Mitrice Richardson 24, Missing 9/17/09 From Los Angeles, CA(Remains Found)

[Sister]

http://www.malibutimes.com/articles/2011/07/20/news/news4.txt
Mitrice Richardson's remains exhumed
July 19, 2011

The remains of Mitrice Richardson, which were buried at the Inglewood Cemetery in Los Angeles, were exhumed Wednesday morning last week at approximately 8:35 am by the Los Angles County Coroner's office. Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winters was present.
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Her family had requested that Richardson's remains be exhumed so they could be further examined, and analysis and sampling be done that was not performed when her remains were first found, her mother said.

Sheriff Lee Baca notified Richardson's mother Latice Sutton in January that her formal request to have her daughter's remains exhumed had been accepted.

The family hired an independent forensic pathologist to be present at the exhumation, “to observe, so that he could produce an independent report to me,” Sutton said in an interview last week Thursday.

On Friday, the material evidence found at the death scene, which includes Richardson's jeans, bra and belt were sent to the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department's crime lab for examination. This will be the first time this material evidence will be tested for any possible evidence to Richardson's death, according to Sutton. These articles of clothing were not examined by the Sheriff's crime lab or the coroner's office prior to this.

“For whatever reason the clothing was never claimed by the Sheriff's Department to be taken to the crime lab and tested for potential evidence that could lead to a potential suspect,” Sutton said. “That was crucial back in August 2010 and somebody dropped the ball.”

Richardson's, shoes, shirt and panties have not been recovered.

The FBI in February declined involvement in the Richardson case.
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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 Sutton 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.

Thank you for the update MuffyBee.
I don't know how her family is holding it together with all this incompetancy.

[trimmonthelake]

http://batteredbypd.wordpress.com/2011/08/03/justice-for-mitrice-richardson/
JUSTICE FOR MITRICE RICHARDSON (Important Court Date)
Friday, August 12 · 9:30am – 12:30pm
Central District Stanley Mosk Courthouse

[trimmonthelake]

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/los_angeles&id=8305903
Rally held in honor of Mitrice Richardson
08/14/2011
Video at link.
AGOURA HILLS, Calif. (KABC) -- There was an informational rally in support of Mitrice Richardson, who disappeared after being released from an L.A. County Sheriff's Department station in 2009. Her remains were found about a year later.

Her mother, Latice Sutton held an event in Agoura on behalf of Mitrice Inc., a non-profit founded in her daughter's memory.

Sutton wanted to bring awareness to mental health issues and public safety.

Families were encouraged to bring their children to be photographed and fingerprinted.
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[trimmonthelake]

http://malibu.patch.com/articles/sheriffs-policies-in-malibu-need-changes-public-safety-commission-says
Sheriff's Policies Need Changes, Malibu Commission Says
The Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff's captain says he cannot promise recommendations from the city would be implemented.
  By Paul Sisolak   Email the author
    August 5, 2011

Urged by public speakers addressing two incidents involving Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department officers, the Malibu Public Safety Commission voted 3-1 on Wednesday to recommend the City Council explore ways to improve policies on late-night traffic stops and inmate releases from the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station
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Among those who addressed the commission were the family of Mitrice Richardson—the woman who went missing and was found dead in 2010 following her 2009 late-night arrest and release from the Malibu/Lost Hills station—as well as Monique Lukens, a Northridge resident who has frequently addressed the City Council, claiming she wrongfully received a ticket in Malibu for failing to stop when she chose to seek a well-lit area before pulling over her vehicle for a sheriff's officer.

Several commissioners said officers should not ticket drivers for doing what Lukens said she did. Also, they said people arrested and booked at the station should not be released into the dark of night without a means of finding or paying for transportation home—especially women transported to the station without their purse, money or cellphone, which was the case for Richardson.

"She was left to fend for herself," said Lauren Sutton, Richardson's aunt.
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[trimmonthelake]

http://photos.essence.com/galleries/remembering_mitrice_richardson
Remembering Mitrice Richardson
Slideshow at link.

[trimmonthelake]

http://malibusurfsidenews.com/stories/201110/201110200006.html
Mitrice Richardson Litigation Settlement Is Finalized
• Each Parent Has Received $450,000 from L.A. County
BY ANNE SOBLE 10/20/2011
Assistant County Counsel Roger Granbo told the Malibu Surfside News this week that the two consolidated lawsuits in the Mitrice Richardson death "are settled and over, with the mother and father each getting $450,000."

Granbo signed the final settlement papers on behalf of Los Angeles County.

The assistant county counsel also indicated, "The settlement amounts have been paid" to Latice Sutton and Michael Richardson separately—the two never married.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a settlement total of $900,000 in a closed-door meeting on Aug. 16, subject to all parties signing the final agreement.

Sources in the county indicated that the contract counsel representing the case against the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department had made offers as low as $100,000.

The text of the agreement indicates the "parties agree that there are disputed questions of fact and law in both the first litigation and the second litigation, and that this agreement arises from compromise. Defendant [Los Angeles County/LASD] expressly denies liability in both actions and that payment of moneys pursuant to this agreement is not an admission of liability by defendant."

All sides are responsible for their own costs, expenses and attorney fees.
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[trimmonthelake]

http://malibusurfsidenews.com/stories/201110/201110200003.html
Publisher's Notebook
• LASD Scandals and the Mitrice Richardson Case •
BY ANNE SOBLE 10/20/2011


http://malibusurfsidenews.com/stories/201110/201110200004.html
LASD Woes Shed Light on Aspects of Mitrice Richardson Case
• Responding Deputies May Have Called Her a 'Ding'—Their In-House Slur for the Mentally Ill
BY ANNE SOBLE 10/20/2011

[trimmonthelake]

http://malibusurfsidenews.com/stories/201112/201112220005.html
12/22/2011
Reexamination of Remains Yields No New Clues about Mitrice Richardson's Death
The Los Angeles County Coroner's Office has completed its recent forensic reassessment and review of the exhumed remains of Mitrice Richardson. Despite extensive additional autopsy and toxicology studies, the cause of her death remains unknown.

Department of Coroner Deputy Medical Examiner Lisa Scheinin wrote in a supplemental report to the agency's 2010 report that had also reached the same conclusion, "After reexamination of the remains, no traumatic injury is identified. Therefore, while homicide is not excluded, the cause and manner of death must remain undetermined."

Assistant Chief Coroner and DOC spokesperson Ed Winter told the Malibu Surfside News this week that the ruling means, "The case is done."

Winter declined to comment about any of the specifics of the latest report, which notes that a number of the dead woman's bones were never recovered, including the hyoid bone in the neck that supports the tongue—important for the detection of strangulation or asphyxiation, the xiphoid process (lower sternum), coccyx, one rib, and a number of finger bones.
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