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Relisha Rudd: The community still searches 8 years later

Rudd went missing when she was eight years old and was last seen on March 1, 2014. She would turn 17 this year.

WASHINGTON — On the anniversary of her disappearance, the D.C. community holds the 8th Annual Relisha Rudd Community Engagement Event. 

The event will take place at New York Avenue and Bladensburg Road Northeast, D.C. on March 1 from 6 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. 

At the event, there will be a prayer and distribution of flyers of an updated age progression photo of Rudd. 

On March 1, 2014, Relisha Rudd went missing from a homeless shelter in Northeast, D.C. A $50,000 reward was on the table for anyone who could give information on the disappearance at a flyer distribution event in 2021.

Rudd was eight-years-old when she went missing and was last seen in Southeast, D.C. by Metropolitan police. 

Rudd would turn 17-years-old this year. 

“It’s a hole in the community,” Henderson Long said. “Relisha Rudd was adorable. Relisha Rudd was the kind of child who walked into the room – light the whole room up.”

Relisha was last seen with a janitor at D.C. General Family Shelter where Relisha and her family lived.

Surveillance video captured the moments Relisha and Tatum were seen walking the halls of the shelter at a Holiday Inn Express.

It wasn’t until 18 days later that Relisha's school reported her missing after being absent for so many days.

News of Relisha's disappearance was sent out on March 20 that year saying she was missing and that she was probably with Tatum.

“Between March 1 and March 18, no AMBER Alert was sounded for Relisha Rudd – no national alert went out for her. It was a lot of unaccounted for time within those 18 days. You know 18 days is a long time for a child to be unaccounted for,” Long told WUSA9 in 2021.

RELATED: ‘Through the Cracks’ podcast examines if Relisha Rudd’s disappearance was preventable

RELATED: July 11 designated as Relisha Rudd Awareness Day in DC

RELATED: It has been 7 years since Relisha Rudd disappeared. Here's how the community is making sure her case is not forgotten

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