Mitrice Richardson Missing Person Case Is Cited to Help Pass Law in Congress

• Measure to Increase Information Sharing Now Goes to U.S. Senate

BY ANNE SOBLE

Billy’s Law, named after a man who disappeared in 2004 and has not been found, would help expand the database of missing people and unidentified remains, as well as require the FBI to share what it knows about specific cases.

The measure was passed by the House of Representatives last week and now goes to the Senate where passage is also expected.

The effort to expand public information on missing people and unidentified remains follows a number of missing-person cases that have drawn major media attention, including that of Mitrice Richardson, 24, who disappeared after being released from the Malibu-Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station on Sept. 17 at 12:35 a.m. alone, on foot in an area with no public transportation, and without her cell phone or purse.

Rep. Maxine Waters, whose district includes Watts, where Richardson, an honors college graduate resides, was a co-sponsor of the bill, and cited Richardson in her statement on the House floor.

Waters said if the proposed system had been in place at the time of Richardson’s disappearance, she is “confident that we’d have a better understanding of what happened to [her].”