Remains found in Malibu Monday afternoon have been identified as those of 25-year-old Mitrice Richardson, a source tells the Los Angeles Times.
No official confirmation has been announced as yet, but a 9:30 a.m. news conference “regarding Mitrice Richardson’’ was planned by Sheriff Lee Baca and coroner’s Assistant Chief Ed Winter at the Sheriff’s
Headquarters Bureau in Monterey Park, according to Steve Whitmore of the sheriff’s department. When pressed, Whitmore declined to elaborate.
The remains were examined Wednesday by a forensic anthropologist. Close attention was paid to the teeth for identification purposes, and the gender has not been established, according to coroner’s Lt. Fred Corral.
Richardson went missing in September after being released from the Malibu-Lost Hills police station at night. Richardson had been detained for being unable to pay an $89 check at a Malibu restaurant. According to the LA Times, “her subsequent release in the dark hours of the early morning last Sept. 17 without a car, cellphone or purse sparked widespread criticism of Sheriff’s Department personnel and triggered two lawsuits accusing the department of negligence.”
The skull and bones were discovered Monday afternoon at an abandoned marijuana farm in Malibu, around 30 miles from the sheriff’s station where Richardson had last been seen. Rangers were checking for marijuana plants in “treacherous terrain” when the remains were discovered, deep in a ravine.
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