WASHINGTON (WUSA9) -- The official search in Kenilworth Park for missing 8-year-old girl, Relisha Rudd, may be over, but her family isn't giving up. Thanks to a community-wide effort, the streets of D.C. were filled with people chanting, "Help find Relisha," on Sunday.
With their boots on the ground and fliers in their hands, family, friends and strangers of Relisha Rudd set out to look for her. They took on four intersections throughout D.C., one of them at L'Enfant and Minnesota Avenue, just feet from where a sign flashes her picture. Relisha has been gone since the beginning of March, when police say Khalil Tatum abducted her. An exhaustive search of Kenilworth Park turned up the body of Tatum, dead from an apparent suicide, but no sign of Relisha.
On Sunday, relatives and strangers, young and old, all devoted their day to Relisha, including her great grandmother and grandparents. "Hopefully someone will recognize her picture while we are holding it and call authorities," says Mary Young, Relisha's great grandmother.
Relisha's grandparents pulled their money together to make t-shirts with her picture on them, doing everything they can to get her face out there.
"Every day I look at her picture. We have a conversation, I laugh, I cry, then I go on with my way," says Melissa Young, Relisha's grandmother. "I just let her know I love her, I miss her and I'm doing everything I can to bring her home."
They all handed out fliers with Relisha's picture, hoping to catch a break, and nearing the end of the day, at the corner of Pennsylvania and L'Enfant, they found hope. "Someone is going to recognize Relisha's picture. They are going to contact somebody, I really feel it," says Mary Young.
That hope is what keeps them going until Relisha is back where she needs to be, home. "Relisha we are searching for you. We are not going to stop searching for you until we find you," says Mary Young.
Organizers of the event, Manpower DC, say they will continue to have these events as often as they can.
The latest person of interest in the investigation is a man pictured in a YouTube video, who police say might know where she is.
Anyone who can identify him should call the D.C. police tip line at 202-727-9099.
