Sheriff, Coroner Dispute Over Woman's Remains

A breakdown of communication between sheriff's deputies and the coroner's office led to a continuing dispute over the handling of the skeletal remains of a woman who disappeared after her release from the sheriff's Lost Hills/Malibu station, according to a report released today.

The county's Office of Independent Review found that questions continue
to linger over what information was exchanged between sheriff's investigators
and the coroner's office when Mitrice Richardson's remains were discovered in a
remote canyon in August 2010.

According to the OIR report, the coroner's office gave initial approval for sheriff's deputies to remove four bones that had been discovered. When deputies began removing the bones, however, it was discovered that they were connected to a full skeleton.

Sheriff's officials contend that an additional phone call was made to the coroner to authorize the removal of the full skeleton, but coroner's officials deny ever receiving such a request, according to OIR chief attorney Michael Gennaco.

That disagreement continues to this day, Gennaco said.

"There's one person saying `X,' and then there's another person saying `Y,''' he said.

Gennaco stressed that his investigation found no evidence of an attempt by either agency to cover up information, simply a lack of communication that led to public questions about the activities of both.

Richardson, 24, was arrested at a Malibu restaurant the night of Sept. 16, 2009, for failing to pay her bill. She was released from the sheriff's station early the next morning without her car, telephone or purse.

An earlier report by the county OIR found that deputies acted "properly and legally'' by releasing her.

Richardson's parents filed separate wrongful death lawsuits that were later consolidated. They contended deputies should not have released their daughter into the night, given her mental state.

The young woman may have been manic at the time of her arrest. A diary
recovered from her car, which had been seized because deputies found some
marijuana in it, suggested that she may have gone without sleep for as many as
five days before her arrest.

Richardson's parents last year exhumed her body and hired a private pathologist to investigate.

Gennaco said that when the bones were discovered, sheriff's investigators responded to the remote scene. Coroner's investigators went to the sheriff's Lost Hills station and were waiting for a helicopter to take them to the site of the remains, he said.

The helicopter, however, was diverted to two emergency calls, and with daylight dwindling, the sheriff's investigators on the scene asked for permission to remove the four bones that had been discovered.

Gennaco said coroner's officials gave that permission, but it was only then that it was discovered the four bones were attached to a full skeleton -- leading to the
question of whether the coroner authorized removal of all the remains.

"The fact that there is still a factual dispute about this issue today only emphasizes in our view the need in future cases to improve communication
and documentation between the department -- meaning the sheriff's department --and the office of the coroner,'' Gennaco said.

"It also indicates that the unqualified public proclamation that intimated that there was not even conditional permission provided to LASD to remove the remains was inaccurate and problematic," he added.

Gennaco noted that another inaccurate story that made it into the public
was that sheriff's officials the next day took coroner's investigators to the
wrong canyon.

"That also ended up proving inaccurate,'' he said. "But the problem is that this information, once it gets out there, people are starting to rely on it, and when the information changes, as it did, then there is skepticism about the accuracy of what's going on and the legitimacy of what's going on.''

Sheriff Lee Baca said he doesn't have a "complete explanation'' of the
communications breakdown, but acknowledged, "I think in this case we have
something to improve on.''

"The coroner's office at one point said the remains can be removed, and then they denied that they said it,'' he said. "If the coroner's office cannot establish what they said and the detectives are believing that what was said was go ahead and remove the remains, it becomes a dispute. So we sat firm that they were giving homicide investigators permission to remove the remains, and that's the way we see it.''

Baca said investigators are still soliciting information about what happened to Richardson once she was released from the sheriff's station, even though no evidence has been found indicating foul play.

"There's still no tangible evidence that we can find that relates to a blunt instrument or a bullet wound to the skull or any things that typically result in murder confirmation,'' he said. "So this is open.''

--City News Service