During a search for missing Relisha Rudd in Kenilworth Park March 31, Metropolitan Police said it discovered the body of an adult male.
During an afternoon press conference, D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier said that the dead man’s identity was not yet known but expected an ID soon and that the search for Rudd would continue. Lanier also told the media that the man appeared to have killed himself but could not confirm that.
According to ABC7 News, sources told the news outlet that “it is possible the body belongs to Kahlil Tatum, Relisha’s alleged kidnapper, who is also wanted by the FBI in connection with the death of his wife, Andrea Tatum.”
Those same sources told ABC7 News, it reported, “that the male victim appears to have been shot in the head and that a gun was found in his lap …”
During a March 27 press conference near Kenilworth Park, Lanier first announced, “We cannot ignore the possibility that he may have killed her.” Lanier was referring Tatum, the suspected abductor, who worked at the shelter, where Rudd and her mother lived. D.C. police also labeled their efforts “a recovery operation.”
The search at Kenilworth Park has involved the D.C. Fire Department and Emergency Services, the Metropolitan Police Department and a K-9 unit and the Prince George’s County Police, conducting a “grid search” of the wooded 700-acre area in Northeast D.C. on the Anacostia River.
After information was disclosed which tracked Tatum to the Kenilworth Park area, investigators began the search. Investigators also reported that on March 2, a day after Rudd was last seen, Tatum spent considerable time in Kenilworth Park. In addition, according to NBC4 News, on March 2 he had purchased suspicious items like garbage bags, a shovel, and lime, which can be used to speed up the decomposition of bodies as well.
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Relisha Rudd or Kahlil Tatum is asked to call 911or the Command Information Center at 202-727-9099 or 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324).
