A family visit in New Orleans’ Central City turned fatal on the night of Saturday, November 30, 2024, when three-year-old Rudy Ratliff was struck in the chest by a gunshot while at a home on the 2200 block of Willow Street. Rudy was taken privately to a local hospital, where he died of his injuries.

Initial accounts described the shooting as an accidental, self-inflicted wound, but investigators soon opened a more detailed probe. The home’s owner, 47-year-old Tatisha Refuge, was arrested days later on negligent homicide and accused of tampering with the scene and leaving the house after the shooting. A recorded call with the child’s mother, Leshawn Ratliff, in which Refuge said the gun fell, prompted further scrutiny. A search of Refuge’s home uncovered a large quantity of fentanyl, and she was charged separately with several drug offenses and weapons-with-drugs counts.

Refuge later pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to five years; she still faces the drug-related charges. Did anyone know Rudy or have information about that evening at the Willow Street home?