The question of what really happened to Mitrice Richardson will probably haunt me until the end of my life. I imagine that with every anniversary of her death, those involved breathe a deeper sigh of relief at getting away with murder and it really pisses me off.
This year will mark 15 years since Mitrice Richardson’s disappearance, yet the pain and uncertainty surrounding her case remain as fresh as ever. Mitrice was a bright, young woman with a promising future ahead of her. However, a series of events on that fateful night in September 2009 led to her vanishing without a trace, leaving her family and community in a perpetual state of grief and confusion.
The First Failure of Mitrice Richardson Was Her Arrest
Mitrice Richardson’s story is a stark reminder of the systemic failures within our justice system. Failure number one–and what set all of the succeeding events into motion– was Mitrice being taken into custody by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for not paying an $89 restaurant bill at Malibu’s posh Geoffrey’s restaurant. That should have never happened. But it did and because it did, so did everything else that happened to her.
Mitrice Richardson Should Have Never Been Released in the Middle of the Night
The second failure, despite reports that Mitrice displayed signs of mental distress and after her mother was told that she’d be held until the morning, Mitrice was released from the Lost Hills/Malibu station in the middle of the night, without her car, phone, or any way to contact someone for help. All of which created a recipe for disaster, with the sheriff’s department’s neglect playing a critical role in her subsequent disappearance.
We fought the entire 11 months of her disappearance for equal media coverage during a time where if you were a white woman and went missing, it was breaking news at the top of the hour every hour. We fought with the sheriff’s department to do more. We called on then California Attorney General Kamala Harris to step in and investigate the investigators.
Cases like Mitrice Richardson’s tragically missed the critical momentum and spotlight that movements like Black Lives Matter have brought to issues of racial injustice and police accountability. Mitrice disappeared in 2009, a time when the collective outrage and organized activism that we see today were not yet fully galvanized. Her case, like many others from that era, did not benefit from the widespread social media amplification, community mobilization, and intense scrutiny that have become hallmarks of modern justice movements. As a result, Mitrice’s story did not receive the immediate, robust advocacy that could have pressured authorities to act with urgency and transparency.
They Botched Recovering Her Body
If it had not been for the Black press in Los Angeles and Black people going hard for answers and pushing the needle alongside Mitrice’s father, mother, and family–I doubt we’d have gotten as far as we did with finding her body–and they even managed to botch that. Which brings me to failure number three.
When Mitrice’s body was finally discovered in August of 2010, I remember getting a call from her dad, Michael Richardson, and we raced down to the headquarters of the sheriff’s department in Monterey Park for then Sheriff Lee Baca’s press conference.
You have to understand the irony in all of this. The same people responsible for her disappearance were also the same people charged with safeguarding her remains and leading the ensuing investigation into what actually happened to her. So it was no surprise that they managed to (conveniently) mess that up.
Sheriff’s deputies removed the remains of Mitrice Richardson without the coroner’s permission. All of a sudden they were worried about Mitrice. We never got the impression they were all that worried when she was alive but now that she was dead and her body was found in a ravine they moved expeditiously to get her out of the ravine over concerns that it was getting dark and animals might destroy the remains.
The Los Angeles Times reported that then-Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter said he was “very clear” with sheriff’s officials and could not think of another case in which a police agency had moved entire skeletal remains without the coroner’s approval.
I didn’t buy that excuse then–I don’t buy it now. But what the sheriff’s did do was pave the way for what would eventually be the end of the road in Mitrice’s death investigation. To this day, the cause of Richardson’s death remains undetermined, according to the coroner’s office.
In the years that have passed since Mitrice’s death, no one has been held accountable.
The office of then-Attorney General Kamala Harris initially said that there was “no reasonable inference” that deputies broke the law. But months later, in February 2016, the case appeared to gain new momentum after Harris agreed to review the matter at the request of Richardson’s father. In the end, Harris’ office’s investigation reportedly failed to uncover any evidence that would merit criminal charges against the sheriff’s deputies for their handling of the disappearance and death of Mitrice Richardson.
Sheriff Lee Baca was sentenced to three years in federal prison for obstructing an FBI investigation into abuse in county jails, serving two of the three years before being released.
To further complicate matters, whatever Baca does know, and I believe that he knew way more than he ever said publicly, Baca, who is 82, now suffers from Alzheimer’s disease.
The deputies and other personnel involved in Mitrice’s arrest and jailing have either transferred to another area in the sheriff’s department, been promoted, retired–or all three.
The only person in the County of Los Angeles government system, which includes the sheriff’s department and the newly renamed Department of Medical Examiner (formerly Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner), who seems to want answers as much as the rest of us is Supervisor Holly Mitchell (no surprise there) who again renewed her call for information in the disappearance and death of Mitrice Richardson and re-established a $20,000 reward Monday.
And Now Mitrice is Still Being Failed In Death
The failure to investigate Mitrice’s death properly is not just an oversight. It is an injustice that reflects broader issues within the justice system. The department’s reluctance to reopen the case and provide clear, honest answers only deepens the pain for Mitrice’s family and community, who deserve transparency and accountability.
It’s fascinating how the Sheriff’s Department can solve the most intricate cold cases, tracking down culprits from decades-old crimes with nothing but a fingerprint and a hunch? Yet, when it comes to Mitrice Richardson, who vanished under their very watch, they suddenly become as clueless as a tourist without a map. They can unravel the mysteries of long-forgotten cases, but finding out what happened to Mitrice seems to be a puzzle too complex for their highly-trained minds. It’s almost as if they selectively lose their investigative prowess when accountability starts knocking on their door. Coincidence? I think not.
None of us believe that Mitrice Richardson undressed herself, and placed her body in a remote ravine before killing herself.
I also know that from experience–the Sheriff’s Department doesn’t always get it right. Ask the victims of Ed Buck and the mother of Gemmel Moore about their dealings with the sheriff’s department.
There needs to be a real–not performative–independent investigation conducted to uncover the truth about what happened to Mitrice Richardson. The Sheriff’s Department’s actions on that night and their subsequent handling of the case must be investigated and it can’t be a situation where Bonnie is investigating Clyde. Been there. Done that.
Today, as we continue to fight for justice and equity, we must remember and honor those whose voices were lost in the silence of the past, ensuring their stories are not forgotten and their families receive the justice they deserve. 15 years later, Mitrice Richardson still deserves justice.
Jasmyne Cannick is a journalist, strategist and advocate. Since 2009 she has been covering the story of Mitrice Richardson and advocating alongside Mitrice’s family for justice. You can find her at iamjasmyne.com.
