LA County increases reward to $25,000 for information on decades-old death

Los Angeles County has increased the reward to $25,000 for information that would help solve the mysterious case of 24-year-old Mitrice Richardson, who disappeared in 2009 after being released from sheriff’s custody and was found dead 11 months later found in Malibu Canyon.

In August, the county Board of Supervisors reinstated a $20,000 reward in the Richardson case.

The Cal State Fullerton graduate disappeared without a trace after leaving the Malibu-Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station around midnight on September 17, 2009. Earlier that evening, Richardson was dining at Geoffrey’s in Malibu, where she exhibited strange behavior and failed to pay an $89 bill. , according to guests and staff.

Richardson’s behavior at the restaurant was never included in police reports. But it was later discovered she had bipolar disorder and may have suffered from a nervous breakdown and sleep problems, detectives said.

According to a sheriff’s report, she was given the choice to voluntarily remain at the station until daylight or until transport arrived. Richardson decided to leave and was released without any personal belongings: her wallet and phone were located in her impounded Honda Civic, where she had apparently been living.

Her release caused fear among family members, who felt a mental evaluation or psychiatric arrest should have been necessary. But a report from the Los Angeles County Office of Independent Review concluded that the officers acted appropriately that night.

Despite Richardson’s erratic behavior, sheriff’s deputies at the station had “no legal justification to deprive her of her liberty,” police said. report.

Months of searching and waiting culminated in a grim discovery in August 2010 her skeletal remains were discovered in the Malibu Canyon. Dental records later confirmed the remains were Richardson’s. Although her death is not being ruled a homicide, her family has insisted in the past that she was the victim of foul play.

“One thing I know about my daughter is that she is not a natural young lady,” says her mother, Lattice Sutton, told The Times in 2010. “She doesn’t like insects in bushes. On her own, that’s not a place she would wander to. I have previously stated that my daughter was murdered.”

The family reached a $900,000 settlement with the county in 2011 after both parents filed lawsuits against the department in connection with Richardson’s death. But questions about what happened to Richardson have yet to be answered.

In 2009, the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors offered a $10,000 reward for information on Richardson’s whereabouts. The reward money was reset after her body was discovered in 2010. The amount also increased in 2021 and 2022.

Police are asking anyone with information about the case to call the LA Police Department at (213) 486-6900 or the Sheriff’s Department at (323) 890-5500.