on finding relisha and that's what we came here for, but we never had any reason to believe that mr. tatum left the area. we knew that he frequented this area, had been in this area, so that's one of the reasons we started focus here to begin with. it is a shock, but again as i said, the type of search we're doing here is very draining on the people doing these searches day after day. >> reporter: now that you found kahlil tatum or believe you have, do you think you're any closer to finding relisha? >> certainly there is a lot of things that we have to process now based on our findings today that we don't have answers on yet. we might get more answers from what we find as we process that scene, but as of right now, there is nothing new other than we believe we do have identification. >> reporter: is there a possibility of the community or any of the buildings? >> our search is pretty exhaustive. we're still asking for the public's assistance. we are still getting quite a few tips and leads in, getting calls every day. we have to continue to keep the investigation part of this active and we

so tentatively, it appears that the person that we found here today was in fact mr. tatum, and it does still appear at this point that this was a suicide. so our work continues. we still have a lot to do and we are still here for the reason that we came here to begin with, and that is to look for relisha, and we will be here throughout the night, and the searches will continue tomorrow night, and we have areas a lot to search, and again, multiple layers of searches going on, and using the different means to search, and very big area. so, again, thank you to all of the volunteers and i will take a couple of quick questions. >> do you know how long he has been here in the park? >> we don't know, and that is going to come from the medical examiner's office. >> and now that you have a tentative identification, does the search narrow down or do you have the whole swath of the park or more of a concentrated. ed -- concentrated area? >> no. we have a plan of how to search the area, and the area is why we are searching, and stick with that for now sh, and if there a things that le

official medical records, but we have tentatively identified the person we found today as that of mr. tatum. everything we have is consistent with what we know about his appearance and is consistent with what information we had to begin with. so tentatively i would say it appears that the person we found tatum.as in fact esther it does still appear at this point that this was a suicide. and we stillinues .ave a lot to do we will be here throughout the night doing a lot of different work in the searches will resume again tomorrow. we still have a lot of area to search. multiple layers of search are going on using a lot of different means to search a very big area. again, thanks to all the volunteers, and i will take a couple of quick questions. it will come from the medical examiner's office and that will take a little time. now that you have a tentative identification, does the search area narrow down a little bit? is it more of a concentrated area? >> no, we still have the same plan of how we are going to search the area and were going to stick with that for now. --there are things that ne

not long after that purchase mr. tatum was in the area of the aquatic gardens for a period of time relisha has not been seen by anyone since march 1st, yet he continued to go to work and was seen in multiple locations throughout the district of columbia from march 2-march 20. relisha was not with mr. tatum. what do you think he made with shall did with the trash bags? >> we are not making asunses. it is prudent that we search this area very well. >> police describe tatum as armed and dangerous. accused of shooting and killing his own wife at a local hotel on march 20. there are no sightings of tatum after that date and a search in the park may be more of a recovery effort. but detectives aren't giving up hope. >> given the circumstances we have right now, by are fearful that we need to make sure that unturned. >> search warrants obtained by america tonight show police have been looking for clues in many places, including tatum's work locker and his house. detectives recovered children's clothing and shoes and a photograph

not long after that purchase, mr. tatumthe aquatic gardens for a period of time. we cannot ignore the possibility that he may have killed her. >> now, these are chilling details. and you have been on this story, you wrote some very compelling pieces to your credit. and you wrote in your column that, quote, relisha rudd deserved better. she deserved a social safety net that recognized her life was chaotic, unstable and dangerous and caught her. what could they have done to help this little girl? >> absolutely you're right. she had so many -- there were so many opportunities to help this little girl. social workers knew that she was abused when she was 2. the school knew that she had a spotty attendance record, 30 days missed. the workers at the homeless shelter knew that this janitor was giving gifts to lots of little girls. they weren't supposed to do that. he wasn't supposed to do that. there were lots of signs. but i'll tell you, this story goes back to the very beginning about their situation, and that is homelessness. i

she's off to a fantastic start with mr. tatum. >> all right, all right, all right!wants to see. >> that's what i want. >> and you don't either. and neither do you. we do have spring storms. north of the system, we've got snow to the south. in fact, we've got a risk of severe weather today and tomorrow down through the mississippi river valley from kansas city, st. louis, springfield, tulsa into little rock. severe thunderstorms with large hail, damaging winds and we can't rule out an isolated tornado or two. to the south you can see we've got some heavy rain anywhere from 1 to 2 inches and then as you move to the north, we've got snow to talk about. check this out. from minneapolis to marquette on into travers city, anywhere from 1 to 6 >>> 9:09 good thursday morning i'm christina loren. the pops are green are pop up showers. keep an umbrella by your side just in case. temperatures comfortable and heavy rainfall for the weekend. 61 in fran today. on and off showers in the north bay. >>> and that's your latest weather. >> all right, al, thanks a lot. if you need a qu