She Was Fine: The Disappearance and Unsolved Death of Mitrice Richardson
A deep dive into one of the most infuriating unsolved cases in Los Angeles County history.
On September 17, 2009, at 12:28 in the morning, a 24-year-old woman walked out the front doors of the Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station in Calabasas, California. She had no cell phone. No wallet. No money. No car. She was standing on a dark frontage road in the Santa Monica Mountains, roughly 50 miles from home, in an area she had never been before.
Every person who had interacted with her that evening — a valet, a hostess, a restaurant manager, her own mother on the phone — had raised alarms about her mental state. Her mother had called the station and begged deputies not to release her. They promised they wouldn’t.
They released her anyway.
Her name was Mitrice Richardson. She was never seen alive again.
Eleven months later, her skeletal, partially mummified, and completely naked remains were found by park rangers in a remote creek bed in Dark Canyon, roughly six miles from the station. Her clothing was scattered hundreds of feet down a ravine. Her cause of death was ruled undetermined. No one has ever been charged.
This is the case we cover in our latest episode of Crime Clueless, and it is one that will stay with you long after you press pause.
Who Was Mitrice Richardson?
Before she became a case file, Mitrice Richardson was a young woman building a life full of promise. Born on April 30, 1985, in Los Angeles, she was raised by her mother Latice Sutton and stepfather Larry in Covina, a suburb in the San Gabriel Valley. She graduated with honors from Cal State Fullerton in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and had her sights set on graduate school. She had interned for a forensic psychologist. She was working a clerical job during the week and dancing at an LGBT club in Long Beach on weekends. She was an open lesbian in a two-year relationship with her girlfriend, Tessa Moon. She had competed in beauty pageants. And at the time of her disappearance, she was living with her 91-year-old great-grandmother Mildred near 118th and Central in South Los Angeles, helping to care for her.
Her family described her as the light in their lives. Her aunt Lauren called her “very loving, a vivacious personality, full of life.” She was someone who walked into a room and made sure everyone noticed.
But in the weeks leading up to September 2009, something shifted. Friends and family noticed increasingly cryptic social media posts. She became more withdrawn. She sent her mother text messages about being “Miss Mother Nature,” about finding Michelle Obama, about proving “the unlogic.” She told friends she knew Michael Jackson and that she was going to Mars. On the morning of September 16, she texted her mother: “Watch the news today, it’s going to shock the hell out of you.” That afternoon, she left her clerical job at lunch and never went back — something those who knew her said was completely out of character.
Her family suspected she was experiencing her first major bipolar episode. They were watching it happen in real time. And they were terrified.
The Night Everything Changed
On the evening of September 16, Mitrice drove her 1998 Honda Civic approximately 50 miles from South LA to Geoffrey’s, an upscale restaurant perched on the cliffs above Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. She had no known connection to the area.
What unfolded at the restaurant over the next several hours was a cascade of alarming behavior witnessed by multiple people. She got into the valet’s car and began going through his belongings, telling him “it’s subliminal.” She told him she was there to avenge Michael Jackson’s death. She was seated alone, ordered a Kobe steak and a cocktail, then got up and joined a table of seven strangers uninvited, rambling about astrological signs and the “language of numbers.” She told them she was from Mars. When the bill came — $89 — she couldn’t pay and seemed surprised when the strangers didn’t cover it for her.
The restaurant staff noticed all of this. They called the sheriff’s department not just because of the unpaid check, but because they were genuinely concerned for Mitrice’s safety. One employee, when others suggested pooling their money to cover the tab and send her on her way, pushed back. The employee said: “I don’t think that’s the right thing to do for her sake. She’s not safe to go out on her own.”
A stranger at a restaurant could see what was happening. The question that defines this case is why the people who took custody of her couldn’t — or wouldn’t.
The Release
Deputies from the Lost Hills station arrested Mitrice on two misdemeanor charges: suspicion of defrauding an innkeeper and possession of a small amount of marijuana. They administered a field sobriety test and determined she was not intoxicated or under the influence of any substance. Her car was impounded with her phone, purse, and money inside.
She was transported to the Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station in Calabasas and booked into a jail cell.
That evening, Mitrice’s great-grandmother Mildred called the family, and Mitrice’s mother Latice called the station. On a recorded line, Latice told a deputy that she had concerns about her daughter’s mental health, that Mitrice was unfamiliar with the area, and that she wanted to come pick her up in the morning. She said: “I would hate to wake up to a morning report, ‘Girl lost somewhere with her head chopped off.'”
The station assured Latice that Mitrice would not be released.
At 12:28 AM, they released her. No one called Latice. The station’s initial excuse was jail overcrowding — later proven false. A jailer claimed she escorted Mitrice to use a pay phone so she could call for a ride, but investigators later confirmed the pay phone at the station was not functioning. The department’s public statement was simple: “She exhibited no signs of mental illness or intoxication. She was fine. She’s an adult.”
Internal communications later told a different story. An email from Lieutenant Scott Chew to Captain Thomas Martin, written three days after Mitrice vanished, revealed that the arresting deputy had actually booked Mitrice specifically because he “felt she was acting unusual and was uneasy about just letting her go.” Under oath, both the deputy and the lieutenant claimed they could not remember this email or the conversation it described.
The Search That Wasn’t
The morning after her release, at approximately 6:30 AM, retired KTLA news anchor Bill Smith spotted a young woman sitting in his backyard in Monte Nido — a rural community about six miles west of the station. She told his wife she was “just resting.” By the time a deputy arrived, she was gone. A BOLO alert was not issued for another six and a half hours.
Latice called the station that morning expecting to pick up her daughter and learned she had already been released. When she tried to file a missing person’s report, she was told to wait 24 hours.
The department waited two full days to conduct its first search. When they did, trackers found footprints matching Mitrice’s sneakers near the Smith property. The prints suggested she had gone from walking to running. The trail led toward Dark Canyon — where her remains would eventually be found — but officers did not enter the canyon.
Sergeant Tui Wright, the supervisor for Malibu Search and Rescue, directed the search efforts. According to multiple sources, including Dr. Ronda Hampton, a clinical psychologist who was Mitrice’s mentor and the family’s most vocal advocate, Wright repeatedly steered search efforts away from the area where Mitrice was ultimately found. K9 dogs picked up her scent and were moving in that direction — Wright pulled them off and cancelled the second day of the search, citing tired dogs. During a massive January 2010 search involving over 300 volunteers, Dr. Hampton asked Wright why they weren’t searching the creek bed in Dark Canyon. He was noncommittal. When the family secured a volunteer drone pilot, Wright directed the drone away from that area, telling Dr. Hampton: “We’ll get to it eventually.”
A volunteer who participated in the LASD-organized searches later described the department’s attitude as “like they were on a leisurely Sunday ride,” and said the department appeared to be “focused on recovery efforts only” — meaning they had already assumed Mitrice was dead.
In June 2010, a search organized by private citizens discovered freshly painted, racially and sexually offensive graffiti in a drainage culvert in the canyon — murals depicting nude African-American women, some of which searchers said resembled Mitrice. The paint cans and brushes were left at the scene. Authorities painted over the graffiti shortly after it was reported.
Dark Canyon
On August 9, 2010 — nearly eleven months after Mitrice disappeared — California State Park Rangers were sweeping a remote section of Dark Canyon for illegal marijuana plants. They were not looking for Mitrice Richardson.
In a creek bed, under a layer of leaves and debris, they found a skull with curls of dark hair. When the leaves were brushed aside, an entire skeleton was revealed. Partially mummified. Completely naked. The remains were later identified as Mitrice through dental records.
Her clothing — belt, bra, jeans — was scattered hundreds of feet away down a ravine. Her skull and spinal cord were detached from the rest of her body. The creek bed where she was found is directly adjacent to a secluded 21-acre ranch known for producing pornography, with direct access to the creek bed. Residents in the area had reported hearing screams from that part of the canyon in the nights following Mitrice’s disappearance.
Despite all of this, the Los Angeles County Coroner ruled her cause of death undetermined. The sheriff’s department maintained there was no evidence of foul play.
And then the evidence handling made things worse. When Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter arrived at the scene, he gave deputies a direct order: do not touch the remains. Minutes later, deputies had loaded Mitrice’s entire skeleton into a helicopter and airlifted it to the Lost Hills station — against the coroner’s explicit instructions. Winter said he was shocked, that he had never encountered a case where a law enforcement agency moved skeletal remains without coroner’s clearance, and that a California state code may have been violated.
The next day, deputies could not lead coroner’s investigators back to the correct location. It was approximately two weeks before additional bones were recovered from the ravine. The clothing Mitrice had been wearing — a critical piece of physical evidence — reportedly went missing from the chain of custody.
When Sheriff Lee Baca later led the family to what he said was the discovery site, a family member found a small bone on the ground. Latice subsequently came to believe, based on communications with the coroner’s office, that they had been taken to the wrong location entirely. She filed a second lawsuit over the handling of the remains.
The Aftermath
The family’s fight for accountability stretched across years and yielded few results. Mitrice’s parents each received $450,000 in a civil settlement with Los Angeles County in 2011 — a total of $900,000 — with no admission of wrongdoing. The county’s Office of Independent Review concluded that deputies had acted “properly and legally,” a finding widely criticized for its omissions, including the Chew email and the hidden surveillance footage.
The California Attorney General’s office initially declined to pursue criminal charges in 2015, then reversed course and opened a criminal investigation in January 2016. By January 2017, the office concluded there was insufficient evidence for prosecution.
No deputy, jailer, supervisor, or captain has ever faced criminal consequences. Every person involved in Mitrice’s arrest, booking, and release has since been transferred, promoted, retired, or some combination of all three.
In 2024, the “Lost Hills” podcast revealed that investigators had, at one point, identified a person of interest in the case — a local man in the Monte Nido area, now deceased, who was rumored to have been the last person to see Mitrice alive. Potential evidence connected to this individual was never properly investigated.
The LA County Board of Supervisors has re-established a $25,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction. Supervisor Holly Mitchell, who sponsored the motion, said: “She was a woman who needed to be protected, and that didn’t happen.”
A Mother’s Fight, and Its End
Latice Trevon Sutton spent sixteen years fighting for her daughter. She searched the canyons. She filed lawsuits. She spoke to every camera and every microphone that would have her. She never stopped saying Mitrice’s name.
On September 12, 2025 — five days before the sixteenth anniversary of the night her daughter walked out of that station — Latice died at the age of 57. She never learned what happened to Mitrice. She never saw anyone held accountable.
Her obituary lists her daughter Mitrice among those who preceded her in death. Also listed: her grandmother Mildred — the 91-year-old woman who was on the phone with Mitrice at Geoffrey’s that night, who tried to pay the bill with her credit card, who called Latice to sound the alarm.
Both of them are gone now. The case remains open. The questions remain unanswered.
Why This Case Matters
The case of Mitrice Richardson sits at the intersection of nearly every systemic failure imaginable: mental health, policing, race, accountability, and the fundamental question of who gets protected and who gets discarded. A 24-year-old Black woman in the middle of a psychiatric emergency was treated as an inconvenience — processed, released, and forgotten. A white celebrity arrested for DUI at the same station three years earlier was given a ride to his car.
This case matters because it is not unique. It is a particularly well-documented, particularly enraging example of something that happens all the time: people in mental health crises encounter law enforcement, and law enforcement is not equipped — or not willing — to treat them as people in need of help rather than problems to be cleared from the system.
Mitrice Richardson had a psychology degree. She wanted to help people understand their own minds. The bitter irony is that when her own mind turned against her, the system she would have dedicated her career to improving could not be bothered to help her.
If You Have Information
The case of Mitrice Richardson remains open. If you have any information, please contact:
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department: (323) 890-5500
LA Crime Stoppers (anonymous): 1-800-222-8477
Reward: $25,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction
If You Need Support
If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis, help is available:
988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: Call or text 988, available 24/7
Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741
Listen to Mitrice Richardson’s case from Crime Clueless on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, Amazon Music , or wherever you get your podcasts.
If you found this episode interesting, you may also like the case of Lauren Spierer. Lauren walked out into the night just a few blocks from home, and was never seen again. You can read more here or listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Youtube, or wherever you stream podcasts.
You may also like learning more about the case of Brianna Maitland. Brianna was driving home from work, her car found on the side of an abandoned barn, but there was no sign of Brianna, and no clues as to where she went. You can read more on her case here, or listen to the episode on Youtube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any streaming platform.
One more case to dive into is the disappearance of Patti Adkins. After leaving work one evening, with plans to go on a trip with her boyfriend, Patti was never seen again. This one feels so solvable, which is infuriating, because Patti has not gotten justice two decades later. Read more about Patti’s story here, or listen on Youtube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you listen to podcasts.
Have thoughts on this story or other cases you’d like to see highlighted? Share them with us in the comments or connect with us on social media. Together, we can ensure that stories like this one are never forgotten.
Don’t forget to follow us on social media, share your thoughts, and let us know what you’d like to hear about in future episodes. If you have any true crime stories of your own, send them our way crimeclueless@gmail.com to be featured on a future episode! And as always, remember: refuse to be clueless, careless, or caught off guard. Not today, murderers.
See you in the next episode of Crime Clueless!
Resources — “She Was Fine: The Disappearance and Unsolved Death of Mitrice Richardson”
News Articles & Investigative Reports
ABC7 Eyewitness News. (2010, August 12). Mitrice Richardson’s body found in Malibu. ABC7 Los Angeles. Mitrice Richardson’s body found in Malibu | ABC7 Los Angeles
ABC7 Eyewitness News. (2012, March 15). Mitrice Richardson disappearance: Review released. ABC7 Los Angeles. Mitrice Richardson disappearance: Review released | ABC7 Los Angeles
ABC7 Eyewitness News. (2021, December 21). Mitrice Richardson documentary: Watch ABC7 special ‘Unsolved LA: The Disappearance of Mitrice Richardson.’ ABC7 Los Angeles. Mitrice Richardson documentary: Watch ABC7 special ‘Unsolved LA: The Disappearance of Mitrice Richardson’ – ABC7 Los Angeles
ABC7 Eyewitness News. (2021, December 22). Mitrice Richardson case: LA County supervisors re-establish $10K reward in woman’s 2009 disappearance, death. ABC7 Los Angeles. https://abc7.com/mitrice-richardson-reward-money-malibu-missing-woman-cold-case/11368995/
ABC7 Eyewitness News. (2022, March 15). Mitrice Richardson case: LA County increases reward in woman’s disappearance, death. ABC7 Los Angeles. Mitrice Richardson case: LA County increases reward in woman’s disappearance, death – ABC7 Los Angeles
Associated Press. (2010, November 8). Coroner criticizes handling of Mitrice Richardson’s remains. CBS News Los Angeles. Coroner Criticizes Handling Of Mitrice Richardson’s Remains – CBS Los Angeles
CBS News Los Angeles. (2010, October 25). Mother of Mitrice Richardson wants body exhumed. CBS News Los Angeles. https://cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/mother-of-mitrice-richardson-wants-body-exhumed
Goffard, C. (2010, November 7). Coroner’s official criticizes Sheriff’s Department for moving Mitrice Richardson remains. Los Angeles Times.
NBC Los Angeles. (2010, November 8). Coroner: Sheriff’s Office was wrong to move remains of Mitrice Richardson. NBC Los Angeles. https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/mitrice-richardson/1860704
NBC Los Angeles. (2011, August). Mitrice Richardson’s body exhumed. NBC Los Angeles. Mitrice Richardson’s Body Exhumed – NBC Los Angeles
NBC Los Angeles. (2019, September 17). Mitrice Richardson case a decade later. NBC Los Angeles. Mitrice Richardson Case a Decade Later – NBC Los Angeles
The Grio. (2011, August 22). Mitrice Richardson’s mother files suit against LA County. The Grio. https://thegrio.com/2011/08/22/mitrice-richardsons-mother-files-a-lawsuit
Independent Journalism & Long-Form Coverage
Capitol Weekly. (2010, November 11). Mitrice Richardson: The anatomy of a murder and cover-up. Capitol Weekly. Mitrice Richardson: The anatomy of a murder and cover-up – Capitol Weekly
Goodyear, D. (2024, August 19). Person of interest revealed in Mitrice Richardson case. The Acorn. Person of interest revealed in Mitrice Richardson case
Los Angeles Magazine. (2014, July 17). Does progress in the Kelly Thomas case mean a standstill for the Mitrice Richardson case and others? Los Angeles Magazine. https://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/does-progress-in-the-kelly-thomas-case-mean-a1/
Los Angeles Sentinel. (2024, August 8). 15 years later — Why we still demand justice for Mitrice Richardson. Los Angeles Sentinel. 15 Years Later – Why We Still Demand Justice for Mitrice Richardson – Los Angeles Sentinel
Malibu Daily News. (2025, September 16). No justice, no peace: Remembering Mitrice Richardson 16 years later. Malibu Daily News. https://malibudailynews.com/no-justice-no-peace-remembering-mitrice-richardson-16-years-later/
The Local Malibu. (2025, September 16). No justice, no peace: Remembering Mitrice Richardson 16 years later. The Local Malibu. No Justice, No Peace: Remembering Mitrice Richardson 16 Years Later | The Local Malibu
Woods, C. (2023, January 29). New revelations and lies exposed: Uncovering the cover up in the Mitrice Richardson case. The Local Malibu. New Revelations and Lies Exposed: Uncovering the Cover Up in the Mitrice Richardson Case | The Local Malibu
Woods, C. (2023, January 30). New revelations and lies exposed: Uncovering the cover up in the Mitrice Richardson case part 2. The Local Malibu. New Revelations and Lies Exposed: Uncovering the Cover Up in the Mitrice Richardson Case Part 2 | The Local Malibu
Official Reports & Government Documents
Gennaco, M. J., Katz, W. W., Miller, R., Ruhlin, J., Hernandez, C. L., Arias, A. A., Teran, D. M., Shasty, B., Calderon, A., Avery, M., & Newkirk-Ma, S. (2012). Report reviewing the investigation regarding the discovery and recovery of the remains of Mitrice Richardson (and update on prior OIR report). County of Los Angeles, Office of Independent Review. https://docslib.org/doc/8930453/mitrice-richardson-report
Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. (2024, August). Motion to re-establish and increase reward in the Mitrice Richardson case (Supervisor Holly Mitchell, sponsor).
Podcasts
Goodyear, D. (Host). (2024). Lost Hills: Dark Canyon [Audio podcast]. Western Sound & Pushkin Industries. Lost Hills: Dark Canyon — #1 True Crime Podcast
Reed, S. (Host). (2025, August–September). Mitrice Richardson: Unsolved death (Malibu, CA) Parts 1–3 [Audio podcast episodes]. In Sequestered Podcast. Road Trip Studios. https://www.podpage.com/sequestered/mitrice-richardson-unsolved-death-malibu-ca-part-two
Townsend, C. (Host). (2020–2021). Lost in Lost Hills (Season 3) [Audio podcast]. In Hell and Gone. iHeartPodcasts. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lost-in-lost-hills/id1437808691
Television
Lost in the dark (Season 6, Episode 1). (2012, November 19). In Disappeared. Investigation Discovery.
ABC7 Eyewitness News (Producer). (2021). Unsolved LA: The disappearance of Mitrice Richardson [Documentary]. KABC-TV / Hulu.
Encyclopedia & Reference Entries
Wikipedia contributors. (2026, March 29). Death of Mitrice Richardson. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Death of Mitrice Richardson – Wikipedia
Obituaries
Sutton, L. T. (2025, September 26). Latice Trevon Sutton obituary. Legacy.com. Davis Funeral Homes & Memorial Park — Eastern Ave., Las Vegas, NV. Latice Trevon Sutton Obituary (2025) – Las Vegas, NV – Davis Funeral Homes & Memorial Park – Eastern Ave.
Additional Resources & Case Research
The Disappeared Blog. (2021, December 22). Mitrice Richardson. The Disappeared Blog. Mitrice Richardson
True Crime Researchers. (n.d.). Mitrice Richardson. True Crime Researchers. https://www.truecrimeresearchers.com/cases/mitrice-richardson
How to Help
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department: (323) 890-5500
LA Crime Stoppers (anonymous): 1-800-222-8477
Reward: $25,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction
