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Heat. Heat. [Music] Welcome to True Crime Garage. Wherever you are, whatever you're doing, thanks
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for listening. I'm your host, Nick, and with me as always, the hardest working man in show business, the captain. It's
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good to be seen and it's good to see you. >> It's good to be back from vacation,
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Captain. Great to be back in the garage. >> I've been showing up every week waiting
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for you to show up. You never you never called. You never wrote. >> Well, thanks for holding down the fort
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for us. >> All right. Yeah. >> Is this show business? I said you're the hardest working man in show business,
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but is this truly show business? I guess it's a show and it's our business, but it's probably the lowest form of show
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business. >> Well, it depends on how much we're drinking. is the quality of the show
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business. >> We're We're in a garage somewhere in Ohio. That's That's where all the magic
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happens in show business. >> We're hiding in Ohio. >> We're building our own tinsel town right
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here. >> Let's get to the beer [Music] >> tonight. Tonight, we are drinking Lil Devil by Al Smith Brewing Company in
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beautiful San Diego, Santiago. >> Stay classy, California. Garage grade four out of five bottle caps. Little
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Devil is a pale ale, golden color with clean malt flavors and a hint of tangy hop tones. It also contains Belgian
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candy sugar, coriander, and orange peel, which adds a twist making Lil Devil refreshing refreshing, quenching, and
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easy to drink. Not so easy to say, >> right? >> And this fabulous brew is brought to us
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by this fabulous crew. First up, we have William, who says, "Captain and Nick." William, surely you mean Nick and the
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captain. He says, "Keep up the awesome job. Great show. That's from William in Cypress, California. Next, we have Karen
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from Parts Unknown. Thank you, Karen. >> Oh, and we have a birthday shout out. So, big happy happy birthday to Lauren
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Stoko, who is a big fan of our show. Her friend Lauren Diamond asked us to say happy birthday. So, happy birthday,
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Lauren. >> Next, we have Lindsay and Kevin. They are one of our many husband and wife
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listeners. We get a lot of that, you know. I think this kind of thing is great. I can just see them now sitting
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together in their garage every Tuesday night listening to True Crime Garage Sar sharing a set of bedones and feeding
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each other beer. >> Mhm. >> I mean, it doesn't get any more romantic than that, does it, Captain?
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>> So, Lindsay and Kevin re really want the captain to say that he likes their jib.
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So, go ahead, Captain. >> We like your jib. Next, we go to Middle Earth in Lake Forest, Illinois, and say
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hi to Chelsea. Chelsea says that the cut of our jib elevates each and every garage. Thank you, Chelsea. Kinder words
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have never been spoken. >> And last but not least, we have Amber who says, "Thank you for getting me
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through the boring workday. Shine on you crazy diamonds. I love a good Pink Floyd
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reference." Cheers, Amber. So, thank you to William, Karen. Happy birthday, Lauren. Thank you, Lindsay, Kevin,
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Chelsea, and Amber, for buying us a round of Little Devils this week this week. And if you want to go and buy us
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around for next week's show, go to true crimegar.com and click on the donate button.
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>> And for everything true garage, you can check out our website trueimeg.com and
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find us on social media. Everything is trueg. >> All right, captain. Is that enough of
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the business? >> That's enough of the business. >> All right, gather around, grab a chair,
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grab a beer, and let's talk some true crime. [Music] [Music] Lost Sheriff Station Deputy Shiff. How
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can I help you? >> Hi, I'm calling from Joffrey's restaurant Malibu. Um, we have a guest
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here who is refusing to pay her bill and we think she may she sounds really crazy. She may be on drugs or something.
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Um, we wondering if someone should come by and pick her up. >> Okay. Well, what's the address there?
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>> It's 274 Pacific Coast Highway. >> And is she a white, black, Asian, Hispanic?
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>> She's um young black girl. She's probably in her 20s. >> Okay. What's she wearing? She's wearing
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a black t-shirt and I think blue jeans. >> Is she with anybody else? >> No, it's this turn.
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[Music] >> I am calling. I'm a little frazzled right now. Understand my daughter is
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being brought into the station. My Richardson, have they made it to the station yet? And she's been booked.
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>> Okay. is is do you know where she's coming from? >> It's some restaurant out in Malibu and I
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I didn't even think to get the name. The manager came only the only place we have
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somebody that's in custody that they just announced on the radio that they're coming up is from Joffre
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Highway. >> It's the only female that's being brought up to the station as we speak.
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They actually just put on the radio right before you called. >> Okay. Okay. I'm I'm her mother. and are
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you guys want to book her and then release her on her own recognition tonight because it it's dark. She
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doesn't have a car and I don't want her wandering out. I'm I'm totally just taking a bath cuz it is so out of
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character for her and you'll see when she comes in. She she's well spoken. I think the only way I will come and get
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her tonight is if you guys are going to release her tonight. If if going to be held in custody for some type of
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arraignment tomorrow, then I will wait until tomorrow. She definitely has no place, you know. I mean, she's not from
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that area and I would hate to wake up to a morning report lost somewhere with her
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head chopped off. So, I guess I would have to come and get her. Oh my god. >> Yeah, we're in Aurora Hills. The only
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thing is, at least in the station here, she will be separated. So, nobody's going to be with her. Uh, so at least
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that's, you know, the plus thing. So, you don't have to worry about her safety. >> Oh, yeah. No, I feel safe with her being
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in in custody. It's being released, but I'm worried about it's crazy out here. [Music]
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In 2009, we have a 24year-old woman who was briefly detained by deputies for not
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paying her bill at a restaurant. We have no idea why she didn't pay this bill, but the events of this evening probably
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could not get any stranger in my opinion. She's detained by the sheriff's department.
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>> Yeah. She's held there for a couple of hours and then she's released after midnight. Now, the key here though is
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she's released without a vehicle, without a cell phone, no purse, no money, no provisions, and they just let
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her off wandering out into the darkness in an area that she's unfamiliar with. She may have been spotted trespassing
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hours later. We're not convinced, not 100% sure, but shortly after that, if that was her, she disappears.
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>> Yeah. diving into this case this week, it seemed like, you know, when you dive
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in, you're trying to get some answers, and it seems like all I got was more questions.
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>> Well, you know, I I agree with you. When I first dove into this, lots of questions. Lots of questions, and I
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still have plenty of them, and we'll go through all of those as well. But you and I have been looking at this case for
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over a week now, and I do think we have some answers here that we're going to present tonight. Um, quick, a little
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background here. Who are we talking about? We're talking about 24year-old Mrice Richardson. Um, she grew up in the
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suburbs east of LA with her mom and her stepdad. Uh, her father and grandmother lived in nearby South LA. She graduated
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with honors from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in psychology in 2008. Uh, she had been working doing some clerical
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work for a shipping company and on Friday nights she worked as a go-go dancer in Long Beach. Now, this was a
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lesbian club. Uh, her dancing name was Hazel. Now, the day in question here is September 16th, 2009. This is a
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Wednesday. Mrice is driving her 1998 Honda Civic down Pacific Coast Highway. >> Yeah.
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>> When she decides to stop at a place called Joffre, this is regarded as an upscale restaurant near Malibu, so it's
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a bit of a swanky place. And I hear the big attraction at J at Joffre is the wonderful views of the Pacific.
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when she arrives. Well, they have valet parking at the restaurant, so we all know the drill, right? You pull up and
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sometimes there's a line of cars and you got to wait for the valet to come up to
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you and greet you. Um, the valet does come up and greet her. Correct. >> Yeah. >> So, he comes up and greets her and he's
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got other things to do. He's got other cars to shuffle around and by the time, this is just within minutes, but by the
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time he gets back to her car to move her vehicle, she's no longer in the vehicle.
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and he finds her sitting in his vehicle of all places. >> His vehicle is parked nearby and he said
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that he had left the door open. Uh but when he discovered her in his car, of course, you know, he wants to know,
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>> "Yeah, why the hell are you in my car? >> What are you doing in my car?" >> Yeah. So, and she seems to be rumaging
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through like CDs and stuff and starts making comments to him about the CDs and stuff that she's finding. And later he
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would report, you know, what she was wearing and he he described her as wearing a Rostafarian style hat, a long
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sleeve white shirt under a black Bob Marley short sleeve shirt and she was wearing, you know, like distressed jeans
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or I don't know, maybe they were tore up jeans with Van >> the same and a pink belt. Uh the valet
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asked her of course what she's doing in his car and uh she replies it's subliminal. Uh
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>> what does that mean? >> Well, >> it's subliminal. >> That's now my my answer for anytime I
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get caught doing something strange. >> Subliminal, man. >> Uh and then this is not real clear, but
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she also says something about uh she's avenging the death of Michael Jackson, who you know, so this is 2009. Michael
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Jackson died June 25th, 2009, but still a very strange thing to say. Uh, she does give him the keys and then ask if
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Vanessa is here. The valet does not know whom Maitrice is asking about. Uh, she told him to keep an eye out for a girl
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with tattoos on her arm. >> Strange thing to say to somebody that you don't know or that doesn't know,
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Vanessa, and then you go into Joffre and then you ask for a table for one. Not a
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table of two. But anyways, strange. Then you sit down, you order steak and some wine, and you enjoy your meal. She's
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inside. She's sitting alone. She orders a cocktail. She orders a steak. And nearby her there's a table of seven. And
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she goes over to the table, and she sits down and joins in the conversation. Uh she does return to her table at some
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point to eat, but then goes back again to the seventop and sits down. Maitrice tells them she is going to Hawaii and
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she would contact them when she arrives. Uh the seven diners leave Joffre and shortly after Maitrice goes to leave as
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well and the manager confronts her about her unpaid dinner tab and this is amounting to a grand total of $89.
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>> Yeah, expensive place. >> And my tree states that the other table should have covered her check. The
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manager tells her that this is not the case. They did not. they're, you know, they didn't cover it and she is
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responsible and my tree says that she is from Mars and maybe she could settle her
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debt with with sex. Um, she pulls out a joint and then a staff member at the restaurant calls the Lost Hill Sheriff
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Station. >> So, there's a lot of questions in my mind right now like one, why is she
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there? Why is she at this restaurant? Why is she 45 minutes away from her uh house? and and this is an area that her
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family claims that she's not familiar with, but as we all know, you know, my parents don't know every place that I go
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to or places that are familiar to me. >> Mhm. >> So maybe they're just not familiar with
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the fact that she goes to Malibu often, >> right? >> Uh but it's very odd that she talks to
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this valet guy and says, "Hey, well, is Vanessa here?" Okay, so there's a couple
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things. She's assuming that the valet knows Vanessa. So, one one of the things that I think is was she meeting Vanessa
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as a as a date cuz she was an open lesbian. Was it is it was it a date? Was it just a friend? Or was Vanessa
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somebody that worked there? And maybe that uh maybe my trice actually visited this restaurant multiple times. We don't
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know that. You know what I mean? And so when he says, "Well, I don't know who you're talking about."
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>> Or maybe she had the wrong location, right? You know, this is an area she's not familiar with. Maybe she stopped at
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the wrong restaurant. you know, she's given directions to something and she thinks she's at the right place.
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>> Very possible. And that's why I'd want to know what the cell phone records were
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before all this because you know what, again, what if she's meeting Vanessa that works at a restaurant and so she
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goes and stops in the restaurant and thinks, "Well, I'm just going to go get a table and my friend works at the
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restaurant and she said, "Come down. Meal's on me." >> Well, and here's the thing, too, about
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her interaction with the valet. So, there's a lot of red flags there, right? It sounds like everything that she did
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and said to the valet sounds to be crazy talk. However, if you take away a couple
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of those actions, some of it's not crazy talk. So, had she not sat down in his car and had she not said anything about
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Michael Jackson's death, >> her just asking about a Vanessa would not seem crazy just because he doesn't
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know who she is. >> Yeah. >> And second of all, when when she says >> keep an eye out for a girl with tattoos
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on her arms, well, that sounds crazy, too. However, what if the Vaness she thought she's meeting a Vanessa and
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she's just letting the valet know, oh, he doesn't know who I'm talking about. Keep an eye out for the girl with
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tattoos on her arms. Vanessa has tattoos on her arms. Right. >> You know, so those last two things sound
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crazy unless you take away the Michael Jackson in the the sitting in the vehicle.
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>> Yeah. Or like you said, if she's at a restaurant that Vanessa works at, then you know, she missed one phrase. What if
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it was, is Vanessa here? I don't know who Vanessa is. Is it the girl with the tattoo? she works here. Then the guy
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could have said, "No, Vanessa doesn't work here." And then maybe she would realize I'm at the wrong place. Either
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way, she sits down and and and we don't believe that she's there to meet Vanessa
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mainly because the hostess says she asked for a table for one, right? >> But like we all know, they don't make
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some table where you sit in the corner and just stare at the wall. >> You know, it's you can ask for a table
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for one, but that's really just going to be determine how many menus you get. Right.
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>> Right. Right. So, I mean, oh, so, okay. So, she asked for a table for one, then
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she sits down. Now, I find this odd because I'm not one to go over and just talk to a group of people,
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>> you know. >> Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you can see talking to one person or or but but a a group of
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seven. >> Yeah. >> And and the strange thing here though is it sounds like she just went over and
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sat down and joined in mid-con conversation. It's not like she walked over and introduced herself and asked if
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she could sit down. It sounds like she just there happened to be an empty seat and she just went over and took that
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seat and began talking like she knew the people. Now, the valet did come in at some point and tell the hostess, "Hey,
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that girl that came in by herself, she's she's a little weird." So, so the staff
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is on a little bit of heightened awareness of what's going on here. This table of seven, they don't know anything
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that's weird. They just see this young, good-looking girl that comes over to their table and sits down and starts
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talking. She she she's well spoken. She has a jovial personality. Um they probably didn't want to kick her off the
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table, but somebody at from the staff did drop by at some point and kind of check in on the table to make sure
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every, you know, is everything okay. >> Well, and you worked in a restaurant and
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so like there was probably times that people came up when you had like a kind of weird customer and said, "Hey, guy at
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table 7 >> kind of talking to himself." You know what I mean? Like just like small talk.
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Is that what goes down? Well, the the restaurant that I worked in, and I worked there for quite some time, but
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usually the weird customers were repeat customers, uh, that they would often come in by themselves or just one person
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with them. >> They were regular, so you always knew how to handle the situation. So, if you
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saw them, you know, talking with another table, it didn't you didn't really care
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cuz you'd seen them do it a hundred times before and you knew they were harmless. They're a bit annoying, but
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they're harmless. Now, uh, there are two different accounts here. Uh when you when you listen to uh when you listen to
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my Teresa's family talk about how this restaurant thing went down, they explained that they think that maybe she
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thought that the the table was going to buy her dinner. >> That that they believed that she she
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didn't place the order until after she had gone over to the other table, talked with them for a while. Uh somebody at
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that table did say something to the fact like, "Well, aren't you going to eat?" >> Right? and and they said, "Well, she
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being a young attractive woman might have believed that they were offering to buy her meal." Yeah.
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>> And so she was under the assumption that they were buying. I kind of take it >> expensive.
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I kind of take it more as, you know, oh, aren't you going to eat? Like kind of a
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reminder to go back to your own table like in a very polite way. >> Trying to be polite about it. So, but
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but that's also makes sense because when they when she goes to walk out and they
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say, "Hey, ma'am, are you going to pay your bill, she says,"Well, the other table's going to take care of it,
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>> right?" >> And so, again, this is so strange because she doesn't have her ID on her.
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She doesn't uh, you know, on her person, you know, and she doesn't have her wallet, so she has no way of paying,
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right, on her person. And then there's a couple accounts where it says that some
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of the staff members offered to pay her bill. >> Yeah. >> But the manager was like, "No." And I
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wonder if that's just a I mean I I hate to say it, but I wonder if that partly is just a race thing. Well, uh, the from
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what I heard was the manager thought that she was intoxicated because of the way that she was talking
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>> and he thought that if we pay her bill, well then they're just the the sheriff's
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department's not going to take her in and he didn't feel comfortable with her getting in a car and driving off.
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>> Okay. >> Um, so he thought he was looking out for her is what he says after the fact that
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that he wasn't going to let them cover the bill. >> Yeah, I buy that some. But what we'll
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find out later is that, you know, he has her car towed. >> Mhm. >> Right. So, if you're really trying to
00:19:27
help her out, then yeah, you don't mind the cops coming and taking her away and then she doesn't have to drive cuz she's
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drunk. Uh, but you're not going to tow her car, so she has to pay the towing fee in the impound lot. But I think a
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lot of this stuff is hindsight. And he's like, "Oh, well, I was just trying to help her." Yeah.
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>> Right. So, but it's strange. So, they they offer to pay her bill. He doesn't let her do that. Uh she's acting a
00:19:49
little strange like you said and there's I I haven't heard any accounts uh of her
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fumbling through her pants and and and a joint falling out. >> Well, what what I said she pulls out a
00:19:59
joint, but the the account I actually heard was that she opened up her pockets to show that she had no money and in the
00:20:04
course of that a joint fell out. >> Um now, but you mentioned something leading up to that of her pulling out
00:20:10
the pockets was you had you had seen something where where the account was that she said busted, you know?
00:20:17
>> Right. Yeah. Yeah. >> When when she's asked, "How are you going to pay for your bill?" or "No,
00:20:21
they're not covering your bill. You need to settle up." >> And then she said, "Yeah, I'm busted."
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>> And I actually took it a different way. Rather than you took it as, "Oh, well,
00:20:29
you caught me." You know, I thought I was slipping out the door and you caught me. Right.
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>> I actually took it as I'm busted as in I have no money and then pull open the
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pockets to prove that you're, you know, your wallet's busted. You have no money.
00:20:42
>> Yeah. It seems like she's kind of just joking around with the staff trying to
00:20:45
get out of it, which I I don't know. I mean, I I don't see that as being crazy or manic or bipolar or anything. Like,
00:20:54
she seems to be like coherent, but like you said, the manager is thinking that she's drunk, right? So, now we're
00:21:01
waiting for the cops to show up and I think u my tree starts taking this a little more serious.
00:21:07
>> Well, the thing here, just backing up just a second, where she does say that I'm from Mars. Now, that's extremely
00:21:13
strange because it doesn't seem like she's working towards solving this issue of there's this unpaid bill. You know
00:21:19
what I mean? I I wouldn't go say I'm from Mars. I would figure out a way that >> it's all subliminal, man.
00:21:24
>> Right. But can but can I make arrangements for you to pay later? Can I can we work this out somehow? I do
00:21:30
believe >> Yeah, but you also said that she offered sex. >> Yeah, but I think that might have been a
00:21:35
joke. I >> Oh, I think it was a joke. >> Yeah, I I think she was kind of joking like, "Oh, what am I going to do here?"
00:21:40
You know? >> Yeah. You want me to wash some dishes? You want >> Right. Right. Yeah. You want me to give
00:21:44
you a hand job in the lobby? >> I It sounds strange, but I kind of think thought of it as a joke. Uh during
00:21:49
during the course when they're waiting for the sheriff's department to arrive, the the manager says that Maitric seemed
00:21:56
to be confused and almost like she was in some kind of trance from time to time. Uh the sheriff's department uh
00:22:02
they arrive. They send out some deputies to Joffre to check on the situation. Maitrice is now telling the hostess that
00:22:08
she had been watching a soap opera and God had told her to take the afternoon off.
00:22:14
>> Wow. >> Maitrice said that she had no parents, but she did have a great grandmother.
00:22:19
So, the restaurant decides at this point, well, let's call her great-g grandandmother and ask her if she would
00:22:24
like to help out her her great-g grandanddaughter and pay the bill. And of course, the great-g grandandmother
00:22:29
answers the phone. And she does want to help out her her greatg granddaughter. Uh, she gave she gave the um
00:22:38
>> credit card information. >> Correct. >> Well, let me take this over real quick
00:22:41
because she gives her credit card information and this goes back to the idea that this manager is he's so
00:22:47
helpful. He's just trying to help my trice, right? >> Mhm. >> So, the the great-g grandandmother,
00:22:52
which is 80ome years old, says, "Hey, here's my credit card information." And then they say, "Well, we can't take the
00:22:58
payment." >> Right. Because they require a signature, >> right? Which which I get. Uh, but the
00:23:05
fact that you want a 80s some year old lady to drive down, which I I don't know how far is away from the great-g
00:23:12
grandandmother, 45 minutes or so. Um, which again, again, take the credit card and say, "Hey, look, come in in the next
00:23:21
few days and and and sign it and we're good to go." >> Um, also you could run it as probably a
00:23:28
debit or something. There's probably all these different ways. And then the whole
00:23:32
thing was that they wanted a fax. They want the grandma to send a fax and the grandma's like, "I don't got a fax
00:23:37
machine." >> Right. Right. >> So now you have this situation where the bill needs to be paid. The cops are on
00:23:42
their way. The grandma can't help out. Maitrice is there by herself and now the cops are coming in.
00:23:48
>> Mhm. Yeah. So they send It's about 9:00 p.m. when the deputies arrive and there's three of them. So I mean this
00:23:55
sounds to me like a slow night. You heard the 911 call. It's not, you know, it's doesn't sound like she's, you know,
00:24:02
she's referred to as there's a guest here and she's refusing to pay her bill, but but the the person calling, the
00:24:08
waitress or the hostess calling doesn't seem to be like there's any kind of big uh commotion going on or, you know, it's
00:24:16
not creating a scene, right? >> Um, so they send three of their finest out there. Um, and one of the deputies
00:24:23
got on the phone with the great-g grandandmother and let uh, Matrice talk to the great-g grandandmother. Um, and
00:24:31
so there is some interaction between Maitrice and her family at this point. Um, it sounds like the great grandmother
00:24:39
kind of gave up figuring out that she's not going to be able to pay the bill and
00:24:43
figured out that her great-g grandanddaughter is going to have to go to jail for the night. Um, at this
00:24:48
point, two of the deputies search Maitrice's car. They don't note that they find her cell phone or her wallet.
00:24:56
They do note that they found her driver's license and half empty bottles of booze. So, one of the officers, and I
00:25:04
guess that he may have been going off of the booze bottles and the cocktail that
00:25:08
she ordered at dinner and some of the crazy statements that Maitrice is making. Uh, but of course, he says that
00:25:14
she is drunk. So at that point, one of the other officers administers a field sobriety test and then he concludes that
00:25:22
she in fact is sober. She's she's not intoxic. >> Right? She passes the field sobriety
00:25:27
test. >> Then they start asking her other questions like have have are you on any
00:25:32
medication? >> She says no. >> Right. Because if she's not drunk, then then she's either drunk or she's crazy
00:25:38
is what the officers are thinking. >> Mhm. Have you ever been placed on a 72-hour hold for psychological
00:25:44
evaluation? >> Right. again with the crazy. >> Yeah. And she says no. Uh so at this
00:25:49
point, Maitrice is arrested and as you said later, the car is towed from the parking lot.
00:25:54
>> Well, and I I heard that they found a less than an ounce of weed. >> Yeah. >> In a center console.
00:26:00
>> Yeah. It sounded like it was uh uh it it didn't sound to me like it was packaged
00:26:06
up weed. It sounded like it was like, you know, like maybe you roll a joint and things fall out. It sounded like it
00:26:11
was little bits and fragments and debris of marijuana. >> Right. I I don't know if they'd actually
00:26:16
hold those charges or they just drop them later. The fact of the matter is we have a young 24year-old black female in
00:26:23
Malibu that didn't pay her bill. >> Mhm. >> Right. They call the cops. The cops can't make arrests because that's just a
00:26:30
misdemeanor. And so it's actually a a citizen's arrest >> on the on the unpaid bill,
00:26:37
>> right? Because the restaurant says they will press charges on the unpaid bill.
00:26:41
And and and I think again uh with her mental state or whatever is going on, the the manager probably did not want
00:26:48
her to drive. I understand that. Cops show up, they find her ID, they know who it is now, Matrice Richardson, and we
00:26:55
think she's drunk. She passes the test. >> Mhm. >> But we got a little bit of weed, but
00:27:00
we're still going to take her down to the station. And we'll get back to this case right after this quick beer break.
00:27:05
Cheers, everybody. We're back. And where we left off, Matrice, she didn't pay her
00:27:09
bill. The cops came, they gave her a field sobriety test that she passed and now they took her back to the police
00:27:16
station. >> Yeah. And her car has been towed as well. And at this point, her remember
00:27:21
she had called her great-g grandandmother from the restaurant to to see if she would pay the bill.
00:27:25
>> Yeah. >> Um at this point, the great grandmother calls Maitrices's mother and tells her
00:27:31
what just went down and that at this time that my trice is probably being taken back to the sheriff's department.
00:27:38
So, Maitrice's mother, her name is Latise. She calls the sheriff's department. Now, remember, we heard in
00:27:45
the trailer there, that's her calling the sheriff's department asking, you know, have you picked up my daughter? Is
00:27:50
she in your custody? And they're stating, well, she's in route back to the sheriff's department. And she's also
00:27:56
saying, you know, if you guys are going to keep her there overnight, then I'm not going to come down and get her
00:28:01
>> tonight. >> Yeah. Because I feel she's safe. Plus, let has a daughter at home that she's
00:28:07
caring for and probably doesn't want to wake up the daughter and make the long drive to go pick up her other daughter.
00:28:13
>> Yeah, I want to say it's about 60 miles away. >> Once my trice is back at the sheriff's
00:28:18
department, she's in sheriff's custody at this point. She is granted her phone call or phone calls. Uh the only number
00:28:25
that my trice has memorized is her great grandmother. This was the person that was called at the restaurant. Um, a log
00:28:32
book shows that Maitrice called her great-g grandandmother or at least tried to call her four times. Maitric's
00:28:39
overheard talking on the phone, but Mildred, which is the great-g grandandmother, insist that she never
00:28:45
spoke to Maitrice once she was at the station. These phone calls were placed on a nonrecording line. The pay phone,
00:28:53
which records outgoing phone calls, was broken at the time of Maitric's detainment. So, she's calling on this
00:29:00
phone that does not record anything and the grandmother is saying we didn't speak to her that night once she has
00:29:06
been arrested. >> I have no reason to not believe her grandmother. >> Right. >> Again, I mean, well, based off the age,
00:29:12
we could one assume that maybe the grandma doesn't remember, but that this is such a big thing because she goes
00:29:19
missing and this is such a big ordeal for the family that I do believe that she didn't call her. So, Matrice was
00:29:26
calling somebody and that's the big red flag to me was who the hell was she calling?
00:29:31
>> Well, just to address that real quick, I as you said, I believe the great-g grandandmother as well because the great
00:29:36
grandmother, she repeats later on the conversation she had with Maitric at the restaurant. When my trice called from
00:29:43
the restaurant, Yeah. >> And it was not a very friendly conversation from the great
00:29:47
grandmother's perspective. She basically said, "They're going to take your black
00:29:52
ass to jail." Um, you know, well, she's also that's what my grandma with said the same thing verbatim. Um, but
00:30:01
>> should say, "And Nick, they're going to take your black ass to jail." >> Well, I think Mildred here is sharp as
00:30:06
attack is what I'm getting at. And she she does not fumble on having the conversation with my trice at the
00:30:11
restaurant. She is saying she may have called somebody four times. She did not call me. Um, but here's what I think
00:30:18
happened here, Captain. I think that maybe the great-g grandandmother that might be the only number that she did
00:30:23
have memorized. Right. Right. >> And I think that she may have just been pretending to talk into the phone, you
00:30:28
know. Uh I don't know the setup there, but if you're not behind bars or given her state of mind, I don't know.
00:30:35
>> Well, yeah. Well, given her state of mind, I mean, again, there's speculation
00:30:39
that she, you know, hints at hints of some kind of mental illness, bipolar, maybe she's manic. So yeah, maybe she is
00:30:47
sitting there talking to her the phone and if and that would, you know, with evidence that she was crazy, but you'd
00:30:54
have to be crazy just to be sitting there talking to nobody. >> Yeah. >> You know what I mean? Like that. Why
00:31:00
would you do that? Doesn't make any sense to me. >> Well, here's the other it's it's a bit
00:31:05
of the perfect storm, and we're going to see this from time to time again in this
00:31:08
case. She happens to be arrested on a night where the regular phone does not work. It's not working. It's not
00:31:14
recording the conversation. It's the perfect storm. It's another big question. Like you said, so many
00:31:19
questions. Here's a question I have. Okay. >> LA County is one of the largest jurisdictions in the United States. I
00:31:27
think it's the second or the third largest. So, we're not talking about some pod dunk uh operation here, right?
00:31:33
This is supposed to be one of the better operations in the country. >> We're not talking about a garagebased
00:31:38
podcast. >> This is also a case that took place in 2009. Okay. M >> can we at least get to can we get up to
00:31:46
speed? Can we get into the present here? And what I mean by that is there are so
00:31:50
many of us walking around right now that do not have phone numbers memorized. We
00:31:55
just don't memorize them anymore. It's kept in this magic little box that that's in your pocket or your pocketbook
00:32:01
and it's with you at all times and it has all of your contacts in there. Well, one of the faults of the deputies is
00:32:06
when they arrest her, they they do not, you know, they find her ID, so they know
00:32:11
who she is, but they do not find her wallet, but they do not find her cell phone. And if they would have found
00:32:15
those two things, then I believe that they should put that with her. >> That's what I'm getting at. And I think
00:32:20
that we need to as a country and and and and these big counties, these big jurisdictions like this should be the
00:32:27
ones to lead the way. This needs to become a part of regular procedure when somebody is abducted or somebody is
00:32:35
arrested. Sorry, that that they are asked, do you have a cell phone or do you have access to one? Now, I'm saying
00:32:41
within reason. It shouldn't be like, oh, I was arrested 10 miles away and my cell
00:32:45
phone's at home, we have to go retrieve it. No, but if if she says my cell phone's in my car, or if someone insists
00:32:52
that their cell phone is somewhere within a reasonable distance, that they obtain that because you are supposed to
00:32:58
be granted a phone call or a phone calls. And whom are you supposed to call if you don't know any phone numbers?
00:33:06
Right. Right. I I totally I get that. But it it it's tough because it's like there's a part of me that feels for the
00:33:12
cops. you know, you're dealing with this individual that is saying some stuff. I
00:33:17
mean, I'm revenging the death of Michael Jackson. >> Uh the other thing, uh what did she say
00:33:24
to the the valet driver again? Um >> it's subliminal. >> Yeah, it's subliminal. So, who knows
00:33:31
what she's saying to them? And then so did she even tell them, hey, my wallet, my and my cell phone are in the car?
00:33:39
It's a little strange to me though that they they note that they find her ID, that they note that they find marijuana
00:33:47
and that they find um half empty bottles of booze. I like to think of them as half full, but that's just me. Um but
00:33:55
they do not they don't note that they find her cell phone or her her purse or her wallet. Uh did did they it sounds
00:34:03
like a very cluttered car. I'm just going to go ahead and throw that out there. So, I can understand that they
00:34:07
they may not have found it, but I mean, what's the procedure here? If you are following procedure, if you find a
00:34:14
little bit of drugs, aren't you supposed to search that car pretty hardcore, right?
00:34:18
>> Wouldn't you think? Wouldn't you think so? That that's >> Yeah. You think >> And not only that, you're picking up a
00:34:22
girl and you're not really sure why you're arresting her. You know what I mean? We know
00:34:26
>> citizens arrest, >> right? We know she didn't pay her bill, but you can't you can't figure out why
00:34:30
she's talking the way that she's talking. She's not drunk. She's not on med medication according to her and
00:34:35
she's never been checked for psychological problems AC according to her. >> Well, that that's the other thing though
00:34:41
too is like the family really goes after the police department saying, "Hey, you
00:34:44
guys should be more well aware of her condition." Well, the problem is is that you're meeting Matrice for the first
00:34:51
time. >> So, when you're hearing crazy talk, you don't know what the baseline is. You
00:34:55
don't know how she normally is. So, it's kind of hard to say, "Well, she's acting
00:34:59
crazy." because you don't know what hurt. You know, some people just act crazy all the time. You know how many
00:35:04
times that cops, nurses, and people like that, you know, that deal with the public and that are servants to the
00:35:10
public have to deal with people that are intoxicated, people that have alcoholism, uh people that uh that have
00:35:17
mental problems, and they're they're just so used to this, you know? So, how are they supposed to know? How are they
00:35:24
supposed to know what my trice is normally like? >> Yeah. But I think I'm going at this from
00:35:29
actually a benefit to >> No, no, no. Yeah. Yeah. So, I agree with you on the idea. They should have found
00:35:34
the cell phone and then once they find the cell phone, they should have brought it to the department.
00:35:39
>> Right. And and I want to be clear why I'm bringing this up because I think this is actually a benefit not just to
00:35:44
the person you're detaining, but also a benefit to the police department as well. Right?
00:35:49
>> If this if if you take this person back and they have no one to call, who's going to pay this bail? Who's going to
00:35:54
pick up this person? this person may become your problem for a much more extended period of time than it needs to
00:35:59
be. And if that person has a phone directory of of persons that are supposed to know them and care about
00:36:05
them, then hopefully they get picked up safely and a bail gets paid in a timely manner and all these things can happen
00:36:13
so that this person doesn't end up being your problem. Well, here's what happened
00:36:17
though. The the the Lost Hill Sheriff's Department, they figured out how not to make this their problem, right? Because
00:36:23
at at a little after midnight midnight, this is 12:15 a.m. >> Okay. So, how many hours after?
00:36:28
>> So, she's the the the sheriff's deputies arrived around 9:00 p.m. >> Mhm. >> So, she's in route shortly after that
00:36:35
time. Okay. >> So, this is after midnight, 12:15 a.m. on Thursday, September 17th, 2009.
00:36:42
>> Right. >> This is according to to several accounts here. Jailer Sha Sharon Cummings
00:36:48
released Maitrice Richardson. Uh now as you had said this is about 40 mi from her home uh with no phone, no money and
00:36:56
no transportation. Cummings says that my trice refused the offer to stay in the lobby and wait for a ride saying that
00:37:04
myrice said she was going to meet some friends >> right >> now. We do have to talk about this for
00:37:09
>> well let me before we move on the let me I want a definitive answer from you. Who
00:37:15
do you think she was talking to? Is it just a big question mark for you or do you think she was just talking to
00:37:20
herself? >> I think it I think she might have been talking to a dial tone. I think she may
00:37:24
have I think she may have called >> her her great-g grandandmother's number and nobody picked up
00:37:30
>> and and maybe there's no voicemail set up there and she was just talking to the
00:37:35
the ringing phone. And I don't think I don't it's either a sign of her having a mental break or buying some time for
00:37:44
whatever reason >> or to buy another phone call. Sometimes you have to sometimes they're very
00:37:49
strict about the amount of phone calls they give you unless you seem to be putting together actions to get you
00:37:55
released where you you might be able to manipulate the situation a little bit and say, "Okay, well, I just talked to
00:38:01
my great-g grandandmother. She's going to make arrangements with so- and so and so and so and she told me to call back.
00:38:07
>> Okay. Yeah. Yeah. >> It could be a bit of an acting job is what I'm getting at.
00:38:10
>> Yeah. It's weird though, but to me when you're offered by, you know, the deputy
00:38:15
offers you a place to stay again, who knows? We we we only have one side of the story.
00:38:21
>> We, you know, there there's three sides of the story. There's Matrice's and then
00:38:25
there's deputies and then there's the truce somewhere in the middle. But we don't have Matrice's side. And so she's
00:38:30
offered to stay. She doesn't stay. Which then makes me wonder, was she actually talking to somebody in Malibu? And was
00:38:38
she often in Malibu? And was she there to actually meet a Vanessa? And was she on the phone to Vanessa, but she was
00:38:46
saying it was my my, you know, I'm calling my grandmother. Well, you say my grandmother because then they're going
00:38:51
to give you more calls. But if you say you're meeting Vanessa or your date or your girlfriend or whatever you're
00:38:58
saying, then maybe they don't give you as many calls. So anyways, we're at the point where that they they let her go
00:39:04
and this is like 12:30 something, right? >> 12:15. And the later, you know, much
00:39:10
later after the fact, the uh sheriff's department would go out of their way to bring up that Sharon Cummings is an
00:39:18
African-American woman. Um because, you know, they're going to have to defend themselves later because they're
00:39:24
releasing an African-American woman. So, I think they they wanted to really make
00:39:29
that clear to everybody. It was an African-American woman that was working the jail that night. Um, but there's
00:39:35
other deputies there, too. It's not just it's not just the Sharon Cummings show.
00:39:39
You know, there's other people there making these determinations as whether to release somebody or not release
00:39:44
somebody. Now, the deputies would say that, you know, once we got her back to the sheriff's department, we found that
00:39:51
she was well spoken and that she seemed to be aware of her surroundings and aware of the situation and what was
00:39:57
going on. >> So, we decided because she's an adult and she wanted to leave, we couldn't
00:40:02
make her stay and wait for a ride from her mother, >> right? >> Uh, so we we had to let her go. There
00:40:08
there's I have several problems with this. Okay. Mhm. >> What What the hell happened between
00:40:14
being picked up at 9:00 p.m. and midnight that made you go from this chick is crazy to, "Oh, she's well
00:40:22
spoken and she knows what the heck's going on. Let's go ahead and release her." >> Well, and what we were talking about
00:40:27
earlier is we have this idea that these deputies show up, the three deputies, cuz it's a slow night.
00:40:33
>> But then we give her a field sobriety test because we think that she's drunk or she's crazy. Well, she passed the
00:40:39
test, so she's probably not drunk. So then she's probably crazy, right? So it's really the transfer of power when
00:40:47
they have her in custody and then they hand over the custody of Matrice to the the actual jail, then it's on the jail.
00:40:55
And was did the deputies not speak up to the jail enough? you know, and I'm not look, you know, you have to file a
00:41:02
report and all that stuff, but when you're transferring the person, what was that conversation like? Because did that
00:41:09
conversation happen and then the then the jailers just go, "Well, we're going to let her sit here and see what
00:41:15
happens." You know, because if there wasn't much of a conversation, right, and there wasn't this much of a
00:41:21
interaction and there was not a hey, this girl's acting a little crazy, well, then you put her in a cell and for 3
00:41:27
hours she just kind of paces around in the cell. It is odd, >> which is understandable, but what's your
00:41:32
point? >> When they transferred custody, did they provide the information correctly? And
00:41:36
if the jail was provided that information, what made them overturn that information? Because the protocol
00:41:43
would be, well, let's put her on a watch and then she won't be able to be released until a doctor and it's a
00:41:50
Wednesday. So, you know that there's a doctor going to be coming in on that Thursday.
00:41:54
>> Thursday morning, >> right? And then they get psych evaluated and it covers your ass. But again, it's
00:42:00
it's miscommunication and handing over custody. So, Matrice has been released by the sheriff's department and then at
00:42:08
5:35 a.m. her mother calls back to the sheriff's department. Now, let's play that clip.
00:42:15
>> Sheriff's Day. I'm here to help you. >> Yes. Good. Good morning. My name is Letic. I'm calling to follow up on my
00:42:21
daughter who was brought in last night around 10:30, 11:00. >> Okay. Let me chat for the jailer. Hold
00:42:27
on, please. >> Thank you. Lost station Bombgardner. >> Yes. Hi, my name is Latis and I called
00:42:37
not too long ago regarding my daughter Mike Richardson. How long before a missing person's report can be filed? Is
00:42:44
it 24 or 48 hours? >> Yes. Well, it depends on the circumstances, but uh um I I didn't take
00:42:52
your call, so I'm not familiar with it. Did she just not return home after going
00:42:56
out? >> She was arrested last night. This is the first time she's been arrested. Um,
00:43:02
she's in an unknown area >> that she's never been in. She's without a vehicle. Nobody can find her.
00:43:10
>> And And where was this at? Where was she arrested at? >> Your your facility. Her name is Maitrice
00:43:15
Richardson. >> Okay. Do Do you know if she's if she's here now or was she released?
00:43:21
>> They said she was released. >> Okay. And what time was she released? um at at just shortly after 12 a.m.
00:43:32
>> Yeah, normally I we wouldn't I wouldn't recommend doing one uh that soon. Um >> right. What is the time frame?
00:43:42
>> You know, I I guess probably 24 hours would be reasonable. I mean, if if there
00:43:46
would be some some mitigating factors, you know, where you know, you s would suspect maybe something
00:43:55
>> quite right. >> She doesn't know the area. She's never been in your area. >> Where where do you where does she live?
00:44:02
>> She is unfamiliar with that area. >> Do you think she possibly could have gotten a bus home? And Oh,
00:44:10
>> listen. My child has never ridden a bus. No, she would not know how to ride a
00:44:14
bus. I would probably wait till, you know, early this morning and if she doesn't
00:44:20
turn up, you can certainly call. I don't suspect anything um bad happened. >> I'm concerned because well, first of
00:44:28
all, I thought they were going to keep her overnight because she was highly intoxicated.
00:44:34
>> Um something some something is obviously going on with her. >> Have you talked to the jailer and
00:44:41
>> Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes, I have. He said he tried to get her to stay, but because she was an adult, they had to let her
00:44:47
go. I I believe that she is highly depressed. Um, and she she she's in a depressive state.
00:44:54
[Applause] you know, it could be possible that maybe she I mean, there's a lot of
00:45:02
options and I a lot of possibilities and I don't think all of them would be um you know, something dire, but I can
00:45:10
certainly understand your fears, you know, being your daughter and all that. >> Well, I think she's depressed. That's
00:45:18
what has me >> that's worried you more than just her. >> Okay. >> That and the fact that she's in an area
00:45:25
where she doesn't know where she's at. Yeah. Does she take medication at all? >> No, she I I I believe it's a state that
00:45:32
she's in right now because of just the the weird activity that's been going on a day. What's your name? Her name is Her
00:45:40
name is Matrice Richard. >> Okay. And your name, ma'am? >> Let here's what I want you to do. Let get
00:45:50
why don't you wait a couple hours and and give us some time to kind of I'll go back and talk to the jailer and try and
00:45:57
get a timeline of when she was released and you know make sure she's not asleep in our lobby or anything like that and
00:46:05
then once you give us a call back in a couple hours she hasn't shown up or made contact with you then maybe we can do
00:46:12
something for you. Okay. And with that um phone call, you can really hear the emotion going through the mother and the
00:46:21
and her gut feeling is saying that there's something wrong. Yeah. I mean, she doesn't know where her daughter is.
00:46:26
She knows that the daughter's been released. Uh she called while the daughter was in transit to the sheriff's
00:46:33
department. And she even says, "As long as you guys are not going to, you know, let her out,
00:46:38
>> you know, cuz it's crazy out here. people get pe, you know, she could get her head chopped off, I think, is what
00:46:43
she says. >> And so, you hear the concern and and how scared she is. But >> I will say one thing that I commend her
00:46:52
on is she keeps her composure. >> She's talking to the officer in a respectful manner, asking him questions
00:46:58
for his advice. >> Um, I think that >> Mrice was a wellspoken lady and and it comes stems from her family.
00:47:06
seems like her family is of of I don't want to say high intelligence, but they're definitely intellectual
00:47:14
>> and they carry themselves in a professional manner from from what I've seen. And as we heard here on this phone
00:47:19
call, she's in probably the worst situation, the worst day she could ever have. Her daughter's missing and she's
00:47:26
still being respectful of the officer and asking his opinion on when the when is it the proper time to file the
00:47:32
missing person's report. >> Yeah. And the proper time is now. >> Yeah. >> You know, well,
00:47:38
>> for the officer, for her, she doesn't know any better. You know what I mean? I
00:47:42
get what you're saying as a parent, you you should you should push the envelope.
00:47:45
But I think what we're seeing here is I I've put myself in her shoes because I can be forward when I need to be. But at
00:47:52
the same time, I do start off every conversation in a respectful manner and try to be nice to because I want the uh
00:47:59
I always go into everything as you know how can I help you to help me kind of thing you know I don't want to come in
00:48:05
there aggressively saying you got to do this you got to do that because they might not follow through. The only thing
00:48:10
is the disconcerning thing here is with the officer Bumgardner. He he he can understand that she's distressed
00:48:19
>> and he says he's going to go back and talk to the jailer and he's going to work on these things. I don't doubt that
00:48:24
he's going to do these and maybe I'm reading him the wrong way. I just I just hate when I hear the sheriff's
00:48:29
department and and I say them particularly because I've I've experienced this in my own life in a in
00:48:35
a much less um severe situation, but I've seen a lot of passing the buck with some of these sheriff's departments
00:48:43
where it's always like I mean he keeps saying, "Well, why don't you call back in a couple hours?" Well, is his shift
00:48:47
over soon? You know, is is this is 5:35. If it's anything like Columbus >> shifts over at about 7. It should be a
00:48:54
seven if if they do things they wait >> call back in a couple hours when I don't
00:48:58
have to deal with you. >> Exactly. Exactly. It sounds like a lot of paperwork. >> Well, but time and time again it's you
00:49:04
know mother's intuition is normally not wrong. And she has this gut feeling that's saying, "Hey, something's not
00:49:13
right." One, it's weird that she went to this restaurant. I don't I don't understand the area. I don't understand
00:49:19
why she didn't have money to pay for this. Right. This is not like her. She's talking crazy talk. Okay. I I don't know
00:49:28
what the hell's going on. Are you going to keep her? No. Okay, good. Cuz if you're going to keep her, awesome.
00:49:33
Because I don't want her head chopped off, right? >> And oh, you let her go. What the [ __ ]
00:49:39
Right. I I just got done talking to you and said, "Don't let her go." you know, and and and that's the issue because
00:49:47
like I said, the transfer of power when of custody when when the deputies took her in and then on top of that, you have
00:49:53
a mother going, "This is out of character." And and I think if she would have said certain words, well, I'm very
00:50:00
concerned. Maybe she's depressed. Maybe she's suicidal. If she would have said certain words, but
00:50:06
>> she would have said suicidal, that could have been big. Yeah. >> Yeah, it could have been big. But I'm
00:50:09
not going to put the fault on the mother. She is trying to be >> respectful, you know, of of the sheriff
00:50:18
department, right? She's trying to be respectful. She's not going, "Hey, you need to do this or you need to do that."
00:50:24
And they constantly, "Well, let's have you call back again." >> Um, >> well, I like here, and I when I say
00:50:31
like, I mean I'm being sarcastic here, but she asked, "When do when can I file a missing person's report? Do you have
00:50:38
to wait 24 hours or 48 hours?" And his answer is, "Well, that's usually the case unless there's other mitigating
00:50:46
factors." Well, guess what, officer? The mother calling you is another is that mitigating factor that you're talking
00:50:53
about. >> And you can hear her breaking up. You can hear her choking up. >> And and uh and what's the worst thing
00:51:01
that can happen? You released her. She's in an area she's not familiar with. And
00:51:06
they're going, "What's the worst thing that can happen?" Hey, we should probably just pick her up. Let's put out
00:51:13
a couple squads or units, right? Put out a couple units. It's a Wednesday. This can't be that busy. You You sent three
00:51:22
deputies over for a girl not paying her bill for a citizen's arrest, right? >> Put out a couple units to look for
00:51:30
Thursday morning. >> If we find her, bring her back and her mother will come and pick her up in a
00:51:34
couple hours. Mhm. >> And and and this all this stuff could be uh all this this whole tragedy could
00:51:42
have been avoided if if they would have just got off their ass and did a couple things. And that brings us to the next
00:51:50
thing. So then we have this uh report about a a prowler on on some property. >> Yeah. So, they received that call from
00:51:58
from Matrices's mother at 5:35 a.m. and then less than an hour later at 6:30 a.m. they receive this phone call.
00:52:06
Sheriff Station can help you. >> Yeah. Hi. Hey, this is Smith at Cold Canyon. We had a prowler walking around
00:52:11
through the backyard here, but we don't know what the situation was. I don't know if you had a unit in the area.
00:52:16
Might do a little drive by or something. >> Okay. Where's this at? >> This is Cold Canyon Cold in Malito.
00:52:24
Uh but it's in the back of the house. uh which is right where Woodluff hits the hits uh Cold Canyon.
00:52:32
Uh and we just had a strange woman walking through the backyard here, the fairly
00:52:38
large properties and she was sitting on the steps right right in the back of the
00:52:41
house here. This is kind of a circular driveway and the gates were closed. So we don't know where this woman came
00:52:46
from. >> You see the cross was Woodluff. >> Yeah, that's right. There there's a a
00:52:50
horse trail hiking trail access through here, but we've never had this kind of happen thing happen before.
00:52:55
>> What's she look like? white, black man. >> Uh, you know, a tall, slim black woman
00:52:59
with afro hair. >> How tall? >> Uh, well, she was sitting down, stretched out on the wooden steps in the
00:53:04
back of the house. Hard to tell, but she looked like she might have been medium to slightly tall. Uh, with a big afro
00:53:09
hair, very skinny, and I think she was wearing maybe jeans or tight pants with a t-shirt.
00:53:15
>> You never You've never seen her there before? >> No, never. Nobody's ever does that. I
00:53:18
mean, the people hike on the trail all the time. We, you know, the trail goes through our property, but we leave it
00:53:22
open on purpose cuz it's kind of a nice thing for horses and people. >> And you said she's laying across the She
00:53:27
was laying across the steps or >> she was sitting kind of sprawled out on the on these wooden steps in back of the
00:53:32
house, right against the back of the house. >> She since got up and left. >> Uh, she since gone. Yeah, she's been
00:53:36
gone about 5 minutes now, but as we followed over, we thought maybe a little driveby wouldn't be a bad idea.
00:53:41
>> And what direction was she last seen heading? >> Never saw her. She once she left, she
00:53:45
just disappeared. We I moved from one window to another. I said to her, I hollered down, "Are you all right?" And
00:53:51
she said, "I'm just resting." Or something like that. Uh, but she's certainly gone out of her way to get to
00:53:57
that close to the house because the hiking trail is not that close. It's on the ridge.
00:54:01
>> Great. We'll send you ahead and check the area for her. >> Appreciate that very much. Not a
00:54:03
problem, sir. >> Thank you. Bye. Bye. >> So, that is Bill Smith. He's a retired KTLA reporter. That's the guy that calls
00:54:12
in saying reporting the Prowler. Uh, and he lives in Monte Neato, which is about
00:54:18
6 milesi west of the sheriff's station. Uh, I do want to clear one thing up cuz he's a little muffled at the end there,
00:54:24
and it's a little confusing what he's talking about, but at one point he says that he opened up his window to ask the
00:54:29
woman if she was okay, and she says something like, "I'm just resting." Right? >> And that's when he said he went to
00:54:35
another window to try to get a better look. And at during that time, she had left.
00:54:41
>> She had left the property, you know? So, where he says, "I don't know. I never
00:54:44
saw her. That's what he That's what he's referencing, >> right? He never saw her the second time
00:54:48
he went to look for her, >> right? He saw her there. He didn't see which direction she left.
00:54:53
>> These dispatchers crack me up, though, cuz every time somebody says something,
00:54:56
they're like, "What was that again?" >> Yeah. Well, it's like the first part of the phone call it you like they greet
00:55:03
you, but you have to prove to them reason for them to continue the phone call. You
00:55:07
>> But we see this happen twice when he goes, "Well, I'm here." And we got a prowler. Where are you at? where are you
00:55:13
at? And then when when the mother is talking to the one dispatcher and says, "I'm calling about my daughter, you
00:55:19
know, my trice Richardson." And he's like, "Who are you talking about?" >> Well, not only that, I think when when
00:55:24
uh Let's on the phone. Yeah. >> The call we heard the mother, uh I believe that she's actually speaking
00:55:30
with a detective or an officer. It's not just a dispatcher at that point. That Bumgardner guy is is an officer of some,
00:55:36
you know, he's not just some dude paid to answer the phone. Like maybe when you answer the phone, have a pad by you.
00:55:42
Don't pull a nick and not pay attention when people talk. >> I'm not in public service. These people
00:55:47
are in public service. >> You are in public service. This podcast is a public service.
00:55:52
>> You need to listen. >> We should point out though that it's not 100% verified that this is actually my
00:55:59
my trees, >> right? But we we can assume >> the vague description that's given it it
00:56:04
matches her very well. Yeah. you know, >> and when you see her mug shot of that night, her her hair is kind of it's not
00:56:10
a a it's not an afro. I mean, look, I'm a white dude from the suburbs, so I have
00:56:16
no uh uh you know, African-Amean hairstyle expert, >> but it's uh but it's kind of disheveled,
00:56:25
>> you know? It's like it's not but it's not I wouldn't consider it afro, but this white reporter is going, "Wow,
00:56:32
here's this uh black lady. She's middle to tall. >> She has tight pants. Of course, it's
00:56:38
such a man thing. Well, I noticed that her pants were tight. >> Well, if if you look up pictures of my
00:56:45
trice now, she did pageantss. Um, so she's, you know, she's attractive and most of the pictures you will see of
00:56:50
her, she's pretty well done up. >> Um, now if you see the arresting photo from that night, uh, her hair is quite
00:56:58
poofed out compared to the the pictures. And I can only imagine that if if that's
00:57:04
what her hair looked like around midnight, let's say now she's been released. And let's let's assume here
00:57:10
because we don't know for certain, but let's assume that she made that 5 and a half, six mile hike to Bill Smith's
00:57:18
backyard on foot. If that hair was pretty poofed out before then, well, it might be it might be full, you know,
00:57:25
Diana Ross afro at some point. I don't know. No, but at the end of the day, she has jeans on. This this prowler has
00:57:32
jeans on. It's Africanamean lady. Uh it's slender and and not tall. >> Medium to tall,
00:57:39
>> right? And she has a black shirt on, which we know that she um my trice had a
00:57:43
Bob Marley black t-shirt. >> Mhm. >> So, we could just assume that it's it's more likely her.
00:57:49
>> Yeah. I think I to me I I feel good saying about 90% that it that it's her. And one of the things that come up over
00:57:57
and over in this case is that people say that this call is fishy. And the reason
00:58:02
why they say this is fishy is the way that the caller the way he talks to the officer as if he's done this before. So,
00:58:10
a lot of people say, "Well, this guy was probably a retired officer or if it is this conspiracy and that this sheriff's
00:58:18
department is in charge of this girl going missing and and they're uh charged, they're responsible for
00:58:26
everything that happened to her. What they're saying is that they think this call was like a part of the conspiracy
00:58:32
and that this was actually a police officer on duty." Well, we know we know that it was a reporter and that's
00:58:39
probably why the lingo is coming out the way it is because he is a reporter and how much has a reporter dealt with law
00:58:46
enforcement? >> Yeah, especially if he was a field reporter, you know, he might be used to
00:58:51
being in situations of of stressful situations. Plus, he also says that they have there's trail access right by the
00:58:58
house there >> and that you know, so you you often see hikers or people on horseback on this
00:59:04
trail. So even though he said we've never had somebody in the backyard like this before, it wouldn't be crazy for
00:59:10
him to think, well, this is not really a prowler. This might just be somebody that came off the trail and they might
00:59:15
be experienced exhaustion or something like that. And that's probably why he opened up the window and said, "Hey, are
00:59:21
you okay?" >> Um and and then when she doesn't seem to go anywhere, you know, then you know, at
00:59:27
first that's when he's probably like, "We might want to have a have a squad car just do a driveby."
00:59:32
>> Yeah. And I think it was safety for the neighborhood, but I think it was also
00:59:35
safety for this individual. >> I think you're right. >> You know, like here's this walking path
00:59:39
and maybe this person came off, but but they there are walking path, so it's not
00:59:44
super uncommon. Now, the question is if it is her, how did she get 6 miles away?
00:59:50
Now, the average person can walk a mile in about 15 minutes. >> Right. >> Right. So, that puts her at about an
00:59:56
hour and a half >> to get that length. And we're talking roughly about 6 hours. >> Yeah.
01:00:04
>> Roughly about 6 hours afterwards. So that's about the time or that would be so we have
01:00:11
>> the time doesn't match up. >> No, the time doesn't match up. So what I'm saying is that we have this gap,
01:00:15
>> but >> was she walking on these trails and that's how she got to this neighborhood?
01:00:19
a good portion of that travel would have been conducted in the dark >> first off and second of all this is an
01:00:26
area that on especially on foot she's not going to know where she's going you know we've we've heard her mother say
01:00:32
that she does not know Malibu that Matrice doesn't know Malibu uh she's not from there this is an area unfamiliar to
01:00:38
her well on the streets there's street signs and things to help direct you even if you don't know the area if she's on
01:00:44
foot and wandering around and again we don't know that her state of mind at this time It's very well that she could
01:00:50
have it could have taken her 5 hours, 6 hours to get to this point. The other thing, too, is how long was she sitting
01:00:56
there or lying there until Bill noticed her outside? >> Yeah. What if she what if she made she
01:01:03
could have made it through those trails and onto this property, you know, within, let's say, 2 hours and then she
01:01:09
was sleeping, >> right? Because Bill could have been asleep the whole time and never noticed
01:01:13
her. Maybe he wakes up at 6:15. They just spotted her at 6:30 >> and he says sprawled out. But so my gut
01:01:20
feeling is it's her. >> Me too. The strange thing here is that he he does more than once say how close
01:01:28
she is to the house. >> And that's what he found strange that that you know maybe it wouldn't be so
01:01:33
strange for somebody to wander into his backyard. But he's saying she's she came
01:01:38
really close to the house to be up on those steps. >> Well, like like we know with the whole
01:01:42
valet thing. I mean, she got into a valet's car. I mean, that's talking talking about invading personal space.
01:01:49
So, I feel like uh based off that evidence, again, my gut feeling it is my trees.
01:01:55
>> Me, too. Now, a few days later, the sheriff's department conducts their first search, but they start the search
01:02:02
at Bill Smith's house. Um, this is one thing that I thought and interesting that a reporter brought up because they
01:02:09
were using uh scent dogs to to sniff out and try to track my trice from Bill Smith's house. Right.
01:02:17
>> Yeah. >> Now, this reporter brought up a a good thing that that I would probably
01:02:21
wouldn't have thought of on my own here, but they suggested, why wouldn't you have the dogs start off at the sheriff's
01:02:26
department? Because she she left there on foot. You know, she had no vehicle. If you would have had the scent dogs
01:02:33
trace her from the sheriff's department, you would be able to make the determination most likely whether she
01:02:39
had actually left on foot or if she was picked up in a vehicle. >> Yeah. >> Um that that would be interesting to
01:02:45
know. But of course, they didn't do it in that fashion. They started the dogs off at Bill Smith's house and they did
01:02:51
find um >> they did discover what appeared to be sneaker prints in the front yard. Um,
01:02:57
and they're guessing these would have been Maitrices's uh footprints. Uh, and it appeared, they say it appeared that
01:03:04
she had been running. Um, I'm guessing maybe that maybe the footprints are further apart than you would expect for
01:03:10
walking. There's some way they could probably determine uh the movement of the person creating those prints. But
01:03:16
they say it appears that she had been running. Uh, now remember this area is filled with horse trails. So eventually
01:03:23
they lose these tracks. They lose the footprints amongst all of the horse tracks.
01:03:27
>> Well, not only the horse tracks, but this is also a walking path. So, basically all the tracks combined, it
01:03:33
just got too much where it's lost. >> So, if it is my trees, uh, we don't know if at that point if she got in a vehicle
01:03:42
or if those tracks were just simply stamped out by the horses, >> right? And what we don't know is did she
01:03:48
get in a vehicle to get to this neighborhood? If if we're assuming that this was her, the the aka prowler,
01:03:56
>> then did she get there by foot or did she get there by a vehicle? And then did
01:04:02
she know the person in the vehicle or did did she just was she able to hitch a ride? Cuz like we said, she's an
01:04:09
attractive female. There's probably a lot of guys that were would be willing to give her, you know, a ride.
01:04:15
>> Oh, yeah. >> So, and so then she's there. But again, if you would have if you would have
01:04:19
followed the scent dogs from the police department, we'd have a little more clarity on that.
01:04:24
>> Well, let's talk about LAPD here because we the actual fact of the investigation
01:04:30
is that because Maitrice lived in LA, LAPD was put in charge of the actual investigation of her missing person's uh
01:04:38
investigation. So LAPD found amongst other items in they they went and searched her vehicle and they found
01:04:46
these items amongst others they found her ATM card, a checkbook and cell phone in the car. They also found journals and
01:04:54
after reviewing yeah that's the word. So yeah, they they reviewed the journals and there's
01:05:02
several days and what they did too, which I thought was pretty fascinating, was they went back through her MySpace,
01:05:08
which that's dating this case a little bit, uh I think she held on to the MySpace account a little too long, but
01:05:15
uh MySpace and Facebook and any social media. So they basically took the journal entries and then looked at
01:05:23
entries online >> and to try to and what they realized was there's so many journal entries in so
01:05:28
many social media that they they started questioning was she even sleeping properly.
01:05:34
>> Right. Right. And they're able to determine that from the journals as well. They conclude that she may have
01:05:39
been sleepd depraved for several days leading up to that day. And it's quite possible that she had suffered a bipolar
01:05:46
episode that night. Now just to be clear that there bipolar is a very difficult thing. It's one of the most mental
01:05:54
illnesses that it's a mix misdiagnosed bipolar is. And so um and normally to get a clear concise bipolar diagnosis,
01:06:07
it normally takes years. So there is no she is not being treated for this, right? This is just speculation that
01:06:14
this stuff was going on and that maybe she was in a manic or a hyper manic state. And so by being in this state,
01:06:21
yeah, you will be you would just will be sleepd deprived because you will just be
01:06:25
turning your wheels or turning. >> Now, we're going to start to see a lot of back and forth from the sheriff's
01:06:30
department with the uh family with the Richardson family because the Richardson family don't they don't feel like the
01:06:38
sheriff's department has done their job. They don't think that they should have released their daughter and they're they
01:06:44
want answers from the sheriff's department and they're not >> they're not overwhelmingly, you know,
01:06:50
giving these answers. They're not don't seem to be working the case to the satisfaction of the Richardsons. Uh so,
01:06:57
>> well, I mean, what's your stance on that? I mean, I I I agree that they shouldn't they probably shouldn't have
01:07:02
released her based on her actions at the restaurant, based on what the deput deputies thought and then when they
01:07:09
transferred the power. I just think that was that was the first fumble here and they should just not have released her.
01:07:16
>> I'm with you. I The thing I keep going back to is is their statements saying why they released her. We let her go.
01:07:24
There was no reason to keep her. She was well educated, well spoken, and she was
01:07:28
fully aware of her environment and her situation. Again, I keep going to back back to how different that account is.
01:07:36
You know, for me to say she's well spoken, she knows of her environment, yet 3 hours ago, she was saying complete
01:07:42
nonsense to the point >> to the point where we thought she was heavily intoxicated. Then we found out
01:07:49
she's not intoxicated. Then we have to ask her, "Are you on medication? Have you ever been locked up for
01:07:54
psychological problems? So, it that's your assessment 3 hours before either drunk, medicated, or or psycho, you
01:08:03
know, some kind of medical issue, me mental issue, right? >> Uh and then 3 hours later, oh, she's
01:08:09
perfectly normal, perfectly happy, normal human being. Send her off into the darkness. That's that's the big
01:08:14
problem. >> And like, like I said, in defense of them, it always comes back to me on the
01:08:20
that they don't know her baseline. they don't know what her normal is, >> right?
01:08:24
>> So then when you start hearing some clarity coming from her, you're just and again, but I I'd still argue that if
01:08:30
anybody's looked up much about hypermanic or manic states that people become very capable of doing what they
01:08:37
want to do. >> It's almost like the crazy takes over to make you look a certain way so you can
01:08:42
get out of this. And like you said, maybe she was talking to herself on the phone. I mean, who knows? Well, and you
01:08:49
said the sheriff's department, they don't know her norm. They don't know how she would normally behave. But guess who
01:08:54
would? Her family would. And her family wants to know. >> Well, her mom was calling and telling
01:08:59
you this is not normal. >> Well, right. But her family wants to know, you know, okay, you've said your
01:09:04
reasoning for letting her go. Okay. Now, we know that the jails are typically under surveillance. We want to see the
01:09:12
video, the video footage of her that evening because we want to see how she was acting. We want to see if she was
01:09:20
behaving abnormally so we can get an idea of what we think happened to our daughter. Do we think she went wandering
01:09:26
off on her own or did she leave the sheriff's department, get picked up by some evil dude?
01:09:31
>> Um, and so they're they're they're told there is no videotape. They are told that there is no video.
01:09:38
>> Okay. So, so this uh this sheriff's department, their jail, uh their their phone that records the phone calls and
01:09:45
their log, >> that's broken, >> right? >> And they don't have cameras. >> Yeah. The here's the exact wording. They
01:09:51
were told no such video existed. The captain of the sheriff's department, Captain Martin, was quoted in the Malibu
01:09:58
Surfside News as saying, "There is no video or tape of any kind." Well, that's pretty darn black and white here right
01:10:06
now, Captain. It's You can't confuse that statement in any way. Right. No. >> He said there is no video tape.
01:10:14
>> No video or no tape of any kind. >> Mhm. So, let's make this clear. There are videos. They're claiming that
01:10:21
there's video cameras in the jail, but those are just to monitor. Those don't actually record.
01:10:28
>> Well, they we don't know exactly what they're there for because according to his statement, all he says is there's no
01:10:34
videotape of any kind. right now. Uh but yeah, there clearly are cameras in this
01:10:39
facility. >> Um so, you know, like you said, are they just using them to monitor live action
01:10:45
or are they using them to record anything? The problem here though is >> he he makes that statement very clear.
01:10:52
And what's the strangest part of it is in January of 2010, the same person, Captain Martin, then confesses that
01:11:01
there was a tape and it is in his desk. >> Okay. Okay. Well, let's break this down.
01:11:06
This is how it happened. So, Matrices's uh mother and aunt are in a meeting >> and they asked for the tape. Hey, they
01:11:15
there has to be a tape. These cameras can't just be for monitoring, right? This doesn't add up. And they and
01:11:22
they're still during this meeting. No, no, no. We have no tape. >> And then the aunt won't let it go.
01:11:29
>> Proud proud of her for doing that. She won't let it go. And then all of a sudden in the middle of this
01:11:35
conversation, the guy goes, "And by the way, we do have a date." >> And and it's not just a guy, it's the
01:11:42
captain, right? >> He's in charge of that sheriff's of that building. >> Well, and on top of that, on on top of
01:11:49
all this, it's in my desk. >> Yeah. >> I mean, if that's not a red flag of we're trying to cover some [ __ ] up, I I
01:11:59
don't know what a red flag is. Right. Well, do you know what kind what that kind of honesty will get you?
01:12:04
>> Uh, promoted obviously. >> Yes, it will get you a promotion. Um, later that month. Later that same month,
01:12:11
Captain Martin was promoted to com to commander. >> No. Captain friend of mine. >> Now, this promotion moved him to the
01:12:18
Monterey Park location. So, his old post at Lost Hills, >> he lived just minutes away for the
01:12:25
entire six years that he was in charge of the Lost Hills Sheriff Station. The promotion took him an hour away and he
01:12:32
was replaced by Joseph Steven uh who note is the first African-American captain at the Lost Hills location. Due
01:12:42
to technical difficulties, it was about 3 months later before the Richardson family was allowed to view the video
01:12:51
that was sitting in Captain Martin's desk. So, I want to point a few things out here.
01:12:56
>> Yeah, there's a bunch of red flags. Point them out for Well, I want to cover my own butt here real quick, too. I I I
01:13:01
don't want to give the impression that Joseph Steven is not capable of being the captain of the Lost Hills Sheriff's
01:13:07
Department. Okay. I think he I think he can. I do. I think it's a little convenient that you replaced him, you
01:13:14
know, that you replace Captain Martin with an African-American man. Might be. Is does this does this sound a little
01:13:20
bit like the Catholic Church that that takes a priest that's under suspicion and ships them off elsewhere?
01:13:26
>> A little bit. Um, I think that the the sheriff's department was really not trying to help the family or the
01:13:32
investigation. I think they were just covering their own butts here >> constantly. Well, and then it also leads
01:13:37
to the idea that if if there's this technical difficulty, so we have the tape and and by the way, it's in my
01:13:43
desk, but by the way, you can't watch it for months and months, >> three months,
01:13:46
>> because you know, we're got to pay some college interns to come in and doctor up
01:13:51
this video. >> Mhm. >> I mean, that's it's it's it is [ __ ] strange. After the after the video is
01:13:58
released to the family, uh the family >> three months afterwards >> the family states that my trice looked
01:14:04
to be distressed and agitated. Uh they also commented that the tape the video footage appeared to have been edited. Uh
01:14:11
and they're citing one one part here is that one second there's a >> on the footage there's one second where
01:14:19
she is holding my trice is holding a piece of paper and in the very next second the paper is crumbled up on the
01:14:25
floor. >> Um the video so you know you want to know what happened between the time
01:14:31
she's holding the paper and then it's crumbled up on the floor. And the video also shows Maitrice walking out of the
01:14:39
station and two minutes later a deputy goes out an adjacent door. Uh the department refused to release the name
01:14:46
of that. >> Of course they they refused to release the name of that deputy. They got to
01:14:52
wait three months and they got to they got to doctor up his name and they got to get I mean this case just it's just
01:15:00
question after qu and red flags and is the cops involved or are they just incompetent douchebags. I'm not really
01:15:09
for sure but there is a lot to get more into this case and uh you know do you just want to stick around and we'll
01:15:16
knock out another >> Sounds good. Sure. >> All right. Do we have a recommended reading for this episode?
01:15:22
>> We do. The case we're talking about tonight comes from California. So, I picked a book from California, another
01:15:26
California case. This is The Zodiac Unmasked. Um, and this is The Identity of America's Most Elusive Serial Killer
01:15:33
Revealed by Robert Gay Smith. And according to the New York Press, it's by far the best book on the subject of the
01:15:41
Zodiac Murders. Uh, it's one of my favorite as well. So check out the Zodiac Unmasked by Robert Gaymith and
01:15:48
you can do that by going to true crimegar.com and click on the recommended page. We have all of our
01:15:53
books listed there as well as a couple videos. Just click on the Amazon banner and pick up anything you want through
01:15:58
Amazon, including our recommended reading. >> All right, hold on. I'm coming back.
01:16:05
>> And a big thank you to everybody that tells a friend, anybody that shares it on social media with it. Without you
01:16:12
guys, we wouldn't be able to do this. And so, uh, we might as well, like we said, we'll just stick around and, uh,
01:16:18
we'll release this episode. We'll do two parts this week. >> That's right. We will see you back here
01:16:22
in the garage tomorrow. Until then, be good, be kind, and don't flitter. [Music]