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Friday, January 15, 2010

Mitrice Richardson's Family Files Claim Against L.A. County


January 14, 2010
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LOS ANGELES -- The family of a 24-year-old woman who mysteriously vanished after walking out of the Lost Hills sheriff's station nearly four months ago has filed a multi-million dollar claim against the county.
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The claim, filed last week, alleges that sheriff's department personnel acted negligently in releasing Mitrice Richardson from custody Sept. 17. Attorney Leo Terrell filed the action on behalf of Richardson's mother, Latice Sutton; her father, Michael Richardson; the missing woman; and her estate. Terrell plans to follow the claim with a lawsuit, according to the Los Angeles Times...
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L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca has ordered a homicide investigation into Richardson's disappearance, despite having no evidence that she is dead. In doing so, the sheriff's department can put some of its "top investigators" on the case, according to Steve Whitmore, a department spokesman.
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Mitrice Richardson is African American with brown hair and hazel-brown eyes. She is about 5 feet, 5 inches tall and about 125 pounds and has tattoos on her lower abdomen and on the back of her neck. She was last seen wearing a brown Bob Marley T-shirt and blue jeans.Police are asking anyone with information about her whereabouts to call Los Angeles detectives at 213-486-6900. A $25,000 reward is being offered for information that leads to her being found.

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I'm glad to hear they are finally going to make a showing of checking it out--still can't shake the notion that a Sheriff's officer knows exactly what happened, though. Few people knew there was a lone woman stumbling around in that remote an area. It was the middle of the night. Who was working the Sheriff's office at Lost Hills that night? What time did each of them go on and off duty? Who was "on patrol?." Will California State Police get involved? Shouldn't they if an LA County agency is being sued? Anyone know how it works out there?
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UPDATE--a little research showed that On July 12, 1995, the California State Police, which was a separate agency, was merged into the California Highway Patrol... In addition to safety on the state highway system, it is now responsible for the safety of all elected state officials and all people who work in or are utilizing a state building in California, such as the State Capitol Building in Sacramento. Looks like it's useless for a murder investigation. FBI would be appropriate then, when suspected County misconduct is involved.

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