Publisher’s Notebook

• The Muddling Mystery of Mitrice Richardson•

ANNE SOBLE

Strange, baffling, puzzling, and dumfounding are just a few of the adjectives that public officials and law enforcement agency representatives use when describing the disappearance of a 24-year-old Los Angeles woman after her ostensible departure from the Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station at about 1:30 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 17.
According to the missing person investigation now underway, Mitrice Richardson, an honor college graduate employed as an executive assistant who had just qualified for teaching credentials, was placed under citizen’s arrest at a Malibu restaurant for not being able to pay an $89 tab.
Sheriff’s deputies were called to the establishment and took her into custody on suspicion of the charge that still bears the antiquated designation of defrauding an innkeeper and, when they decided to search her vehicle, they found less than an ounce of marijuana, so added that allegation against her as well.
Officials say Richardson was transported to Lost Hills, booked and then released, reportedly without a phone, money or form of transportation, into the poorly lit industrial park area that borders on chaparral wildland and quasi-rural residential development where the station is located. She did not exit the front doors of the station, officials said, but was let out a gated side entrance by the custody assistant who had processed her booking. She has not been seen since.
The mainstream media made some mention of Richardson’s disappearance a few days later, albeit much of it with incorrect arrest and release dates. The story didn’t garner major coverage until the woman was already missing for a week.
Meanwhile, what is sometimes dubbed the “Black Blogosphere” has been rife with angry headlines along the lines of “Another Black Woman Goes Missing and Nothing Is Done” atop banner stories that criticize the restaurant and the sheriff’s department for the way they handled the situation.
The bloggers, many of whom are wary of mass media perceived as white institutions that ignore the fate of blacks and black women in particular, such as Richardson, mostly conjecture a tragic ending. Many ask whether Richardson left the Lost Hills Station at all, or may have been accosted right outside on the premises. Charges of racism, sexism and sexual orientation bias permeate their wide-ranging views.
Some other questions being asked include: Was Richardson meeting someone in Malibu? Who? Why did she appear inebriated or stressed to some people and not to others? Why, when she had a problem at the restaurant, was her great-grandmother not allowed to assist? Why did Richardson not call either of her parents during the incident? Who did she call from Lost Hills? Why haven’t the numbers been traced? Why wasn’t there more concern for her safety—alone, on foot, and with no money? Did station cameras record her departure? Why wasn’t a more aggressive search effort undertaken sooner?
As one ponders the potential for an ever expanding list of “whys,” it’s difficult to fathom how someone can disappear without a trace, and not hope that some answers will follow soon.