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Nancy Grace
Nancy Grace Mysteries: The Search for Relisha Rudd
Aired April 04, 2014 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: New developments tonight, there`s a new mystery man in Relisha Rudd`s disappearance, and authorities want to talk to him. They`ve just released a video of a person they think could have valuable information about the case, but before they can question him, they`ve got to find him. So they`re asking for the public`s help, hoping that somebody out there may be able to identify this guy.
Relisha hasn`t been seen since March 1st. Could this unknown person be the key to bringing her home?
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ANNOUNCER: Tonight, desperate search under way right now for 8-year- old Relisha Rudd, believed to be in extreme danger, the little girl kidnapped after her mom leaves her with a family friend, the suspect on the run for weeks.
As the clock is ticking down tonight, where is 8-year-old Relisha Rudd? Are we any closer to finding Relisha? Is she holed up in a hotel room? Is she still alive?
NANCY GRACE, HOST: The mystery of 8-year-old Relisha Rudd started on February 26th. On that day, Relisha`s mother allowed Relisha to go with a man they thought they knew very well, a family friend, who portrayed that he had a little granddaughter with whom Relisha would play. So thinking nothing of it, Relisha`s mom allowed her 8-year-old child to go with him, Karl Tatum, age 51.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Help get her back home safely! I just hope we find her! That`s all I can do (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police say 8-year-old Relisha Rudd has been missing for at least three weeks. Police released this surveillance video of Khalil Malik Tatum walking with the girl inside a Washington, D.C., hotel. Federal agents believe the 51-year-old man abducted her from a D.C. shelter where he worked as a janitor.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I didn`t think he would hurt her, but you know, when you get under pressure, you`re allowed to do anything.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The FBI Atlanta field office joined in on the investigation. Overnight, we shot this digital billboard posted on the downtown connector of murder and kidnapping suspect Tatum. Antonio Wheeler (ph) dates the missing girl`s mother and had several questions about her relationship with Tatum.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She told me, Oh, he -- (INAUDIBLE) Mr. Tatum how he`s good, she`s good, she`ll be back.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Officers are also connecting Tatum to the murder of a woman inside a hotel room. The FBI here in Atlanta believes Tatum could be hanging out in the metro area with the girl.
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GRACE: Relisha was last seen on March 7 at school. She was there briefly that day, although the school points out that she had been missing many, many times before March 7th, but that was the last day she was spotted at school.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: By nightfall, divers wrapped up their search of the Anacostia River near the Benning (ph) Road Bridge. Minutes earlier, a convoy of police investigators pulled out of Kenilworth Park. There is still no sign of her, but at least one part of the mystery is solved. Searchers found a body believed to be that of 51-year-old Khalil Tatum, the man suspected of being on the run with the 8-year-old, likely dead by his own hand.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tentatively, I`ll say that it appears that the person that we found here today was, in fact, Mr. Tatum, and it does still appear at this point that this was a suicide.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police are saying little else about how Tatum was discovered. Sources tell ABC 7 his body was inside this building with a gunshot wound to the head.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This discovery was a shock for us. We were very focused on finding Relisha.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It had been an intense day of searching from the air, on the river and on the ground, using K-9s and volunteers on foot. And standing watch over it all, strangers whose hearts were heavy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She`s a child. She`s a baby. And just thinking of her out here in the woods alone is just -- it`s touching.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m hoping that she`s still alive. I`m hoping that he has a heart. But by taking himself out, it looks the other way.
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GRACE: So we learn that the last day Relisha is seen at school is March the 7th. The school points out she had been missing many days before March the 7th, but that was the last day she was seen briefly at school. She`s just 8 years old.
Now, the mother calls and says that -- well, it`s either the mother or someone posing as Relisha`s mother -- that Relisha is being treated for a neurological disorder by a Dr. Tatum and gives a phone number for Dr. Tatum. So the school ultimately calls Dr. Tatum, and he gives them a number and a location where the mom and the daughter are staying where they can pick up her doctor`s records, her medical records.
Well, they go there. And this is no doctor`s office. It`s the location where the mom is living with her daughter, Relisha, and their little siblings. And there is a Tatum, all right, but he`s no doctor. It`s Mr. Tatum. And he`s the janitor there.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I wasn`t under the impression that she was missing. I was under the impression that she was still at my sister`s house, where I left her, and under the care of my mother. I didn`t actually let this man or give this man my daughter.
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GRACE: Well, the manager immediately calls him and tells him to report to the manager`s office immediately. Not only does he not report to the manager`s office...
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: D.C. police stormed the Gateway Days Inn on New York Avenue Friday night.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) they have police dogs. It was a whole investigative crime unit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A search warrant in hand for room 245. The hotel clerk tells me off-camera he checked 51-year-old Khalil Tatum into room 245 March 1st, along with his Chevy SUV. Tatum is now wanted for the murder of his wife and the March 1st disappearance of 8-year-old Relisha Rudd.
ABC 7 news uncovered this Instagram video of Relisha Rudd from an account with her mother`s name, Shamika Young (ph). It`s timestamped March 1st, important because Rudd`s mother reported last seeing her daughter three days before the 1st of March.
We now know Tatum was at the Days Inn on March 1st, a place where guests say you can easily hide in plain sight.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) act friendly. You got to stay out the way.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Many who`ve lost their homes now live here, so Tatum stood out when he checked in in shirt and tie and using a Mastercard to rent the room for two nights. But another Days Inn guest who refused to speak on camera says he did see Relisha Rudd, not at the hotel but here, at the Virginia Williams Homeless Center on Rhode Island Northeast around the 1st or 2nd of the month. He says it`s also where he bumped into Khalil Tatum. But what`s most compelling, the homeless center is across the street from the Home Depot where Tatum reportedly purchased contractor- strength trash bags.
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GRACE: It wasn`t until March 13th that this little girl was reported missing. We`ve now lost at least a week since she was last seen alive.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Homeless shelter janitor Khalil Tatum not only had contact with 8-year-old Relisha Rudd, whom he`s believed to have abducted, but with other young girls at the D.C. general (ph) site (ph), chief Lanier said in a news conference today.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We don`t have enough information right now to know. All we know is that there was some contact or some interaction between other young girls at the shelter and Mr. Tatum. That is what the investigation will reveal, but we don`t know that yet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Earlier this week, we met a mother at the shelter who insisted Tatum would never harm Relisha because he had befriended her 10-year-old daughter.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He always make sure that my daughter had money for Girl Scouts at her school. He paid for Girl Scout cookies.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And today, others at the shelter refused to believe Tatum had killed Relisha, saying he ought to just bring her back.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) man, he should drop her off right here in front of D.C. general (ph). Man, he should have pushed the metal to the pedal (sic) and go about his business. And if he gets caught (ph), he gets caught (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In Kenilworth Park today, more of the same as police and now fire recruits search the massive grounds, and teams with hovercraft and divers search the water areas. Police say Relisha has not been seen since March 1st, though they know that a day later, Tatum bought huge trash bags and spent hours in this park where the search is under way.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is heartbreaking for all of us. It`s heartbreaking for all of us. And look at the face of the police officers when they leave here, and the detectives. It`s heartbreaking for everybody, and that`s, again, why we`re all here every day.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The search for little Relisha has led police to the Maryland motel, but still no sign of the missing 8-year-old.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Relisha Rudd has been missing for weeks. The 8- year-old lived with her mom at this homeless shelter next to the D.C. jail. Her mother gave permission to a family friend Khalil Tatum to take Relisha while she was in the hospital. Tatum was also a janitor at the shelter.
But it wasn`t until a counselor at Paine (ph) elementary school, who noticed Relisha hadn`t been there for weeks, went to the shelter, learned about what happened and contacted police. They found Tatum`s car at this Maryland motel. And "The Washington Post" reports they also found the man`s wife murdered in a motel room. That grim discovery led to the Amber Alert. A truck that police had been looking for in their search was found near the D.C.-Maryland border with no signs of Tatum or Relisha. Tatum`s neighbor says she saw Relisha last Saturday.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I mean, she didn`t look like she was in any danger or anything, so I just came on in the house and left.
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GRACE: Now, part of the reason for the delay is because of Dr. Tatum treating the child. The school thought she was being treated for a neurological disorder. By the time they found out, the mother had never reported her missing because she thought she was with Tatum and his granddaughter. So long story short, the child is reported missing by child protective services on March 13. It wasn`t until March 19 that a formal search for 8-year-old Relisha Rudd was under way.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police cadets at sunset wrapping up day 6 of the search at Kenilworth Park for Relisha Rudd, but there is still no sign of the missing 8-year-old. Former police officer Derrica Wilson, who heads up the Black and Missing Foundation, has been one of the volunteer searchers.
DERRICA WILSON, BLACK AND MISSING FOUNDATION: I just don`t feel that Relisha is here at Kenilworth Park.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On Monday, searchers discovered the body of Khalil Tatum in the park, dead from an apparent suicide. He was the janitor at the homeless shelter Relisha`s mother entrusted with her care. But Relisha has not been seen since March 1st, and now that rescuers have combed more than 700 acres here, Wilson believes investigators have to look elsewhere.
WILSON: I think Mr. Tatum (INAUDIBLE) her, and I believe that she`s alive, and we need to be looking, but I think we need to expand our search in other states. There`s a lot of predators preying on these children. He was always giving money to these young girls, and now she just turns up missing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police chief Cathy (ph) Lanier says the investigation continues, but the search here is winding down.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We believe we may be able to finish the final search of the area tomorrow.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Derek Butler (ph) will be back among the searchers. His sister, Pamela (ph), disappeared without a trace in 2009.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know what this family is going through, and we just want to help them make sure that anything that we can do to bring closure.
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GRACE: Then what we think is a break in the case. March 20, a vehicle that matches Tatum`s vehicle is spotted outside a Red Roof Inn. It`s in Oxen Hill (ph), Maryland. Police frantic to find Relisha Rudd. They start searching room to room to room in the Red Roof Inn. Finally, they find the room, but they don`t find Relisha Rudd there. Instead, they find Tatum`s wife, Andrea Tatum, dead, murdered, in the Red Roof Inn. This is March 20, one day after the formal search for Relisha ensues.
Interesting note. In February, Andrea Tatum files for separation from her husband, Karl Tatum. It`s during all this time the little girl is spending more and more time with Tatum.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He`s always taken her and he`s always brought her back.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: According to Young, Tatum met the little girl and her young brothers around February 26th, when the children tried to get breakfast at the shelter`s cafeteria. But Relisha and is her brothers weren`t allowed to eat without an adult family member present.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The monitors just would never feed them because their parents wasn`t available. Mr. Tatum took notice that the monitors would never give them breakfast, so he started feeding them. And the monitors told him not to do it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Young said Tatum allegedly told the shelter he was related to the children. Young said she and Relisha`s mother allowed Tatum to take the girl out of the shelter.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, his cell phone, he showed me and Ashley (ph) endless pictures of her at the veterans memorial. And then he showed us pictures of her at the zoo.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We asked how long Tatum was allowed to keep Relisha.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She used to stay overnight with him and his family.
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GRACE: Mommy leaves 8-year-old Relisha Rudd with a family friend, but tonight, police insist she is in grave danger. At this hour, the search goes on for 8-year-old Relisha Rudd. We discover her kidnapper, 51-year- old Karl Tatum, has an extensive criminal history. The last two (ph) seen on grainy surveillance video, he`s leading the 8-year-old into a Holiday Inn Express hotel room. Then shocking discovery, a body found, but it`s not the 8-year-old little girl.
Tonight, we uncover more clues in the search for 8-year-old Relisha.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We did confirm the identity of the body that was found yesterday afternoon as that of Mr. Tatum. We did confirm the manner of death was suicide. There`s not much more information on that that I can share with you, other than we know that -- it`s not an exact science, but from the medical exam, that it appears he had been here for at least 36 hours, but could have been here for several days.
Obviously, the cool temperatures has an impact on being able to determine an exact time of death. So that`s the best estimate we can give you is anywhere from 36 hours to several days. So the search continues today and will continue again tomorrow. We still have search teams here on two shifts, day and evening shift, about 200 people in total a day doing the searches.
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GRACE: Many legal pundits believe the wife, Andrea Tatum, disagreed with his relationship with an 8-year-old little girl, and that ultimately, she paid for it with her life.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right now I`m feeling shocked and hurt because I want to know where my daughter -- my granddaughter is at.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Relisha`s grandparents and great-grandmother faced mixed emotions as they heard the news that the man who was last seen was Relisha found dead.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s bad news because we don`t know where she is, who has her.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s a good thing in one way, and it`s a bad thing in another because it leaves a whole lot of unanswered questions.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tonight, family and friends of 8-year-old Relisha Rudd gathered to pass out flyers and pray for her safe return.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) community, God, and people realize, oh, God, that things need to change (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It means a lot to me to see so many people came out.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But the dark reality that Relisha is still missing did not escape them for long.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just want my sweet baby back home! I just want her (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As family members marched arm and arm, their community behind them, on the streets of southeast.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please bring her home! (INAUDIBLE) She don`t deserve this! She`s only 8!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Begging for answers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She`s somewhere out there. And if anybody knows where she`s at, they would find it in their heart and come forward.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They vow to hope for the best.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My gut tell me that she`s still alive because I ain`t never going to give up on her.
GRACE: With me, Dan O`Donnell and Hamil Harris. Dan O`Donnell, WISN, what`s the latest in the search for Relisha?
DAN O`DONNELL, WISN (via telephone): Well, we do know that since Karl Tatum`s body was discovered on Monday afternoon, the police have broadened their search.
GRACE: Very quickly to Ashley Young (ph). This is Relisha`s aunt. Ashley, what are police telling the family about the search for Relisha?
ASHLEY YOUNG, RELISHA`S AUNT (via telephone): Well, I spoke to FBI yesterday and earlier today, and from our understanding, they strongly believe that she is still alive.
GRACE: Why do they believe that, Ashley? That`s our prayer.
YOUNG: Well, (INAUDIBLE) didn`t really tell you why they believe that. They`re just saying that they had to come and get some items from me that was left here of Relisha`s that have stronger smell of her, such as her shoes and stuff, to try to find her.
GRACE: So maybe they`re using that for a K-9 search. Justin Freiman, what more do we know? What developments do we have?
JUSTIN FREIMAN, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER (via telephone): We know that they`re continuing to search the park, as well as (INAUDIBLE) homes near that park.
GRACE: Everyone, tip line 202-727-9099. There is a reward in the search for Relisha. Repeat, 202-727-9099.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: New developments tonight. There`s a new mystery man in Relisha Rudd`s disappearance, and authorities want to talk to him. They`ve just released video of a person they think could have valuable information about the case, but before they can question him, they`ve got to find him. So they`re asking for the public`s help, hoping that somebody out there may be able to identify this guy. Relisha hasn`t been seen since March 1st. Could this unknown person be the key to bringing her home?
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GRACE: The last time that we know Relisha was alive and well was March the 1st. March 1, she was actually spotted with Tatum that day. Now, Tatum himself has been spotted multiple times between March 2 and March 20, multiple times, shopping, out and about, in a park area. But he`s never been spotted again with Relisha since March the 1st.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I hope they find the little girl and bring her home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Neighbors in this northeast D.C. community have watched for a week now, even helped, as more than 100 officers, FBI agents, police and fire cadets and divers have engaged in an exhaustive search in the woods and waters of this 700-acre park.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We`re all a bit relieved that we did not find Relisha here the way we anticipated we would find her. It`s heart- wrenchingly frustrating that we don`t have answers as to where she is right now. And we just don`t.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eight-year-old Relisha Rudd last seen alive in northeast D.C. on March 1st in the company of Khalil Tatum, the janitor at the homeless shelter where she lived. The next day, Tatum bought a shovel, lime, garbage bags and spent hours at Kenilworth Park. And weeks later, police found him dead in the park in an apparent suicide.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The one person I think that could have given us the best answer, Mr. Tatum, can`t give us that answer anymore.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Relisha`s mother insisted for weeks that her daughter was fine. Shamika young posted photos of wads of money and new Air Jordans she bought for Relisha`s brothers on her Facebook page even as she lived in the shelter and stalled social workers who wanted to put out an Amber Alert for the little girl.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If we find evidence of a crime committed by anybody else in the course of this investigation, they will be charged. We`re talking about an 8-year-old girl here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police did not even know to start searching until three weeks after Relisha was last seen alive. If Tatum dumped her body in a dumpster, she may never be found.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You`re looking at landfills that would require searches that are not only extremely hazardous because of explosive hazard from methane, but acres and acres of areas going as deep as 15 feet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: WUSA-9 has learned that Amtrak police are checking surveillance video at Union Station to see if someone might have put Relisha on a train to someplace still unknown.
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GRACE: Interesting video surveillance emerged. Grainy video surveillance emerges of February 26th. He and the little girl, Relisha, are alone walking hand in hand down a corridor of a Holiday Inn Express. They`re caught on video. And they walk into the bedroom. Relisha`s mother wasn`t there. His wife, Andrea Tatum, wasn`t there, just the two of them.
Also coincidental, that`s the last day the mother says that she sees her little girl, February 26.
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GRACE: A body found in Kenilworth Park of 700 square acres is 51- year-old Karl Tatum. But tonight, is 8-year-old Relisha holed up in a hotel room, still alive? If so, where is she? As the clock ticks down, where is 8-year-old Relisha Rudd?
Joining me right now, Dan O`Donnell with WISN. What do you know, Dan?
O`DONNELL: Well, we can now confirm that this body was Karl Tatum`s. It`s believed that Tatum, in fact, shot himself in the head, his body found in a storage building at the Aquatic Gardens area of Kenilworth Park, police still not saying even whether they believe Relisha is alive, or whether she, like her abductor, is deceased.
GRACE: Also joining me, special guest from "The Washington Post" Hamil Harris. Hamil, thank you for being with us. You know, I`ve learned a lot. Number one, this is the body of 51-year-old...
HAMIL HARRIS, "WASHINGTON POST" (via telephone): Yes, it is.
GRACE: ... Malik Karl Tatum. I`ve also learned that he has an extensive rap sheet. Let`s see those mug shots. He has at least 10 guilty pleas or guilty verdicts. Keep it rolling. That`s not all. They date all the way to 2003, that I know of. And not only that, Hamil Harris, joining me from "The Washington Post," I understand that the mother, Relisha`s mother, actually thought this guy was taking Relisha to some type of a conference, a medical conference in Atlanta?
HARRIS: Remember, it`s very important to understand that her mother from the very beginning has always maintained that she trusted Khalil Tatum and that this was someone who was a -- who wanted to be a godfather.
And that begs a lot of questions, because again, at the D.C. shelter, there`s a very clear rule where workers -- he was a janitor -- was not supposed to have this contact and these type of relationships with this family, number one.
Number two, he was a janitor. He`s working around women and children all day long. And the police have said that at least three to four other young children in that facility, that it`s under investigation about the contact he`s had with them, as well. So we`re looking at a situation that`s just the beginning of a long probe. But I guess the key thing is, where is this little girl? The focus of...
GRACE: Yes, I mean, that is the key thing. And what I`m asking you, Hamil Harris, is it`s my understanding tonight that the mother says she thought -- or has told police that she thought he was taking her daughter to a medical conference in Atlanta.
Justin Freiman, what do you know about that?
JUSTIN FREIMAN, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER (via telephone): That`s right, Nancy. She has told that to some of the authorities. We`re just not sure where she ended up.
GRACE: Everybody, Dan O`Donnell, Hamil Harris with us. You know, number one, Dan O`Donnell, WISN, this guy has an extensive rap sheet. You`re seeing newly released video of Relisha Rudd. At this hour, there are hundreds of volunteers searching for her by foot, police, K-9s, fire department, by water. They`re right along the Anacostia River.
What can you tell me, Hamil Harris? Isn`t it true that his home -- that Tatum`s family home is about one block from the Anacostia River?
HARRIS: Right. One of the places where Tatum grew up and lived is a very large federal park along the banks of the river. And the thing that`s very important to note is that the largest manpower, helicopters, police officers, FBI, are all focused in this park, where, again, Mr. Tatum was found in a storage shed. And again, what the police know is that he got bags, he got a shovel, he got materials to bury something (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Family members say the FBI now has the swimsuit Relisha had that night, a swimsuit they say Tatum bought for her that day. The video is date-marked February 26th, the shopping bags in the hands of 8-year-old Relisha Rudd as she walks down the hotel hallway with the now dead suspect, Khalil Tatum.
Family members say on that day, Tatum took her shopping, saying she needed a swimsuit for what he told them would be a swim party at this Holiday Inn Express on Bladensburg (ph) Road Northeast. A clerk says the motel does have an indoor pool. On that day, shortly before this surveillance video shows Khalil Tatum leading Relisha Rudd by the hand into that D.C. motel room, family members say he dropped by her aunt`s home with Relisha. And when he found out she didn`t have a swimsuit, he said he`d buy her one before going to that motel.
The FBI did not give us any information today on that swimsuit. The family did see Relisha alive and apparently well afterwards, not suspecting a thing. The last day they would see her alive being March 1st, family members say he claimed there would be other people at the motel that night. And it wasn`t unusual for Tatum to buy Relisha gifts or for them to spend days on end together unsupervised. It was nearly three weeks after they last saw Relisha before police issued that Amber Alert.
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GRACE: Also on March the 2nd, Tatum is spotted buying large construction-size black plastic trash bags. Other sources are also reporting he purchased a shovel and lime, which is often used to hurry the decomposition of bodies. After him definitely being spotted buying the plastic trash bags, he was spotted in the area of the Aquatic Gardens, which is part of Kenilworth Park.
An intense search is being conducted at Kenilworth Park in the fear that the shovel, the lime and the trash bags were used to bury 8-year-old Relisha Rudd, many of us still holding out hope that the child, Relisha Rudd, is still alive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: This is what we`re learning. Let me go to Derrica Wilson. Is it Derrica or Dereeka, Ms. Wilson?
WILSON: It`s Derrica.
GRACE: Thank you. Derrica Wilson, co-founder of Black and Missing Foundation and a former police officer, thanks for being with us. Your group was called in to help with the search.
WILSON: Yes.
GRACE: Tell me what you`ve been doing and what you have observed.
WILSON: We were calling in by NPD (ph) to help on the grounds of the Kenilworth Park, so we`ve been aiding them in the efforts of helping to find Relisha. And we`re not going to stop.
GRACE: What do we know about searches in local motels and hotels?
O`DONNELL: Well, we know that police have been actively searching all of the hotels and motels that Tatum was seen at or that they know he at least stayed one night. However, those searches have thus far turned up nothing. It seems to me that police are focusing instead on the park where Tatum`s body was found.
GRACE: Well, that`s a good bet, Dan O`Donnell, because we know one of the last places he was spotted before his death was at a local hardware store, buying construction-grade black plastic bags, lime and a shovel.
To Dr. Michelle Dupre, medical examiner, forensic pathologist. Dr. Dupre, what would lime do to a body?
DR. MICHELLE DUPRE, MEDICAL EXAMINER, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST (via telephone): That really depends. I`ve actually seen lime preserve a body and make it a little bit easier for us to find some trace evidence and other things.
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GRACE: We all can make a difference. Need proof? Check out this week`s "CNN Hero."
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GRACE: The search for Relisha Rudd, including police, firefighters, K-9s, dive teams are searching the Kenilworth Park, largely (ph) 700 acres, several bodies of water included there, including the Aquatic Gardens. It also is near the Anacostia River, and coincidentally, Tatum`s family home is about one block away from the Anacostia River.
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GRACE: Isn`t it true that the family friend, Karl Tatum, has been spotted -- he`s the one that had been with little Relisha. He`s the one we spot on the grainy surveillance video walking down the corridor of a Holiday Inn Express, OK? There he is.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There he is, yes.
GRACE: You don`t see his wife, Andrea, anywhere. You don`t see Relisha`s mom anywhere. Well, shortly after that -- that was on around February 26 -- we learn his wife Andrea is found dead in a Red Roof Inn.
Now, he`s been spotted at Kenilworth Park. And tell me, Brett Larson, what we know he bought at a local store there in Maryland.
BRETT LARSON, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: And Nancy, it`s disturbing. He brought some construction worker-level trashbags that he bought at a nearby hardware store. He was seen in this park, a very large park, as you said, with lots of bodies of water and wooded areas, with these contractor-sized trash bags, which is the last place he was seen.
GRACE: Take a look at Relisha Rudd. These people, I`m telling you, cannot be cured. They -- child molesters and burglars are two types of felons. I`m telling you, I don`t understand it. They can never be cured.
Take a look at this video we`ve just gotten of Relisha. Look at her. She`s 8 years old. She`s so full of life. Look at her dancing for all she`s worth. She`s got little siblings she had to take care of. Her mom was doing her best to keep her in school, take her children to school.
And they befriended Tatum, 51-year-old Karl Tatum. He was known for flashing $20 bills and giving them to children and to the moms there in the community where they lived. So the mom didn`t think anything of it when the little girl was going to go play with Tatum`s granddaughter.
Brett Larson, investigative reporter joining us tonight. Brett, also, he`s spotted there in Kenilworth Park. What can you tell me about Kenilworth Park?
LARSON: Well, what we can tell you -- now, they are -- all that they have at their disposal are out searching in this park. We`ve got K-9 units, we`ve got firefighters, policemen. No, this park has a lot of water, a lot of bodies of water in the park, and there`s also wooded areas in this park. And you can see from that video, it`s not a very hospitable place. This is somewhere you can get into, you can hide and you can`t be seen. So if he is up to no good, this is the place he is going to want to go.
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GRACE: What I don`t understand is this child has been gone for a couple of weeks now but wasn`t reported missing?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As I understand it, yes. All reports indicate that she had actually been missing from school since about February 26th, but wasn`t reported missing by her mother`s fiance until after she had been gone for at least a week or two.
GRACE: Marc Klaas joining me now, president and founder of Klaas Kids Foundation. You know, Marc, you always tell us that very often, it`s a family member, extended family member, friend of the family that takes children. What`s disturbing about this case on so many levels -- this child has not been in school for weeks, but nobody reported her missing.
MARC KLAAS, KLAAS KIDS FOUNDATION (via telephone): Yes, that`s absolutely a problem. And the statistics, Nancy, take us right to that fact, that in what, 85 percent of the cases, it`s somebody that`s very close to the family or a family member that is responsible for either harm to the family or for kidnapping the child. And obviously, this is a very convoluted case that needed much more attention than it received much sooner.
GRACE: You know what? You`re so right, Marc Klaas. I understand that a vehicle is attached to the Amber Alert. Tip line on Relisha, 202- 727-9099.
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GRACE: Then a body is found in the Kenilworth Park area. Everyone goes on high alert. There`s no good outcome. Either it is Relisha Rudd and the search has come to an end, or it`s not and she`s alive maybe somewhere still, in the clutches of Tatum.
As it turns out, after many, many tense hours, we learn that the body found in the Kenilworth Park area is an adult. It is not Relisha Rudd.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... the search at Kenilworth Park for Relisha Rudd, searchers discover the body of Khalil Tatum in the park.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It appears he had been here for at least 36 hours, but could have been here for several days.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But there is still no sign of the missing 8- year-old.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The search continues today.
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GRACE: Now many have honed in on the mom. Well, this is what the mom has to say, Relisha Rudd`s mom. She says she trusted Tatum, that he worked there where she lived with Relisha and Relisha`s little siblings, that she trusted him all along, that Relisha played with his granddaughter, that Tatum took her shopping, that he showed genuine interest in Relisha. And the reason she had not reported Relisha missing was she truly believed Tatum had her with his granddaughter. That`s what she says.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have concluded an exhaustive search of the park. We have not turned up anything in this search that has answered any questions for us about Relisha`s whereabouts.
While we`re all a bit relieved that we did not find Relish here the way we anticipated we would find her, it`s heart-wrenchingly frustrating that we don`t have answers as to where she is right now. And we just don`t.
So while this search has concluded here today, there are still investigative leads that are generating more work for us. I anticipate we probably will release some additional things that we`re going to ask for the help of the community on in the next 24 hours or so. There`s still people we need to talk to. There`s still people we need to identify. And there`s still people we need to find.
So over the next 24 hours or so, we will be putting out photographs and maybe some other information and ask for the public`s support in trying to identify those people and help us track them down so we can talk to them and just try and keep asking questions until we find out where Relisha is. The one person, I think, that could have given us the best answer, Mr. Tatum, can`t give us that answer any more. So now we have to go elsewhere.
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GRACE: The body of Karl Tatum is found. The search for Relisha goes on.
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