Death of Mitrice Richardson

Mitrice Lavon Richardson was a 24-year-old African-American woman who had earned a psychology degree from California State University, Fullerton, and was working as an intern for a forensic psychologist at the time of her disappearance. On the evening of September 16, 2009, she entered the parking lot of Geoffrey's restaurant in Malibu. Staff and patrons described her behavior as "bizarre," and because she was unable to pay her $89 bill, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department was called. Deputies from the Malibu/Lost Hills Station administered a field sobriety test and determined she was not intoxicated, but arrested her on suspicion of not paying for the meal and for possession of less than an ounce of marijuana. Her phone, purse, and money were secured in her car, which was towed, and she was booked at the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff's Station.

Although Richardson's mother had told the station she was concerned about her daughter's mental health, and station personnel reportedly indicated she would not be released until later in the morning, Richardson was released at 12:28 a.m. on September 17, 2009, alone, with no belongings and no means of calling for help. A sheriff's department spokesman said she was released because she "exhibited no signs of mental illness or intoxication" and was "fine." She had been invited to wait in the station lobby but declined. Around 6:30 a.m. that morning, she was seen in the backyard of a Monte Nido resident, who called police after she told him she was "resting."

Richardson remained missing for 11 months. A large-scale search involving more than 300 trained volunteers was conducted by the sheriff's department in January 2010 across an 18-square-mile area of Malibu Canyon but did not locate her. In June 2010, a separate two-day search organized with help from another bereaved parent involved more than 100 volunteers; searchers did not find her remains but discovered racially and sexually offensive graffiti, apparently freshly painted, in a canyon culvert, along with paint cans and brushes left at the scene.

Richardson's mummified, unclothed remains were found by park rangers on August 9, 2010, in a Malibu Canyon creek bed near a secluded ranch. Detectives reportedly removed her body from the scene against the coroner's order. Some residents said they had heard screams in the area in the nights following her disappearance. Despite this, her death was not classified as a homicide, and investigators found no evidence of foul play.

Richardson's family sued Los Angeles County, and in 2011 her parents, who had filed separately, were each awarded $450,000 in a settlement reported at $900,000 total. The family also requested a California Attorney General review of the sheriff's department's handling of the case. After an initial 2015 finding of no grounds for charges, the Attorney General's office reversed course in January 2016 and opened a criminal investigation, which concluded in January 2017 with a determination that there was insufficient evidence to support criminal prosecution of anyone involved in the handling of her release.