Still A Mystery - Fifth Season

It seemed pretty obvious that there would have been

some type of manic episode.

Lost Hills Sheriff's Station, Deputy Phillip,

how can I help you? - We have a guest here who sounds really crazy.

We are wondering if someone can come by and pick her up.

Why would you guys release her?

Her mother said she will come get her.

That location was several miles from the police station,

and I always questioned how she got there.

It seems like it'd be difficult for her, if not impossible,

to be able to walk this trail on her own.

She was naked and partially mummified.

And it just doesn't make sense to me.

It'll never make sense to me.

Fort Hood has its good spots

and also its bad spots.

And you could just see him laying there

And the fact that it was off base,

throws up a red flag.

The EMT actually said, "Chris was pushed by someone."

A beauty contestant, an honors student,

and now a missing person.

Mitrice Richardson walked out of a Los Angeles County Sheriff's office

and into a mystery that continues to baffle investigators.

She was just sent out into the dark.

No car, no cell phone, no money.

It's not safe in that area for her to be wandering around

in the middle of the night.

She could be anywhere.

There were reports of her being seen in Malibu,

seen here, seen in Vegas.

We were hearing different stories about why she was arrested,

and how she was released, and when she was released.

It's hard to say who you could trust.

None of it makes sense to me.

It haunts me until this day.

It didn't have to happen.

Los Angeles, California.

Born in 1985, Mitrice Richardson is the beloved child

of Latice and Michael.

Growing up, she was full of energy.

She loved to dance.

It was always entertainment for her.

Drama, cheerleading.

We met in the eighth grade.

I had just moved to Covina,

and there were very few people who looked like us at our junior high school,

so she came up to me and said, "Hey, you're the new Black girl.

Let's be friends."

Mitrice just exuded so much life and energy.

People were instantly attracted to her.

Mitrice attends Cal State, Fullerton,

majors in Psychology,

and interns at the practice of psychologist Dr. Ronda Hampton,

who becomes her mentor.

I met Mitrice in 2007,

and that would have been her senior year.

Mitrice was a really good college student.

She had a 4.0 GPA

and she was just highly intelligent.

After graduating with honors in 2008,

Mitrice is working multiple jobs while planning her next steps.

She was considering what graduate school she was gonna go to.

She was in a place of growth.

She was also, I think, trying to figure out who she was.

Between working and trying to get into graduate school,

she was very busy.

Underneath all the exuberance and ambition,

Mitrice's behavior sometimes gives glimpses into an uneasy mind.

During her time working at my office,

there were a couple of times that I was concerned

that something was going on with her mental health.

You know, maybe that it was just the stress of the senior year,

which you know, could happen.

It was nothing that was so out of the ordinary

that I would have thought that she needed immediate attention.

There were definitely some signs that Mitrice was struggling

with her mental health.

She would post on social media very random rants

that were not common to her normal behavior.

After work, one September day in 2009,

Mitrice drives along the Pacific Coast Highway to a restaurant in Malibu.

Geoffrey's restaurant in Malibu,

known for its ocean views,

celebrity sightings, and twinkling lights.

She saw a table of individuals

that she decided to go and join

And she was saying that she was there to avenge Michael Jackson's death,

talking in a lot of gibberish that didn't make sense.

Mitrice's bill for a steak and a cocktail totals $89.

When it came time for Mitrice to pay her bill,

she made the statement that Mother Nature was going to take care of it.

The staff at the restaurant knew that something was wrong with Mitrice.

In the state of mind that she was in,

they were afraid to just send her off in her car

just for fear that... what would happen to her out there.

Lost Hills Sheriff's Station,

Deputy Phillip, how can I help you?

Hi, I'm calling from Geoffrey's Restaurant

in Malibu. - Yeah.

Um, we have a guest here who is refusing to pay her bill

and we think she may...

I mean, she sounds really crazy.

She may be on drugs or something.

Um, we were wondering if someone could come by and pick her up.

The hostess described her as being on drugs,

and I was like, "That doesn't sound like Mitrice."

It seemed pretty obvious that she was having

what I would have described as a manic episode.

When deputies arrive, they question Mitrice

and administer a sobriety test,

which she passes.

They ask her if she's ever been diagnosed with a mental illness

and if she's on medication.

She says, "No."

They decide to search her car.

They found a small amount of marijuana.

Less than an ounce.

The police arrest Mitrice

and take her to the Lost Hills Station.

Her car is impounded.

Her wallet and cell phone are left inside the vehicle.

In a memo that the arresting officer sent,

he stated that the reason why he brought her in is that she was acting ditsy

and that he was concerned for her safety.

That is the point he should have made the decision to have her taken in

for a psychiatric evaluation,

as opposed to arresting her and taking her to jail.

It was important for me to let them know

that this was totally uncharacteristic from Mitrice.

Why I would make that statement, I do not know.

But I'll never forget it.

It haunts me until this day.

I called in around 4:30, maybe five o'clock in the morning

to learn that she had already been released.

Why would you guys release her?

Her mother said she will come get her.

I was livid.

Immediately, I knew something was wrong because she had not contacted anyone

and I was frightened.

Mitrice was released just after midnight

with no car, no phone, no money.

It is a commercial area.

There's really no public transportation.

Not to mention, if you go in the wrong direction,

you're ending up in the canyon.

No lights, no nothing.

I mean, it's dark and very, very dangerous roads.

My initial thoughts were that Mitrice was lost

and I just knew that we had to find her.

What one technological advancement do you wish had never been invented?

Cell phones.

Although, when you're stranded they help contact your family.

They also cause a lot of accidents.

I used to get on her all the time about

letting people know where you're at.

I told her, "You don't wanna be in a situation where you're like,

man, I hope they can find me."

Approximately six hours after Mitrice is released

and one hour after her mother calls Lost Hills Station frantic with worry,

a new call comes into the station.

Despite Latice's urging,

no missing persons information has been circulated among the Lost Hills deputies.

So the sighting of a woman matching Mitrice's description

and the chance to find her slips away.

We didn't have experience on how to find missing people.

Everyone hit the ground running.

I mean, there was people flyering, there were people posting things on Facebook.

Everybody was just doing everything that they could

to try to get the information out there.

The sheriff's did not search for Mitrice.

They act like they were unconcerned about her safety.

They needed to be pushed in order to actually get out and search for her.

The L.A. Sheriff's Department

finally agrees to a missing persons search.

The first search was supposed to be a two-day search.

The dog found Mitrice's scent in various places in Monte Nido,

including Bill Smith's home.

What actually happened is it ended up being a one-day search.

Supposedly, one of the dogs was overheated,

and so they had to stop the search early.

The brief search turns up no new information.

Richardson's family gathered this week

outside the Sheriff's Department to demand answers.

In cases like Natalee Holloway,

or Laci Peterson,

the search was instantaneous for these women.

But I felt like because Mitrice was not white,

they did not have the same type of care, or concern,

or instantaneous reaction to get out and search and look for her.

We just gotta try to find her.

That's what I prayed for. That's what I wanted.

I had a flood of thoughts go through my mind.

Where could she possibly be? Who has her?

Will we ever find her?

We had to keep searching because we had to find her.

It was an emotional roller coaster

because you hope for the best,

but you know that the worst is also there.

Nearly four months after Mitrice goes missing