Missing CA Woman, Mitrice Richardson May Be Alive And In Las Vegas- LA Police

07/28/10-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
Is Mitrice Richardson still alive almost a year after disappearing from a Los Angeles sheriff’s office? LA Sheriff’s Department spokesman Steve Whitmore said “It’s not definitive, it’s not absolute,” but apparently she may have been spotted in Las Vegas. On Thursday, LA and Las Vegas police officials will be announcing that they are looking for Richardson. They plan to urge her to contact Las Vegas police. According to Whitmore, their message to Richardson is “Please let us know you’re OK. You’re not in trouble. You’ve done nothing wrong. You are not the subject of a criminal investigation. You will not be arrested.”

Michael Richardson, father of Mitrice, stated Wednesday that he had been informed recently by the Sheriff’s Department that there had been some eighty possible sightings of Mitrice in Las Vegas. According to Whitmore, who would not confirm the number, “They wouldn’t be doing this if they didn’t believe they had credible information of her whereabouts. They want to prove or disprove beyond a shadow of a doubt that these sightings are indeed fact or indeed not fact.” Whitmore also admits that it is possible that the sightings have been of a woman who resembles Richardson and not her at all, but that they want to be sure.

The Cal State Fullerton graduate would have had her 25th birthday three months ago. She was arrested on 16 September at Geoffrey’s Restaurant in Malibu, California after she could not pay her $89 dinner tab. According to witnesses at the restaurant, she had been behaving strangely, but the Sheriff’s Department staff said that she seemed normal while in custody. She was released from the Lost Hills/Malibu station around one in the morning without her car, which had been impounded, or her purse and cellphone, both of which were in her car.

There were three sightings of her in Malibu Canyon on the morning of 17 September, but she never made contact with her family and no trace of her has been found since then. According to homicide investigators assigned to the case a few months later, Richardson appears to suffer from severe bipolar disorder. The Sheriff’s Department has come under repeated criticism for not holding her for further evaluation, or at least holding he until morning when someone could come and get her. The Sheriff’s Department has maintained that it acted appropriately, and that Richardson was acting rationally before her release. An investigation into the handling of the case has been opened, and Richardson’s parents have initiated a law suit against the LA Sheriff’s department.

The last time authorities Malibu Canyon was in January. Nothing was turned up.

There is a possibility that Richardson has either severed all ties with her past, or is being kept from contacting her family by some third party individual. This was brought up between the police and Mitrice’s father. There is a possibility that she is working as a prostitute in Las Vegas.

Author’s Comment:

Ms Richardson, if you are reading this article, please contact the police in order to be reunited with your family. They, your girlfriend, and your friends all miss you. What ever has gone on in the last ten months can be healed. For the last ten months, I have kept our readers from forgetting you. I would like to know as well that you are alive and reunited with your family.- BPL

Source