Updates on Mitrice Richardson: The Search Goes On, Reward Money To Be “Matched and Exceeded” by Malibu City Council

(This video, made five days ago, shows in chronological order what occurred regarding Mitrice Richardson the night and following morning she was arrested and disappeared.)

Mitrice Richardson, gone but not forgotten (Courtesy: Final Call)

According to reporter Anne Soble of the weekly Malibu Surfside News, the Malibu City Council is ready to match and exceed the reward of $10,000 offered by the Los Angeles City Council for information leading to the safe finding or return of Mitrice Richardson, missing now for more than a month.

The Malibu Surfside News obtained a copy of Richardson’s booking report this week, which indicates she was booked at 10:20 p.m. and released at 0025, or 12:25 a.m., which is an hour earlier than first stated by sheriff’s department spokespersons and reported in the media.

The one hour difference could have major ramifications in the timing of misinformation that was given to Richardson’s mother, Latice Sutton, when she placed numerous telephone calls to Lost Hills about her daughter.

Jeez. I wonder whether Ms. Sutton knows this. Well, she’ll know it now. And now we do, too.

[…]

Monday night, the city council indicated it would post a missing person flyer for Richardson on the city website and take action Wednesday (after The News goes to press) on a reward after citizen input recommending the city match the $10,000 county reward, albeit with the suggestion the money could be used to help defray family expenses, but it wasn’t specific which family members might be involved.

According to some of the volunteers involved in the search effort, the missing woman’s family has two separate wings, one in which the mother and Mitrice Richardson’s mentor during college, psychologist Ronda Hampton, are active. Their site, www.findmitrice.info, was the original ground zero. The group’s volunteers conduct active searches, such as one downtown this past Sunday in which noted social commentator Earl Ofari Hutchinson took part.

Sutton and Hampton spearheaded the concern that Richardson has experienced debilitating stress or psychological illness and should have been placed under observation by medical professionals instead of being released alone, on foot and without funds from the desolate Lost Hills station.

The woman’s father, Michael Richardson, has subsequently put together his own website, which is still being built, that does not mention the mother by name. He has opened a PayPal account with push buttons for contributions by denomination. It is not indicated whether a non-profit has been formed, or if there is a special bank account for the funds.

My personal point of view? Give the funds to Ms. Sutton’s group. They seem to have more of a fix on what may have been occurring with the girl and are level-headedly leading continuing searches for clues about the girl. While I don’t doubt that Michael Richardson does care, he’s been a bit of a firecracker in the vein of survivor fathers like Marc Klaas (father of Polly), and John Walsh (father of Adam). Both Richardson and Marc Klaas share something in common, that they were not always present or were missing-in-action in the raising of their daughters. Sometimes I think guilt or remorse has something to do with these guys becoming more vocal in the public forum.

The L.A. Watts Times is reporting that Michael Richardson is spearheading an outreach event this weekend (October 31-November 1).

Bikers, family and friends plan to rally and do outreach in Malibu Nov. 1 for Mitrice Richardson, the 24-year-old South Los Angeles woman who still can’t be found more than a month after leaving a police station in the early morning without a purse, car or cell phone.

In an effort to keep Richardson’s face in the public and the search alive, hundreds of bikers and others are expected to first show up at a rally, led by the Chosen Few Motorcycle Club of South Los Angeles, and then pass out flyers. The rally will begin at 10 a.m.

Some people have claimed they saw Richardson in Los Angeles, including at Manchester and Denker Avenues, according to news reports.

What gets me is that these street people who claim to have seen Mitrice, don’t report it to cops because they could be accused of snitching to cops; or they don’t want to tell the cops but a third person; or that they think Mitrice might be in more trouble if they pointed her out to the authorities. Some are afraid that they might be hauled in on priors. Some even think that it was her business if she wanted to be on the streets. I’m still trying to find the article I saw earlier regarding these, but it is shocking nonetheless. They should have thought about the girl’s parents and friends, not the damn Po-Po.

Ya know, I distrust cops myself, but when it comes to something like this or like Richmond High or like Derrion Albert, the cops have to be given some leeway to restore some sense of order and righteousness in our universe, but if they are wrong, they’re wrong.

We’re thinking of you, Mitrice.