What happened to Mitrice Richardson?

The remains of a young woman were found yesterday in a remote area of Malibu Canyon in California. Looking for pot fields park rangers stumbled upon the remains of Mitrice Richardson Monday.

On September 17, 2009 Richardson was released in the middle of the night from the sheriff's station in Malibu. She was never seen alive afterward. she had been arrested that evening for not paying at an upscale restaurant. When the bill arrived for a nice steak dinner the young woman didn't have the money to pay offering to call her grandmother to settle the bill. Geoffrey's refused and called the police. At the jail it was determined that Richardson was not intoxicated nor did she have a criminal history. They had no choice but to release her. She was told that she could stay at the jail until day light but refused, instead taking off on foot in a dangerous area. The roads have no lights and ravines are deep in that part of Los Angeles. The family is in shock. "We're in shock. I was always holding out hope. This is devastating, regardless of whether we believed she was in that canyon. You don't want that to be true, so there's a level of denial because that's what keeps you going,” family friend Rhonda Hampton told CNN Thursday. The OC Register is reporting that the young woman's father wants the LA Sheriff Lee Baca to take a lie detector test. Her parents are concerned that although their daughter was not acting rationally the police allowed her to leave the jail. They contend she should have been held for a mental health exam regarding her odd behaviour at the restaurant reports the LA Times. "Life is fragile," Baca said. "The circumstances of this case are tragic. I am mindful of the fact that a mother and father are in deep grieving at this moment." The county coroner is saying that it could be months before the cause of death is known but says nothing indicated foul play. Michael Richardson said a vigil is planned in honor of his daughter at 6 p.m. Monday at Leimert Park in Los Angeles.