Missing Relisha Rudd. Via MPD.

The man suspected in the disappearance of eight-year-old Relisha Rudd who was found dead in a Northeast D.C. park yesterday had been there for at least 36 hours and up to several days, Metropolitan Police Department Chief Cathy Lanier said today.

Police confirmed last night that the adult male found dead of an apparent suicide at Kenilworth Park was 51-year-old Kahlil Tatum, the D.C. General homeless shelter janitor who was last seen with Relisha on March 1. Tatum, police say, bought large trash bags one day after Relisha’s last confirmed sighting. He was then seen at the park.

“If she’s not here, where is she?” one reporter asked Lanier, who responded that they were expecting to find a gravesite in the park, not Tatum. Police were, however, not shocked to find that Tatum committed suicide, Lanier said.

The search at the park will continue today and tomorrow, when it’s expected to be completed. In addition to officers, volunteer groups will be brought in tomorrow to help search. Nothing new was discovered today, Lanier said.

When asked if Relisha could still be alive, Lanier said it was possible. “All possibilities are still open,” she said. “We don’t have information that she’s been killed at this point.”