Remains found in Malibu Canyon id'ed as Mitrice Richardson, missing since Sept 2009/Parent's to Exhume Body 7.13.2011/Rpt by LA's *County* Office of Independent Review, Breakdown of Communication over Mitrice's remains

Mitrice Richardson showed up at Geoffrey’s, a Malibu restaurant, acting strangely on September 17, 2009. The restaurant is about 40 miles for her home, she ran up a $89 bill she couldn’t pay and sat down to have a conversation with people she didn’t know. When she couldn’t pay her bill, she called her great-grandmother for help. The restaurant couldn’t take money over the phone to pay the bill. The restaurants owner, Jeff Peterson, said she was acting strangely and called police out of concern for her safety.


The police arrived and found a small amount of marijuana in her car. They arrested her for not paying her restaurant bill and for possession of marijuana. She was taken to the Malibu Hills sheriff’s office about 13 miles away.

The great-grandmother called Matrice’s mother, Latice Sutton, to tell her what had happened. Ms. Sutton called the sheriff’s department and was told she could pick Mitrice up about 4 am. When she called back at 4:30 am she was told that her daughter had been released about 1:30 am. Mitrice has not been seen since and her family is furious and frantic.

Ms. Sutton says that Matrice, 24-years-old, is not street savvy, having had a sheltered upbringing, and was in an area she was not familiar with. She is furious the police released her on foot in the middle of the night. The former beauty pageant contestant has been preparing to start work on her doctorate in psychology.

On the day of her disappearance, Matrice had been acting in an odd manner. She sent out text messages that were uncharacteristic of her. The messages consisted of talk about being ‘part of the universe’. She was talking in the same manner. Her family is concerned because she didn’t have any money with her and was ‘not in her right mind’.

Her parents, Ms. Sutton and Michael Richardson, have been on television to appeal for help in finding their daughter. They have stated that they feel the police have not been helpful in efforts to find her. However, the sheriff’s department says that since Ms. Richardson is an adult, they are can not legally give her parents the information they are requesting. In addition, there was no reason to keep her in custody as the parents are claiming they should have.

The Los Angeles police and Malibu Sheriff’s department have been combing a 60-square mile radius in the Malibu/Lost Hills area searching for any signs of Mitrice Richardson.



http://law.rightpundits.com/?p=854

This was covered on JVM today and it's been reported that Mitrice is a lesbian and her parents disapproved and she may not actually be "missing".
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From CBS News Crimesider blog:

A woman who was arrested at a Malibu, Calif. restaurant went missing after she was released hours later from a sheriff’s station, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Mitrice Richardson, 24, was reportedly intoxicated and unable to pay her $89 bill at Geoffrey’s restaurant on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu about 10 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 17, the newspaper reported.

Deputies arrested Richardson at the Malibu-Lost Hills station, where they booked her on suspicion of not paying for the meal and possession of less than an ounce of marijuana, sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore told the Los Angeles Times.

She was released about 1:25 a.m. the next day, he said.

“She exhibited no signs of mental illness or intoxication,” said Whitmore, explaining why she was released. “She was fine. She’s an adult.”

According to her mother, Latice Sutton, a manager she spoke to at Geoffrey’s said Richardson appeared to be in “no condition to drive.”

Sutton told the newspaper that she called the Malibu-Lost Hills station to ask about posting bail and picking up her daughter, but deputies told her they had released her because they did not have room to keep her in jail.

“They allowed her to walk out of that facility and down that road in the pitch black night,” Richardson’s father, Michael, told the Times. “That’s not right. Now, I just want to find my child.”

The woman’s mother said deputies told her nearby residents had called to say a woman was sleeping on porches, indicating to her that Richardson was stumbling around a nearby residential neighborhood early Friday, the Times reported.

Richardson is African-American, 5-foot-5-inches and approximately 135 pounds. She has brown, curly hair and hazel eyes, and was last seen wearing a dark shirt and blue jeans, police said. According to a flyer made by her family, Richardson has tattoos on her lower abdomen and behind her neck.

Police asked anyone with information on her whereabouts to call the LAPD’s Missing Persons Unit at (213) 485-5381, or 1-877-LAPD-24-7 after business hours or on weekends.

Pictures of Mitrice on link below:

http://sandrarose.com/2009/09/25/mitrice-richardson-arrested-released-then-disappeared-are-the-cops-to-blame/

Something just doesn't fit with this case. I want to know the following:

1) WHY hasn't anyone from the restaurant been interviewed via the media?
2) WHY didn't the restaurant call her family instead of the police? I know they contacted her grandmother..but WHY didn't the grandmother contact the mother and father? Very strange!
3) What happened to her purse and cell phone?

http://www.thegrio.com/2009/09/a-massive-search-effort-for.php

http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-missing-woman-malibu,0,1119086.story
4:54 AM PST, January 14, 2010

LOS ANGELES -- The family of a 24-year-old woman who mysteriously vanished after walking out of the Lost Hills sheriff's station nearly four months ago has filed a multi-million dollar claim against the county.

The claim, filed last week, alleges that sheriff's department personnel acted negligently in releasing Mitrice Richardson from custody Sept. 17.

Attorney Leo Terrell took the action on behalf of Richardson's mother, Latice Sutton; her father, Michael Richardson; the missing woman; and her estate. Terrell plans to follow the claim with a lawsuit, according to the Los Angeles Times.

At least three searches for for Richardson in Malibu have turned up empty.

The mystery began on September 16 when the Cal State Fullerton graduate went to Geoffrey's restaurant in Malibu.

She ordered a drink and a steak dinner. When the $89 bill came, she said she had no money.

She told restaurant employees that she was from Mars and spoke to them in a made-up language.

Her odd behavior and failure to pay for a steak and a drink prompted restaurant staff to call deputies.

Sheriff's officials say they also found a small amount of marijuana in her car, and Richardson, who passed a sobriety test, was booked at the sheriff's station for failing to pay her bill.

She was released about 1:25 a.m. the next morning, according to the sheriff's department.

Her 1990 Honda Civic was impounded, and she walked away from the station with no purse or cell phone.

Richardson's mother said she believes her daughter was in a "manic state of mind" because she was sending "erratic" text messages to family and friends the afternoon of Sept. 16.

The Sheriff's Department has come under fire for not holding her for a psychological evaluation.

The department has said Richardson appeared rational and it felt it had a legal obligation to release her in a timely manner.

Investigators say they have since found evidence in the missing woman's diaries and text messages that she was suffering from severe bipolar disorder.

L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca has ordered a homicide investigation into Richardson's disappearance, despite having no evidence that she is dead. In doing so, the sheriff's department can put some of its "top investigators" on the case, according to Steve Whitmore, a department spokesman.

Several weeks after she disappeared, some residents of South Los Angeles claimed to have seen Richardson.

A homeowner on Cold Canyon Road reported a woman resting in her yard about 6:30 a.m., but when deputies arrived, the woman was gone.

Mitrice Richardson is African American with brown hair and hazel-brown eyes. She is about 5 feet, 5 inches tall and about 125 pounds and has tattoos on her lower abdomen and on the back of her neck. She was last seen wearing a brown Bob Marley T-shirt and blue jeans.

Police are asking anyone with information about her whereabouts to call Los Angeles detectives at 213-486-6900.

A $25,000 reward is being offered for information that leads to her being found.

Mitrice Richardson: California Woman Missing After Arrest and Release from Jail
by BJ in OR on Mon Sep 28, 2009 5:31 pm


Mitrice Richardson showed up at Geoffrey’s, a Malibu restaurant, acting strangely on September 17, 2009. The restaurant is about 40 miles for her home, she ran up a $89 bill she couldn’t pay and sat down to have a conversation with people she didn’t know. When she couldn’t pay her bill, she called her great-grandmother for help. The restaurant couldn’t take money over the phone to pay the bill. The restaurants owner, Jeff Peterson, said she was acting strangely and called police out of concern for her safety.

The police arrived and found a small amount of marijuana in her car. They arrested her for not paying her restaurant bill and for possession of marijuana. She was taken to the Malibu Hills sheriff’s office about 13 miles away.

The great-grandmother called Matrice’s mother, Latice Sutton, to tell her what had happened. Ms. Sutton called the sheriff’s department and was told she could pick Mitrice up about 4 am. When she called back at 4:30 am she was told that her daughter had been released about 1:30 am. Mitrice has not been seen since and her family is furious and frantic.

Ms. Sutton says that Matrice, 24-years-old, is not street savvy, having had a sheltered upbringing, and was in an area she was not familiar with. She is furious the police released her on foot in the middle of the night. The former beauty pageant contestant has been preparing to start work on her doctorate in psychology.

On the day of her disappearance, Matrice had been acting in an odd manner. She sent out text messages that were uncharacteristic of her. The messages consisted of talk about being ‘part of the universe’. She was talking in the same manner. Her family is concerned because she didn’t have any money with her and was ‘not in her right mind’.

Her parents, Ms. Sutton and Michael Richardson, have been on television to appeal for help in finding their daughter. They have stated that they feel the police have not been helpful in efforts to find her. However, the sheriff’s department says that since Ms. Richardson is an adult, they are can not legally give her parents the information they are requesting. In addition, there was no reason to keep her in custody as the parents are claiming they should have.

The Los Angeles police and Malibu Sheriff’s department have been combing a 60-square mile radius in the Malibu/Lost Hills area searching for any signs of Mitrice Richardson.

http://law.rightpundits.com/?p=854

_________________
Re: Mitrice Richardson: California Woman Missing After Arrest and Release from Jail
by BJ in OR on Mon Sep 28, 2009 5:44 pm


This was covered on JVM today and it's been reported that Mitrice is a lesbian and her parents disapproved and she may not actually be "missing".
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From CBS News Crimesider blog:

A woman who was arrested at a Malibu, Calif. restaurant went missing after she was released hours later from a sheriff’s station, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Mitrice Richardson, 24, was reportedly intoxicated and unable to pay her $89 bill at Geoffrey’s restaurant on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu about 10 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 17, the newspaper reported.

Deputies arrested Richardson at the Malibu-Lost Hills station, where they booked her on suspicion of not paying for the meal and possession of less than an ounce of marijuana, sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore told the Los Angeles Times.

She was released about 1:25 a.m. the next day, he said.

“She exhibited no signs of mental illness or intoxication,” said Whitmore, explaining why she was released. “She was fine. She’s an adult.”

According to her mother, Latice Sutton, a manager she spoke to at Geoffrey’s said Richardson appeared to be in “no condition to drive.”

Sutton told the newspaper that she called the Malibu-Lost Hills station to ask about posting bail and picking up her daughter, but deputies told her they had released her because they did not have room to keep her in jail.

“They allowed her to walk out of that facility and down that road in the pitch black night,” Richardson’s father, Michael, told the Times. “That’s not right. Now, I just want to find my child.”

The woman’s mother said deputies told her nearby residents had called to say a woman was sleeping on porches, indicating to her that Richardson was stumbling around a nearby residential neighborhood early Friday, the Times reported.

Richardson is African-American, 5-foot-5-inches and approximately 135 pounds. She has brown, curly hair and hazel eyes, and was last seen wearing a dark shirt and blue jeans, police said. According to a flyer made by her family, Richardson has tattoos on her lower abdomen and behind her neck.

Police asked anyone with information on her whereabouts to call the LAPD’s Missing Persons Unit at (213) 485-5381, or 1-877-LAPD-24-7 after business hours or on weekends.

Pictures of Mitrice on link below:
http://sandrarose.com/2009/09/25/mitrice-richardson-arrested-released-then-disappeared-are-the-cops-to-blame/

_________________
Re: Mitrice Richardson: California Woman Missing After Arrest and Release from Jail
by Wrapitup on Sun Oct 04, 2009 10:21 pm
Something just doesn't fit with this case. I want to know the following:

1) WHY hasn't anyone from the restaurant been interviewed via the media?
2) WHY didn't the restaurant call her family instead of the police? I know they contacted her grandmother..but WHY didn't the grandmother contact the mother and father? Very strange!
3) What happened to her purse and cell phone?

http://www.thegrio.com/2009/09/a-massive-search-effort-for.php

The father of a woman who has been missing since she was released from a sheriff's substation in Malibu filed a claim against Los Angeles County on Tuesday, arguing the woman should have been given a mental-health evaluation and not released in the middle of the night without a car or identification.

"Mitrice Richardson was released by sheriff's deputies even though she was exhibiting signs of mental instability and they did not conduct any mental evaluation before they released her,'' attorney Benjamin Schonbrun told reporters outside the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration in downtown Los Angeles after filing the claim on behalf of Mitrice's father, Michael.

"They released her into a remote section of Malibu without any identification, cell phone or other means of transportation,'' he said. "Mitrice Richardson has not been seen since.''

Sheriff's officials have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, saying they told Mitrice she could remain at the station as long as she wanted.

A claim is a prelude to a possible lawsuit but does not specify a damages amount, although Michael Richardson said he plans to sue for $50 million.

Tuesday's claim was made solely on behalf of Michael Richardson and Mitrice.

Mitrice's mother, Latice Sutton, Mitrice and her estate were listed as plaintiffs in three separate claims filed by attorney Leo Terrell on their behalf Jan. 6 and Mitrice's father was listed in a fourth claim filed by Terrell five days later. None of those claims specified the amount of money damages.

But Michael Richardson said Tuesday that "Leo was never my attorney.'' He said he believed the earlier filing turned people away from trying to help find Mitrice.

But now, frustrated by what he views as authorities' inaction, he was ready to file his own claim. There is also a six-month time limit on filing from the date of occurrence.

"They can't just `man up' and say they made a mistake,'' Richardson told City News Service.

He says he will use any money won in a suit to support "the best politicians to represent our district'' and educate young women to be more aware of their surroundings in a world full of sexual predators.

Mitrice Richardson, 24, who was arrested Sept. 16 after being unable to pay her $89 bill at Geoffrey's, 27400 Pacific Coast Highway, apparently had a mental breakdown after being awake for as many as five nights, according to diaries found in the car she was driving, Los Angeles police said.

Restaurant staff told investigators she was behaving bizarrely and speaking gibberish. Since her disappearance, Los Angeles Police Department homicide investigators have said they found evidence in her diaries and text messages that she was suffering from severe bipolar disorder.

Sheriff's deputies summoned to the restaurant searched Richardson's car and found some marijuana, prompting them to impound it. Richardson was taken to the sheriff's station, where she was booked for failing to pay her bill and released about 1 a.m. Sept. 17, deputies said.

Deputies said Richardson passed a sobriety test, and she was allowed to walk away from the station in the 27000 block of Agoura Road. She may have been spotted resting in a yard later that morning, but that was the last time she was seen.

Michael Richardson told reporters sheriff's deputies should not have released his daughter in the condition she was in.

"My daughter was not drunk,'' he said. "My daughter suffered a behavioral issue that night that 12 witnesses told the L.A. sheriff's that she was (experiencing). And they failed to have her evaluated. They are responsible because they are the last people that had her. In the state of California, if I allow somebody to leave my house drunk and they get in an accident, if ... my residence is the last place that she was at then I'm held responsible. Why are the sheriffs not being held responsible? They should be, bottom line.''

http://www.wavenewspapers.com/news/88048267.html

http://www.findmitrice.info/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Find-Mitrice-Richardson/149293545705

I was thinking of her all day yesterday.

I watched JVM last night and she discussed Matrice in length with her mother and Amber DuBois' father. There are some new developments and they are NOT pretty:

Stay with us. Mitrice Richardson vanished nine months ago. And a new search turns up what might be a disturbing message for her family. It`s a sick message. I`ll talk to her mom in a second.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: It`s been nine long months since Mitrice Richardson was released from a southern California jail in the middle of the night, never to be seen again. Now in a horrifying, revolting twist, the family says it has stumbled on a freshly-painted, racist, pornographic mural resembling Mitrice as they search for her. Is this a sinister message for her family? I`ll talk to Mitrice`s devastated mother.

Tonight, could a sexist and racist graffiti mural provide cops with new clues? Mitrice vanished nine months ago. She was arrested when she couldn`t pay her bill at a swanky Malibu restaurant. Witnesses say she was incoherent, acting crazy.

This poor young woman was taken to the police station. She was booked and then just like that, she was released at 1:30 in the morning in a remote area. She hasn`t been seen since. She did not have her car, or her cell phone or her wallet. So why did cops let her go smack in the middle of the night?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEO TERRELL, ATTORNEY FOR MITRICE RICHARDSON`S FAMILY: If Mitrice Richardson`s name was Spears or Lohan they would never let her walk out by herself. They would have escorted her home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Mitrice`s heartbroken family has refused to give up hope, searching everywhere for their precious daughter, demanding answers from police.

Tonight a horrifying new discovery: a racist and sexist mural was found during a recent search for Mitrice. Take a look at it. We`re going to show you -- we had to blur it, actually because it`s that pornographic. Ok. Way too pornographic for TV. Spray-painted pictures of naked women, all in sexual poses; and they even have similar haircuts to Mitrice. Ok? The paint found at the scene still fresh.

What the heck does this mean? It`s sick. It`s sinister.

Joining me now, Mitrice`s heart broken mother, Latice Sutton; also Judge Karen Mills Francis; and we`re also honored to have the father of Amber Dubois, Mo Dubois. The body of his daughter was found back in March, also in southern California.

I begin with Latice. You`re already going through so much searching for your missing daughter. What was your reaction when you found this mural? What ran through you when you saw this vicious stuff?

LATICE SUTTON, MOTHER OF MITRICE RICHARDSON: I can`t even begin to describe the horror that went through my body because is not just some random mural that is painted. This is very symbolic. It`s a message.

And to me, what that mural describes is various stages in which they have taken a woman, or my -- or just simply my daughter through in whatever sexual, perverted dealings they have. But this is not a coincidence. I`m just absolutely appalled. This is such a hateful message to women in general.

And then the fact that it`s of an African-American woman that people knew we were coming out to look for. I don`t think this was an accident.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, it`s sick. And it`s pornographic. And it`s racist.

Is it connected to your daughter`s disappearance? As you said, everybody knew, we were announcing it on the air that you were going to be searching for your daughter in that area. The paint was wet. They found paint brushes nearby with wet paint. It`s pornographic.

So what message do you think is being sent, Latice? And also did cops tell you whether they confiscated the paint brushes and are dusting them for fingerprints to see if somebody`s sick enough to do this, and this had to take hours and hours and hours, it`s not one little graffiti scroll. You can see it goes through a whole long wall.

If somebody`s sick enough to do that, who knows what they`re capable of?

SUTTON: Oh, absolutely. And what this mural of hate tells me is that they are showing me what they are doing to my daughter, the torment that they are causing to my daughter.

As far as the police authorities, they have collected evidence, and they have shared with me that the progression of the investigation is ongoing. However, they are not giving me specifics. I want to know who, who is this connected to, what have they learned from the paint brushes and the paint lids?

You know, I`m not -- I don`t want to continue to hear generic answers. I want answers to my questions.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Judge Karen Mills-Francis, former Miami-Dade County judge. This is really horrifying. What do you make of it?

JUDGE KAREN MILLS-FRANCIS, FORMER MIAMI-DADE COUNTY JUDGE: The question I have about this whole thing, Jane, is why isn`t the FBI investigating this case?

I read a news piece, the FBI statement is that they don`t investigate cases involving missing adults. We know that`s not true, because Natalee Holloway was 18 years old when she went missing, not in this country, but in a foreign country. And if you go to the FBI`s Web site, there`s a great big full-page poster with a picture of Natalee Holloway, and an indication that the FBI is investigating her whereabouts.

(CROSSTALK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I agree with you. I think the FBI should be involved.

Maurice Dubois, tragically, you`ve become an expert in these heartbreaking searches. Your 14-year-old daughter, precious girl, Amber, vanished in 2009, her body found in rural San Diego. And she was a victim of a monster by the name of John Gardner, who also raped and murdered 17- year-old Chelsea King. And my heart goes out to you and your family and the King family.

What do you make of this latest discovery? Because I know you`re helping the Mitrice Richardson family search for her.

MAURICE DUBOIS, FATHER OF AMBER DUBOIS: Well, yes, we are.

First of all, I`d just like to say , Jane, for addressing this horrific issue, of this family desperately searching for their missing child. And personally, just the fact that these hate groups are out in this immediate area, to me, it just emphasizes why law enforcement should really take a second look at some of these people and some of these organizations that are out there, because like you said, this isn`t the work of one person in an hour. This is a very intricate mural that they took the time to send this message out.

So I really hope law enforcement really takes this very seriously.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I`ve got to say, this is one of the more disturbing things I have seen recently. Again, if you`re looking at it, this had to take a long time. Who knows if there`s even more than one person involved in it.

Again, I have to ask, did the cops, Latice, confiscate the paint brushes? Do you know if they`re dusting them for fingerprints?

SUTTON: That is their claim, yes. They have confiscated the paint brushes, the paint lids and various other items that were found at the scene. And they are processing it to find who was involved with this horrific mural.

And that one in the wheelchair, that kills me.

(CROSSTALK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I mean let`s face it. Let`s face it -- what did you say?

SUTTON: I said the depiction of the young woman, the young African- American woman in the wheelchair with her arms being pulled forward. That one affects me the most because it`s like -- what are they telling me? Is my daughter in a wheelchair at this point? What have they done to her? They`re hurting her.

And we need FBI involvement to help us get out here and investigate and find out who would commit this.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right.

You know what, we`re extending this. This is so horrific. We have to extend it to the next segment.

MICHAEL RICHARDSON, MITRICE RICHARDSON`S FATHER: I`m upset. But I`m going to keep a level head, because I`ve been asked to. But I don`t expect for these people to move, because they haven`t.

LATTICE SUTTON, MITRICE RICHARDSON`S MOTHER: We want our daughter found. We feel that there`s not been enough effort to locate her. All we want is our daughter home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Here is my big issue tonight. We need more detective work on this case of missing Mitrice Richardson. And now, we have, along with the searches, this discovery, this horrific discovery of a mural -- we`re going to show it to you again -- that was on the search route.

They were searching for Mitrice recently. We can`t even show you the mural because it`s pornographic. And the worst part is that the depiction of the African-American female matches up with the hairstyle that Mitrice was wearing. So this could be a direct message to Mitrice Richardson.

We called the sheriffs today to try to find out what they`re doing to investigate this. We have not heard back.

But Latice, you`re the missing woman`s mother. The fact that the hairstyle is the same, to me, is the most disturbing. Because it`s not just generically racist, it seems like it is specifically directed at your daughter on the search route. That`s what disturbs me.

SUTTON: Absolutely, as well as the blue painting of the woman on her hands and knees with the "L.A." that is written on her buttocks with the cigarette of some sort coming out of her mouth.

So it is my opinion that the perpetrator, or perpetrators that`s violating Mitrice is actually watching. Because there are so many overtones as to what has been stated, as far as Mitrice`s demeanor and what occurred that night. This is not an accident. This is not coincidental. And we need the federal investigations to start an investigation yesterday. We need them.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Maurice Dubois, what should cops be doing with this information?

DUBOIS: Well, of course, you know, you really need to address the issue of these groups that are out there. And these law enforcement officers, the ones in the area are really familiar with where these groups` whereabouts are. They know who they are.

They need to really put pressure on these groups and find out who the actual individuals are, who did this. Because they know the areas, they know the people in their jurisdiction. It`s just a matter of them getting in -- getting more involved and wanting to find out the answers to this, you know?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right.

DUBOIS: It`s that need to want to find the answer.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Listen, we`ve got to wrap this up. But I -- please, Maurice and Latice, please come back soon. We`re not letting this go. I mean, this is -- it`s one of the most revolting things I have seen in a long time. And we want to stay on top of this story and demand answers.

MILLS-FRANCIS: Yes.

snipped from: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANscriptS/1006/16/ijvm.01.html

From the Los Angeles Times today:

Los Angeles law enforcement authorities believe that Mitrice Richardson, the woman who vanished after being released from a sheriff's station in the early morning last September, may be alive and living in Las Vegas.

"It's not definitive, it's not absolute," said Sheriff's Department spokesman Steve Whitmore. But Los Angeles sheriff's and police investigators plan to hold a press conference with local police officials in Las Vegas Thursday to announce they are looking for Richardson and to urge her to contact them, he said.

"Please let us know you're OK," Whitmore said of their message to Richardson. "You're not in trouble. You've done nothing wrong. You are not the subject of a criminal investigation. You will not be arrested."

Richardson's father, Michael Richardson, said Wednesday that a Sheriff's Department official told him recently the department had gathered information on 80 possible sightings of his daughter in Las Vegas. Whitmore would not confirm that number but he said, "They wouldn't be doing this if they didn't believe they had credible information of her whereabouts. They want to prove or disprove beyond a shadow of a doubt that these sightings are indeed fact or indeed not fact."

Richardson, a Cal State Fullerton graduate whose 25th birthday was three months ago, was arrested the evening of last Sept. 16 at Geoffrey's restaurant in Malibu after she couldn't pay her $89 dinner bill. Patrons and restaurant staff said she had been behaving bizarrely, but Sheriff's Department staffers said she acted normally while in custody at the Lost Hills/Malibu station. She was released shortly after midnight but without her car — which had been impounded — or her purse and cellphone, which were in the car. There were three credible sightings of her later that morning in Malibu Canyon. But she never made contact with friends or family and no further trace of her was found. Los Angeles Police Department homicide investigators assigned to the case discovered a few months later that she was probably suffering from a severe bipolar mental disorder at the time of her arrest and disappearance.

Since then, Sheriff's Department officials have been repeatedly criticized for not holding her for further medical evaluation and instead releasing her without a car or phone in the early morning darkness near the rugged terrain of Malibu Canyon. The department has steadfastly maintained that Richardson acted rationally in their custody. But its handling of the case has been investigated at the request of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and Richardson's parents have filed lawsuits claiming negligence.

Authorities conducted four searches across miles of Malibu Canyon — the last one in January was the largest ever conducted in the county for a missing person — without turning up a single clue.

According to Michael Richardson, a Sheriff's Department official discussed with him the possibility that his daughter was working as a prostitute in Las Vegas. Richardson said it was possible she was under the influence of someone keeping her from contacting family and friends. Or that she may have simply shrugged off old connections on her own.

It's also possible that the multiple sightings are not of Richardson but of a woman who resembles her.

"Absolutely possible," Whitmore said. "They want to make it definitive."

-- Carla Hall

The mother of Mitrice Richardson, who has been missing since she was released from the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff's Station in September, says she does not believe a former acquaintance of her daughter spotted her in a Las Vegas bar in June.

On Thursday, the Los Angeles Police Department and Sheriff's Department as well as Nevada law enforcement officials held a news conference in Las Vegas, to say that they have received a number of reports of sightings of 25-year-old Richardson.

One of the key witnesses was Greg Amerson, who accompanied Richardson to a high school formal nearly a decade ago.

But shortly after the news conference, Richardson's mother, Lattice Sutton, released a statement saying she does not believe Amerson's claim is a "credible sighting."

"Contrary to law enforcement official statements during the press conference, Mitrice did not grow up with, go to school with, or spend any significant time with this witness," she wrote.

Sutton added that she finds the sighting difficult to believe because Amerson last saw Richardson nine years ago.

Furthermore, Sutton wrote she does not believe her daughter is in Las Vegas.

Authorities should have instead aggressively pursued a tip from Richardson's biological father, Michael Richardson, claiming that he spotted his daughter in Las Vegas back in January.

In addition to Amerson's claims, officers said during the news conference that there were about 70 more sightings of Richardson on buses and at restaurants.

Richardson went missing Sept. 17, 2009, after being released from the sheriff's station just past midnight.

She had been arrested that evening for failing to pay a restaurant bill at Geoffrey's in Malibu.

Richardson was released without access to a vehicle, phone or money, and is believed to be suffering from bipolar disorder.

Authorities are urging Richardson to contact them or her family, assuring her that she is not in trouble and would not be arrested.

In June, Sutton filed a lawsuit against the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, and Richardson's father filed a similar one this week.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors continues to offer a $25,000 reward for information that leads to Richardson's whereabouts.

http://calabasas.patch.com/articles/mitrice-richardsons-mom-doesnt-think-missing-daughter-is-in-vegas

A California father is holding out hope that his daughter will be found here in Las Vegas. He's taking the lead on the search, scouring the streets of downtown.

"I'm here from Los Angeles," says Michael Richardson to a business owner along Fremont Street. "This girl is missing. She's my daughter. Have you seen her?" He's getting the word out, stopping in as many storefronts as he can.

Mitrice Richardson's been missing since September 17th. She vanished without a trace, after being released from a sheriff's substation in Malibu.

The 25-year-old was arrested after not paying her bill at a restaurant. Her father says she suffers from a mental disorder. "She was spiraling out of control five days before she was arrested," he says. That's why he's mad police would release her without a way of getting home, while she was mentally unstable. He's suing the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department for it.

His hunch is that she somehow ended up in Las Vegas. "A lot of people ask, 'Well, how did she get out here with no money and no purse?' he describes. "The last location she was spotted at, the search dogs picked up that scent, then all of a sudden when they went out near the road, that scent is gone." He believes she must have gotten in a car.

He also looked on her digital camera for clues. He found that shortly before getting arrested, she traveled to Las Vegas. There was a picture of her outside a hotel on Fremont Street. He thinks that proves that maybe she decided to go back.

And in January, during a visit to Vegas, he thought he saw Mitrice walking downtown. But, he was never able to catch up to her. Another family friend, said he spotted her inside the Rio six weeks ago.

Richardson will be in Las Vegas until Monday. He says he's already received calls and emails from people in the valley, offering to help him with the search.

http://www.ktnv.com/Global/story.asp?S=12902530

Wrap sent me a text to post this update
Police investigators went to a remote area of Malibu Canyon on Monday afternoon after park rangers told L.A. County sheriff's officials that they'd found what appeared to be human remains.

It was not immediately clear if the bones, found more than 20 miles southeast of the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff's Station, were those of Mitrice Richardson, who vanished after being released from Sheriff's Department custody last September.

Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said investigators had been dispatched to an area he described as "treacherous terrain filled with overgrown trees and brush" and possibly would have to be taken in by helicopter.

"All we know now is that there is a report of some bones," Whitmore said. "No one from law enforcement has seen this other than the park rangers."

Whitmore cautioned about drawing any quick conclusions given the remote location and the lack of additional facts.

[Updated at 6 p.m.: The remains--including a skull and assorted bones--were found in a deep ravine that had previously been identified as an area where marijuana had been grown, Whitmore said. Park Rangers were checking the area, which had been used to grow pot in the previous growing season but was found to be inactive.]


Last month, authorities held a news conference to say that Richardson could be alive and well in Las Vegas.

A friend from Richardson's teenage years said he saw her in a bar at the Rio on Father's Day weekend in June, prompting a search by L.A. County sheriff's investigators. Her father, Michael Richardson, said a Sheriff's Department official told him that they had information on numerous sightings.

But authorities have neither located her nor established for certain that it was Richardson who was spotted, and not simply a woman who resembles her.

Nothing has been definitive since Richardson — a Cal State Fullerton graduate whose 25th birthday was in April — showed up at Geoffrey's restaurant in Malibu last Sept. 16, acting bizarrely and speaking in gibberish. Unable to pay her $89 dinner bill, she was arrested and taken into custody.

Shortly after midnight, she was released from the Malibu/Lost Hills sheriff's station in Calabasas without her car, which had been impounded, or her cellphone and purse, which were in the car. Several months later, police investigators discovered evidence in her diaries that she was probably suffering from severe bipolar disorder.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/08/malibu-body-mitrice-richardson.html

The area they are speaking of is treacherous. It is in a canyon near Malibu. Gorgeous but very, very dangerous. I wonder if someone picked her up, drove her out to the canyon and did horrible things to her.

I feel so badly for her family.

If this is Mitrice, it just proves once again, that eyewitnesses are generally completely unreliable
as to sightings of missing people or children. I also believe that 99.9 percent of tips are generally worthless as well. Its amazing to me the things people report they have seen. Most of them are just fantasies.

Agreed Artgal. Most sightings are bogus. I wonder if there any fact sheets on that?

I find it very interesting that once Mitrice's mother filed suit against the Sheriffs office they have had sightings in Las Vegas and now these bones discovered. Seems like that lawsuit lit a fire under some arses.

She too finds that amazing. I don't particularly like her yelling on the NG show but I do admire her fighting for her daughter.

I can't blame her for yelling. I would probably be ballistic, and the yelling can't be any worse than good old Nance on a nightly basis.

Also, I agree. All the sudden Mitrice's mom files suit against the Sheriff's office and body discovered.

Skeletal remains found in a remote area of Malibu Canyon on Monday are those of Mitrice Richardson, a California woman who disappeared last year, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca said Thursday.
Richardson, 24, was last seen leaving a sheriff's station in Malibu after being detained by sheriff's deputies on a citizen's arrest complaint made by a restaurant manager in September.
"We have no indication of a homicide at this point," Baca said. "I don't believe that the remains are capable of telling us a story."
The remains, which included a human skull, were found Monday by park rangers searching the area for marijuana groves, said Los Angeles County Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore.
"It's incredibly treacherous terrain," Whitmore said of the remote site. "There is no road, no trail even if you know exactly where you are going."
The woman's father reacted angrily after watching the sheriff's news conference from the rear of the room.
"Now you guys are going to see the real Michael Richardson come out," Michael Richardson said.
Richardson said he was holding sheriff's deputies responsible for his daughter's death, either because of negligence or criminal intent.
"Why can't I speculate? Maybe the sheriff had something to do with it," Richardson told reporters.
Mitrice Richardson was taken to the sheriff's station after she was unable to pay her $89.51 food and drink tab at a Malibu restaurant on the evening of September 16, 2009. A restaurant employee told the 911 dispatcher that she was "sounding crazy."
After deputies determined she had no money to pay, the manager lodged a citizen's arrest complaint against Richardson. Her car was towed, and she was taken to the sheriff's station.
Richardson was given a court date and released just after midnight, but her car was still impounded with her cell phone inside it, according to an investigation conducted by an independent commission.
"Based on my daughter's mental condition that night, she wasn't able to fend for herself," Richardson said. "Mel Gibson gets driven to his car, and Charlie Sheen gets taken to his house."
Her family has said the college honors graduate and former beauty queen suffered from mental health issues.
"The deputies acted properly, but properly doesn't necessarily mean that we couldn't do something more," Baca said Thursday.
One change may be in how deputies handle citizen's arrest complaints from businesses, he said.
"Is an $89 bill enough to take someone into the jail? There is more than one way to handle a problem," Baca said.
Her father wants more than a policy review by the county. Richardson called for a state law named after his daughter to prevent it happening again to someone else.
"I guarantee you the Mitrice Richardson law will say no one -- man, woman or child -- will be released in Malibu for some predator that wears a five-star badge to attack or do whatever they want." he said. Richardson said he was suggesting it might have been the work of "someone in law enforcement."
"It's clearly a set up by someone," he said.
The independent review released Thursday said Richardson's mother, Latice Sutton, "was vacillating on whether to let Ms. Richardson spend the night in jail so that she could learn a lesson; however, she made it clear if Malibu/Lost Hills personnel were going to release Ms. Richardson that night, Ms. Sutton would travel there to pick her up."
Her mother did not learn she was released until 5:30 a.m. the next day, it said. She then filed a missing persons report, which began the search for Richardson that did not end until this week.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/08/12/california.remains.found/?hpt=T2

After deputies determined she had no money to pay, the manager lodged a citizen's arrest complaint against Richardson. Her car was towed, and she was taken to the sheriff's station.
Richardson was given a court date and released just after midnight, but her car was still impounded with her cell phone inside it, according to an investigation conducted by an independent commission.

They did not offer her a ride knowing she had no car and no cell phone?

I would love to see a map of just where the Sheriffs office is located and where the remains were found?

I am truly suspecious like her father that maybe one of those cops followed her out the door.

After all who other than drunk movie stars would be out driving in Malibu in the middle of the night?

She was arrested in Beverly Hills or Hollywood. Where she was found is easily a good 20 to 30 miles away North of Beverly Hills/Hollywood.

In a display of what a number of people at Mitrice Richardson’s funeral said was disrespect toward his deceased daughter, Michael Richardson angrily stomped out of the church nave after services had begun.

Repeatedly flashing a bright orange bandanna, he appeared to scowl and fidget in the front pew on the Richardson family side of procession aisle.

When the pastor praised the role of the dead woman’s mother Latice Sutton, and her stepfather Larry Sutton, who helped raise Mitrice Richardson from about five years of age through college, her biological father became visibly agitated, then reached for his mother who was seated behind him, stood up and told his family members and friends to walk out.

Many of the people filing out looked puzzled and even embarrassed. Some of them tugged on the person next to them to follow.

As they left, the pastor continued his comments, those in attendance listened and the empty pews spoke to the attitude of the man who repeatedly declares, despite rulings to the contrary, that he is Mitrice’s “legal next of kin” and entitled to act on behalf of her estate in litigation.

About 15 minutes later, most of those who had walked out returned to their seats but Richardson remained outside. It was announced that he would join those making remarks to the congregation.

Comments by his mother, Sally Ann Kelly-Richardson, who spoke with a deep rich cadence, preceded those of her son. She eased the tension in the nave as she told an endearing story about her granddaughter and the humorous havoc that a mischievous toddler could wreak with the contents of a container of baby powder.

Then Michael Richardson went up to the microphone. He said, “I don’t want everyone to get nervous [about what I’m going to say],” still waving the orange bandanna as if it was a flag or colors.

Though not as charismatic a speaker as his mother, he lavished praised on his daughter’s stepfather, Larry Sutton, and said, “When I wasn’t ready to be a father, Larry was.”

Richardson then publicly announced, “I went to prison [and Latice did an excellent job as mother], while I was in jail.”

Family members have indicated that Michael Richardson was sentenced to a prison term of over six years for strong-arm robbery. They add that the dead woman’s biological father played no role in her life from when she was three until about 15, when intermittent visits began.

Describing himself as “a very angry person,” the father said, “I am going to try to keep dignified and professional,” then said, “Latice Sutton is no joke, [and] neither am I.”

Michael Richardson has repeatedly refused to work with other family members on the searches and public information outreach, and the funeral was no exception.

Latice Sutton said that the money he collects at fundraisers, which largely take on a carnival-like air, was not contributed toward any of those searches or media campaigns.

Sutton added that Richardson offered “not a penny for funeral costs, not the casket, not the cemetery, not anything.”

Nor does Richardson disguise that he relishes the media spotlight. He frequently contacts members of the press himself and gives his own public appearances high marks on his website and blog.

Mitrice Richardson’s biological father held his own memorial service Aug. 16 and has announced he plans to hold another larger one for all those who “have grown attached to Mitrice’s unfortunate fate,” as well as begin an another series of fundraisers.

http://malibusurfsidenews.com/stories/201008/201008260001.html

Now that the skeletal remains have been identified as Mitrice Richardson's; her father, Michael Richardson has filed a lawsuit against the County of Los Angeles; and the County's Office of Independent Review has released a 60-page report to the Board of Supervisors regarding the arrest, release and subsequent disappearance of Mitrice Lavon Richardson. This report appeared to have been completed before Mitrice's body was identified, since it is dated July 9, and the body was found and identified around August 12.

The Incident

Mitrice Richardson went missing on September 17, 2009 after being released into a remote area by the Lost Hills/Malibu Sheriff's department without her wallet, cell phone, or any means of transportation. What triggered her arrest was not being able to pay an $89 dinner tab at a Malibu restaurant. The circumstances of her release sparked widespread criticism of Sheriff's Department personnel and triggered the two lawsuits accusing the department of negligence.

During that time, law enforcement agencies and the media were accused of devoting less attention to minorities who go missing than to pretty white women who disappear. Mitrice was a very attractive Black woman, and a former beauty pageant contestant, who sources say got a lot of high-profile coverage in People magazine last fall with several other missing persons.

Law enforcement mounted numerous extensive searches covering a total of 40 square miles of Malibu Canyon - one by unmanned drones - while investigators from the L.A. Police Department spent months tracking clues and were eventually joined by L.A. Sheriff's Department detectives. The County Board of Supervisors authorized a reward for information leading to her whereabouts and there were several sightings that came to naught.

Then the body was found almost 11 months later and was identified by the Coroner's office.

Congresswoman Maxine Waters who has been following the case said, "I am deeply saddened to learn that the remains recovered in Malibu Canyon belonged to Mitrice Richardson, a young woman who had been missing for nearly a year. My heartfelt thoughts and prayers are with her mother Latice Sutton, remaining family, and friends, as they finally have the opportunity to grieve the loss of their beloved Mitrice. I also want to commend the numerous volunteers who remained steadfast and committed to learning the facts surrounding Mitrice's disappearance on September 17, 2009."

The Lawsuits

Both parents - Latice Sutton (mother) and Michael Richardson (father) - filed separate lawsuits based on civil rights violations and negligence even before the body was found.

Sutton filed her lawsuit after she had been allowed to watch a sheriff's department videotape of her daughter that showed her daughter acting strangely in the holding cell. Her lawsuit seeked damages and contended that Mitrice exhibited signs of mental instability while in custody - grabbing the walls of the holding cell, pulling her hair - yet officials released her late at night in a remote area without the basic tools to get by - a wallet and a cellphone. The suit also contended that the sheriff's department should have held her for a mental health evaluation because she was probably suffering from severe bipolar disorder. Her attorney is Leo Terrell.

After spending enormous amounts of time searching for his daughter, Michael Richardson filed his lawsuit asking specifically for damages caused by emotional distress, as well as for loss of earnings and medical expenses. His attorney, Benjamin Schonbrun, filed an action for six causes of action and has demanded a jury trial. He said that his client's biggest loss "is the big gaping hole in his heart from missing his daughter...I just want to make sure that people understand this lawsuit was not filed for his own monetary gain...This lawsuit is about seeking the truth, obtaining information the sheriff has not provided."

Both attorneys claim that their suite would include videotapes, audiotapes, witness statements and internal reports.

The sheriff's department however have continued to stand by their previous statements that their personnel handled the Richardson arrest correctly and never saw evidence that she was mentally altered. The spokesman, Steve Whitmore said, "We have been forthcoming about what did occur and didn't occur and we look forward to telling the whole story. The sheriff feels transparency is much more than a buzzword...He has met with the family, he has cooperated with the LAPD by assigning homicide investigators to help."

Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, who had spearheaded the effort to offer a reward before the body was located said after the identification was confirmed, "Today's confirmation by Sheriff Lee Baca that the remains of the body found this week in Malibu are those of Mitrice Richardson is a terrible tragedy for the family and the community at large. My deepest sympathy goes to Ms. Richardson's family. Sheriff Baca's statement today that he is committed to reviewing his department's handling of Ms. Richardson's arrest and detention is not only appropriate, but necessary. I look forward to receiving the results of his investigation. The County'sOffice of Independent Review has also probed the Sheriff Department's handling of this matter and I look forward to the results of that investigation being made available to the public."

Office of Independent Review

According to the chief attorney, Michael Gennaco and the deputy chief, Benjamin Jones, the report offers a factual summary of critical events and its analysis and conclusions regarding the appropriateness of the (Sheriff) Department's conduct.

Sheriff Lee Baca has already publicly stated that his officers acted properly but maybe could have done some things differently. In one section of the report the bartender claimed that 'a customer (Mitrice) ... was "sounding crazy" and possibly on drugs ...' In another section, the report stated, 'In the trunk of Ms. Richardson's car, deputies observed full gallons of vodka, a half-bottle of tequila, and a half-case of beer.' She may not only have been high but somewhat intoxicated. And that may lend some validity to Sutton's lawsuit.

Some years ago, Friends Outside, an statewide organization, through one of its local offices, complained to Sybil Brand Institution, a Sheriff's facility for women, that they were releasing women at 12:01 a.m. on their release dates without transportation or a way to their destinations, and that it was a hazardous undertaking. Working with the sheriff's department, it stopped. Women were only released at that time if they had proper transportation to take them away from the facility.

Apparently, it was not incorporated county-wide. Had that policy been in place, Mitice Richardson might still be alive.

http://newamericamedia.org/2010/08/mitrice-now-the-real-investigation-begins.php

by jeanne1807 on Thu Aug 12, 2010 8:43 pm I would love to see a map of just where the Sheriffs office is located and where the remains were found?

This story is about a lot of things: it seems to be, at its core, about racism and city politics. It’s also about the inexcusable ignorance surrounding mental illness on the behalf of city employees entrusted with assessing the fitness of arrested citizens for public release. And it’s about the power and the limitations of community activism and, hopefully, how far that activism can go to enable lasting change…

On the morning of Sept. 17, 2009, Latice Sutton made her second phone call in 12 hours to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. She had called the night before to ask when she should pick up her daughter who had been arrested and was being held in custody far from home, and was without a wallet, car, or cell phone.
The officer in that first phone call told her that Mitrice would call her when she got to the station; he did not know when she would be released. Latice told him that she felt “safe with her being in custody — it’s being released that I’m worried about.” He told her that she did not have to worry about Mitrice’s safety.
But Latice found out the next morning that Mitrice had been released at 12:30 a.m. And she hadn’t come home.

Officer: Lost Hills Station…
Latice Sutton: Yes, hello, this is Latice Sutton, I called not too long ago about my daughter Mitrice Richardson. How long before a missing person’s report can be filed — 24 or 48 hours?
Officer: Well, it depends on the circumstances, but, uh, I didn’t take your call so I’m not familiar with it. Did she just not return home after going out?
Latice Sutton: She was arrested last night. This is the first time she’s been arrested. She’s in an unknown area she’s never been in. She’s without a vehicle, nobody can find her.
Officer: And where was this at? Where was she arrested at?
Latice Sutton: Your facility. Her name is Mitrice Richardson.
Officer: Do you know if she’s here now, or was she released?
Latice Sutton: They said she was released.
Officer: And what time was she released?
Latice Sutton: Um, just shortly after 12 a.m.
Officer: Yeah normally I wouldn’t recommend doing one that soon —
Latice Sutton: Right, what is the time frame.
Officer: You know, probably, I guess 24 hours would be reasonable. I mean, if there would be some mitigating factors, where, you know, you would suspect maybe something.
Latice Sutton: She doesn’t know the area, she’s never been in your area before [voice breaking], she is unfamiliar with that area…
Officer: Do you think she possibly could’ve gotten a bus home?
Latice Sutton: Listen, my child has never ridden a bus, no.
Officer: OK.
Latice Sutton: She would not know how to ride a bus.
Officer: I would probably wait until early this morning, and if she doesn’t turn up you can certainly call. I don’t suspect anything bad happened…
Latice Sutton: I am concerned because, well, first of all, I thought they were going to keep her overnight because she was highly intoxicated. Something is obviously going on with her…
Officer: Have you talked to the jailer?
Latice Sutton: Yes, yes, yes I have. He said he tried to get her to stay, but because she was an adult, they had to let her go. I believe that she is highly depressed, and she’s in a depressive state. (sobbing)
Officer: You know it could be possible, I mean, maybe she… I mean there’s a lot of options, a lot of possibilities, and I don’t think a lot of them would be something dire. But I can certainly understand your fears, you know, being your daughter and all that.
Latice Sutton: Well, I think she’s depressed. That’s what has me worried…
Officer: That’s what is worrying you more, ok.
Latice Sutton: That and she is in an area that she doesn’t know where she’s at.
Officer: Does she take medication at all?
Latice Sutton: No! I believe that the state that she’s in right… because of the weird activity that has been going on…
Officer: What’s her name?
Latice Sutton: Her name is… her name is Mitrice Richardson. [sobbing]
Officer: OK, and your name ma’am?
Latice Sutton: Latice.
Officer: OK Latice, here’s what I want you to do. Why don’t you wait a couple hours and give us some time, and I’ll go back to talk to the jailer and try and get a timeline of when she was released, and you know, make sure she’s not asleep in our lobby or anything like that, and then why don’t you give us a call back in a couple hours if she hasn’t shown up or made contact with you, and maybe we can do something for you.

While this conversation was happening, Mitrice Richardson was most likely wandering around Malibu Canyon near Monte Nido. The sheriff’s department had received two phone calls that morning with reports of a thin black woman wandering through the neighborhood.

She was not found until last week, when her remains were identified during a search of the canyon.

When we initially posted about Mitrice, there wasn’t much reaction. I suppose there’s not much to say about this kind of thing besides “how horrible,” and comments are often a poor barometer of relevance or interest, but the only comments on the post were contentions with our highlighting of her homosexuality in the headline. But we’ve kept following the case and honored Jasmyne Cannick in our 2009 Autostraddle Icons for her work mobilizing the search for Mitrice. Also, she wrote this post recently called “I Have More Faith in This List of People to Find Out What Really Happened to Mitrice Than I Do in the L.A. Sheriff’s Dept.,” and it’s pretty amazing.
Richardson’s mother and father are now suing the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department in a multimillion-dollar case alleging negligence and wrongful death. And the Rev. Al Sharpton is now asking for a federal investigation into Richardson’s disappearance and death, saying it could be a test case about racial profiling in missing persons cases.

The story has only gotten more strange, complicated and sad the longer we have been following it, but it’s one you need to know about. Here’s our best account of what happened.

The Disappearance

At 7:40 p.m. on Sept. 16, 2009, an employee at Geoffery’s Restaurant made a 911 call to the Malibu Sheriff’s Office, claiming a patron was unable to pay her $89.51 bill and was “acting crazy.” Officers arrived and took Mitrice Richardson into custody. Her receipt indicated she’d had only one drink with her meal. She had no prior criminal record. She was arrested and booked for defrauding an innkeeper & possession of marijuana after the police found less than an ounce of marijuana in her car, despite the fact that in California, personal use marijuana is an offense that usually does not result in an arrest. Her car, with her cell phone and ID inside, was impounded. Mitrice’s mother Latice called the sheriff’s station when she found out that Mitrice was arrested — before Mitrice had even arrived at the station. Latice asked if her daughter would be released that evening, saying “the only way I will come and get her tonight is if you guys are going to release her tonight.” She expressed concern that it was dark, that Mitrice did not know the area, had no place to go around there, and that this behavior was “so out of character” for Mitrice.

She later told the officer she was concerned about what would happen if her daughter was released, joking “I would hate to wake up to a morning report of a girl with her head chopped off!”
At 12:38 a.m. on Sept. 17, Mitrice was released from the Malibu Lost Hills Sheriff’s Department — 50 miles from home, in an unfamiliar area, and without a car, cell-phone or wallet. Latice found out about her release the next morning.

At 5:30 a.m., the department received a phone call from a man who lived in that neighborhood about a thin black woman who had been asleep on his lawn when he woke up. When the man asked if she was okay, she said that she was just relaxing. He didn’t see where she’d gone, but seemed concerned about her health and safety. She was gone by the time the Sherriffs arrived. Police received another report of a black woman walking around the area at 7:30 a.m.

After that, there were no further signs of Mitrice, except a few reports of random sightings in downtown Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Police in LA and Las Vegas began exploring theories that Richardson was working as a prostitute in Nevada or was “under the influence of someone keeping her isolated.”

One such report even came from her father, though he contends that the police didn’t take it seriously until another man reported something similar. He said in a recent interview with CNN:
I was in Las Vegas in January of this year. I reported a sighting of my daughter not just based on the way she looked but this girl had a similar walk and body movement to the point I jumped out of a car on a busy street almost getting hit.
When I turned that information in to the Sheriffs who are investigating they didn’t really follow up on it. Six months later they then decided to take this young man’s — and I’m glad they did — information and follow up on it.
In light of the recent uncovering of her body, those reports seem to have been misidentifcations. Coroners say Mitrice’s body had been in the canyon for anywhere between six months to a year, and she was found within 20 miles of the station.

A Slow Response

According to bringmitricehome.com, a site that appears to be run by Mitrice’s family to raise awareness about her case, Michael Richardson attempted to contact Malibu Mayor Andy Stern about the search for Mitrice. But when he approached the mayor to ask, he was rebuffed. According to the timeline on the site:
The Mayor tells Mr. Richardson that he’s on his way to a meeting and doesn’t have time to stop and speak with him. Mr. Richardson then calls the Mayor’s real estate business cell phone posing as a Black football star interested in one of the Mayor’s $2.2 million homes. The Mayor offers to cancel his previously scheduled meeting and meet him right away at the property for a showing. When the Mayor realizes that he’s speaking to Mr. Richardson, who he just said he didn’t have time for, the Mayor is embarrassed.

In October, Richardson called Stern to talk about the case, but Stern hung up on him because he said Richardson “had become abusive.” Richardson then left voicemails threatening to protest outside the mayor’s office. Stern reported Richardson to the Sheriff’s Department because of the voicemails.

Stern said Richardson wanted him, and the city, to do something about his missing daughter, but the mayor said, “We don’t the have the authority and ability and know how to tell emergency people what to do.”
In November, the City of Malibu put out a $15,000 reward for information leading to the whereabouts of Mitrice Richardson.

In December, Congresswoman Maxine Waters requested an FBI probe into the disappearance of Mitrice Richardson. The County of Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department and the City of Los Angeles Police Department joined forces searching in the greater Lost Hills/Malibu Canyon area in January.

Mitrice Richardson Likely Suffered from Bipolar Disorder

The American Psychiatric Assocation’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual and the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Diseases classify bipolar disorder as an “adult onset disorder.”

Based on witness testimony, it’s likely Mitrice was experiencing a manic episode, possibly her first.
The Geoffery’s employee who called the Sheriff’s Department told them “she sounds really crazy” and suggested that maybe she was on drugs. She’d racked up a bill she couldn’t pay and was surprised when a social group she’d attached herself to didn’t pay for her meal. (Sufferers of mania experience impaired judgment and may go on spending sprees or engage in behavior that is abnormal for them.)

“She seemed a little euphoric — a little odd,” said restaurant owner Jeff Peterson… Richardson said “she was from Mars and started speaking in a made-up language . . . she did tell my valet at one point that she was here to avenge Michael Jackson’s death.” (Persons experiencing a manic episode will experience psychosis or a break with reality while others are euphoric and grandiose.)

According to a restaurant employee, heaps of alcohol was found in Mitrice’s car (not reported by the police) and according to the police, marijuana was found on Mitrice and in her car. (Manic persons may indulge in substance abuse, particularly alcohol or other depressants.)

The restaurant employee also told Mitrice’s father that his (male) friend said Mitrice had been flirtatious with him, which was highly out of character for Mitrice, who was comfortable with her sexuality and had been out for some time. (Manic episodes are often characterized by hypersexual drive.)

Following her disappearance, Mitrice’s journal was “probed for clues” by mental health professionals. They found that Mitrice had gone without sleep for up to five nights prior to her arrest and spent the last five days calling and texting strange things to her friends, making entries on her MySpace and Facebook pages and “writing in her journals around the clock.”. (Mania is characterized by a decreased need for sleep.) They say she may have been suffering from severe bipolar disorder.

Colleagues at the Mercantile Freight Office in Santa Fe Springs saw her at work the day of her arrest and reported she was “giddy, really giggly. Out of the ordinary.”

“It appeared she had been living out of her car — there were clothes that weren’t folded, makeup, books, several purses, these journals,” Knolls said. “It looked like she was homeless — even though she wasn’t. Her friends said it wasn’t unusual for her to stay in her car for several days.”

After seeing her booking photo, Mitrice’s father said, “She looked like a demon had come inside her. That was not my daughter. It ran chills up my spine. I’ve never seen my daughter look like that.” If you’ve ever seen a loved one in a manic state, you know exactly what he’s talking about — this is why sufferers were often dismissed as being “possessed by demons” before psychology defined and described bipolar disorder.
Although it is procedure to evaluate the mentally incapacitated, deputies did not do so, despite the fact that Mitrice wanted to leave the station at 1 a.m. in an unfamiliar area with no way to get home, and the fact that she’d told restaurant patrons she was from Mars. Their excuse? She passed a “field sobriety test” and wanted to be released. Of course she did. The fact that she said she’d like to be released is crazy in and of itself — what sane person would want to walk out into an unfamiliar area with no money, phone, car or ride in the middle of the night?

The Friends Group of Pasadena wrote a letter to the Sheriff to “[request] a copy of the Department’s nighttime release protocols” and request “that the protocols used for nighttime releases be made public and be re-examined.”

Now, I’ve [this is Riese here] been to jail to pick up a manic (lesbian) person (of color) to find she’d already been released because “she was fine,” despite being covered in self-inflicted bruises and having been drunk on arrival. She’d been arrested for “disturbing the peace” after spending a night yelling at her neighbors in Godspeak. “She was chatting everybody up!” said the clerk, as if that meant she was okay. Fantastic. I literally had to find her by walking around a town I’d never been to, praying for a signal from G-d to lead me in her direction, which might sound crazy to most of you, but I didn’t have many options. (see: #1 in this blog post).
Basically, people are busy and overworked and if someone appears to present no harm to themselves or others, it’s easiest to just let them out. It’s a complicated issue: anti-psychiatry advocates argue that adults should be treated as such and the controversies around detaining an inmate based on suspected mental health issues are murky — subjective judgments of sanity by non-medical professionals can be misinformed, misguided or prejudiced.

But Mitrice’s mother had called – isn’t that enough? The LAPD’s guidelines think so. Mitrice’s mother may not have diagnosed her daughter or testified to a family history of mental illness, but how could she really know? It’s late onset, that’s why it’s so scary sometimes — you can’t always tell if someone is growing up, going crazy, or if you’re just getting to know them better. Most people think mental illness pops up early and don’t realize that someone could have their first episode in their 20s. Furthermore, the shame around mental illness is crippling, and it’s very difficult for parents to readily admit their child could be ill. These circumstances need to be considered by law enforcement officers – that’s their job.

Would this have happened to a white girl?

Why did somebody let a 24-year-old woman out into the night with no ride, no ID, no money and no cell-phone, hours after the nearest bus had stopped running? Why wasn’t she at least taken to where her car had been impounded? Why would anyone think you could do such a thing to another human being and not be held accountable for it? Mitrice’s father has noted that he doesn’t think this would’ve happened to a “Spears or Lohan.” But really would the LAPD have let an attractive, well-educated white girl with no prior arrest record out into an unfamiliar area at 12:40 a.m. without fearing recourse?

When 17-year-old Chelsea King was found, Jasmyne wrote: “Apparently, it seems that in order to get the FBI involved in a missing person’s case you need to be the following: white, female, and from a privileged background. Something that 24-year-old Mitrice Richardson isn’t.”

The Gay Thing

We first read about Mitrice when she made the cover of People magazine in November 2009. I’d remembered her story particularly because, I admit, it had shades of Anne Heche – before she disappeared, she was speaking in tongues, wandering the hills of California. That’s why it was interesting to find out, via The Advocate the next week, what People Magazine left out — her sexuality.

SheWired reported: “This missing woman case didn’t gain much traction in the media during the first few weeks after her disappearance. She’s young and pretty, but she’s also black, a lesbian, and works part-time as a dancer at a gay nightclub.”

Mitrice’s father has been outspoken about the LAPD’s failures in this case, but is “highly grateful to the gay and lesbian community.” When supposed friends told Michael that “the Bible says [Mitrice] is going to hell for this; this is God’s way of showing her,” he defended her: “My daughter taught me not to pass judgment. One of the quickest ways to lose Mitrice [as a friend] is to act self-righteous.”

Jane Velez-Mitchell, HLN anchorwoman (and out lesbian), has been one of the few on-air reporters on top of this story. Last week, she had Mitrice’s mother on her show with a call-in from the family lawyer:

Jasmyne Cannick, a blogger and community organizer who has spearheaded efforts to find Mitrice and hold the LAPD accountable for their mishandling of the case, had this to say when the remains were identified:
From the beginning, the Sheriff’s Department has never been forthright and honest about their handling of Mitrice Richardson. You will probably never read about it in the newspaper or see it in the television reports, but I lived it, every day for the past 11 months with her family.

I saw the paperwork that was altered. I met with Sheriff Lee Baca and his henchman in Monterey Park when they finally agreed to meet with her father Michael Richardson.

And yes—I was there today when they announced that the remains found in Malibu on Monday were in fact Mitrice… You don’t notify someone that their daughter is dead via answering machine. You hold off on the press conference until you reach them first.

And in typical fashion, Baca defended his deputies actions and placed the blame on Geoffrey’s for making a citizen’s arrest of Mitrice.

Yes, Geoffrey’s is to blame, but ultimately, the blame belongs to the Sheriff’s Department.
And no, you do not blame the victim. You do not blame the victim. Mental issues or not, you do not blame the victim.

The LAPD obviously says that there is no foul play:

The Office of Independent Review, which oversees the Sheriff’s Department, found that the department “properly and legally” released Richardson, according to a 58-page draft report. The report says that the station personnel “were not negligent in determining that Ms. Richardson did not demonstrate any symptoms of an existing mental health illness.”

The Friends Group of Pasadena is currently working to raise awareness on the issue of Custodial Night Time Release: “Persons in the custody of local law enforcement agencies are frequently released between midnight and 3:00 a.m. without money, transportation or a way to call someone to pick them up. This practice fails to ensure the safety of persons who have been released. We refer to this practice as “Custodial Night Time Release.” Read their website for more information.

You can also sign the petition to make Sherrif Lee Baca take a lie detector test about Mitrice’s case.
What happened to Mitrice Richardson cannot be undone, but hopefully attention to her case, and pressure on the people involved, will prevent this from ever happening to someone else.

http://www.autostraddle.com/mitrice-richardson-body-found-56050/

If this were Lindsay Lohan or Paris or Brittney or any number of young, attractive, well known celebrities..black or white..these circumstances would have never taken place.

Hollywood and where she was found is a long, long way. No way she could have walked that. The canyon's are extremely hard to walk down. Someone had to have picked her up, took her out in the middle of the canyon, raped and killed her.

LACSO needs to pay for this. I see this suit against them as a no-brainer. This is despicable! No amount of money will bring Matrice back.

I signed the petition.

Disgusting. Poor girl. In my small town, if you are blonde and pretty (and younger than me) you can count on being pulled. Usually for no apparent reason, think they just want to "look".
I agree, someone needs to take the heat for this girls death. Who cares if she was lesbian, and how would LAPD know she was lesbian and black when they dropped her off in the middle of nowhere.
Spears or Lohan would have had a helicopter ride back into town, complete with lot's of press coverage.

http://malibusurfsidenews.com/stories/201010/201010140006.html

UPDATE: Allegations Surface that LASD Ignored Coroner's Orders and Moved Mitrice Richardson's Remains in Violation of the Law
—Sheriff's Department Says It Had the Permission of an Unnamed Coroner's Investigator—

I find it amazing what this young womans family has gone through and what they have had to endure.

I have not followed this case closely but JVM is very supportive of Mitrices's mother and has her on the show any time something new happens.

Can you believe that before the coroner arrived deputies moved her remains to another location?

Whats going on in Malibu???

wish I knew.....someone needs to think and do their job by the books!!

Bones Found in Malibu Canyon during a Mitrice Richardson Recovery Operation

February 14, 2011

iReport — A recovery effort for additional remains of Mitrice Richardson was conducted February 13th, in the Lost Hills/Malibu canyon.

Commander James Lopez, along with the Malibu search and rescue, Los Angeles county sheriff''s dept, and Los Angeles coroner S.O.R.T.(special operations response team), were airlifted to the site by the LASD Aero Bureau.

Mitrice Richardson's remains were discovered on August 9th in Lost Hills/Malibu Canyon, nearly one year after she was reported missing, Mitrice Richardson disappeared on Sept 16th, 2009, after being released from the Lost Hills Sheriff's Station at approximately 1am; without transportation, a cell phone, or any type of identification.


Mitirce was charged with 'Failure to pay an Inn Keeper' after she was unable to pay her bill at Geoffrey's Restaurant in Malibu. Jeff Peterson, owner of Geoffrey's, felt Mitirce needed help. Calling the Sheriff''s dept. was their veichle to get Mitirce the assistance she clearly needed. Peterson and his manager said they think daily about the loss of Mitrice.

Latice Sutton, Mitrice Richardson's mother, Lauren Sutton, Mitrice's aunt, & Dr. Ronda Hampton spent the day at the Sheriff's station, waiting for the outcome of their findings. At the end of the recovery efforts, a total of 8 bones were found.

Sutton received a letter on February 11th, informing her that after review & consideration of the case, the FBI has declined any assistance. Latice's request to have her daughter's body exhumed has been granted. It was her understanding that the remains along with clothing found would be sent to the FBI for further evaluation.

Sutton expressed her deep disappointment at the news that the FBI would not be involved. She has many concerns with how Mitrice's case has been handled. On June 29th, Sutton's Lawyer, Leo Terrell, filed a lawsuit against the County of Los Angeles as well as individuals in the Los Angeles Sheriff's dept. for negligence & discriminatory acts.
http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-555786

I wonder why the FBI is not getting involved? I'm glad to hear that MR's mother is suing LE - it sounds like they really mishandled this case, and are ultimately responsible for MR's death!!

Nancy Grace had an update on MR today. Here is some of the transcript:


GRACE: You are seeing video regarding the discovery of a body, the discovery of remains.

Are they those of Mitrice Richardson? Just 24 years old.

To Debra Mark, Talkradio KABC. Debra, what can you tell us?

DEBRA MARK, ANCHOR, TALKRADIO 790 KABC: Nancy, eight small bones have been found in Malibu, and they believe to belong to Mitrice Richardson. And right now we still don`t know how she was -- we don`t know what the cause of death is, but we do know that more -- that remains have been found.

GRACE: To Jean Casarez. Bring the viewers up to date. What were the circumstances surrounding Mitrice`s disappearance?

JEAN CASAREZ, LEGAL CORRESPONDENT, "IN SESSION": This is a beautiful young lady. And she went to dinner in an upscale restaurant and she had trouble paying the bill. So she was detained, not only was she detained, she was taken to the sheriff`s department and she was held there.

She was ultimately released. But at that point she didn`t have a car, she didn`t have a car, she didn`t have money, she didn`t have her credit cars, because the car had been towed and there she was and that was the last point she was seen.

GRACE: For those of you just joining us, remains just found in an isolated area. Are they remains of a 24-year-old beauty Mitrice Richardson?

To Marc Klaas, president and founder, KlaasKids Foundation.

Marc, the story about what happened to Mitrice is very disturbing.

MARC KLAAS, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, KLAASKIDS FOUNDATION: It is very disturbing, and it looks to me like law enforcement bungled this story from the very beginning. I completely and totally understand the outrage that her parents have expressed.

And I understand why they want law enforcement to continue to delve into this and to try to find out if in fact she was murdered or if she inadvertently walked into this area in a confused state that evening.

GRACE: Joining me right now is a special guest. This is Latice Sutton, this is Mitrice`s mother.

Miss Sutton, so much for being with us. I know that this is not the answer that you had hoped for.

LATICE SUTTON, MOTHER OF MISSING 24-YEAR-OLD GIRL, FOUND DEAD, MITRICE RICHARDSON: Never.

GRACE: But I am learning that you had gone to the area and you actually discovered remains.

SUTTON: That is correct. That is where the actual request for the coroner`s office to go back out to the site to search for more remains. That`s where that began. That began back on November 6th, 2010.

And, you know, I really appreciate you having me on your show, Nancy, because I really believe that your show can help bring national attention to this injustice that I believe has occurred in Mitrice`s case.

There have been many, many mistakes that have occurred. And I feel that as a mother who has lost her child in the most tragic way, I can`t even grieve her because I`m too busy investigating this case.

GRACE: Miss Sutton.

SUTTON: Yes.

GRACE: I`ve got to tell you, as a crime victim myself, you are absolutely right. It`s hard enough to take in what has happened. But it`s like your duty to seek justice.

SUTTON: Yes. Absolutely.

GRACE: You`ve got that burden on your back as well. Please tell our viewers what happened.

SUTTON: Well, apparently my daughter was in the Malibu area for whatever her reasons were that night. And she ordered a meal, she started speaking gibberish and saying that she was from mars, didn`t have parents, and she was there to avenge Michael Jackson`s death.

We later learned that she was demonstrating a lot of perhaps mental behavioral issues. So it`s quite possible that she was having the onset of some type of a mental crisis. And the --

GRACE: Or she could have very easily been slipped something in her drink?

SUTTON: That is true.

GRACE: She was out at this restaurant bar.

SUTTON: Absolutely.

GRACE: She -- there`s -- she -- gorgeous young girl, she`s at this restaurant bar, she goes in, everything is fine. Then all of a sudden everything starts getting crazy.

SUTTON: Well, actually, Nancy, she was doing bizarre things before she even entered into the restaurant. She was getting into people`s cars and going through their CDs before she even went into the restaurant.

GRACE: I didn`t realize that.

SUTTON: But let`s fast forward, because what happened there, the real issue is the people that we depend on to protect us and to serve us, as well as to uphold our laws, they saw this behavior. They were told about this behavior from eyewitnesses.

They are the first responders. And instead of them holding her to be evaluated by a qualified professional, they took her in after making her leave her purse, her money, her debit cards, her cell phone, everything in her vehicle, had her vehicle towed, take her in for an hour and a half to two hours, process her, then release her in the middle of the night with no means to take care of herself, no way to get home.

They knew she wasn`t from the area because I told them, I told them she appears to be in a crisis, but they let her out and that was the last place she was ever seen, and I also learned after I viewed the video back in March of 2010 that shortly after Mitrice was released into the night, there was a deputy that exited the building out behind her.

Now that was not a shift change. There should not have been no deputies coming in or out. So I have a lot of questions and I don`t quite trust the authorities who are in charge to investigate this case to do a thorough job, because there is a conflict of interest. And that is one of the reasons why I`ve pushed to try to get the FBI involved. So I really --

GRACE: Let me go to Marc Harrold, former APD, former cop, now attorney and author.

Marc Harrold, what should the cops have done that night? They`re sending a girl out into the dark in the wee hours with no money and no way to get anywhere, and no car.

MARC HARROLD, FORMER OFFICER, ATLANTA PD, ATTORNEY, AUTHOR OF "OBSERVATIONS OF WHITE NOISE": Yes, this is a tough situation. Here they took her in for a fairly minor infraction. I don`t know if it was theft of services. They detained her for some reason.

They did put her in a situation where she pretty much just walked out and had no means to get anywhere. You know there are different ways you can have somebody examined even they`re not still in custody for a crime even if they`ve been released, bonded, protective custody, there are certain types of custodial arrangements. There`s of course Suicide Watch.

Here something she -- needs to be done so they have some protocols that people don`t just walk out and disappear like this because they have some responsibility after they detain them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don`t think Mitrice got there on her own accord. And that`s why I`m lobbying and fighting very hard to find out some answers.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Remains were found in a remote Malibu Canyon.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is the confirmed remains of Mitrice Richardson.

SUTTON: I`m so sorry. I`m just -- I`m looking at the life of my baby flash before my eyes. My future is gone. That`s -- oh, my god.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: You are hearing the voice of Mitrice`s mother. Her mother with us tonight. Have remains of this 24-year-old beauty been found?

I want to go back to the mom. Latice Sutton. Miss Sutton.

SUTTON: Yes. Yes, ma`am.

GRACE: I hardly even know how to ask this. There`s no words. For you to explain to us what you`re thinking or what you`re feeling. But I want to know.

SUTTON: The best thing that I can -- well, the best illustration that I can give you is that it`s -- it`s very painful. Almost like being skinned alive. Every day I wake up to what, am I going do today to get closer to whoever murdered my daughter? That is my thought that I wake up with, and that`s what I go to bed with.

Because I believe that there is a murder out there because what has not been revealed by the authorities is that Mitrice`s body was naked. And we all know that based on how the investigators classify the cause of death is going to determine how they investigate the death and so --

GRACE: Well, I know one thing I can do.

SUTTON: Death is not being --

GRACE: And this is give the tip line, 877-LAPD-247. There`s a $25,000 reward.

GRACE: You are seeing video regarding the discovery of a body, the discovery of remains.

Are they those of Mitrice Richardson? Just 24 years old.

To Debra Mark, Talkradio KABC. Debra, what can you tell us?

DEBRA MARK, ANCHOR, TALKRADIO 790 KABC: Nancy, eight small bones have been found in Malibu, and they believe to belong to Mitrice Richardson. And right now we still don`t know how she was -- we don`t know what the cause of death is, but we do know that more -- that remains have been found.

GRACE: To Jean Casarez. Bring the viewers up to date. What were the circumstances surrounding Mitrice`s disappearance?

JEAN CASAREZ, LEGAL CORRESPONDENT, "IN SESSION": This is a beautiful young lady. And she went to dinner in an upscale restaurant and she had trouble paying the bill. So she was detained, not only was she detained, she was taken to the sheriff`s department and she was held there.

She was ultimately released. But at that point she didn`t have a car, she didn`t have a car, she didn`t have money, she didn`t have her credit cars, because the car had been towed and there she was and that was the last point she was seen.

GRACE: For those of you just joining us, remains just found in an isolated area. Are they remains of a 24-year-old beauty Mitrice Richardson?

To Marc Klaas, president and founder, KlaasKids Foundation.

Marc, the story about what happened to Mitrice is very disturbing.

MARC KLAAS, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, KLAASKIDS FOUNDATION: It is very disturbing, and it looks to me like law enforcement bungled this story from the very beginning. I completely and totally understand the outrage that her parents have expressed.

And I understand why they want law enforcement to continue to delve into this and to try to find out if in fact she was murdered or if she inadvertently walked into this area in a confused state that evening.

GRACE: Joining me right now is a special guest. This is Latice Sutton, this is Mitrice`s mother.

Miss Sutton, so much for being with us. I know that this is not the answer that you had hoped for.

LATICE SUTTON, MOTHER OF MISSING 24-YEAR-OLD GIRL, FOUND DEAD, MITRICE RICHARDSON: Never.

GRACE: But I am learning that you had gone to the area and you actually discovered remains.

SUTTON: That is correct. That is where the actual request for the coroner`s office to go back out to the site to search for more remains. That`s where that began. That began back on November 6th, 2010.

And, you know, I really appreciate you having me on your show, Nancy, because I really believe that your show can help bring national attention to this injustice that I believe has occurred in Mitrice`s case.

There have been many, many mistakes that have occurred. And I feel that as a mother who has lost her child in the most tragic way, I can`t even grieve her because I`m too busy investigating this case.

GRACE: Miss Sutton.

SUTTON: Yes.

GRACE: I`ve got to tell you, as a crime victim myself, you are absolutely right. It`s hard enough to take in what has happened. But it`s like your duty to seek justice.

SUTTON: Yes. Absolutely.

GRACE: You`ve got that burden on your back as well. Please tell our viewers what happened.

SUTTON: Well, apparently my daughter was in the Malibu area for whatever her reasons were that night. And she ordered a meal, she started speaking gibberish and saying that she was from mars, didn`t have parents, and she was there to avenge Michael Jackson`s death.

We later learned that she was demonstrating a lot of perhaps mental behavioral issues. So it`s quite possible that she was having the onset of some type of a mental crisis. And the --

GRACE: Or she could have very easily been slipped something in her drink?

SUTTON: That is true.

GRACE: She was out at this restaurant bar.

SUTTON: Absolutely.

GRACE: She -- there`s -- she -- gorgeous young girl, she`s at this restaurant bar, she goes in, everything is fine. Then all of a sudden everything starts getting crazy.

SUTTON: Well, actually, Nancy, she was doing bizarre things before she even entered into the restaurant. She was getting into people`s cars and going through their CDs before she even went into the restaurant.

GRACE: I didn`t realize that.

SUTTON: But let`s fast forward, because what happened there, the real issue is the people that we depend on to protect us and to serve us, as well as to uphold our laws, they saw this behavior. They were told about this behavior from eyewitnesses.

They are the first responders. And instead of them holding her to be evaluated by a qualified professional, they took her in after making her leave her purse, her money, her debit cards, her cell phone, everything in her vehicle, had her vehicle towed, take her in for an hour and a half to two hours, process her, then release her in the middle of the night with no means to take care of herself, no way to get home.

They knew she wasn`t from the area because I told them, I told them she appears to be in a crisis, but they let her out and that was the last place she was ever seen, and I also learned after I viewed the video back in March of 2010 that shortly after Mitrice was released into the night, there was a deputy that exited the building out behind her.

Now that was not a shift change. There should not have been no deputies coming in or out. So I have a lot of questions and I don`t quite trust the authorities who are in charge to investigate this case to do a thorough job, because there is a conflict of interest. And that is one of the reasons why I`ve pushed to try to get the FBI involved. So I really --

GRACE: Let me go to Marc Harrold, former APD, former cop, now attorney and author.

Marc Harrold, what should the cops have done that night? They`re sending a girl out into the dark in the wee hours with no money and no way to get anywhere, and no car.

MARC HARROLD, FORMER OFFICER, ATLANTA PD, ATTORNEY, AUTHOR OF "OBSERVATIONS OF WHITE NOISE": Yes, this is a tough situation. Here they took her in for a fairly minor infraction. I don`t know if it was theft of services. They detained her for some reason.

They did put her in a situation where she pretty much just walked out and had no means to get anywhere. You know there are different ways you can have somebody examined even they`re not still in custody for a crime even if they`ve been released, bonded, protective custody, there are certain types of custodial arrangements. There`s of course Suicide Watch.

Here something she -- needs to be done so they have some protocols that people don`t just walk out and disappear like this because they have some responsibility after they detain them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don`t think Mitrice got there on her own accord. And that`s why I`m lobbying and fighting very hard to find out some answers.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Remains were found in a remote Malibu Canyon.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is the confirmed remains of Mitrice Richardson.

SUTTON: I`m so sorry. I`m just -- I`m looking at the life of my baby flash before my eyes. My future is gone. That`s -- oh, my god.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: You are hearing the voice of Mitrice`s mother. Her mother with us tonight. Have remains of this 24-year-old beauty been found?

I want to go back to the mom. Latice Sutton. Miss Sutton.

SUTTON: Yes. Yes, ma`am.

GRACE: I hardly even know how to ask this. There`s no words. For you to explain to us what you`re thinking or what you`re feeling. But I want to know.

SUTTON: The best thing that I can -- well, the best illustration that I can give you is that it`s -- it`s very painful. Almost like being skinned alive. Every day I wake up to what, am I going do today to get closer to whoever murdered my daughter? That is my thought that I wake up with, and that`s what I go to bed with.

Because I believe that there is a murder out there because what has not been revealed by the authorities is that Mitrice`s body was naked. And we all know that based on how the investigators classify the cause of death is going to determine how they investigate the death and so --

GRACE: Well, I know one thing I can do.

SUTTON: Death is not being --

GRACE: And this is give the tip line, 877-LAPD-247. There`s a $25,000 reward.

http://archives.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1102/16/ng.02.html

I've never heard someone compare the loss of a child to being "skinned alive" before... so very, very painful!

by Rainbow February 17, 2011 at 4:35 Sutton received a letter on February 11th, informing her that after review & consideration of the case, the FBI has declined any assistance. Latice's request to have her daughter's body exhumed has been granted. It was her understanding that the remains along with clothing found would be sent to the FBI for further evaluation.

Sutton expressed her deep disappointment at the news that the FBI would not be involved. She has many concerns with how Mitrice's case has been handled. On June 29th, Sutton's Lawyer, Leo Terrell, filed a lawsuit against the County of Los Angeles as well as individuals in the Los Angeles Sheriff's dept. for negligence & discriminatory acts.
http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-555786

I wonder why the FBI is not getting involved? I'm glad to hear that MR's mother is suing LE - it sounds like they really mishandled this case, and are ultimately responsible for MR's death!!

:I agree I am glad to see that MR's mother is suing the LE also. I wonder why the FBI is not getting involved also.

There are many people out there that feel the LAPD has no responsibility. I am definitely NOT one of them. This case is just so damned sad. I wonder WHY the restaurant owner, seeing her in the condition she was in, not ask Matrice if she had relatives that could come pick her up.

Also, the LAPD should NOT have released her until a family member came to pick her up. What the hell were they thinking????

with you Wrap. No car, they had already told her mother 4:30a.m., then release her at 1:30a.m. Just what did they expect her to do.

They are guilty as guilty as can be in my eyes! I hope something comes of the lawsuit.

Mitrice Richardson's Mother Files Second Lawsuit Against L.A. County


The mother of a woman whose body was found nearly a year after her release from custody filed a second lawsuit against the county, this time alleging deputies improperly removed her daughter's remains from the discovery site.

Latice Sutton is asking for unspecified damages, alleging negligence and both intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress.

Sutton's daughter, 24-year-old Mitrice Richardson, went missing in September 2009. The Cal State Fullerton student's body was found last August in Malibu Canyon by deputies and park rangers who were looking for illegal marijuana farms.

After the woman's body was found, coroner's staffers told deputies not to disturb the remains, according to the new complaint filed Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court.

"Despite these orders, the sheriff's deputies improperly removed the remains of Ms. Richardson from the discovery site," the suit alleges.

Three months later, Sheriff Lee Baca and a team of his deputies led Sutton and some of her family members to the site where they said Richardson's body was found, according to the lawsuit.

"After searching the site, a member of (Sutton's) family located a small human bone that had been left on the ground by either the sheriff's deputies who discovered the remains or the coroner who reported to the scene," the suit says.

Sutton claims that, based on her communications with the coroner's office, she later realized that the site Baca and his deputies took her to was not the same one from where her daughter's remains were actually excavated.

Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore declined to comment on the suit.

Sutton and her ex-husband, Michael Richardson, previously filed suits alleging that deputies failed to get needed medical assistance to their daughter and instead released her in the middle of the night from the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff's Station in Agoura Hills, despite her strange and unusual conduct.

Those suits were consolidated and are awaiting trial.

Their daughter was arrested and briefly incarcerated after exhibiting manic behavior and failing to pay a bill at Geoffrey's, an oceanside restaurant on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu.

Investigators said she apparently had a mental breakdown after being awake for as many as five nights, citing diaries found in the car she was driving.

Deputies summoned to the restaurant searched Mitrice Richardson's car and found some marijuana, prompting them to impound the vehicle.
http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Mitrice-Richardsons-Mother-Files-Second-Lawsuit-Against-LA-County-122541524.html

Mitrice Richardson's remains to be exhumed

Authorities are expected Wednesday to exhume the remains of Mitrice Richardson, the missing woman who was found dead almost a year after being released from the Los Angeles County sheriff's Malibu station, her father confirmed.

Richardson’s family is hoping further testing will help determine how the 24-year-old died. Since Richardson's skeleton was discovered in a rugged Malibu Canyon ravine last August, the sheriff’s department has been dogged by criticisms of its handling of the remains.

In February, for example, months after her body was recovered, authorities found eight more bones in the area. That discovery came just a few months after Richardson’s mother said she found a finger bone while at the site memorializing her daughter.

The grim discoveries followed public criticism of the sheriff's department from a prominent coroner’s official who told The Times that deputies had removed Richardson’s remains from the canyon without his permission, possibly violating the law and undermining the thoroughness of the coroner's inquiry.

Sheriff’s officials argued they had no choice because it was getting dark, and animals might have destroyed the remains if they had not acted. A probe into the matter is yet to be completed.
Richardson drew national media attention in September 2009 when she disappeared after being released from the sheriff's Lost Hills/Malibu station around midnight without her car, purse or cellphone.

She had been arrested for not paying a dinner bill at Geoffrey's restaurant in Malibu.

About 11 months after her disappearance, and a dramatic, wide-scale search, her remains were spotted in a remote Malibu Canyon ravine.

Richardson’s father, Michael, told The Times on Wednesday the body was set to be exhumed by coroner’s officials, probably in the morning, at the Inglewood cemetery where she was buried. He said he kept quiet about the exhumation beforehand to minimize media attention.

He said he got a call from Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter earlier this month telling him that the original remains and the bones found later were going to be reexamined at the insistence of Mitrice’s family.

“My best hope, maybe the finger they found is the fingernail where she scratched somebody, somebody she was in a fight with, something that’s going to give us who did this to her,” Michael Richardson said.

The sheriff’s department had no issue with the family's wishes, spokesman Steve Whitmore said.

Winter could not be reached Wednesday morning despite multiple attempts.

Richardson's family has filed suit against LASD for its handling of the case. The department’s watchdog, however, deemed her release from custody as being in line with department policy.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/07/mitrice-richardson-case-remains-to-be-exhumed.html

I'm glad they are exhuming her body.

Many thought it was not LE's fault when they released her. I completely disagree with them.

If she was arrested and was "messed up" on something, I doubt she was in any condition to be released.

Something is very wrong with all of this. Her mother has been vigilant. I pray for strength for her. This has to be so very stressful.

She surely loved her daughter. I hope she sees justice soon.

The cops storys..stink. Some kind of coverup going on there for sure.

I completely agree with both of you. I don't know if she was on any drugs/alcohol when arrested because I think her Mom has said she had some type of mental problem (I don't have a link, going on memory) but it doesn't matter, LE messed up big time on this one, imo. I don't know who is directly responsible for her death and I'm not pointing fingers but I agree, something stinks here. I so hope the COD can be determined, although I don't think we'll ever know who is directly responsible for her death. I do hold LE completely responsible for this one, whether directly or indirectly and she should never have been released like she was. JMOO.

Los Angeles County authorities exhume woman's remains
By Michael Martinez, CNN
July 14, 2011 5:53 a.m. EDT

Los Angeles (CNN) -- Los Angeles County authorities exhumed the remains Wednesday of a woman whose mysterious disappearance and death in Malibu Canyon have been the subject of a family crusade for justice, the coroner's office said.

The grave of Mitrice Richardson, who disappeared at age 24 in September 2009, was exhumed so that her family's private pathologist could investigate the remains, said Ed Winter, assistant chief of operations and investigations of the Los Angeles County Department of Coroner.

The cause of Richardson's death remains undetermined, Winter said Wednesday.

"We just don't know," Winter said about the cause of death.

Her remains were scheduled to be reburied in Inglewood (California) Cemetery Park on Wednesday afternoon, he said.

The exhumation also took place so that authorities could return to her grave some of her bones that were found after her body was discovered in Malibu Canyon in August 2010, Winter said.

The bones, found on two different occasions following the discovery of her body, underwent DNA analysis to confirm that they were Richardson's, Winter said.

Last January, after an emotional public appeal, Richardson's mother persuaded Los Angeles County authorities to exhume the remains and involve the FBI crime lab in examining them and Richardson's clothing.

The exhumation and the FBI participation marked a victory in Latice Sutton's long struggle to get authorities to investigate her daughter's mysterious disappearance as a murder.

Richardson disappeared after she left the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Lost Hills/Malibu station, where she had been detained for allegedly being unable to pay $89.51 for food and drink at a Malibu restaurant.

At one point in the controversy over her death, Richardson's father, Michael Richard, blamed the Sheriff's Office for releasing his daughter without any assistance even though she had mental health issues and was in a manic state. He accused local authorities of providing special treatment and transportation to celebrities running afoul of the law such as Mel Gibson and Charlie Sheen, but said his daughter didn't receive similar courtesy.

Richardson's skeletal and mummified remains were found about eight miles from the sheriff's station, in the Monte Nido section of the Santa Monica Mountains, which bisect Los Angeles, Latice Sutton said.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca has said Richardson's case showed "no indication of a homicide," but he and the coroner's office agreed to the exhumation as a matter of cooperation with her family.

"We've been working with family ever since her remains were recovered," Winter said Wednesday.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/07/13/california.woman.exhume/index.html?iref=NS1

Sheriff's Department May Settle With Mitrice Richardson's Family For $900K

The family of Mitrice Richardson have long believed the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department mishandled their daughter's case, and today those still-bereaved loved ones are closer to reaching a settlement with the law enforcement agency.
A $900,000 lawsuit settlement is pending, though the LASD say they will not comment until the deal is finalized, according to L.A. Now.
Richardson's body was recovered almost a full year after she went missing following her release from the LASD's Malibu station. The 24-year-old college student had been taken into custody after an outburst at a Malibu restaurant when she refused to pay her bill.
Her family believe the young woman had been in the midst of a mental breakdown, based on what they gleaned about her state of mind based on her possessions at the time of her arrest. Richardson was released at midnight, without transportation, a cellphone, or her purse, and presumably she wandered in the hilly area until she died; her family has expressed outrage at the manner in which Richardson was let go.
A body recovered in the area was ultimately identified as Richardson, however her family has also been critical of the process of the body's removal from the area. Bones found months later are thought to also belong to Richardson.
Recently, Richardson's remains were exhumed so an independent examination could take place. Richardson's mother sought the involvement of the FBI in a re-opened investigation of her daughter's death. Richardson's father has spoken of his hurt that he has not found justice for his daughter's death.
Should the settlement be approved by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, Richardson's parents will split the sum.
http://laist.com/2011/08/23/sheriffs_department_may_settle_with.php

Good for them!!! This case was botched from the get go. Glad I don't live near Hollywierd!

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — A breakdown of communication between sheriff’s deputies and the Los Angeles County coroner’s office led to problems handling the remains of a woman who disappeared after her release from police custody, according to a report released Wednesday.

The county’s Office of Independent Review found that questions continue to linger over what information was exchanged between sheriff’s investigators and the coroner’s office when Mitrice Richardson’s remains were discovered in a remote canyon in August 2010. At the time, a coroner’s official criticized sheriff’s deputies for moving the remains before the scene could be examined by forensics experts.

According to the OIR report, the coroner’s office had actually given initial approval for sheriff’s deputies to remove four bones that had been discovered. When deputies began removing the bones, however, it was discovered that they were connected to a full skeleton.

Sheriff’s officials contend that an additional phone call was made to the coroner to authorize the removal of the full skeleton, but coroner’s officials deny ever receiving such a request, according to the report.

Michael Gennaco, the chief attorney for the OIR, claimed that his investigation found no evidence of an attempt by either agency to cover up information, simply a lack of communication that led to public questions about the activities of both.

Richardson, 24, was arrested on the evening of Sept. 16, 2009 for failing to pay her bill at Geoffrey’s restaurant in Malibu. She disappeared after her release the next day from the sheriff’s Lost Hills station. She had no car, phone or money at the time of her release.

Her remains were found 11 months later in Malibu Canyon.

Richardson’s parents have filed a lawsuit against the Sheriff’s Department for the way it handled their daughter’s case. The suit claims deputies removed the remains without the county coroner’s permission.

In July, Richardson’s parents exhumed her body and hired a private pathologist to investigate. It is unclear how the young woman died.
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2012/03/14/county-to-release-report-detailing-sheriffs-treatment-of-mitrice-richardsons-remains/
Video at link that I can't embed

Disappeared
25 minutes ago
Mitrice Richardson left the police station late at night without her purse, phone or car. Multiple sightings have family and authorities divided on her whereabouts.

Follow the case on tonight's episode of Disappeared at 10E/P.

https://www.facebook.com/DisappearedonID