The remains of Mitrice Richardson were expected to be exhumed for further testing Wednesday this week by authorities, her father Michael Richardson said. The 23-year-old Richardson was found dead in a remote area of Malibu Canyon last year after being released from the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station where she was booked for not paying a restaurant bill in Malibu.
Michael Richardson told the Los Angeles Times the exhumation was being performed by request of the Richardson family, and was expected to take place Wednesday morning this week at the cemetery in Inglewood where his daughter was buried. Richardson said he hoped further examination of the remains would yield a clue as to how she died.
The 23-year-old Richardson was arrested Sept. 16, 2009 in Malibu after she could not pay her dining bill from a local restaurant and exhibited signs of acting strange. Sheriff’s deputies who arrived on the scene conducted field sobriety tests, former Lost Hills Sheriff’s Captain Tom Martin had said, but found that she was sober. It has since been revealed that Richardson suffered from bipolar disorder, and at the time might have been exhibiting signs of this illness.
Richardson was taken into custody for possession of marijuana in her car and defrauding an innkeeper.
She was then released after midnight from the remote Lost Hills station without a cell phone, purse or means of transportation. After leaving the station, Richardson was briefly sighted on the lawn of a nearby residence, and then was never seen again.
Many people have said it was at best a poor decision to release Richardson. The jailer who processed Richardson’s release, told the Los Angeles Times she recommended to the young woman that she stay until the morning, but Richardson refused.
Her family, through TV, print and radio interviews had galvanized the public and local governmental and law enforcement officials to search for her. Several search and rescue teams were sent into Malibu’s canyons in the ensuing months, but her remains were not found until nearly a year later.
More controversy arose after Richardson’s bones were found in a ravine in Malibu Canyon in August. A Los Angeles County coroner’s official criticized Sheriff’s deputies for moving the bones without consent from the coroner’s office. A Sheriff’s spokesman said deputies moved the bones because it was getting dark and they feared animals might destroy them.
Questions about the thoroughness of the department’s handling of the case continued when Richardson’s mother claimed to have found a finger bone while visiting the site. A few months later, in February, authorities discovered eight more bones in the area, months after her body was found.
A lawsuit by the Richardson family against the county sheriff’s department for its handling of the case is currently pending.