Staff
The disappearance of Mitrice Richardson in 2009 led to a near yearlong search that came to a tragic end with the discovery of her skeletal remains by California State Park. Rangers in a ravine 30 miles from the Malibu sheriff’s station where she was released. But the mystery surrounding her death is very much alive as this week the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors re-established a $20,000 reward offer for information leading to a conviction in her death.
Richardson was last seen alive on Thursday, September 17, 2009, at approximately 12:25 am as she exited the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station in Agoura. That she was allowed to leave without a cell phone, money, car, or other means of transportation ignited public outrage.
The 24-year-old Cal State Fullerton graduate had been arrested after dining alone on September 16 at Geoffrey Restaurant on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. When she could not pay her $89 bill and began acting strange, police were called.
Workers at the restaurant report that Mitrice stated she was from Mars and was there to avenge the death of Michael Jackson. Field sobriety tests, conducted on the scene, concluded that Richardson—who may have been suffering an episode of bipolar disorder—was sober. Restaurant owner Jeff Peterson signed a citizen’s arrest form, and she was taken into custody and booked at the Lost Hills station at 11:03 p.m.
Her car had been impounded when sheriffs searching the vehicle discovered a small amount of marijuana and a sizeable quantity of packaged alcohol—left over from a family event several weeks prior—in the trunk.
However, once Richardson cleared a check of criminal history and station personnel determined she was not a danger to herself or others, or gravely disabled, Malibu/Lost Hills Station personnel could no longer legally detain her involuntarily.
Mitrice’s mother, Latice Sutton made three calls to the station upon hearing of her daughter’s arrest, the first before her daughter arrived and was booked. At that time, she informed the officer taking the call that if they weren't going to hold her overnight she would pick her up given the late hour, a lack of transportation, and out of concern for the fact that Mitrice was in an area she was unfamiliar with.
On the second call, she was told that she would be called before her daughter was released, but Sutton was never called.
The sheriffs, Sutton maintains, remained indifferent, not moving quickly enough when her daughter was first reported missing and later sighted at least three times in the 24 hours following her release.
Interest in the story sparked national coverage on all the major networks including ABC, NBC, CNN, and People Magazine. Rev. Al Sharpton, whose National Action Network sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, charging that minority women did not get the same attention as missing white women. The FBI was also asked to step in, but instead deferred to the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department, while through the efforts of the County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, an initial reward for information leading
to her whereabouts was offered.
The sheriff’s department held a series of searches, including the single biggest field search in county history to date, which ironically enough may have come within less than a mile of where Richardson’s remains were found.
While a coroner’s report did not cite foul play, an exact cause of death was never established. The family steadfastly held that she was murdered and advocated for justice in the case.
The Board of Supervisors’ $10,000 reward for information into Richardson’s disappearance was doubled to $20,000 in 2022 but expired this past October.
The board last year extended the reward again and increased it to $20,000 for any information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible for her disappearance and death, but that reward expired in October. Malibu and Calabasas have also established standing rewards in the case.
Richardson’s family sued L.A. County and received a settlement in the case.