‘She’s DC’s baby’: Documentary hopes to bring new attention to Relisha Rudd’s missing person’s case

On what would have been Relisha Rudd’s 20th birthday, “The Vanishing of Relisha Rudd: A Cold Case Reexamined” docuseries reignites a call for justice.

On what should have been her 20th birthday, the world is once again saying Relisha Rudd’s name. Eleven years after her disappearance, “The Vanishing of Relisha Rudd: A Cold Case Reexamined” brings new life to her story. The docuseries, produced by the Black and Missing Foundation, revisits the haunting case of an 8-year-old girl who vanished from D.C. General, the now-shuttered homeless shelter where she lived with her family.

“This isn’t just a docuseries, it’s a call to action,” said Derrica Wilson and Natalie Wilson, Founders of the Black and Missing Foundation. “Relisha deserves to be found. Her story, and the stories of so many others like hers, remind us that visibility is justice. We will never stop searching for Relisha.”

For Natalie Wilson, revisiting Relisha’s story meant facing painful truths about how easily a little Black girl could slip through the cracks. “We created this docu-series because Relisha will be 20 years old today,” she told theGrio. “She was eight years old when she vanished from a shelter called DC General at the time, where she lived with her family, and she pretty much went unnoticed. No one realized she had disappeared. And it wasn’t until 18 days after she was last seen by, you know, her school or the shelter, that a missing person’s report was filed for her.”

The disbelief in her voice is still sharp all these years later. “It was just disheartening. And we continue to search for Relisha. We want answers. She’s DC’s baby,” Wilson continued. 

Through BAMF, the Wilsons have used their platform to amplify cases like Relisha’s, understanding that missing Black and brown children’s cases are too often overlooked by media and law enforcement. 

“At the end of the day, we just want answers as to what happened to Relisha, what happened to her? How does an eight-year-old girl go missing for almost 12 years, and no one knows anything?” Wilson said. “So we’re hoping that the renewed interest will put pressure on law enforcement to add resources to the case, and we hope that there will be justice for Relisha. And ultimately, we hope that we can find out what happened to her and she returns home.”

Her plea is simple: “If someone knows something, say something. You may have been at the shelter at the time, or you may have heard whispers of what could have happened to her. Share that information with investigators so that we can dig deeper and find out what happened to Relisha, and we can close this case. We believe that there could be hundreds of Relishas out there. We feature Relisha, but it’s so much. It’s broader than that. It’s for the Relishas of the world that are missing.”

For Relisha’s stepfather, Antonio Wheeler, the renewed attention is both surreal and deeply emotional.

“It’s just been like an unreal experience for me,” he told theGrio. “It’s a shocker that the cries that I made out over the years, are still echoing through the city.”

Over a decade later, those cries are still fueled by hope. Wheeler, like Wilson, believes that one day they’ll find her. He said stories of people like Jasmin and Elizabeth Ramos, who went missing decades ago and were recently found alive, keep his faith alive, too.

“Relisha does have a family,” he shared. “I just want the world to know she still has family. Her siblings think about her. They dream about her. They talk about it amongst each other. And that she deserves some type of justice. They deserve some closure about their sister.” 

Wheeler said her siblings, who are now old enough to take part in the work to find Relisha, often tear up recalling the fragmented bits they remember of their sister, memories mostly pieced together through old news clips and headlines. That pain inspired Wheeler to write “Through Our Eyes: Life After Relisha,” a forthcoming book recounting her disappearance through the family’s eyes.

“Everybody knew what happened, right? This is what we still deal with on a daily basis after,” he said. “When people read this book, I want them to feel like they’re going through it with me—all the trials and tribulations, through the court process, everything.” 

Beyond the documentary and the book, Wheeler is channeling his grief into purpose. He’s building the Relisha Rudd Foundation, created “to honor the life and story of Relisha Rudd by bringing awareness, resources, and hope to vulnerable children and families facing homelessness and neglect and systematic failures.” With a vision to create “a world where no child goes unseen, unheard, unprotected, where communities learn to create safety, opportunity and lasting change for every child in need,” Wheeler hopes the foundation will be a tangible source of support for struggling families, through toy drives, turkey giveaways, and even a community Easter egg hunt in honor of Relisha’s favorite holiday.

Wheeler’s mission is clear: Relisha’s story will not fade. “No matter how we’re going to put it out there, we’re going to get it out there,” he said. “Hopefully, somebody who has a heart will help me bring her story to the forefront so we won’t have another Relisha in DC, Maryland, Virginia, or [anywhere in] the country. I don’t want anybody to experience this.”

Even after years of heartbreak, Wheeler’s love for Relisha remains unshaken. His message to her is as raw as the day she disappeared. “I’ve been always looking for you. I never stopped putting the story out there. I never gave up hope, and I know in the moments when you really needed me most, I wasn’t never there. And I can only imagine you was calling my name and I wasn’t there, picturing my face in your head, and I wasn’t there,” he said, his voice heavy with emotion. “I don’t know how you got put in that situation, but daddy had no parts in that. I tried to save you. I love you.”

As we wish Rudd a happy 20th birthday and pray for her safe return home, watch “The Vanishing of Relisha Rudd” on YouTube on Black and Missing Foundation’s YouTube Channel.