Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even if you’re desperate for childcare, you don’t let your child go with some random old guy. Leaving your child home unsupervised is awful and you hear about that but Shamika was home. She also was mentioned in interviews with people at the school as coming late to pick up her kids to the point that they would wait for her at a nearby laundromat. Washington Post reporting.

+1


I really don’t see how anyone else is to blame besides Khalil Tatum, first and foremost, and then Shamika. Relisha was at school all day and then had cheer practice or after care or whatever. Then you let her go with an older non family member? Who takes her to hotels and gives her gifts? That is complete negligence.

I blame Shamika first. She held the strings to who had access to Relisha. She put her in the hands of a child molestor. Even if Relisha hadn't gone missing, she still was likely abused. Her mom fed her to the monster. The monsters are there no matter what. It's the parent's responsibility to protect her. She was mentally well enough to say who had access to her child.

Anonymous wrote:Even if you’re desperate for childcare, you don’t let your child go with some random old guy. Leaving your child home unsupervised is awful and you hear about that but Shamika was home. She also was mentioned in interviews with people at the school as coming late to pick up her kids to the point that they would wait for her at a nearby laundromat. Washington Post reporting.

+1


I really don’t see how anyone else is to blame besides Khalil Tatum, first and foremost, and then Shamika. Relisha was at school all day and then had cheer practice or after care or whatever. Then you let her go with an older non family member? Who takes her to hotels and gives her gifts? That is complete negligence.

Even if you’re desperate for childcare, you don’t let your child go with some random old guy. Leaving your child home unsupervised is awful and you hear about that but Shamika was home. She also was mentioned in interviews with people at the school as coming late to pick up her kids to the point that they would wait for her at a nearby laundromat. Washington Post reporting.

Nope. No job at that time. After losing her kids, she worked as a janitor and at Dollar General. She was a SAHM. Of sorts. Her sister and her mother watched Relisha a lot. I don’t think Shamika had the boys out of her care nearly as much. But yeah. Childcare as a sahm? Although common on this board, it’s not normally a thing outside an occasional babysitter and definitely not free.

Anonymous wrote:I used to represent homeless people in another state. I had a client that was being evicted from a shelter because she let her child go to the shelter playground with another child and that child’s parent—-the shelter rule was that a child could not go anywhere unless accompanied by the parent, in order to prevent abuse of the children (at least by non-parents). My client was disabled and typically could not leave her room and we successfully convinced the shelter that she could designate some alternate adults to take her child to the playground so that the child would not be confined to one room for years. But the point is that they were extremely strict about residents letting anyone else watch their kids—precisely for this reason. So that has also always seemed off to me about the Rudd story—I think shelters are usually much more strict about this stuff.

Thank you for sharing. Could it be possible there was some deliberate non-compliance at the shelter?

And question....why did Shamika need childcare? Her sister watched the kids constantly. Did she have a job?

I used to represent homeless people in another state. I had a client that was being evicted from a shelter because she let her child go to the shelter playground with another child and that child’s parent—-the shelter rule was that a child could not go anywhere unless accompanied by the parent, in order to prevent abuse of the children (at least by non-parents). My client was disabled and typically could not leave her room and we successfully convinced the shelter that she could designate some alternate adults to take her child to the playground so that the child would not be confined to one room for years. But the point is that they were extremely strict about residents letting anyone else watch their kids—precisely for this reason. So that has also always seemed off to me about the Rudd story—I think shelters are usually much more strict about this stuff.

The podcast presenter wants to blame homelessness for what happened to Relisha. Not saying homelessness has helped anyone but Relisha's family was evicted for not paying their small portion of rent that was to supplement a rent subsidy. This happened in multiple apartments. Thus, they became homeless.

The shelter per her words had 600 children living there and one went missing. One. Again, not a fun environment but maybe not the shelter's fault. Except for hiring multi-felon Kahlil Tatum who the host said Watched Shamika's children (sic) because she wasn't provided childcare!!!

Then podcast host mentioned the city didn't think Shamika was so bad that they took her children away. In retrospect, a mistake but there is a propensity to keep kids with their parents and not enough homes for unwanted children and the terrible judgment that Shamika used might not have been foreseeable.

Unfortunately the absolute heartbreaking tragedy that is Relisha Rudd's life certainly could have happened if they weren't evicted. There is always someone around grooming kids and if you're completely checked out as a parent, or you're open to payoffs, then the chances of your child suffering are high.

Touched by the movie review. Thank you.

Has it been established that Shamika is mentally impaired (low in, mentally disabled)? Like the news reporter (Jackie Benson) said, Relisha's eyes were dead when walking down that hotel room hall. She knew what was in store for her.

This movie has haunted me for years: Gardens of the Night

Summary: In Pennsylvania, eight-year-old Leslie Whitehead (Ryan Simpkins) is kidnapped by Alex (Tom Arnold) and Frank (Kevin Zegers). Alex says he needs help finding his dog, then he and Frank take her to school. While driving, Alex tells Leslie her dad is their boss, thus gaining her trust. After school, Alex and Frank find her again. They lure her into their car with a story about her dad being in trouble, then drug her and take her to their house. They tell Leslie her parents do not want her anymore. As proof, Alex provides the number to her "dad's cell phone," which is actually a pay phone. After multiple unanswered calls, she eventually accepts their story.

She and another victim, a young boy named Donnie, are forced into prostitution and pornography. Their clients include men in positions of authority, such as a judge. As a coping mechanism, Donnie and Leslie pretend they are in an imaginary world based on the stories of Mowgli from The Jungle Book. One day, Leslie, Donnie, Alex, and Frank go to a convenience store, where it becomes apparent Leslie's parents are looking for her because her picture is on milk cartons; however, Leslie does not see them. While Alex is paying for ice cream, the store owner's wife recognizes Leslie as missing and calls the police. When the police show up at Alex and Frank's house, they escape with the children.

Almost nine years later, Leslie (Gillian Jacobs) and Donnie (Evan Ross) are living together on the streets of San Diego, prostituting themselves and stealing. Ostensibly as a way for her to get off the streets, a pimp named Cooper (Shiloh Fernandez) tries to convince Leslie to lure a twelve-year-old girl, Monica, living at a youth shelter into prostitution. Meanwhile, Donnie has fallen in love with Leslie, but she's unsure how to feel because, presumably, she's always just seen him as her brother. She ends up deciding to leave Donnie and goes to the shelter to "turn out" the girl. When Donnie goes looking for Leslie, Cooper tells him she's left him, devastating him. At the last minute, Leslie decides not to turn out Monica and returns her to the shelter. She tries to go back to Donnie, but finds out he has left town without saying where he was going. Having no other choice, Leslie goes back to the shelter to stay. A counselor there (John Malkovich) discovers Leslie is a missing person and tells her her parents have been looking for her all these years, which she finally realizes is true.

Leslie reunites with her parents, along with two siblings born during her absence, and attempts to "return home." However, she is too traumatized after all she's been through and cannot remain in such a normal atmosphere. She leaves in the middle of the night and starts to hitchhike, hoping to find Donnie again. Donnie is shown hitchhiking through Florida, the location of an amusement park where he and Leslie, as young children, promised they would meet if they ever got separated.

Welp, last episode went as expected.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:the podcast host doesn't seem particularly interested in hard facts.

She seems to be doing everything she can to avoid blaming the mom. Is she doing this to get an interview?

Maybe but the mom is going to lie anyway. The clip that was posted on the podcast of her on the show had her lying. Why wouldn't she lie now? One thing that came through to me was that Shamika at no time seemed frantic or distraught like how you would if your child disappeared. I get more anxious than she did when my indoor cat gets out. Can't rest until she's back. Shamika has no such concern and it always struck me that it's because she knows Relisha isn't coming back. Her mental retardation may account for it but even when she was in those pictures with the new shoes bought with that cash windfall, there were no shoes for Relisha.

This case is beyond social systems failing.

+1

She had no reaction to her daughter going missing. She gave her daughter to that man and did not care if she returned (or knew she wouldn’t). Besides social services removing the kids from Shermika, what else could prevent a mother from handing their child over to a potential pedophile or trafficker?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:the podcast host doesn't seem particularly interested in hard facts.

She seems to be doing everything she can to avoid blaming the mom. Is she doing this to get an interview?

Maybe but the mom is going to lie anyway. The clip that was posted on the podcast of her on the show had her lying. Why wouldn't she lie now? One thing that came through to me was that Shamika at no time seemed frantic or distraught like how you would if your child disappeared. I get more anxious than she did when my indoor cat gets out. Can't rest until she's back. Shamika has no such concern and it always struck me that it's because she knows Relisha isn't coming back. Her mental retardation may account for it but even when she was in those pictures with the new shoes bought with that cash windfall, there were no shoes for Relisha.

This case is beyond social systems failing.

Anonymous wrote:the podcast host doesn't seem particularly interested in hard facts.

She seems to be doing everything she can to avoid blaming the mom. Is she doing this to get an interview?

the podcast host doesn't seem particularly interested in hard facts.

The web sleuths have 9 threads dedicated to Relisha with 51 pages in each thread SO from my reading I think there are both opinions. That she is alive somewhere since there has been literally no trace or her or that she could be dead. Most feel it may be better if she is not suffering in this world. Thread #9 is mostly people praying for info but #1 thru #8 are factually informative. Astrokitty is the poster who has some pretty good commentary and the other posters use every photo, police record, court document, etc. that can provide info. Social media, you name it, they scrutinized it.

They have a very different take than the podcast but the podcast is trying to make a statement. I don't know if Hill missed the web sleuths in her research or has studiously avoided acknowledging what insight they have but it wasn't difficult to find them with a Google search.