Nov 1, 2009 10:53 pm US/Pacific
Motorcyclists Raise Awareness Of Missing Woman
Family Urges Sheriff's Dept. To Release Videotape Of Mitrice Richardson
LOS ANGELES (CBS) ―
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Mitrice Richardson, 24, has been missing since Sept. 16, 2009.
CBS
More than 60 people, many riding motorcycles, rallied in South Los Angeles and Malibu to raise interest in the case of a 24-year-old woman who disappeared in Calabasas.
Mitrice Richardson was arrested on Sept. 16, from Geoffrey's restaurant in Malibu for allegedly refusing to pay for a meal.
The missing substitute teacher was taken to the sheriff's Malibu/Lost Hills Station, booked and then released at around 1:25 a.m. She reportedly walked away from the station with no cell phone or purse and her 1990 Honda Civic had been impounded.
"The first initial dispatch call was 'this lady is acting very bizarre… she's talking about she's from Mars and she's not going to pay the tab. She's here to avenge Michael Jackson,'" Michael Richardson, the father of the missing woman, said.
Richardson's parents charge that Sheriff's communications refer to bizarre behavior when the young woman was arrested.
"There was no doubt that there was an issue – a mental crisis – going on from the very onset," Latice Sutton, the missing woman's mother, said.
But a sheriff's spokesman insisted that Richardson showed no signs of mental trouble when she was released and declined an offer to stay until someone could pick her up.
"She didn't want to do that. It's her right, this is America. There was no reason to hold her," Steve Whitmore of the Los Angeles County Department said.
Her father, Michael Richardson, wants to see videotape from the sheriff's station, which he believes will show his daughter was too mentally ill to be released in the middle of the night in a dimly-lit, rural area.
"She had no money, no place to go, and insufficient mental capacity to
wait for the family members on the way to get her," he said.
Two searches were conducted in the area stretching from Calabasas to the
coast over consecutive weekends, but Richardson was not found.
Richardson has reportedly been spotted in places ranging from Orange County to San Jose.
Sunday's rally and motorcade was held to make community members aware
that Richardson may be on the streets of South Los Angeles, and to prompt the release of the videotape, family spokeswoman Jasmyne Cannick said.
A $10,000 reward has been offered by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for information leading to her safe return.
Richardson, who is about 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighs 125 pounds, has tattoos on her lower abdomen and behind her neck. She was last seen wearing blue jeans and a brown Bob Marley T-shirt.
Anyone with more information was asked to call Los Angeles Police at (213) 485-2531.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)
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