Filed by James MacArthur
MACARTHUR INDEPENDENT NEWS SERVICE
WASHINGTON, DC (MINS) -- DC government claims the search for Relisha Rudd continues.
Relisha vanished a year ago from DC General, the homeless shelter where she and her family were living. Police believe the shelter’s janitor, Khalil Tatum, kidnapped her.
There has been zero evidence suggesting she may still be alive, but at a press conference Monday, officials spoke of the case as if there was still an ongoing active search for the 8-year-old girl.
DC Police Chief Cathy Lanier said they've found no evidence that Rudd is dead, but they also have no helpful evidence on her current whereabouts.
This despite the fact that Tatum -- the person she was last seen with -- was named as the lone suspect in the murder of his own wife, and himself now dead, after his body was found in the wooded area of a local park. He died of an apparent self inflicted gunshot wound.Relisha's mom speaks as if she's still alive: “I just hope somebody, anybody, runs into her and whoever got her just returns her,” she said.
Her friends speak differently: “My belief system is that we are looking for a body. I have told Shameka [Relisha's mom] this and that’s just what my focus is,” said family friend Brenda Brown.
Relisha’s mother and her boyfriend have said they didn’t call the police when she went missing because they didn’t have a phone.
References: Washington Post timeline of events
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