The Mitrice Richardson Story will be featured on the premiere 60-minute episode of DISAPPEARED
The Mitrice Richardson Story will be featured on the premiere 60-minute episode of DISAPPEARED atInvestigation.Discovery.Com.
LOST IN THE DARK
Monday, November 19, at 7 p.m. PST 10PM EST
and
Sunday, November 25, at 3 p.m. PST 6 PM EST
The story is complex -- a beautiful 24-year-old woman arrested in Malibu three years ago while apparently suffering a mental breakdown. Mitrice Richardson was released from Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station shortly after midnight on Thursday, September 17, 2009, into the night without means of transportation, cell phone, or money.
Her remains were discovered August 9, 2010, in Monte Nido Canyon, fewer than eight miles from the Malibu/Lost Hills Station. The cause of death is still "undetermined," so the story of Mitrice continues to be of interest.
The Los Angeles Magazine article by Mike Kessler WHAT HAPPENED TO MITRICE RICHARDSON published September 1, 2011, offers background information on the case.
Here is a short video; you may read the story in Los Angeles Magazine here.
Mitrice Richardson - Lost Hills,California Sheriff's Cover Up
Listen to internet radio with TheNancyLockhartShow on Blog Talk Radio
Michael Richardson Not Informed
This Has Got to Stop: More @#$% Ups Courtesy of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department Regarding Mitrice Richardson
by Jasmyne Cannick
So once more Michael Richardson, the father of one Mitrice Richardson was the last to know that coroner’s investigators decided to back out to the Malibu ravine where Mitrice’s body—or shall I say, most of her body was found last year, 11 months after she first went missing. Found was three bone fragments, believed to be from two fingers and a wrist. Nice.
So when I called Michael to see how he was doing, and him not knowing, and me not knowing that he didn’t know, let’s just that was an awkward conversation.
But what I love about Michael is his ride or die attitude, which is very similar to mine.
In no time we were standing in the parking lot of the same sheriff’s station that Mitrice was allegedly last scene leaving from—and it was on.
To say Michael was pissed is an under statement. The man was mad. And let’s face it, he has every right to be. He’s continually disrespected by the sheriff’s department who I suspect just isn’t used to dealing with a Black father who isn’t banging, on drugs, in prison, or just MIA.
I mean who could forget the scene at the sheriff’s headquarters when Mitrice was first found and head sheriff Lee Baca lost his cool with reporters when questioned why Michael hadn’t been notified prior to the press conference. I’m just saying.
More recently he found out secondhand that the federal bureau of investigation decided to pass on his daughter’s case. Nice.
And now this. You have a search and you tell everyone but her father. That’s some bullshit and Black fathers need to unite around this because it’s Michael today and you tomorrow—and that’s real.
It doesn’t matter what the relationship status is between the mother and the father, together, separated, divorced, not speaking, whatever—it doesn’t matter. If the father steps to the plate, as Michael has from day one, he has the right to be kept on the loop. I mean the sheriff’s department does a better job of keeping the media informed than Mitrice’s own father. Now what part of the game is that?
We had a few rough moments today when I thought we might need that bail money stashed away—but Michael pulled through it and said what he needed to say as her father and made it clear, he’s not going anywhere.
by Jasmyne Cannick
So once more Michael Richardson, the father of one Mitrice Richardson was the last to know that coroner’s investigators decided to back out to the Malibu ravine where Mitrice’s body—or shall I say, most of her body was found last year, 11 months after she first went missing. Found was three bone fragments, believed to be from two fingers and a wrist. Nice.
So when I called Michael to see how he was doing, and him not knowing, and me not knowing that he didn’t know, let’s just that was an awkward conversation.
But what I love about Michael is his ride or die attitude, which is very similar to mine.
In no time we were standing in the parking lot of the same sheriff’s station that Mitrice was allegedly last scene leaving from—and it was on.
To say Michael was pissed is an under statement. The man was mad. And let’s face it, he has every right to be. He’s continually disrespected by the sheriff’s department who I suspect just isn’t used to dealing with a Black father who isn’t banging, on drugs, in prison, or just MIA.
I mean who could forget the scene at the sheriff’s headquarters when Mitrice was first found and head sheriff Lee Baca lost his cool with reporters when questioned why Michael hadn’t been notified prior to the press conference. I’m just saying.
More recently he found out secondhand that the federal bureau of investigation decided to pass on his daughter’s case. Nice.
And now this. You have a search and you tell everyone but her father. That’s some bullshit and Black fathers need to unite around this because it’s Michael today and you tomorrow—and that’s real.
It doesn’t matter what the relationship status is between the mother and the father, together, separated, divorced, not speaking, whatever—it doesn’t matter. If the father steps to the plate, as Michael has from day one, he has the right to be kept on the loop. I mean the sheriff’s department does a better job of keeping the media informed than Mitrice’s own father. Now what part of the game is that?
We had a few rough moments today when I thought we might need that bail money stashed away—but Michael pulled through it and said what he needed to say as her father and made it clear, he’s not going anywhere.
Michael Richardson thanks community for help in getting FBI involved in daughter’s death investigation
Photo and Article Found In Inglewood Today - Link Below
http://www.inglewoodtodaynews.com/?p=2440
Michael Richardson thanks community for help in getting FBI involved in daughter’s death investigation
January 10, 2011 9:37 pm
By Staff Report
Michael Richardson and family friend Jasmyne Cannick arrive for a press conference with Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca where Baca declared that the remains found in Malibu Canyon belong to Mitrice Richardson. Credit: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times
LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca has announced that he supports the further examination of the remains of Mitrice Richardson, the 25-year-old Cal State Fullerton graduate who disappeared in September 2009 after being released from the Lost Hills/Malibu sheriff’s station and was found dead nearly a year later.
Richardson will be exhumed for further examination by the FBI, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca. In addition, clothing found near her skeletal remains and a hair discovered nearby will be examined.
This is welcome news to Michael Richardson, her father, who has been calling for FBI involvement in his daughter’s disappearance since a December 2009 meeting with Baca.
“It’s because of the community that we are finally getting the FBI involved,” Richardson says. “The community, Black newspapers, and KJLH family are responsible for keeping my daughter’s story alive and demanding justice and we are very grateful for their support. Every letter of support and bone sent to Baca during our ‘Bone to Pick’ campaign made a difference.”
“I am responding to the family’s wishes,” Baca said in a phone interview. “But I also think it doesn’t hurt having the FBI say, ‘We’ve examined this and find the following.’ I think the needs of the family should be my first priority.”
Baca said he called Steven Martinez, head of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, in late December to request the agency’s involvement.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Laura Eimiller, spokeswoman for the FBI in Los Angeles, confirmed that Baca had had discussions with Martinez and had submitted a written request for the agency’s assistance.
The L.A. County coroner has agreed to the exhumation, according to Ed Winter, assistant chief of the coroner’s office, Baca said. The coroner’s report on Richardson’s remains left the cause of death as undetermined.
No date has been set for the exhumation. “We have to coordinate with the FBI about when this is going to happen,” Winter said.
The Sheriff’s Department has been dogged by criticism ever since Richardson disappeared after walking out of the Lost Hills station in Calabasas shortly after midnight Sept. 17, 2009. She had been arrested for not paying a dinner bill at Geoffrey’s restaurant in Malibu. Her car was impounded and in it were her cellphone and purse.
The department, which faces two negligence lawsuits in the matter, was found to have correctly followed policy that early morning.
There will be a fundraiser for the Mitrice Richardson Foundation on Friday, January 14 at 8:30 p.m. at Lucy Florence Coffeehouse hosted by comedian Derrick Ellis (BET’s Comic View, Def Comedy Jam). For more information, please call (323) 867-3347 or log onto bringmitricejustice.org.
http://www.inglewoodtodaynews.com/?p=2440
Michael Richardson thanks community for help in getting FBI involved in daughter’s death investigation
January 10, 2011 9:37 pm
By Staff Report
Michael Richardson and family friend Jasmyne Cannick arrive for a press conference with Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca where Baca declared that the remains found in Malibu Canyon belong to Mitrice Richardson. Credit: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times
LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca has announced that he supports the further examination of the remains of Mitrice Richardson, the 25-year-old Cal State Fullerton graduate who disappeared in September 2009 after being released from the Lost Hills/Malibu sheriff’s station and was found dead nearly a year later.
Richardson will be exhumed for further examination by the FBI, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca. In addition, clothing found near her skeletal remains and a hair discovered nearby will be examined.
This is welcome news to Michael Richardson, her father, who has been calling for FBI involvement in his daughter’s disappearance since a December 2009 meeting with Baca.
“It’s because of the community that we are finally getting the FBI involved,” Richardson says. “The community, Black newspapers, and KJLH family are responsible for keeping my daughter’s story alive and demanding justice and we are very grateful for their support. Every letter of support and bone sent to Baca during our ‘Bone to Pick’ campaign made a difference.”
“I am responding to the family’s wishes,” Baca said in a phone interview. “But I also think it doesn’t hurt having the FBI say, ‘We’ve examined this and find the following.’ I think the needs of the family should be my first priority.”
Baca said he called Steven Martinez, head of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, in late December to request the agency’s involvement.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Laura Eimiller, spokeswoman for the FBI in Los Angeles, confirmed that Baca had had discussions with Martinez and had submitted a written request for the agency’s assistance.
The L.A. County coroner has agreed to the exhumation, according to Ed Winter, assistant chief of the coroner’s office, Baca said. The coroner’s report on Richardson’s remains left the cause of death as undetermined.
No date has been set for the exhumation. “We have to coordinate with the FBI about when this is going to happen,” Winter said.
The Sheriff’s Department has been dogged by criticism ever since Richardson disappeared after walking out of the Lost Hills station in Calabasas shortly after midnight Sept. 17, 2009. She had been arrested for not paying a dinner bill at Geoffrey’s restaurant in Malibu. Her car was impounded and in it were her cellphone and purse.
The department, which faces two negligence lawsuits in the matter, was found to have correctly followed policy that early morning.
There will be a fundraiser for the Mitrice Richardson Foundation on Friday, January 14 at 8:30 p.m. at Lucy Florence Coffeehouse hosted by comedian Derrick Ellis (BET’s Comic View, Def Comedy Jam). For more information, please call (323) 867-3347 or log onto bringmitricejustice.org.
The Community Forum With Sheriff Lee Baca
http://www.bringmitricehome.org/
on 12/6/2010, you missed a rare opportunity to have your issues of concerns with Law Enforcement heard. Note, I did not say resolved, I said heard!
Steve Whitmore graced us with his presence and began to sink down in his seat and cover his face as I spoke about what a fine job he does as a spokesperson for the Sheriff's Department. As you know, Mr. Whitmore does an outstanding job at placing a spin and twist on all actions and activities conducted by Sheriff's personnel, especially when they are "called on the carpet" for any wrong doing and/or for reporting falsified information to the public. Even more appropriately, Michael Gennaco, who was also present, should change their name from Office of Independent Review to Office of Dependent Review.
Sheriff Lee Baca did not refute any of the facts I outlined regarding the way Mitrice was unjustedly mistreated on the night of September 17, 2009 and how I, the father of Mitrice, continue to be unjustedly treated in my efforts to seek answers and justice for my daughter.
~ Michael L. Richardson, father ~
http://www.bringmitricehome.org
on 12/6/2010, you missed a rare opportunity to have your issues of concerns with Law Enforcement heard. Note, I did not say resolved, I said heard!
Steve Whitmore graced us with his presence and began to sink down in his seat and cover his face as I spoke about what a fine job he does as a spokesperson for the Sheriff's Department. As you know, Mr. Whitmore does an outstanding job at placing a spin and twist on all actions and activities conducted by Sheriff's personnel, especially when they are "called on the carpet" for any wrong doing and/or for reporting falsified information to the public. Even more appropriately, Michael Gennaco, who was also present, should change their name from Office of Independent Review to Office of Dependent Review.
Sheriff Lee Baca did not refute any of the facts I outlined regarding the way Mitrice was unjustedly mistreated on the night of September 17, 2009 and how I, the father of Mitrice, continue to be unjustedly treated in my efforts to seek answers and justice for my daughter.
~ Michael L. Richardson, father ~
http://www.bringmitricehome.org
Sheriff Lee Baca Confirmed to Attend Town Hall Meeting on Mitrice Richardson
http://www.jasmynecannick.com/blog/?p=9776
Sheriff Lee Baca Confirmed to Attend Town Hall Meeting on Mitrice Richardson
Sheriff Lee Baca Confirmed to Attend Town Hall Meeting on Mitrice Richardson
December 2, 2010
Yes–you read right. Sheriff Lee Baca is confirmed to attend the National Association for Justice and Equality in America’s town hall meeting regarding Mitrice Richardson this Monday.
This might not ever happen again so if you’re in the Los Angeles area, you don’t want to miss it.
Here are the details… and please click the RSVP link if you’re planning on attending. There’s an effort to get Radio Free 102.3 KJLH to broadcast the meeting live and it all depends on how many people are planning to turn out for it.
The Details
Nat’l Assoc. for Justice and Equality in America
Mitrice Richardson Town Hall Meeting
Monday, December 6, 2010
7 p.m.
600 North Alameda Blvd.
Compton, CA 90220
Sheriff Lee Baca Confirmed to Attend Town Hall Meeting on Mitrice Richardson
Sheriff Lee Baca Confirmed to Attend Town Hall Meeting on Mitrice Richardson
December 2, 2010
Yes–you read right. Sheriff Lee Baca is confirmed to attend the National Association for Justice and Equality in America’s town hall meeting regarding Mitrice Richardson this Monday.
This might not ever happen again so if you’re in the Los Angeles area, you don’t want to miss it.
Here are the details… and please click the RSVP link if you’re planning on attending. There’s an effort to get Radio Free 102.3 KJLH to broadcast the meeting live and it all depends on how many people are planning to turn out for it.
The Details
Nat’l Assoc. for Justice and Equality in America
Mitrice Richardson Town Hall Meeting
Monday, December 6, 2010
7 p.m.
600 North Alameda Blvd.
Compton, CA 90220
Coroner Rules Cause of Death for Mitrice Richardson Cannot Be Determined
• Sheriff's Department Says Its Investigation Continues • By Anne Soble
http://malibusurfsidenews.com/stories/201010/201010290001.html
The family of Mitrice Richardson was notified by the Los Angeles County of Coroner that it has closed its investigation in the case of the 24-year-old Los Angeles woman, who went missing after her booking at the Lost Hills Sheriff's Station in September 2009 and was found dead 11 months later, and ruled that a cause of death is undeterminable.
DOC Assistant Chief Ed Winter contacted Richardson's mother, Latice Sutton, by telephone Thursday afternoon, and she remains in seclusion after learning the ruling, which also has been communicated to the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department.
Neither the family, nor the LASD, said it has received a copy of the official written report of the DOC's conclusions, which currently is not expected to be available until Friday. The report cannot be released to the public until the family and the LASD have obtained copies of it.
LASD spokesperson Steve Whitmore told the Malibu Surfside News late Thursday, "The case is not closed for the sheriff's department. We still have an ongoing investigation into how her remains ended up where they did. That is ongoing and will continue. "
• Sheriff's Department Says Its Investigation Continues • By Anne Soble
http://malibusurfsidenews.com/stories/201010/201010290001.html
The family of Mitrice Richardson was notified by the Los Angeles County of Coroner that it has closed its investigation in the case of the 24-year-old Los Angeles woman, who went missing after her booking at the Lost Hills Sheriff's Station in September 2009 and was found dead 11 months later, and ruled that a cause of death is undeterminable.
DOC Assistant Chief Ed Winter contacted Richardson's mother, Latice Sutton, by telephone Thursday afternoon, and she remains in seclusion after learning the ruling, which also has been communicated to the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department.
Neither the family, nor the LASD, said it has received a copy of the official written report of the DOC's conclusions, which currently is not expected to be available until Friday. The report cannot be released to the public until the family and the LASD have obtained copies of it.
LASD spokesperson Steve Whitmore told the Malibu Surfside News late Thursday, "The case is not closed for the sheriff's department. We still have an ongoing investigation into how her remains ended up where they did. That is ongoing and will continue. "
The Crenshaw Car Wash Teams Up with Michael Richardson, Father of Mitrice Richardson for Fundraiser
WHEN: Saturday, September 11, 2010
TIME: 8:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
COST: Cars $8.99 & vans, trucks, SUVs, limos, and jeeps are $11.99
WHERE: Crenshaw Car Wash (4220 Crenshaw @ Stocker Blvd.)
The famed Crenshaw Car Wash is teaming up with the family of Mitrice Richardson for a car wash to raise money for the fund founded in her name. The body of Mitrice Richardson was found in August in a Malibu Canyon ravine after she disappeared 11 months earlier from the Malibu-Lost Hills Sheriff’s Department. On Saturday, September 11 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., partial proceeds raised will go towards the Mitrice Richardson fund to aid in the inquiry regarding the 25-year-olds mysterious disappearance and death.
“I am a part of this community,” explains Nuriel “Uri” Zeituni, owner of the Crenshaw Car Wash since 1985. “I was so moved by the story of Mitrice Richardson that I wanted to try and do something to help the family. I felt like this was one way I could help give back to the community while offering my condolences.”
“We’re grateful for Uri’s support,” commented Michael Richardson, father of Mitrice Richardson. “It just goes to show you that my daughter’s murder touched everyone—Blacks, whites, Latinos, Asians, men, and women. Through Mitrice, we are all coming together for a bigger cause, justice.”
The cost of each car wash is $8.99, vans, trucks, SUVs, limos, and jeeps are $11.99.
The fundraiser will take place on Saturday, September 11 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Crenshaw Car Wash located at 4220 Crenshaw Blvd. in Leimert Park, Los Angeles.
Mitrice Richardson Vigil ~ Monday · 6:00pm - 8:00pm
It is with great sadness that we must report to the public that the body of Mitrice Richardson, who has been missing since September 17, 2009, was found Monday, August 9, 2010 in a rugged ravine in the city of Malibu, California.
Please join the Richardson family in celebrating the life of Mitrice Richardson with a Candle Light Vigil on Monday, August 16, 2010 at Leimert Park in Los Angeles at 6:00pm. All are welcomed.
We hope that you will join us and if you are not of the area, we would still appreciate your prayers and continued support.
We would sincerely like to thank you for all for your generous amounts of time, positivity, prayers and efforts and would also like you to know that the family and friends of Mitrice Richardson will continue to work to provide Mitrice with the Justice she deserved the night she was released into the darkness of Malibu who no cell phone, identification, money or ride.
Justice for Mitrice Richardson NOW.
www.BringMitriceHome.org
Please Sign Petition:
http://www.petitiononline.com/leebaca1/petition.html
Malibu remains identified as Mitrice Richardson, source says - L.A.NOW
VIDEO
http://www.ktla.com/videobeta/?watchId=37ae427f-4954-47ff-8557-74ba4a90f63e
The skeletal remains found in Malibu Canyon on Monday afternoon have been identified by authorities as those of Mitrice Richardson, the young woman who vanished nearly a year ago after being released from the Lost Hills/Malibu Sheriff's Station, according to a source familiar with the investigation.
The identification of the remains, found deep in a ravine by park rangers checking for marijuana plants, apparently brings to a grim close the much-publicized mystery over the whereabouts of the Cal State Fullerton graduate who would have celebrated her 25th birthday this past April.
An official announcement is scheduled at the Sheriff's Department headquarters at 9:15 a.m.
Her arrest for being unable to pay an $89 dinner tab at a Malibu restaurant and her subsequent release in the dark hours of the early morning last Sept. 17 without a car, cellphone or purse sparked widespread criticism of Sheriff's Department personnel and triggered two lawsuits accusing the department of negligence.
Beyond that, her disappearance provoked debate over the L.A. County Sheriff's Department's procedures for releasing people at night as well as whether she should have been held for a mental health evaluation after she acted bizarrely at the restaurant.
And at a time when law enforcement agencies and the media have been accused of devoting less attention to minorities who go missing than to pretty white women who disappear, Richardson — a black woman who was a strikingly attractive former beauty pageant contestant — got extraordinary attention, becoming a high-profile enough case to make the cover of People magazine last fall along with several other missing people.
Over several months, law enforcement carried out four searches — the last being the most extensive ever undertaken by the county -- covering a total of 40 square miles of Malibu Canyon while investigators from the L.A. Police Department spent months tracking clues and were eventually joined by L.A. Sheriff's Department detectives. County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas got the county to offer a reward for information leading to her whereabouts. Friends and family followed up on sightings and arranged a fifth search of the canyon by unmanned drones. "If you knew how many buses I've chased down," Ronda Hampton, a psychologist who was friends with Richardson, said recently.
Earlier this summer, Los Angeles investigators scoured Las Vegas for the missing woman after a friend of Richardson's from her teen years said he saw her at a bar in a Las Vegas hotel in June and approached her, calling her by name. The woman looked at him and wordlessly walked away. But investigators called it their best lead to date and held a news conference in Las Vegas pleading with Richardson to come forward and let them know if she was alright.
The bones that were found in the ravine on Monday were about a mile out of the range of the county's last big search for her.
-- Carla Hall and Andrew Blankstein
http://www.ktla.com/videobeta/?watchId=37ae427f-4954-47ff-8557-74ba4a90f63e
The skeletal remains found in Malibu Canyon on Monday afternoon have been identified by authorities as those of Mitrice Richardson, the young woman who vanished nearly a year ago after being released from the Lost Hills/Malibu Sheriff's Station, according to a source familiar with the investigation.
The identification of the remains, found deep in a ravine by park rangers checking for marijuana plants, apparently brings to a grim close the much-publicized mystery over the whereabouts of the Cal State Fullerton graduate who would have celebrated her 25th birthday this past April.
An official announcement is scheduled at the Sheriff's Department headquarters at 9:15 a.m.
Her arrest for being unable to pay an $89 dinner tab at a Malibu restaurant and her subsequent release in the dark hours of the early morning last Sept. 17 without a car, cellphone or purse sparked widespread criticism of Sheriff's Department personnel and triggered two lawsuits accusing the department of negligence.
Beyond that, her disappearance provoked debate over the L.A. County Sheriff's Department's procedures for releasing people at night as well as whether she should have been held for a mental health evaluation after she acted bizarrely at the restaurant.
And at a time when law enforcement agencies and the media have been accused of devoting less attention to minorities who go missing than to pretty white women who disappear, Richardson — a black woman who was a strikingly attractive former beauty pageant contestant — got extraordinary attention, becoming a high-profile enough case to make the cover of People magazine last fall along with several other missing people.
Over several months, law enforcement carried out four searches — the last being the most extensive ever undertaken by the county -- covering a total of 40 square miles of Malibu Canyon while investigators from the L.A. Police Department spent months tracking clues and were eventually joined by L.A. Sheriff's Department detectives. County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas got the county to offer a reward for information leading to her whereabouts. Friends and family followed up on sightings and arranged a fifth search of the canyon by unmanned drones. "If you knew how many buses I've chased down," Ronda Hampton, a psychologist who was friends with Richardson, said recently.
Earlier this summer, Los Angeles investigators scoured Las Vegas for the missing woman after a friend of Richardson's from her teen years said he saw her at a bar in a Las Vegas hotel in June and approached her, calling her by name. The woman looked at him and wordlessly walked away. But investigators called it their best lead to date and held a news conference in Las Vegas pleading with Richardson to come forward and let them know if she was alright.
The bones that were found in the ravine on Monday were about a mile out of the range of the county's last big search for her.
-- Carla Hall and Andrew Blankstein
Mitrice Richardson’s Father Snubbed by LAPD Detective in Las Vegas
From Jasmyne Cannick
http://www.jasmynecannick.com/blog/?p=9060
July 30, 2010 · 167 Views · 1 Comment
Michael Richardson on 7/29/2010 Las Vegas Press Conference
Most media doesn’t have the guts and in some cases the know how to report what really happens behind the scenes. That’s just a fact. And watching the news tonight, you might think that everything was honky dory in Las Vegas at the press conference for Mitrice Richardson, but that was from the case. So here’s what you won’t read about in the newspaper or see on the television news report.
Michael Richardson, the father of missing Mitrice Richardson was never notified about yesterday’s press conference in Las Vegas by authorities. He was never invited to the press conference by authorities.
He only found out about the press conference through Los Angeles Times reporter Carla Hall who inquired if he was planning on going.
He was now, he thought.
Michael has taken the rest of the week off from work because when he got off work Wednesday evening, he purchased a one-way ticket on Southwest Airlines for $161 to Las Vegas leaving Thursday morning at 6:15 a.m. He paid for the ticket himself with money collected from supporters online and at a recent fundraiser in Leimert Park. He booked a room in downtown Las Vegas near the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department where he was told the press conference would be.
He arrived in Las Vegas without incident and caught a taxicab to his hotel. By then he had received word that the press conference for 11 a.m. was now going to be 22 miles away from where he was staying.
After confirming this was the case—by way of a three-way call with a very hostile Las Vegas Police Officer in charge of the event who actually asked Michael if he’d gotten permission to come to Las Vegas and participate in the press conference for his own missing daughter—Michael paid $45 dollars taxicab fare one way to get there.
As timing would have it, when his taxicab arrived in front of the Enterprise Area Command Center, LAPD Detective Chuck Knolls happened to be out front—Michael believes waiting on him.
Detective Knolls told Michael that he could not participate in the joint press conference between the LAPD, Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, and Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Departments but that if he so wanted in the 108 degree whether, he could hold his own press conference outside.
So that’s just what he did. He let the media known himself that he was Mitrice’s father who came in from Los Angeles but wasn’t allowed to go to the police’s press conference but that he’d be happy to talk to them outside in the 108 degree weather about his daughter, including the fact that he’d reported seeing her in January to the same detectives who are now “hot on the case.”
Michael will be in Las Vegas for the rest of week to look for his daughter.
Why is it that when it comes to news about his daughter, Michael Richardson has to hear about on the news or from news reporters? Why is it that the LAPD and LASD personnel assigned to his daughter’s case continue to keep him in the dark and act as if he’s a pain in their ass when it’s actually the other way around? Do you think that the LAPD and LASD would have acted this way if they were dealing with a white mother and father looking for their white daughter? Who tells the parents of a missing person that the y are not welcome at a press conference to talk about a sighting of their missing daughter. Who does that?
Something to think about.
Please pray, chant, sprinkle holy water, light an incense, give up an offering at the altar, or whatever it is that you do to the higher being of your belief for Michael Richardson and Mitrice’s family.
Some of us would have been underneath the jail by now had they blocked us from participating in searching for our own child…I’m just saying.
http://www.jasmynecannick.com/blog/?p=9060
July 30, 2010 · 167 Views · 1 Comment
Michael Richardson on 7/29/2010 Las Vegas Press Conference
Most media doesn’t have the guts and in some cases the know how to report what really happens behind the scenes. That’s just a fact. And watching the news tonight, you might think that everything was honky dory in Las Vegas at the press conference for Mitrice Richardson, but that was from the case. So here’s what you won’t read about in the newspaper or see on the television news report.
Michael Richardson, the father of missing Mitrice Richardson was never notified about yesterday’s press conference in Las Vegas by authorities. He was never invited to the press conference by authorities.
He only found out about the press conference through Los Angeles Times reporter Carla Hall who inquired if he was planning on going.
He was now, he thought.
Michael has taken the rest of the week off from work because when he got off work Wednesday evening, he purchased a one-way ticket on Southwest Airlines for $161 to Las Vegas leaving Thursday morning at 6:15 a.m. He paid for the ticket himself with money collected from supporters online and at a recent fundraiser in Leimert Park. He booked a room in downtown Las Vegas near the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department where he was told the press conference would be.
He arrived in Las Vegas without incident and caught a taxicab to his hotel. By then he had received word that the press conference for 11 a.m. was now going to be 22 miles away from where he was staying.
After confirming this was the case—by way of a three-way call with a very hostile Las Vegas Police Officer in charge of the event who actually asked Michael if he’d gotten permission to come to Las Vegas and participate in the press conference for his own missing daughter—Michael paid $45 dollars taxicab fare one way to get there.
As timing would have it, when his taxicab arrived in front of the Enterprise Area Command Center, LAPD Detective Chuck Knolls happened to be out front—Michael believes waiting on him.
Detective Knolls told Michael that he could not participate in the joint press conference between the LAPD, Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, and Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Departments but that if he so wanted in the 108 degree whether, he could hold his own press conference outside.
So that’s just what he did. He let the media known himself that he was Mitrice’s father who came in from Los Angeles but wasn’t allowed to go to the police’s press conference but that he’d be happy to talk to them outside in the 108 degree weather about his daughter, including the fact that he’d reported seeing her in January to the same detectives who are now “hot on the case.”
Michael will be in Las Vegas for the rest of week to look for his daughter.
Why is it that when it comes to news about his daughter, Michael Richardson has to hear about on the news or from news reporters? Why is it that the LAPD and LASD personnel assigned to his daughter’s case continue to keep him in the dark and act as if he’s a pain in their ass when it’s actually the other way around? Do you think that the LAPD and LASD would have acted this way if they were dealing with a white mother and father looking for their white daughter? Who tells the parents of a missing person that the y are not welcome at a press conference to talk about a sighting of their missing daughter. Who does that?
Something to think about.
Please pray, chant, sprinkle holy water, light an incense, give up an offering at the altar, or whatever it is that you do to the higher being of your belief for Michael Richardson and Mitrice’s family.
Some of us would have been underneath the jail by now had they blocked us from participating in searching for our own child…I’m just saying.
From Pasadena Weekly
The handwriting on the wall
Racist murals depicting black women in sexual situations are found during the latest search for Mitrice Richardson
By André Coleman , Justin Chapman 07/22/2010
The search for Mitrice Richardson has taken a bizarre racial turn, the Pasadena Weekly has learned, with a group searching the last places Richardson was seen discovering an isolated drainage culvert in unincorporated Calabasas covered with degrading murals of nude African-American women, some bearing a resemblance to the missing woman.
The site, located in Monte Nido, is near the home of veteran Los Angeles newsman Bill Smith, formerly of KTLA Channel 5, who reported seeing a woman who looked like Richardson sitting on the back steps of his home some five hours after Richardson was released from the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station — located about 12 miles from there — the morning of Sept. 17. Smith could not be reached for comment by press time.
The 24-year-old Richardson, a dean’s list graduate of Cal State Fullerton who has been caring for her aging great-grandmother and has bi-polar disorder, was in custody briefly on Sept. 16 for allegedly skipping out on an $89 tab for meals for two people at Geoffrey’s Restaurant in Malibu at 10 p.m. A resident of South Los Angeles, she was released shortly after midnight the following morning without a phone, money or transportation to her home, where she was living with her great-grandmother.
Her car, which was parked at the restaurant, was impounded the next day, said her mother. Inside the vehicle was her cell phone and purse, she said.
A search party led by Maurice Dubois, father of 14-year-old Amber Dubois, who was kidnapped and murdered in February 2009, discovered the disturbing graffiti June 6. Authorities painted over it soon afterward.
Pasadena’s Shirley Spencer, television producer Chip Croft and Dr. Ronda Hampton, a psychologist and mentor to Richardson, also helped organize the search party.
According to Hampton, the search ventured so far away from where Richardson was released because a few hours after she was released Smith called the Sheriff’s Department to report a woman fitting Richardson’s description in his backyard at approximately
6 a.m. Believing this was the last known sighting of Richardson, the search party checked a number of sites in the area.
According to Richardson’s mother, Latice Sutton, trained dogs picked up Richardson’s scent just down the street from Smith’s home, but lost it on that block. The Sheriff’s Department is continuing its investigation of the racist murals, which the missing woman’s mother and others remain convinced are somehow tied to Richardson’s disappearance.
“We certainly hope the Sheriff’s Department conducts a full, thorough, detailed investigation,” said Croft. “They definitely should check for fingerprints, as there would likely have been some left on the paint tools,” he said of some of the implements left behind at the scene. The perpetrators left paint can lids, brushes, feces, toilet paper and other evidence in the isolated, mountainous area. Searchers had previously put out a call for volunteers to look for Richardson, and whoever did this could have known the search was being conducted that day.
“These images are hateful and degrading to African-American women and are obviously the work of a very sick, deranged mind,” said Croft. “Also, I feel analysis of the paint could determine the time of application, the manufacturers and ultimately point of sale,” he said. “This is another reason for the FBI to come in. Plus, this is potential evidence of a hate crime. So now we need to keep pressure on the sheriff’s detectives to be sure they take this seriously and conduct the best possible investigation.”
According to Richard French of the LAPD media relations office, the LAPD has become involved in the case because Richardson is a resident of Los Angeles. Sutton filed the original missing person report at the Malibu/Lost Hills Station and, after discussing the case with the missing woman’s family, Sheriff Lee Baca had his detectives open a homicide investigation.
“His theory is that it would offer more resources to detectives if he assigned it to homicide,” said Sutton, a resident of Diamond Bar. “They say they have no proof that Mitrice is deceased. I think that’s ludicrous. They must have some evidence of foul play. They don’t just give away extra resources.”
In December, Congresswoman Maxine Waters sent a letter to FBI Director Robert Mueller requesting that the FBI “open an investigation into Mitrice’s disappearance and the circumstances surrounding her arrest, detention and release from the custody of the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff Station,” according to her letter. The letter goes on to say that “there are questions as to whether the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station acted properly in releasing this young woman during the pre-dawn hours without money or transportation, all while she was suffering from what the Los Angeles Police Department’s doctors have concluded to be bipolar disorder.”
On June 29, attorney Leo Terrell filed a lawsuit against LA County and individual deputies alleging negligence in releasing Richardson without a ride or resources the night she disappeared. Filed on behalf of Richardson and her mother, the suit alleges that the Sheriff’s Department committed negligent and discriminatory acts that caused Richardson’s disappearance.
“Mitrice was going through a mental crisis at the time of her arrest,” said Sutton. “I watched the booking video and it’s very clear from her behavior that someone should have known that there was something going on with her. She passed the field sobriety test, but the sheriffs never had an answer for her behavior. She had a severe bipolar episode. Absolutely, they should have referred her to a psychiatric evaluation.”
She added that she personally witnessed an unidentified uniformed deputy in the video leave the station right after Mitrice was released. He followed her out the same door and walked in the same direction Mitrice went.
The Sheriff’s Department has since declined to release the videotape. The Pasadena Weekly has filed a state Public Records Act request to gain access to that tape. The paper has obtained digital images of the racist murals.
“With this lawsuit, we hope to subpoena the Sheriff’s Department to get them to release that booking video and other related documents,” said Sutton. “We’re trying to hold them accountable for misleading us, for withholding information and not gathering information. They also tell us that when we go to the media, we impede the investigation. If we didn’t go to the media, we wouldn’t have gotten a lot of the information we have now. Of course, the sheriffs go to media when it suits them and makes them look good.”
Spencer, a longtime local activist and head of the Friends of the Pasadena Commission on the Status of Women who has been working with Richardson’s family and pushing the Sheriff’s Department to do more on the case, was shaken after seeing the images firsthand.
“It seems that the images were painted in anticipation of being discovered by the searchers,” said Spencer, who was there when the group walked onto the scene. “I have had difficulty finding words to express my shock in seeing this sick creation.”
On July 13, the LA County Board of Supervisors renewed a $10,000 reward for information leading to Richardson’s whereabouts. The city of Malibu has offered a $15,000 reward.
Mitrice’s father, 43-year-old Michael Richardson of Hawthorne, who was not married to Sutton, said he has been in contact with sheriff’s investigators and does not believe his daughter is dead. He blames the young woman’s mother for what happened to his daughter.
He also does not think it is right to sue the county over his daughter’s disappearance.
“There’s some gross negligence on the part of my daughter’s mother,” said Michael Richardson. “This is not publicity or fun, this is my kid. There is some fault on the part of the sheriffs, but her mother could have got her ass up and got her that night. If you start blaming people, then you have to claim some accountability also. This is my damn daughter.”
He said the last time he saw his daughter was at a barbeque a couple weeks before her disappearance and that Mitrice was exhibiting bizarre behavior before the incident at the restaurant in Malibu.
According to the Malibu Surfside News, which published a story containing edited versions of the murals, Capt. Joe Stephen of the Lost Hills station said deputies are looking at the monikers the taggers used and are comparing the murals with samples in their database.
Mitrice’s father doesn’t believe the graffiti is connected to his daughter’s disappearance. According to both parents, Lt. Andrew Rosso of the Sheriff’s Department is still investigating the murals.
“I think Mitrice is having a nervous breakdown and someone is capitalizing on it,” Michael Richardson said. “I wouldn’t even say someone is holding her against her will. If someone has her, they may not even be holding her against her will. They could be feeding her drugs to keep her under their control.” He added that Mitrice did not have a history of drug use.
Mitrice’s mother believes wholeheartedly that the murals are connected in some way to her daughter’s disappearance because the search party widely publicized that they would be searching in that area prior to the search. She noted that Michael Richardson was not part of the search and did not even know about the murals until she told him about them. According to his own Web site, Michael Richardson has been repeatedly asked by detectives to provide a DNA sample, but he has refused to do so. “Haven’t we learned anything from Mark Fuhrman,” he wrote, referring to the former LAPD officer in the OJ Simpson murder case accused of tampering with blood evidence.
“I most certainly believe they are connected to Mitrice, whether it’s the person who took her in that area or someone who knows what’s going on,” said Sutton. “I don’t think it’s coincidental. Taggers normally want their work to be seen and this was such an isolated area. Of course, the authorities think it’s a far-reaching theory.”
Sutton does, however, agree in part with Michael Richardson that it is possible Mitrice is being held against her will. She said anyone who knows Mitrice would say that she would not willingly run away from home.
“I don’t have any recent communications with Michael,” Sutton said. “Our interactions are very contentious. I do believe Mitrice had a nervous breakdown.
If she is not deceased, someone is definitely holding her against her will. She loves me and her sister more than anyone on this planet. She wouldn’t willingly let us believe she’s dead if she wasn’t.”
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