x
Breaking News
More () »

A look at DC General a year after Relisha's disappeance

This weekend marks one year since the disappearance of 8-year-old Relisha Rudd.
Relisha Rudd

ID=14985579WASHINGTON (WUSA9) -- This weekend marks one year since the disappearance of at the time eight-year-old, Relisha Rudd.

The little girl lived at D.C. General, the largest emergency homeless shelter in the District, when she went missing. The suspected kidnapper, a shelter janitor, ended up killing himself, but she has never been found.

What has happened to the shelter that city leaders want shut down?

A year after Relisha's disappearance, residents say, not much has changed.

Sade Moore is waiting for permanent housing, but knows it could take a while.

"It's a mess. The shelter is a mess. Some people get their housing within a year, some six months," said Moore.

Eight-year-old Relisha lived with her mother and brothers at the shelter when she disappeared presumably taken by the shelter's janitor Khalil Tatum.

Tatum was found dead days later in a Northeast park from a self-inflicted gun shot wound. Kenilworth Park in Northeast was the site of intense searches, but still there's been no sign of the little girl.

"People on the floor monitors don't pay attention, security doesn't either, there mostly on their phone. It's just said how a child is missing and they're supposed to be protecting us," said Charlita Richardson, a resident at D.C. General.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser recognizes there's been a problem with getting people out of D.C. general and into a more stable living situation.

"We made additional vouchers, for example, available, and we saw there was a chokepoint of our system of actually getting families who were screened and who we know are ready to move out of shelter and into more supportive permanent housing that was missing," said Mayor Bowser.

The current administration knows, there's much more to be done for D.C. homeless, including families and little girls such as Relisha Rudd.

"Relisha Rudd should be doing what little girls are doing every single day and instead we don't know where she is," said Mayor Bowser.

There will be a prayer service and candlelight walk that will end at the shelter on Sunday afternoon.

Metropolitan Police said Friday that the case is still open and active in hopes of finding Relisha Rudd.

RELATED STORIES: 

Serial Season 2 idea: Relisha Rudd disappearance

TIMELINE: Relisha Rudd still missing on her 9th birthday

Search continues for Relisha Rudd on 9th birthday

Before You Leave, Check This Out