Thursday, April 15, 2010

Blogging from A to Z: Today's Letter...M for Mitrice Richardson...

In case you are unaware or, perhaps, have forgotten about this young woman, Mitrice Richardson is still missing. She has been missing since last September, after disappearing from the Malibu police station. I did a blog post about this a while back and you can read it here. Recently, a few things have occurred regarding this case; allegedly, there is a videotape of Richardson at the police station. This is "surprising" because the original claim by the police was that no videotape existed *side-eye*. According to the Malibu Surfside News, Richardson's mother, Latice Sutton, and a small group of others, were allowed to view this "non-existent" videotape. After the viewing, Sutton says, per Malibu Surfside News:
the video “supports [my] theory that [sheriff’s] officers could very likely be involved in my daughter’s disappearance.”
You can read the article here, but the gist is that the claims of the Malibu police station do not match up with what the videotape shows. Richardson looks agitated and is pulling at her hair, and rocking from side to side. This is a different picture than what the police painted originally. They said that they saw no signs of distress and that she seemed fine. They claimed this even after witnesses at the restaurant where she was arrested, said that she seemed to be under some sort of mental distress. Another cause for concern, is that the videotape allegedly shows an officer following Richardson out of the police department after she was released. So what happened after that? Did this officer see which direction she took? Did he speak to her? Did he offer to take her home? What happened? So far no answers. The family wants those who were at the station that night to be investigated and I can understand that completely, if for no other reason than the shady business regarding the "non-existent" videotape.

Another search occurred on March 28, this time in the Skid Row area of Los Angeles. Apparently, there have been "sightings" in that area, so a group volunteered to search the area. It made sense to search this area; according to Chip Croft, who was interviewed by the Los Angeles Times:
With numerous homeless shelters, single-room occupancy hotels and social service centers, skid row is a place where someone like Richardson, who is thought to have had no money and may have been suffering from emotional problems, might end up...
In my earlier blog post, a commenter, arlee, brought up the idea of questioning the homeless community. Since many homeless people tend to have mental health issues, searching the Skid Row area for missing persons was a smart move. If it had been done sooner, maybe there would have been better results. The family of Richardson is also interested in questioning a man who was recently arrested for the sexual assault of a Malibu woman. Apparently this man, Christian Marcus Verdin, was living in the homeless community around the time that Richardson disappeared. Most recently, a drone aircraft was used to search the area surrounding the police station. According to the Malibu Surfside News, this drone was able to search areas that were unreachable by the search teams. The family is currently waiting for the results of this particular search.

Mitrice Richardson is out there, somewhere; my hope is that Mitrice is found, alive, and reunited with her family. I truly with the media would get on top of this case and put pressure on the police department to produce results. The shadiness of the videotape situation should cause concern  and be worthy of some media coverage. What the hell happened the night that Mitrice Richardson left that Malibu police station?

7 comments:

  1. I hadn't heard about the videotape. Then again I haven't heard much about the story. A few weeks back I heard that her father was filing a lawsuit, but that was all. It's weird that most of the coverage comes from that obscure Malibu paper.
    Lee
    Tossing It Out

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  2. Not familiar with this case but I pray that truth would be revealed.

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  3. Yo! Beautiful-- where'd you go? Hope everything is okay with you.

    Lee
    A to Z Challenge Reflections Mega Post

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  4. Hi arlee!

    Everything is fine; I'm in the last stages of moving, so I've been MIA...As you know, dealing with work and classes has been hectic enough, but add moving to the mix and it's that much tougher to blog (at least blog something meaningful, lol)... I'll be back real soon though! Thanks for asking =)

    bc

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  5. Well that's good to know that you're okay. Hope you can at least post some thoughts about the A to Z Challenge next Monday May 3.

    Lee
    May 3rd A to Z Challenge Reflections Mega Post

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  6. Hi arlee,

    It's been a cluster lately, but I'm classes will be winding down soon and moving will be over soon as well. I long for this break that's coming because I have serious plans to blog more often. I plan on continuing the blog challenge; obviously it won't be a daily thing. Perhaps I'll make it a weekly post? We shall see...

    I hope all is well with you!

    bc

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  7. Glad that you're okay. Missed you, but I can certainly understand your situation. Will look for future posts.

    Lee
    May 17th Fifteen Fantasy Island Favorites

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