Mystery Endures Years After 24-Year-Old Died Following Release From Sheriffs Station

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Just after midnight on Sept. 17, 2009, Mitrice Richardson was released from the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department Malibu-Lost Hills station. She walked away into the night, alone, without a car, money, cellphone or even a jacket to ward off the chill.

The 24-year-old had been arrested on misdemeanor charges on Sept. 16 after behaving bizarrely at a Malibu steakhouse and failing to pay her bill. Almost a year later, her unclothed partial remains were found in a remote canyon known for its rugged and treacherous terrain. With the state of the body, an autopsy was unable to determine how she died but noted there was no evidence of trauma prior to her death. 

The undetermined cause of death is just one of the enduring mysteries around her final hours. Multiple law enforcement agencies have drawn fire for their actions from the start, beginning with her arrest, their controversial decision to release her from custody in the middle of the night, and the drawn-out and incomplete efforts to recover her remains. A wrongful death lawsuit filed by her parents against the county resulted in a $900,000 settlement. 

Her mother, Latice Sutton, told Essence she believes her daughter had bipolar disorder and it was absolutely absurd that Richardson was released from the sheriffs station in the middle of the night. She has spent years calling for changes in law enforcement policies.

No one, male or female, mental health issues or no mental health issues should be released in a remote area when the city shuts down at 9 p.m., unless someone is there to pick them up or they know the person is safe, she told Essence in 2020 .

And though law enforcement officials have said they dont believe Richardsons death was caused by foul play, a reward continues to be offered for identifying the person or persons responsible. Fifteen years after her remains were found, Los Angeles County officials reestablished a $20,000 reward on Aug. 6 for information leading to the arrest and conviction in her suspicious disappearance and heinous death.

Malibu Mystery

Richardson graduated with honors from California State University, Fullerton, in 2008 with a degree in psychology. She was planning to get her masters degree and become a psychologist, Los Angeles Magazine reported , and was living with her great-grandmother in South Los Angeles to save money. She did clerical work at a shipping company, performed as a go-go dancer and competed in beauty pageants . 

She was very loving, a vivacious personality, full of life, her aunt Lauren Sutton told ABC 7 . I mean she would walk into a room, and she would make sure that everyone took notice.

But in the months leading up to her disappearance, Richardsons frequent, melancholy posts on MySpace began to trouble friends and relatives, Los Angeles Magazine reported , and she became more withdrawn and talked about going to therapy.

Mitrice wanted people to think she had everything under control, her ex-girlfriend told the magazine, but her unusual behavior and a series of garbled texts she sent her mother in the days before her disappearance suggested otherwise. 

Richardson abruptly left work early on Sept. 16, 2009, the L.A. Times reported  and drove her Honda Civic more than 50 miles away to Malibu. She had no ties to the area. 

She pulled into the parking lot of Geoffreys, a steakhouse on the famed Pacific Coast Highway with panoramic ocean views. The valet and restaurant hostess said she made some bizarre comments to them, but she appeared harmless, the L.A. Times and Los Angeles magazine reported. 

After ordering a Kobe steak and an ocean breeze cocktail, she left her table and sat uninvited at the table of a party of seven. When they left, she followed and tried to skip out on paying her $89.51 bill, according to multiple news outlets and a sheriffs report. She told the restaurant manager she couldnt pay she had no money or credit cards. She reportedly had no wallet; deputies said theyd found only her drivers license in her car.

Restaurant workers told investigators that they believed she was experiencing a mental issue, according to audio of their interviews obtained by ABC 7 .

She was saying something about cracking a code and hearing voices, one staff member told investigators, according to the police interviews.

The restaurant manager said she told him she was from Mars and couldnt pay her bill because of the language of the numbers, the L.A. Times reported . 

A restaurant employee then called her 91-year-old great-grandmother Mildred Harris, who had the only phone number Richardson could remember without the contacts in her cellphone. Harris offered to pay the bill using her credit card but was told they could not accept payment over the phone, Los Angeles Magazine reported . The employees talked about paying the bill themselves, but Richardsons strange behavior made them fear for her safety if she was allowed to leave the restaurant on her own, the restaurant hostess told ABC 7 . The bartender who called the sheriffs station said she sounded really crazy and that she might be on drugs, ABC 7 reported.

Richardsons Arrest

Deputies arrived at the restaurant at around 8:30 p.m. They said Richardson was cooperative and polite, according to a July 2010 police accountability report , appeared lucid, and passed a field sobriety test. The deputy who conducted the test said she did not seem to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

In addition to her drivers license, deputies who searched Richardsons car found a small amount of cannabis, empty prescription bottles and several gallon-size bottles of liquor and beer, according to the report.

She was taken into custody on a misdemeanor charge of defrauding an innkeeper and driven to the Malibu-Lost Hills Sheriffs station about 20 miles from the restaurant. Her car was towed to a tow yard about 11 miles away.

While Richardson was en route with deputies, her mother, Latice Sutton, called the station after being told by her grandmother about the arrest. She wondered whether she should drive to Malibu to pick Richardson up immediately or hold off until the morning. 

Its dark, she doesnt have a car, and I dont want her wandering out, she told a deputy in the recorded conversation obtained by ABC 7 . I feel safe with her being in custody. Its being released that Im worried about. Its crazy out here.

The deputy reassured her that her daughter would be safe inside the station.

The only thing is at least in this station here she will be separated so nobodys going to be with her, he said in the recorded call. At least thats the plus thing you dont have to worry about her safety.

Deputies booked Richardson, who had no criminal history, on an additional charge of possessing less than an ounce of marijuana, also a misdemeanor. Two hours later, just after midnight, Richardson walked out of the station alone.

About six hours after her release, a resident of Monte Nido a Calabasas neighborhood more than 5 miles from the sheriffs station called police to say they found a woman, later identified as Richardson, sleeping on the back steps of their home. By the time deputies arrived, she had disappeared and was never seen alive again.

An internal review conducted by the sheriffs departments now-defunct Office of Independent Review (OIR) found in July 2010 that deputies had acted legally and responsibly in arresting and releasing her.

But Sutton told Essence that deputies ignored their duty to get her daughter help after the restaurant staff told them about Richardsons peculiar behavior.

Our first responders need to be able to get us the assistance that we need because law enforcement is not just there to enforce the law. They are also there to protect and serve us. And if they are being told by witnesses that someone is acting crazy; speaking in gibberish and you are seeing this person acting in a peculiar manner, and you know that they are not intoxicated, then you have a duty to get them some help, she said.

The Search For Richardson  

Authorities conducted extensive ground and air search and rescue operations for Richardson and assigned a homicide team to investigate her disappearance. But they found nothing for nearly a year. Ultimately, her remains were discovered by happenstance.

On Aug. 9, 2010, rangers charged with investigating and destroying cannabis cultivation sites discovered her partially mummified remains in Dark Canyon, about 2.5 miles from the house in Monte Nido where she was last seen, the L.A. Times reported .

Her body was nude, with her jeans, bra and pink belt found scattered hundreds of feet away, according to Los Angeles Magazine and ABC 7 . Her underwear, shirt, socks and the Vans sneakers she was seen wearing have never been recovered.

The coroner was unable to determine her cause or manner of death, and not all of her bones were recovered. The hyoid bone in her neck, which could potentially indicate whether she had been strangled , was never found.

The sheriffs department faced additional scrutiny for deputies handling of Richardsons remains, resulting in a second OIR review regarding breakdowns in communication between deputies and the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroners Department, the retrieval of Richardsons remains, and notification of her family and chain of custody issues. 

A coroners official accused sheriffs deputies of removing the bones from the scene without authorization from his office and before coroners investigators could visit the scene.

More bones were found in a second search of the area two weeks later, The Associated Press reported .

Then, in November 2010, Richardsons family found a finger bone when they visited the site. They urged authorities to conduct another search.

In February 2011, investigators conducted another sweep of the area and found eight more bones belonging to Richardson.

Sheriffs officials said they were not made aware of the coroners concerns due to unreliable phone and radio communications, that nightfall forced them to leave the scene, and were concerned that animals might disturb the scene.

The review did not find any culpability but recommended specific measures be taken in the future to ensure smoother coordination in future joint recovery efforts.

Sutton and Richardsons father, Michael Richardson, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department, contending that deputies had been negligent in releasing their daughter, given her mental state. They reached a settlement of $900,000 with the county in 2011, and the county did not admit any wrongdoing.

After pressure from Richardsons family, then-Attorney General Kamala Harris launched a criminal investigation in 2016 into the sheriffs departments handling of Richardsons case but concluded in 2017 that there was insufficient evidence to support a prosecution.

Despite that ruling, Rep. Maxine Waters told ABC 7 in 2021 that she believes the sheriffs department bears responsibility for Richardsons death.

All of the facts of this case leads me to believe they just didnt care about her, Waters said. She wasnt important. She was just a Black girl. Thats all.