Ten years ago today, I got a phone call that a body was found and that it was identified as being #MitriceRichardson. 
Mitrice's naked mummified remains were found in a creek bed in Malibu Canyon adjacent to a 21-acre ranch that is known for producing pornography.
This after being arrested on Sep. 16, 2009 on charges of "suspicion of not paying for a meal" & possession of less than an ounce of marijuana when the staff at Geoffrey's in Malibu called the #LACounty Sheriffs on her for displaying "bizarre" behavior and not paying her bill.
You know the story--or at least you should. She was released from the Lost Hills/Malibu station in the middle of the night without her purse, a phone or her car and never heard from again until 11-months later on August 9, 2010 when her body was found.
I remember picking up her father Michael Richardson from his job in Hollywood and racing to the sheriff's headquarters in Monterey Park to be there for the announcement by Sheriff Lee Baca.
They weren't ready for us. We had been a constant pain in their ass from day one. Questioning everything including the sheriff's decision to arrest Mitrice over less than an ounce of weed and failing to pay a restaurant bill to moving her body against the orders of the coroner.
Throughout the entire investigation, the sheriff's were always trying to exclude Mitrice's father. They didn't know what to do with a Black man who was actually involved in his daughter's life.
EVERY YEAR on her birthday, the day she went missing and the day her body was found, I post something about Mitrice Richardson because her life mattered.
I still do not believe that she killed herself, because I don't want the sheriffs to forget or think we forgot and because I don't want us to forget.
I don't think we'll ever know the truth about what happened to Mitrice Richardson because conveniently there were enough mistakes made, transfers and promotions of employees and retirements to cover it all up.
I do believe that former Sheriff Lee Baca knows the truth but I fear with his failing health--the window is closing on the opportunity for him have a change of heart and mind and to come clean about it.
Mitrice Richardson was one of my inspirations for getting involved with the #ReformLAJails ballot measure. Because we don't want anymore Mitrice Richardson's and we want answers.
#SayHerName
#SayHerName
