The search for missing DC eight-year-old Relisha Rudd continues Friday, with more than 100 experts searching the more than 700-acre park Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens.
Rudd hasn’t been seen since on March 1.
On Friday Lanier said experts will continue to search the park through the weekend. MPD may ask community groups to help with searching the park early next week.
Lanier said investigators continue to pursue other leads in the case, too.
This roundup of coverage of the case will be updated throughout the day.
A timeline of the case from the Washington Post
Reports the Post:
City records show that D.C. agencies had contact with Relisha and her family beginning in 2007, when the girl was 1 or 2. The records show instances of physical abuse, filthy living conditions and a lack of food. But social workers did not remove Relisha and her siblings from the home, city records show.
More recently, officials at the shelter failed to notice Tatum offering children gifts and spending time alone with Relisha, both fireable offenses.
At the same time, officials at Relisha’s school struggled to figure out why she had missed nearly six weeks of class and were confused by excuses provided by her relatives, who said Relisha was safely in the care of a “Dr. Tatum.” Even after police got involved, Relisha’s 27-year-old mother, Shamika Young, assured reporters that Relisha was in a “safe place.”
From the Associated Press:
The D.C. Council is examining safety procedures at the city’s family homeless shelter following the disappearance of an 8-year-old girl who was living there with her mother and brothers.
