CA CA - Mitrice Richardson, 24, Malibu, 17 Sep 2009

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Just watched this case on Disappeared. Very sad. Reminds me a little of Teleka Patrick's case.

So many unanswered questions...

I just watched it as well. Very sad. The only good thing is the police department reviewing their procedures in cases like this, because Mitrice clearly should have been Baker Acted/placed on a psych hold and not released on foot in the middle of the night.

All of the tiny missteps LE made led to her death, IMHO. Rest in Peace, Mitrice.
 
I watched Disappeared, read dozens of articles, you tube videos etc. and the main question I have is how do you think her body ended up where it was found? It seemed like a remote area that would be difficult to walk to. I can't imagine a perpetrator carrying or walking there to dispose of her body. I'm thinking she had a mental episode and walked to the area on her own and died accudently from a fall? Is there any evidence that she was murdered?

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There is a bone, I can't remember what it is called, but its state can determine if a person was strangled. That bone wasn't found.

It really is perplexing how she got there. I am guessing her body washed there from somewhere else. If I remember the photo correctly, there was a smooth rock wall next to the ravine where her remains were found. I can only guess she washed down from higher on the mountain.

Definitely one of the weirdest cases I've read about.
 
There is a bone, I can't remember what it is called, but its state can determine if a person was strangled. That bone wasn't found.

It really is perplexing how she got there. I am guessing her body washed there from somewhere else. If I remember the photo correctly, there was a smooth rock wall next to the ravine where her remains were found. I can only guess she washed down from higher on the mountain.

Definitely one of the weirdest cases I've read about.

You're talking about the hyoid bone. It's the only one in the body that's not attached to any other bone, and it's very hard to break. It can really only be broken if you're applying a lot of pressure to the neck.

A broken hyoid bone is a very good indicator of strangulation, although an intact hyoid doesn't necessarily rule strangulation out as a COD.
 
Are their flash floods in that area where water runs down from mountains? If I recall she was last seen wandering around in a person yard in the area and her body was found not too far away. Read there were pot farms in the area and even some people in to S&M and *advertiser censored* close by. Those are the other possibilities that might be related to her death.

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Mitrice appeared to be in a manic episode. She walked to the location she was found, which was a trail atop a mountain ridge. Her body was found down the side of that ridge. She easily could have fallen.
 
I watched Disappeared, read dozens of articles, you tube videos etc. and the main question I have is how do you think her body ended up where it was found? It seemed like a remote area that would be difficult to walk to. I can't imagine a perpetrator carrying or walking there to dispose of her body. I'm thinking she had a mental episode and walked to the area on her own and died accudently from a fall? Is there any evidence that she was murdered?

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The path she was walking on is called the Backbone Trail. It runs along the top of a ridge and is a very popular biking trail. She would have seen the trailhead sign on the main road and apparently decided to walk it.
 
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So what does everyone think? Do you think foul play was involved? I personally don't think do based on all I've read. Lots of speculation but no evidence.

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I think she climbed the backbone trail to watch the sunrise. She was in a manic phase and hadn't slept, but walked all night. I don't think she met foul play, but rather fell to her death by accident as the result of dizziness/vertigo. jmo
 
The video helps get a feel for the area. The hills aren't too terribly steep if she did fall. However if you hit your head from any height could be fatal.

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It's been a while now so I'm not completely sure... I don't think the Coroner found any evidence of injury or foul play either. Although IIRC they didn't locate the hyoid bone.
 
I just watched her episode of Disappeared this morning. I'm not sold on murder, but I think the whole evening was handled pretty badly and it's one of those "chain of events" type of things. :( Such an ordeal for her family.

Reading up on her behaviour before she went missing reminded me a lot of the more recent case of Teleka Patrick.
 
It was very similar to the Teleka Patrick case. And one of the main reasons the police couldn't make her stay, after she was no longer under arrest, was that she did not want to be there when her mother arrived. Legally, there was nothing the police could do about that. She was an adult and they thought she had slept off whatever it was that had made her act so high. They did not realize there were possible mental health issues, imo.

Just like Dr. Patrick was able to hide her mental health issues at work, Mitrice was able to convince LE that she was rational too. Very sad. :rose:
 
One of the most complete articles I've read about the case. I don't know what to think. I don't think the cops had anything to do with her death. Maybe some shoddy police work yes. Hindsight is always 20/20. She's an adult. The police can't baby sit every person that gets arrested for a petty crime. It would have been nice though if they would have held her until her mother arrived. I think she was delusional and wandered in to dark canyon and was either murdered or fell and died.
 
I always thought she was having a manic v. psychotic v. drug-induced episode. Either some family member or friend should have picked her up when they were first called or the police should have held her overnight. Then she most likely would still be alive. I never thought foul play was involved. RIP Mytrice.
 

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