Remains Found In Malibu ID'd As Mitrice Richardson

MALIBU, Calif. (AP)  — A skull and bones found near Malibu are those of a California woman who disappeared after sheriff's deputies released her from custody nearly a year ago, Sheriff Lee Baca said Thursday, adding that foul play isn't suspected.  

Baca and assistant coroner Ed Winter confirmed the remains found about two miles from the sheriff's Malibu-Lost Hills substation near Calabasas are those of Mitrice Richardson.

 The identification ends a nearly yearlong search for the Los Angeles-area woman that spanned from the Malibu mountains to Las Vegas, where authorities recently said people reported spotting Richardson in various casinos.

Baca called it a sad end to an "extraordinarily emotional and charged investigation."

Park rangers found the remains Monday in rugged mountains as they searched an abandoned marijuana garden.

"We have no indication of a homicide at this point. I don't believe that the remains are capable of telling us the story that would lead to that possibility," Baca said.

Winter said an anthropologist and dental expert helped examine the remains, and they apparently had been in the mountains six months to a year. It's unclear if the cause of Richardson's death will ever be determined, he said.

Richardson, who would have been 25 years old in April, was accused of failing to pay an $86 restaurant bill in Malibu, and she disappeared after she was released from the sheriff's station early Sept. 17.

"The deputies acted properly, but the point is, is that 'properly' doesn't necessarily mean we didn't do something, or could have done something more. There's always questions," Baca said.

The Los Angeles County Office of Independent Review exonerated deputies of negligence accusations in a report released Thursday. It concluded that they made a "reasonable and prudent" decision to arrest Richardson and acted within departmental policy when they released her.

Both of Richardson's parents have filed civil negligence lawsuits against authorities.

"This book is closed, but there are some more chapters that need to be written," father Michael Richardson told reporters after the news conference. "We are going to hold people accountable and we are going to fight for justice here."

Her father said his daughter had bipolar disorder and was released far from home with no money, no purse, no cell phone and no car. The items were in her vehicle, which was impounded when she was taken into custody.

"Mitrice would not be missing now, she wouldn't be pronounced dead now if they had just done their job," family friend Jasmyne Cannick said.

In May, U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters asked the Justice Department to investigate whether Richardson's civil rights were violated when she was released without a car, cell phone or purse.

The Sheriff's Department has said Richardson appeared rational and deputies believed they had a legal obligation to release her in a timely manner.

The independent county report, issued last month but made public Thursday, came to the same conclusion.

It was unclear whether deputies saw a cell phone in Richardson's cluttered car but they acted reasonably in having it towed, the report said.

After booking Richardson for a misdemeanor, deputies were legally required to release her after finding that she wasn't drunk, gravely disabled or a danger to herself or others, the report said.

Richardson seemed alert, told deputies that she didn't have any mental health issues, and declined offers to remain jailed until daybreak or until transportation arrived, the report said.

She could have used telephones in the sheriff's station.

"It may never be known why Ms. Richardson chose not to call her parents or friends," the report said.

The report also concluded that despite complaints from the family, sheriff's officials never tried to keep information from Richardson's relatives and made "substantial and persistent" efforts to find her.

Los Angeles police Capt. Kevin McClure told reporters in Las Vegas last month that more than 70 waitresses, bartenders, security officers and others in Nevada and California have told investigators they think they've seen Richardson.

At the time, Richardson's father said he believed his daughter might be involved in prostitution in Las Vegas and might be under the influence of someone preventing her from contacting friends and family. 

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