The Case of Mitrice Richardson

Normally we talk about relationship crime. Tonight, we’re gonna talk about a mystery. In light of the mystery of Gabby Pepito, we’re gonna discuss another mystery. The story of Mitrice Lavont Richrdson was born on April 30, 1985 in Los Angeles California. Her parents are Latice Sutton and Michael Richardson, who were in highschool when she was born. While they went to school, her grandmother, Mildred, babysat her. When she was young, around 5 years old, her mother married Larry Sutton and they relocated to Covina, California.

Matrice actually had a good childhood. She excelled at school, was a good child, and everyone counted on her to make good choices and give good advice.

After she graduated from highschool, she attended Cal State University at Fullerton, CA because this campus was closer to her grandmother’s house, in which she decided to move into. As with highschool, Mitrice excelled in college with a 4.0 gpa.

She graduated in 2008 with a Bachelor’s in Psychology and with honors. She planned on furthering her education with a Master’s degree, but first, she needed to save up some money. She worked a couple of jobs to save up money she would need while going for her Master’s.

While Mitrice was working at a shipping company, she met a young lady named Tessa Moon. The two grew close and began dating. This relationship lasted 2 years before they broke up. Mitrice’s family said she took the breakup really hard and, a bit after this, she began acting strangely.

She stopped hanging out with friends and family – which could just be depression from a breakup. Have you acted like this after you broke up with someone?

She started posting weird things to her social media and in her journal. Even the handwriting in her journal would change from her clean, neat writing to a messy illegible font that had never been her style. Sometimes the writing would change back and forth within the same sentence. She would even text weird things, like this sample I obtained of a conversation between her and her mother:
Latrice: “u have to tell me what’s going on with you, Uve been somewhat elusive and philosophical, tell me what’s up? Have you found yourself in a state of sadness? Are u crying without reason or understanding? I’m concerned..… Help me understand what’s going on with you? Are you feeling lost? Helpless? Alone? Rejected?”

Mitrice replied, “I’m writing a book (my journal) because u told me I can be anything I wanted…u told me I was Miss America, u told me I was America’s next top model…now do u know what I want to be when I grow up? Miss mother nature…cuz Miss America is a fake ass joke along with everything else we ‘see’ so I’m trying to find my way to Michelle Obama to see if she will talk to Mr. Obama about creating my position within the white house.”

“Call me!” her mother urged.

“I feel joy mommie,” Mitrice wrote. “not everyone has to die to live…”’ This excerpt was taken from LA Mag

On Wednesday, September 16, 2009 Matrice went to work at the shipping company. She was happy and upbeat and nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. Around lunch time she left work to, seemingly to go and eat. However, when her lunch break was over, she never returned; something so out of the ordinary for her, that her co-workers even noticed. Mitrice visited her grandmother’s house and changed her normal plans, of having dinner with her, and instead that he was going to eat in Malibu. Her grandmother said she was acting a bit strange, but nothing to be worried about. They said goodbye to each other and Mitrice started the drive to Malibu. Surveillance cameras showed that she arrived a bit after 7pm, where she sat and watched the sunset. Then she went to a restaurant called Geoffrey’s. The staff and customers at the restaurant said she was acting “bizarre.” The valet asked her to wait at the front while he went and parked some other cars. When he got back, he notice that Mitrice was in his personal car. He asked Mitrice why she was in his car and she responded with nonsense and then began talking about how she though Michael Jackson was the greatest artist and that she had to avenge his death. She got out of the car, gave the valet her keys, and walked into the restaurant. She sat with some strangers and began spouting bizarre statements, in which the waiter asked if he should remove her, but was met with an answer of “she’s not harming anyone.” When it came time to pay the bill, Mitrice told the waitress that the group would pay, but they said “I don’t know what she’s talking about.” Since the waitstaff had already realized her bizarre actions, and had attributed it with being intoxicated, they decided to call the police. It was reported that the person who called the police said, “We have a guest here who is refusing to pay her bill. She sounds really crazy. She may be on drugs.” While they waited for the police to show up, Mitrice asked if they could call her grandmother for payment. Her grandmother gave her credit card, but they said they needed a signature and so they couldn’t take the card. I call bs on all of this.

Anyway, when police arrived, around 9pm, they searched her car and had her put her cell in her car. During the search, they found less than an ounce of marijuana and, they said, nothing else. In the LA Mag, they said that the officers also found partially drunken bottles of alcohol, but I call bs on that as well as it has NEVER been reported anywhere else.

The police gave her a field sobriety test which showed that she wasn’t intoxicated or under the influence of anything. They arrested her anyway, as the manager pressed charges, on charges of “suspicion of not paying for the meal,” defrauding an officer, and possession of less than an ounce of marijuana. Really?

While she was being arrested, officers told her to put her phone in her car, and said they searched her car but found nothing. Then they had her car towed and they detained her and booked her at the Malibu/ Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station – 25 miles away from the restaurant.
The police at the station called Mitrice’s mother. At that time, she informed them of her mental state and how she’d been acting weird. So, by my count, the wait staff told them and now her mother told them. So let’s see how they handled this.
Mitrice’s mother asked them when she should come and pick her up. Officers promised her that she wouldn’t be released until later in the morning. So Mitrice’s mother hung up, preparing to pick her up in the morning. They said that they also allowed her to use the phone and said she made 4 calls that night, including her grandmother. (They said they heard her speaking with her grandmother) Call records show that 4 calls went out, but Mitrice’s grandmother said the last time she’d spoken with her was at the restaurant. We will never know who made those phone calls as they were made from the desk phone of the police station and not the recorded phone lines reserved for the prisoners. Kinda makes you go hmmm huh?
Anyway, officers released her on September 17, 2009 at 12:28am. Remember, all of her possessions were in their belongings and her car was towed. So they let her go with no belongings, didn’t offer her a phone call, didn’t offer her a ride, and just let her walk into the night. Officers said they offered her to wait in the lobby, but she declined the offer. No one called Mitrice’s mother to let her know that she was being released early. One officer said that Mitrice told them she was going to meet some friends. And he was just like, “OK sounds normal to me. Bye”
Of course a spokesperson for the LA County sheriff’s Department released a statement saying that Mitrice was released from jail because “She exhibited no signs of mental illness or intoxication. She was fine. She’s an adult. She had been invited to wait in the lobby, but declined.”
At 5:30am, Mitrice’s mother called to get information on when she would be released. Instead she was told that Mitrice had already been released. This made Latisse very worried as it had been 5 hours already and she hadn’t heard from her daughter as of yet. Of course, as any mother would, she started calling around to see if anyone had heard from her, but no one had.
At 6:30am, Mitrice was spotted in Bill Smith’s backyard. He was a former KTLA news anchor who lived in Monte Nido. This was about 6 miles away fro the sheriff station. When Bill Smith opened his window and asked Mitrice if she was OK, she told him that she was “resting.” Bill was like…oookkkkk and then called the police. When he returned to look outside, Mitrice was gone.
The cops came out and searched the premises, 48 hours later, but no sign of her was found. Mitrice’s mom called the police station and was told of the situation, which made Latrice even more worried because she knew her daughter hated the outdoors and even more hated walking. This didn’t sound like her child at all.
No scent tracking dogs were used – well let me rephrase – they REFUSED to use scent tracking dogs. They found shoe prints which told a story that Mitrice had started walking, then suddenly running, towards Dark Creek and Dark Canyon – which they decided not to search.

After this, they hung up their search and reassigned her case. First it was sent to LAPD’s Missing Persons Unit and then reassigned AGAIN to the LAPD’s Robbery-Homicide Unit. Why did they send it to this department? This had nothing to do with Mitrice’s case. It was reported that the LAPD decided that Mitrice had a manic episode which was brought on by bipolar disorder. Now, remember I said that when they searched her car they found nothing? (Ignore what the LA mag said), Well, when LAPD officers searched her car, now, they found her wallet, cell phone, ATM card, and enough money to cover her meal. Interesting.

During the next month, the LASD frequently spoke to the media to reaffirm that Mitrice had been fine when they let her go.

Mitrice’s mother asked the police station for the footage of Mitrice at the station, to which she got the response, “foot-age?” She was told that there was no footage. Now, answer me this; in which police station do you know of where they don’t record everything going on in there?

Four months of fighting with the police station, she was suddenly told that there was actually a video but “due to technical difficulties” it will take another 3 months before they will receive it. So 7 months later, the family received a CLEARLY edited video which shows Mitrice being agitated, pulling on the cell bars, and pulling on her hair. When she was released, they show Mitrice walking out of the door and an officer quickly following behind her. Which officer followed her and why? The department refused to give the officer’s name. Also, what happened to her making 4 phone calls or them offering her to sleep in the waiting room? Also, aren’t officers workers of the state? Meaning they work for us? How could they then refuse to release an officer’s name in an ongoing case to the people who are conducting the case?

Starting in January, the largest search party in the county was formed, but Mitrice, nor her body was found and Lost Hills officers refused to disclose whether or not they’d checked Dark Canyon. Again, how could they refuse to give information.

Eleven months after Mitrice disappeared, her mummified remains were found in Dark Canyon by park rangers only 8 miles away from the Lost Hills station and ONLY 2 miles away from where she had been last seen.

Now, let’s get into how Mitrice looked when she was found. The body was naked and, like I said, mummified. Some clothes were found a few hundred feet away, but in such a way that you could tell that it wasn’t animals that scattered it around. Her bra had been unclasped, her jeans were unzipped, and her belt had been removed. I mean, correct me if I’m wrong, but animals haven’t grown opposable thumbs and started trying to clothe themselves right?
There was an earring stuck in her hair, but the funny thing about this is that she was not wearing this earring when she disappeared. Six feet away from her body, her right leg was found but the femur had been removed. Her left arm was found tightly flexed over her chest – meaning that she was mummified in that unnatural position. Also, five neck bones were never recovered. Nothing that was found had any sign of animal involvement.

An hour and a half after the rangers called in the body, a Lost Hills deputy arrived on the scene. After another hour and a half, the coroner was called. The weird thing about this is that state codes state that when a body is found, the coroner has to immediately contacted. Why did it take so long to call the coroner?
So after the coroner was called, they were told that the LASD chopper would come and pick them up and bring them to the body. Instead, 3 hours later they were called again and told that the LASD would remove the body themselves. What kind of crackpot game is going on here. Even the the coroner declined, the LASD collected the remains and took them back tot he Lost Hills police station, once again, for the umteenth time, breaking regulation.
Now, when a body is found, protocol is to tape off the scene, take samples of everything, including the soil, take photographs, document everything, but none of this was done. Nothing. Nada.

So, when they asked the sheriff’s office later, they made a statement saying that they had pulled on the skull and the entire skeleton appeared. They also said that this wasn’t a homicide because ti looked like Mitrice had been bitten by a rattlesnake orr had a fatal reaction to poison oak or that a unicorn came out of a tree and sneezed on her. They also said that she was probably naked because the animals from Cinderella came and undressed her and then other animals tried to eat her. (obviously the unicorn and Cinderella part I made up)

Either way, this was all a lie because her head wasn’t even attached to her body and there were no tooth mars on her or her clothes AND the clothes were strategically strewn across the canyon. Also, her shoes, shirts, socks, and underwear were never found. So unless Bambi’s dad didn’t want us humans to find some DNA, I don’t think animals had anything to do with this.

Now the questions:

Why was Mitrice mummified? Do you know what it takes to be mummified? And it doesn’t include being out in the elements.
Why was her left arm like that – in a totally unnatural position

After some time, Bambi’s dad didn’t come out and take responsibility so the LASD came out with another statement. In this new statement, they claimed that her clothes must have OBVIOUSLY been removed by running water. Even though the closest creek would have had to have risen 60 feet or more and her body would have had to have been in the water for this to happen. Meaning, she would have looked bloated. But I mean, who said running water had to be a creek or river or ocean. What about the rain? It can rain hard enough to remove clothes right? RIGHT?!

Now onto the mistakes. This was taken from an article on Reddit:

“The coroner did not test hair found on the ground and compare it to Mitrice’s hair to see if someone else was present. The earring was never tested. Bug casings on Mitrice’s body were never tested. Dirt and leaves from the scene were never tested.
No craniotomy was performed to identify potential blunt force trauma. It took weeks to find Mitrice’s clothes at the coroner’s office; they were shoved into the bottom of a bag. Mitrice’s pubic hair and clothes were not tested for semen, fibers, or hair.
Altogether, the LASD only searched the scene twice: once when Mitrice’s body was found, and again 6 months later. Some of her remains are still missing. Her teeth were slightly pink, indicating strangulation, but no determination can be made without the missing hyoid bone from her neck.”

According to Wikipedia, the latest update I found is that Mitrice’s family has filed several lawsuits against the LACSD for letting her out of jail even though, as they claimed, she was exhibiting severe bipolar disorder at the time. They were awarded $450,000 each.

Mitrice’s family also asked the CA Attorney General’s office to review the handling of her case with 500 pages of documents they turned in. In November 2015 the office of the then Attorney General, Kamala Harris, replied that they had not found any grounds for criminal charges against the sheriff or his deputies. They also said that the Attorney General’s office found no evidence that the sheriff’s office had mishandled Mitrice’s family’s complaint against it. But then in January 2016, the California Attorney General’s office did a 180 and announced that it was gonna start a criminal investigation of the case.

Then, on December 30, 2016, the California Attorney General’s office decided that there was not enough evidence to support the criminal prosecution of anyone involved in the handling of the case.

So that is the mystery of Mitrice Richardson. I would very much like to know what yall think of this story. Come on over to our Facebook Fan Page and let’s have a chat about it.

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