's what I'm saying.

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

Yeah, yeah, I know it's frustrating to read about.

[Morgan Absher]

Why are we having someone who is going in and working with vulnerable mothers and children at a shelter and this person has been in jail for years and years and there's no mention of reform. Like it's just botched. It's getting a mark.

[Kayla Moore]

I mean, it does seem, at least

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

at first, from what we read about, that he made a mostly positive and pro depression.

[Kayla Moore]

And this is according to some other

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

residents that were at D.C. general.

[Kayla Moore]

They described him as being well dressed and well spoken.

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

He also, you know, did appear to

[Kayla Moore]

be very in love with his 51 year old wife of 23 years, Andrea Tatum.

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

Did enjoy spoiling her with gifts and with jewelry. He also bought her a new car in February of 2014.

[Kayla Moore]

And he, you know, was said to

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

be a doting stepfather to Andrea's adult children and their children.

[Kayla Moore]

The couple told their friends that they

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

did hope to retire in about 10 years and devote themselves to public service. After that, Andrea often volunteered with DC's unhoused population, usually through the church that she was a part of. And she felt really, really passionate about giving back after, you know, she recovered from her own drug addiction. Meanwhile, Tatum wanted to focus on mentoring young men, teaching them things that he wished that he learned at an earlier age.

[Kayla Moore]

From the outside, it seemed like they

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

had a solid marriage.

[Kayla Moore]

Many of their friends looked up to

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

them for overcoming addiction, incarceration, and poverty. You know, despite all of that, they stayed together. They had jobs, they were working for their community. Like, on paper, it looked amazing. It was like one of those not

[Kayla Moore]

Cinderella stories, but it's like one of

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

those stories that you want to, like, preach from the rooftops to be like, look what you can.

[Morgan Absher]

I mean, it does. I mean, on paper, it would look like there was a big lifestyle change, a lot of reform there.

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

Yeah.

[Kayla Moore]

Well, what their friends didn't know was

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

that Khalil had quietly filed for divorce in February of 2014. That was just weeks before Relisha went missing.

[Morgan Absher]

So at this point, detectives with Washington's D.C. metro Police Department were pretty certain that Tatum was the key to finding Relisha, which is why they knew that they needed to track him down fast. They called in as much backup as they could, including the FBI, who joined the investigation the very next day on March 20th. And pretty quickly, the FBI uncovered a key piece of evidence, which is our fifth clue. A surveillance video. The footage came from a Holiday inn Express about 2 1/2 miles from the D.C. general Shelter. It was timestamped February 26, three days before Relisha was last seen by her Aunt ashley. In the 52 second clip, Tatum walks down the Holiday Inn hallway next to Alicia. She's wearing her winter jacket and pink winter boots and carrying something in a white plastic bag. Tatum has a small blue shopping bag, too. They apparently go the wrong way at first because Tatum touches relicious shoulders to turn her around. Eventually, they find the door that they're looking for. Tatum pulls out a room key and opens it while Relisha watches. Then they enter the room together. If there's video of Relisha leaving that room, neither the police nor the FBI released it or have even talked about it. But we know that Relisha made it to Ashley's apartment. Safely. Three days later, on March 1, police seemingly checked that Holiday Inn Express. It was a dead end. Neither Tatum nor Relisha was there. Police didn't even know if they were Even in the D.C. area at this point. But the video at least gave them a starting point. If Tatum had stayed at one local hotel, maybe he stayed at others. So investigators started searching all the other hotels they could in the area. Meanwhile, the team back at D.C. general was still kind of struggling to rein in Shamika.

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

And I really can't wrap my head around this, but Shamika was refusing to file a missing persons report for her eight year old daughter that had not been seen in weeks. Weeks she kept insisting that Relisha was safe and not missing. But she could not or she wouldn't. We're unsure tell police where Relisha was.

[Kayla Moore]

Ultimately, a report got filed anyway, with

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

or without Shamika's help.

[Kayla Moore]

Investigators decided, though, that they weren't going

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

to make any public announcements about the case. That very first night.

[Kayla Moore]

They wondered if they had already, you

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

know, maybe spooked Tatum by showing up at the shelter.

[Kayla Moore]

Maybe it got back to him that

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

they were there and, you know, if he's already on the run, it, it could completely spook him and he could be gone forever.

[Morgan Absher]

I will just say, like, I'm shocked by the fact that she didn't want to file a report. I get like not wanting to involve authorities, like your little girl is missing and I get there's been, you know, some involvement with CPS and her and her kids. So I get not wanting to involve authorities. But at the same time, you have police involved, you have the FBI involved. It's time. So I'm putting a botched mark here for not wanting to report your 8 year old missing. But I do feel like the investigators in this, the police are doing so much to get the word out and try to try to find out where Relisha is that I almost want to give them a Sherlock moment for this, for just kind of bulldozing forward and still getting this missing person report filed.

[Kayla Moore]

Yeah, you know, I am taken back

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

to what Melissa told Shamika, which was like, no matter what you do, make sure your babies don't get taken from you. And so I could see that in Shamika's head when she's considering, like, do I file this police report? Because this, this is probably the end of the line for me and my children, like they're going to get taken from me after this.

[Morgan Absher]

Well, in her head, Relisha has gone with Tatum time and Time before.

[Kayla Moore]

Yeah.

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

And comes back, she really does trust Tatum. And so ye. So maybe she's thinking that she can handle it behind the scenes. You know, there's a lot about Shamika that we don't know at this time.

[Morgan Absher]

Yeah. And again, there's so much generational trauma and a lens to this that a lot of us cannot relate to.

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

Yeah.

[Morgan Absher]

So it is hard for us to understand this. But regardless.

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

But I'm glad that that missing persons report got filed, because that's incredibly important.

[Kayla Moore]

But by the following day, March 20,

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

they knew that they were going to need the public's help.

[Kayla Moore]

They thought maybe if we get word

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

out a little bit more, we will get a tip or something. Maybe someone saw them, like, at least we can head in the right direction

[Kayla Moore]

rather than trying to keep everything secret

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

and, you know, not really knowing where to go from this point on.

[Kayla Moore]

And so they did trigger an Amber

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

alert for Relisha and they thought that

[Kayla Moore]

maybe this would get them the tip

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

that they needed to, you know, go in a direction. And they did receive a phone call, but it was not the one that they were anticipating.

[Kayla Moore]

This episode is brought to you by Aura Frames. We're coming up on Mother's Day. For me, it's going to be my

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

first Mother's day, which is already going to make me cry.

[Kayla Moore]

And with an aura frame, you can capture and relive mom's magic every day

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

because it's a perfect way to share photos with your family members or loved ones.

[Kayla Moore]

You can curate the photos that you want to send directly to the frame, and they can just open their package

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

and already see the amazing photos that you want to share with them.

[Morgan Absher]

It is really a gift that's such an upgrade from anything else. It's sentimental. It's going to last for years to come and continuously be updated. And for any parents that want to keep your kids off social media, it's a great way to share those pictures with your family.

[Kayla Moore]

My aura frame I treat like a tv.

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

I truly will just sit there and look at it. I just uploaded like 500 more photos of my baby up on the frame, and that way I don't have to post them on social media.

[Morgan Absher]

Yeah, Family is not going to miss a single moment. So make Mother's Day special with aura frames named number one by wirecutter. You can save on the gifts moms love by visiting auraframes.com for a limited time. Listeners can get $25 off their best selling carver map frame with code clues. That's a U R A frames.com promo code clues. Support the show by mentioning us at checkout. Terms and conditions apply. Today's episode is brought to you by alma.

[Kayla Moore]

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[Morgan Absher]

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[Kayla Moore]

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[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

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[Morgan Absher]

Yeah, people who use ALMA to find a therapist who accepts their insurance save an average of 80% on the cost of sessions.

[Kayla Moore]

Clients with insurance pay $20 on average. And you know, May is mental health

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

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[Morgan Absher]

Absolutely. It's always a good time to address your mental health.

[Kayla Moore]

You can join the over 1 million people who have already found care with Alma. Get started now at helloalma.com clues that's helloalma.com C L U E S

[Sarah Turney]

When someone goes missing, the headlines focus on what happened. But the truth often lives in the smallest details. I'm Sarah Turney. After my sister disappeared, I learned how those final hours, the last conversations, the last decisions, can haunt families forever.

[Courtney Nicole]

And I'm Courtney Nicole Whole. After seeing crime impact my own family, I've learned how overlooked moments, missed red flags and unanswered questions can change everything.

[Sarah Turney]

Together, we're bringing those lived experiences into the work. This is the Final hours a Crime House original powered by Pave Studios. A podcast that puts the moments before a disappearance under a microscope.

[Courtney Nicole]

Listen to and follow the final hours wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes every Monday.

[Morgan Absher]

Early in the morning of March 20, 2014, Khalil Tatum's red SUV was spotted at a Red Roof Inn in Prince George's County, Maryland. This was about 12 miles from the D.C. general Shelter. Law enforcement quickly swarmed the hotel and they were hoping to find Relicia safe inside. But instead they found our sixth clue. The body of 51 year old Andrea Tatum, Khalil Tatum's wife of 23 years. She was lying on the bed face down with one fatal gunshot wound to her head and Khalil Tatum was nowhere to be seen. Through hotel records and witness interviews, detectives were able to piece together what happened the night before. They found that at some point in the evening of March 19, Andrea told her adult daughter that she was going to a hotel because the heat at her apartment wasn't working. At 10:04pm, both she and Tatum checked into a room at the red Roof Inn. Three other adults were with them, but no relisha. Those three people left about 90 minutes later, shortly before midnight. When one of them returned the next morning at 5:40am to give Khalil Tatum a ride, he wouldn't let them into the room. But when the door cracked open, the friend spotted Andrea lying face down on the bed. But apparently the friend wasn't able to notice that she was dead. That friend then drove Tatum to a Metro station, dropped him off at 6am and hadn't heard from him since. The other people that were there at the Red Roof Inn have never been identified from police, and by now law enforcement believed Tatum is clearly capable of murder. This was likely done sometime on March 19, maybe early morning, March 20. The Amber Alert officially went out March 20 after he did this. Yeah, which is even more confusing. But it's clear that now both he and Relisha were missing.

[Kayla Moore]

So later that very same day, March 20, still, police held a press conference

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

confirming both Andrea's murder and the search for Relisha Rudd.

[Kayla Moore]

Officials announced that Khalil Tatum was the

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

only suspect in Andrea's death, and they had an open warrant for his arrest on charges of murder.

[Kayla Moore]

The FBI and local police offered separate

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

cash rewards for information on both Andrea's murder and Relish's disappearance, and that totaled $70,000.

[Kayla Moore]

They released photos of Tatum and Relisha,

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

including pictures of a tattoo on Tatum's arm of an Egyptian ink symbol.

[Morgan Absher]

We're going to insert some clips from the news briefings, but these were intense briefings and they knew from the jump, this is our guy and we need to find him.

[News Anchor]

A community gathered to pray for the safe return of Relisha Rudd, the missing 8 year old girl who police fear is in danger. Sources tell News4 relicia's mom had allowed Tatum to take Relisha weeks ago, not suspecting he would hurt her. Police throughout the region and as far as Richmond are looking for this little girl.

[Morgan Absher]

After all of these press conferences, all of these news stories go out, the phone lines lit up. And one of those calls leads us to our seventh clue, the last confirmed sighting of Relisha Rudd. The tipster said that Tatum and Relisha checked in to A Day's Inn on the night of March 1st. This stay at the Days Inn would have been just a few hours after Relisha left her Aunt Ashley's house for that last time.

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

And like three weeks prior, Three weeks

[Morgan Absher]

prior, the hotel clerk did actually remember checking them in. Someone else saw Relisha walk past the fountain outside the hotel that same evening. Unfortunately, this time there was no surveillance video, but multiple guests also remembered seeing Tatum wearing a suit and tie, saying that he kind of stood out in a crowd. However, no one reported seeing Relisha leave the Days In. There were a couple of possible sightings around that time from people who said they saw Relisha at a nearby shelter, but they were referring to a different, smaller shelter than D.C. general, which wouldn't really make sense given her family was at D.C. general. There was also one of Tatum's neighbors that came forward and told the media that she actually saw Relisha with Tatum leaving his apartment on the Saturday before the search began. That would have been March 15, a two full weeks after the Days Inn stay. But upon further investigation, police decided that the Days Inn sighting on the night of March 1st was the last one that they could officially confirm. However, the next clue changed things entirely. About two miles from the Days Inn, there's a Home Depot. And police learned that Tatum had done a little shopping on March 2nd. That trip, and what he bought is our eighth clue. Tatum purchased a carton of black 42 gallon trash bags. Police said he also bought a shovel and lime, which can accelerate decomposition. But Relisha was not seen with Tatum during the shopping trip, and by this point the police knew her family hadn't seen or spoken to her since the day before. When investigators sifted through their other credible tips, they discovered Home Depot wasn't the only place Tatum had visited. On March 2. He was seen again later that day at the Kenilworth park and Aquatic Gardens. It's basically the 700 acre park just across from the Days Inn along the Anacostia River. According to that tipster, Tatum spent a significant amount of time at the park that day.

[Kayla Moore]

So by Thursday, March 27, that's now

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

eight days into the investigation, Kenilworth park and Aquatic Gardens became the primary focus of the search. Investigators mustered all the resources they could, bringing out all of the available officers, the FBI agents, tracking dogs, helicopters, boats, and a team of divers to check every square inch of the park. They also made a tragic announcement to the press.

[Kayla Moore]

Investigators were now referring to this search

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

as a recovery mission, meaning they no longer had much hope that Relisha Rudd would be found alive. They didn't find anything the first few days of this search, though.

[Kayla Moore]

And finally on April 1, law enforcement

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

decided that they needed more backup.

[Kayla Moore]

They invited a few nonprofit groups to

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

help, including representatives from the Black and Missing Foundation. They're going to show up a lot in this story.

[Kayla Moore]

But only about 40 minutes after they

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

entered the park, civilian searchers were told to suspend operations and leave immediately. They had discovered a body, although it wasn't Relishes.

[Morgan Absher]

On the morning of April 1st, day six of this large scale search for eight year old relisha Rudd, police made a shocking announcement. The area they were searching at the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens was now an active crime scene. Which brings us to our ninth and final clue. A body. When investigators opened a shed at the park, they were afraid of finding Relish's remains. Instead, they found Khalil Tatum's body. He died of a self inflicted gunshot wound to the head with the same gun that was used to kill his wife, Andrea. Tatum was very quickly identified by his tattoos. Forensic investigators weren't able to determine what day he died, though. But they figured that he had been dead for at least 36 hours, possibly even several days. Tatum's bank card was last used six days before the Kenilworth park search started on March 21, the day after Andrea was killed. The problem was though, they still hadn't found a single piece of evidence connected to Relisha. And now one of the few people who knew the truth, who knew where she might actually be, is dead.

[Kayla Moore]

So after finding Tatum's body, the police

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

promised that they were not closing the chapter on Relisha.

[Kayla Moore]

They've continued to repeat that message over

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

the years, saying that they'll never give up until she's found.

[Kayla Moore]

But family members, advocates, volunteers, searchers and

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

the media all say that the activity on Relicious case calmed down significantly since Tatum's body was discovered. In September 2014, the district of Columbia released a report about how the system may have let Relisha down.

[Kayla Moore]

It talked about the hiring of a former felon to work at a family shelter.

[Morgan Absher]

See it? It's right there, baby.

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

Yes.

[Morgan Absher]

Number one.

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

Officials delaying their mandatory reporting obligations also botched.

[Morgan Absher]

I didn't even give it that one. Okay, we'll put it on there.

[Kayla Moore]

I know. And shelter staff failing to notice that

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

Relisha had not been there for three weeks.

[Morgan Absher]

Those checks, Those bedroom checks.

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

Despite the fact that her family was

[Kayla Moore]

still there, the report made several recommendations

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

for policy change in the future, but

[Kayla Moore]

it concluded that none of the agencies

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

involved should be blamed for Alicia's abduction.

[Morgan Absher]

Doesn't mean they can't be on the botched board.

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

Yeah, a hundred percent. Or with four yeah.

[Kayla Moore]

Over the years, advocates have kept the

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

pressure on by holding vigils for Alicia, organizing volunteer search parties, talking to the press, and working with private investigators.

[Kayla Moore]

There were also Facebook groups and forums

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

dedicated to Relish's case. Plus a call in radio show with hundreds of listeners called the Finding Relisha radio show. But even with all of this attention, no new leads have surfaced since 2014.

[Kayla Moore]

And there is one person who has

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

been missing from all of these press appearances, and that is Shamika. She hasn't done any interviews since she appeared in one interview, and that was on the Steve Wilko show back in 2017. There, Shemeka spoke in front of a live audience, but she does not come off well in that interview.

[Kayla Moore]

She refuses to take a polygraph test live on air.

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

And she said she didn't believe that Tatum died by suicide, which was very confusing for the audience when she said that.

[Kayla Moore]

Then she got into an argument with Steve Wilkos that led to her being

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

called a bad mom. And then she gets kicked off the stage. After that, Shamika stayed away from the

[Kayla Moore]

press, and according to her mother, Melissa, she instead focused on getting her high

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

school diploma through an adult education program.

[Kayla Moore]

Melissa has her own regrets about the

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

case, but she has decided to forgive Shamika.

[Kayla Moore]

She says in the wake of Relish's

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

disappearance, Shamika and her fiance Antonio also did split up. Neither one of them got custody of Relish brothers. After a long battle, a judge ruled that the boys should stay in foster care. So, you know, the one thing that Melissa did warn Shamika about, unfortunately did happen to her. Two of them recently gave interviews for the first time with their identities shielded. And they shared how they remembered Relisha as the loving lil mama who always told them to bathe, eat healthy, do their homework, and get good grades. And how they will never give up on finding their sister. Ashley and Melissa do still hope that Relisha is alive somewhere. And if she is, she would be 21 years old this year.

[Kayla Moore]

And that kind of brings us to

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

these loose ends and theories, a lot of theories as to what happened.

[Kayla Moore]

I mean, aside from Khalil Tatum, there's never been any other suspects that have

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

been named publicly in this case.

[Kayla Moore]

So pretty much everyone agrees that Khalil

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

had something to do with her disappearance.

[Morgan Absher]

I mean, I don't know how you could say he isn't connected. The video. When you watch the video of him leading her down this hotel hallway, it's insane how casual it looks. And I remember in one of the interviews I saw on the news sources, one of the front desk workers was like, if I would have known she didn't belong there, I would have called. But it's like, you couldn't tell. It's like, this looked like it was a dad and his daughter. That's how comfortable they were. And so I'm like, I have no doubt in my mind that he brought her to this hotel. Again, it's just beyond baffling. And I know a lot of people in this case also point to the family and why didn't they report her missing and this and that. And again, I think there's a lot that goes into it. I watched an interview with Derica Wilson, who is the co founder and CEO of the Black and Missing Foundation. She just talks about how there is so much trauma and generational trauma, and when you look at what Shamika went through, it's. She wasn't acting normal, but, you know, maybe that trauma is a part of it, and it's really hard. I. I was really.

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

Derek also has what she thinks happened.

[Kayla Moore]

She thinks that Relisha was trafficked.

[Morgan Absher]

Yeah. Yeah. She did share that in the interview as well.

[Kayla Moore]

Yeah. Which, you know, is not what the police believe happened. From what I read the police, like,

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

the biggest theory now is just that Tatum probably killed her and hit her body and they'll never find her. And that's why, like, everything's cooled down. But there's people like Derek who really believe that there was some sort of trafficking involved in this.

[Kayla Moore]

Yeah.

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

She could still be alive somewhere.

[Morgan Absher]

I know she holds out a lot of hope. And I think it's, you know, just a powerful message to get out there about how vulnerable these young kids are, especially young girls in shelter situations, and how much more advocacy and work needs to happen to make sure people have safe housing and resources. And, yeah, it's all just so, so sad.

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

And it also would have been maybe why Andrea was killed in all of this, that she found out what was happening, what Tatum was doing, or she knew that Tatum killed Relisha and she was going to say something. And so before any of that came out, he killed her and killed himself.

[Morgan Absher]

Her family has gone on the record and said they believe that she. She would have tried helping or stopping something bad from happening to Relish.

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

Yeah.

[Kayla Moore]

Wow.

[Morgan Absher]

And in regards to the trafficking, a lot of people, again, kind of turn it back to the family. Like, who would have trafficked her? Was it Tatum? Was it family? I know her stepdad posted some questionable things on Facebook that a lot of people had issue with. Money and things like that, like, he

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

was posting images on Instagram of having a lot of money, even though people knew he was living in a shelter. Right.

[Morgan Absher]

A ton of cash, mostly 50 bills, brand new sneakers.

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

And so people were like, where would he have gotten this money from if not for trafficking? Relisha is like, the argument, I guess.

[Morgan Absher]

Yeah. And I will say there was one clip I saw that really just has stuck with me throughout all my research on this. And an investigator was asking Antonio, like, after he had responded about, like, all the things in place that had failed Relisha. The system, the police, everyone, everyone failed Relish. And the journalist, the interviewer was like, well, what do you say to people who say, look at the family. What about the family? And he's like, what about the family? I'm not her family. Yeah, I have kids with her mom, but I'm not her family. And so I think when people started seeing that reaction from him, that disconnect of like, no, no, no, she's not my daughter. I think a lot of people were like, whoa, okay. Like, this is not. This isn't good.

[Kayla Moore]

And then that's also the interview where

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

they ask him what his relationship with Relisha was like.

[Morgan Absher]

It doesn't give you a parent that is deeply connected to their child. Yeah, it's an interesting response. Again, everyone deals with grief and tragedy and trauma so differently, and some of the responses are not what we would expect, but it just felt odd, disconnected from the little girl that deserved so much better and so much more protection. Again, when looking at the family, a lot of people still wonder, what does Shamika actually know? I mean, they point to that appearance she made on the Steve Wilkos show and how it really turned against her. Again, Darika from the Black and Missing foundation does come up, and she says that after looking at Shamika and Antonio's socials again, the money that was posted and the new shoes and this and that. She did say that it looked like Shamika and Antonio were celebrating a windfall. Those posts are now gone. And it's also possible, based on the evidence, that Shamika just didn't know what she was getting into. There's some redditors that point to maybe she did have good intentions and just wanted her daughter to get out of the shelter and get the nice things and get the presents and stuff like that. It did appear that after Relisha went missing, like, everything blew up for her. Her family's calling her out in the news, being like, why are you telling so many different stories? Where's Relisha? So even from the jump, her family seemingly split very quickly and was questioning Shamika's intentions. But there are so many other loose ends. I mean, if you go dive down the Reddit rabbit hole on this one, there's many other theories and things like that. So if you have any that we didn't get to or that you want to highlight, put it in the comments. We, we read all of those, but otherwise, let's get into some activism.

[Kayla Moore]

One of the foundations that we talked

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

about a lot in this episode is Black and Missing. And you can actually donate to them. If this episode affected you like I know it affected us, you can check them [e-mail] and actually they're still accepting tips on relish disappearance. So you can reach them if you know [e-mail] backslash tipline. The FBI is still offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to her return. And you can also reach out to MPD with any tips at 202-727-9099 or text your tip to 50411. And actually, also before we end the episode, we wanted to take a moment to remember that there is a second victim in this case. It's Andrea Tatum. Her death isn't a mystery, but it also has not gotten a lot of attention because it's kind of wrapped up in this larger true crime case.

[Kayla Moore]

She was a mother, she was a

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

grandmother, she was a beloved friend. And she was also a sobriety advocate. She was a frequent volunteer and a devoted member of Narcotics Anonymous.

[Kayla Moore]

We'll never exactly know what motivated the

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

murder suicide that took her her life. But her loss did leave a gaping hole in the community alongside that of Relisha Rudd.

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[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

And with that, let's talk about our missing child that we want to spotlight this week.

[Morgan Absher]

The missing person we want to highlight this week is coming from the Black and Missing Foundation. Her name is Jordan Allen. She's been missing since October 28, 2023 from the Washington, D.C. area. She's described as female, black, medium complexion, 5:1, 150 pounds. She has brown eyes and had short hair. At the time Jordan was last seen in the 1400 block of 3rd Street Southwest. The circumstances surrounding her disappearance are unknown. Jordan would be age 16 currently. If you have any information, please contact the Metropolitan Police Department at 202-727-9099 or you can contact the Black and Missing Foundation Incorporated at 877-97-BAMFI or visit www.bamfi.org. and that is all we have for this episode of Clues. Please let us know any theories you have in the comments, what you ended up with on your botched board. We got up to four, and it does feel like investigators really put out efforts. I know Relish's case did spark change in how the D.C. area reported on missing children. They. They actually started reporting on them.

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

Yeah.

[Morgan Absher]

And so that has led to some change within the D.C. area. But there's a lot of kids out there. I mean, we just shared one for a missing person of the week, also

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

from D.C. so, yeah, yeah, it's really, really heartbreaking.

[Kayla Moore]

But yeah, now we turn it over to you guys.

[Co-host (possibly a second host or researcher)]

Your thoughts, theories, feedback, all that helps make this community so special.

[Morgan Absher]

At Crime House, we really value your support. So again, share your thoughts on socials. Remember to rate, review, subscribe, subscribe and follow clues to help others discover our show. Thank you guys. Bye, guys.

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[Sarah Turney]

When someone goes missing, the headlines focus on what happened. But the truth often lives in the smallest details. I'm Sarah Turney. After my sister disappeared, I learned how those final hours, the last conversations, the last decisions, can haunt families forever.

[Courtney Nicole]

And I'm Courtney Nicole. After seeing crime impact my own family, I've learned how overlooked moments, missed red flags and and unanswered questions can change everything.

[Sarah Turney]

Together, we're bringing those lived experiences into the work. This is the Final Hours, a Crime House original powered by Pave Studios. A podcast that puts the moments before a disappearance under a microscope.

[Courtney Nicole]

Listen to and follow the final hours wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes every Monday.