Mitrice Richardson was a 24-year-old psychology graduate of Cal State Fullerton. On the evening of September 16, 2009, she was acting unusually at a Malibu restaurant and was taken into custody by sheriff's deputies. At approximately 12:28 a.m., she walked out of the Lost Hills Sheriff Station with no money, no phone, and no vehicle, 12 to 15 miles from her car, and went missing.
On August 9, 2010, human remains found in a canyon were confirmed to be Mitrice. In the months before she was found, and continually afterward, an overwhelming number of contradictions and negligence by the department came to light. The board below holds the timeline of that night and everything after. She is a person, like you and me, and her story deserves to be told.
Evidence
Photographs and documents from the file, kept from the original research. Select any exhibit to view it with its notes.
Chronology
Eleven months, from the night at Geoffrey's to the canyon where she was found. Select any entry to open it on the board below.
The night Sept 16–17, 2009
The searches 2009–2010
The discovery 2010
Case board · 2009–2010
How did she end up deep in a wooded area, and how did she die? Her remains were found miles from the station that released her into the dark, and only about a mile from the house where a woman many believe was Mitrice had been reported, inside the radius the searches had covered. The negligence was acknowledged in a settlement. The answers never came.
If you haven't yet heard Mitrice's story, Los Angeles Magazine's longform piece What Happened To Mitrice Richardson? is a thorough place to start, and the podcast coverage in the sources below goes deeper.
The case is still open. Uncovered maintains an active case file, and any information can be shared with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Homicide Bureau.
This is a rebuild of a case file from True Crime Researchers, an older project of mine. The remains marker is the general area given to the coroner and the family, not exact coordinates; the other locations come from the original research.
Citations
The reporting, research, and coverage this case file draws on.
What Happened To Mitrice Richardson?
A longform accounting of the case and the questions around the department's handling of it.
Mitrice Richardson, episodes 75 and 76
A two-part series.
The Murder of Mitrice Richardson, parts 1 and 2
A two-part series, episodes 09 and 10.
The original case file this page grew from, an older project of mine.