WEBVTT - 5. So Close | Lost Hills 0:00:15.066 --> 0:00:25.876 Pushkin. During the time Mitrice was missing, a search party 0:00:26.156 --> 0:00:29.996 organized by Dr. Rhonda Hampton discovered a mural in a 0:00:30.076 --> 0:00:35.526 culvert high above Montanito. On the cement around two large tunnels, 0:00:36.106 --> 0:00:39.606 someone had painted a series of naked Black women in 0:00:39.666 --> 0:00:44.936 various degrading and bizarre poses. This is Dr. Hampton describing 0:00:44.976 --> 0:00:48.836 the scene in a video made by documentarian Chip Croft. 0:00:49.516 --> 0:00:55.356 This culvert area here is where there was the images 0:00:55.436 --> 0:01:02.236 that were taken by the searchers of approximately 13 African-American 0:01:02.856 --> 0:01:10.386 women with afros who were nude and in very graphic ways. 0:01:11.226 --> 0:01:15.046 sexually provocative positions. 0:01:15.896 --> 0:01:20.536 One was hula-hooping. One was spread-eagle. One was doing a handspring. 0:01:21.196 --> 0:01:24.076 One was climbing out of a vagina. Another was in 0:01:24.116 --> 0:01:28.416 a wheelchair, giving a thumbs-up. At the center, there was 0:01:28.456 --> 0:01:31.696 a man's face with crazed eyes and a mop of 0:01:31.756 --> 0:01:32.656 curly red hair. 0:01:33.596 --> 0:01:39.906 Along the concrete here were wordings indicating Entering Afroland or 0:01:39.966 --> 0:01:43.106 something similar to that. Over the side here, it said 0:01:43.266 --> 0:01:47.266 Afro Hose, H-O-E-S, so Afro Hose. 0:01:48.106 --> 0:01:51.006 One of the figures really caught Dr. Hampton's eye. 0:01:52.086 --> 0:01:56.116 One of the images was of a woman who was 0:01:56.176 --> 0:02:00.136 painted blue, kneeling on all fours. On her buttocks area, 0:02:00.196 --> 0:02:04.976 she had a symbol, the letters L-H. and she had 0:02:04.996 --> 0:02:07.516 a marijuana joint out of her mouth. That's what makes 0:02:07.596 --> 0:02:09.876 us think that it's possibly that the person is trying 0:02:09.916 --> 0:02:13.136 to talk about Mitrice in terms of the fact that 0:02:13.176 --> 0:02:16.036 she was from L.A., that she was accused of having marijuana. 0:02:17.156 --> 0:02:20.576 To Mitrice's friends and family, this mural was tantamount to 0:02:20.616 --> 0:02:25.236 a confession, a narrative depiction of her abduction, rape, torture, 0:02:25.436 --> 0:02:30.226 and murder. According to Mitrice's mother, Latice Sutton, there was 0:02:30.406 --> 0:02:33.426 even a forensic psychologist who wrote up a report about 0:02:33.466 --> 0:02:39.056 it unsolicited, saying it was a quote-unquote sick trophy, the 0:02:39.096 --> 0:02:43.936 killer's calling card. But the day after it was discovered, 0:02:44.216 --> 0:02:47.086 when Dr. Hampton went to see it for herself, it 0:02:47.126 --> 0:02:52.706 was already gone. She found that suspicious. Here she is 0:02:52.766 --> 0:02:53.746 again at the scene. 0:02:53.766 --> 0:02:58.756 This image yesterday was painted with the mural, which is 0:02:58.776 --> 0:03:02.636 what we're calling it. And here today, the city has quickly... 0:03:03.546 --> 0:03:06.026 come by and painted it over. 0:03:06.906 --> 0:03:09.646 There was nothing to see but a swath of beige paint, 0:03:10.106 --> 0:03:14.446 the kind used by the graffiti task force. Law enforcement 0:03:14.526 --> 0:03:17.756 questioned the artist. It turned out he didn't know anything 0:03:17.816 --> 0:03:21.936 about Mitrice. This was just his thing, painting naked Black 0:03:21.996 --> 0:03:26.516 women with afros in sexually explicit positions. He sent Dr. 0:03:26.556 --> 0:03:29.556 Hampton an email telling her he was sorry for her loss. 0:03:32.956 --> 0:03:35.856 I knew the mural didn't have a direct connection to Mitrice. 0:03:36.676 --> 0:03:41.656 But still, it was so unbelievably eerie and compelling, like 0:03:41.716 --> 0:03:45.606 a reel of found footage explaining the total mystery of 0:03:45.646 --> 0:03:49.606 what had happened to Mitrice. So Haley and I figured 0:03:49.646 --> 0:03:52.666 we should see the spot and understand its proximity to 0:03:52.686 --> 0:03:56.246 the neighborhood and to Dark Canyon, where Mitrice's remains were found. 0:03:57.426 --> 0:04:00.456 We met in Montanito and drove way up into the mountains. 0:04:01.666 --> 0:04:04.726 we parked on a narrow shoulder and got out. The 0:04:04.786 --> 0:04:07.946 culvert ran underneath the road, so it wasn't visible till 0:04:07.966 --> 0:04:11.366 you went down below street level. I think we were 0:04:11.406 --> 0:04:18.616 expecting to see the beige government paint. We were seriously surprised. Oh, 0:04:18.776 --> 0:04:25.216 there's some weird graffiti here right now. Does not look 0:04:25.256 --> 0:04:27.316 like a dis... It's like a similar style. 0:04:27.516 --> 0:04:28.956 Oh my God, I just got all the hairs on 0:04:28.976 --> 0:04:29.686 my arms put up. 0:04:30.856 --> 0:04:34.076 On the main panel, above the culvert's tunnels, someone had 0:04:34.136 --> 0:04:37.756 painted a new mural. It was nowhere near as elaborate 0:04:37.796 --> 0:04:40.436 as the original, but it did seem to share some 0:04:40.486 --> 0:04:47.166 basic DNA. That caricature over on the left looks similar 0:04:47.266 --> 0:04:48.646 to the, and the yellow one too. 0:04:48.666 --> 0:04:50.966 And the green one too. 0:04:51.006 --> 0:04:54.586 That's creepy as fuck. I poked my head into one 0:04:54.606 --> 0:04:55.216 of the tunnels. 0:04:57.516 --> 0:04:59.176 How much do I not want to go in there? 0:05:02.456 --> 0:05:04.216 Hello? 0:05:06.216 --> 0:05:09.776 Then, over on the right, I noticed something really weird. 0:05:11.236 --> 0:05:11.716 Look at this. 0:05:11.736 --> 0:05:12.156 Help. 0:05:14.576 --> 0:05:18.296 It's the same, like, creepy orange hair. It was a face, 0:05:18.676 --> 0:05:22.536 outlined in orange, with curly orange hair and crazy eyes, 0:05:23.226 --> 0:05:27.766 next to the word, help. Then there's another face, and 0:05:27.786 --> 0:05:29.466 it looks like there might be like a marijuana leaf 0:05:29.506 --> 0:05:33.816 in the middle of it. What the fuck? 0:05:36.536 --> 0:05:37.296 I want to go home. 0:05:39.416 --> 0:05:41.776 The original mural turned out to be a red herring, 0:05:42.356 --> 0:05:45.506 and this was just a copycat. So why did I 0:05:45.566 --> 0:05:49.886 feel a mounting sense of dread? I think it's because 0:05:50.086 --> 0:05:52.086 I was starting to see how easy it is to 0:05:52.106 --> 0:05:55.936 get turned around in these mountains. to be misled by 0:05:56.056 --> 0:06:01.336 seeming clues that don't solve anything. And I'm guessing that's 0:06:01.456 --> 0:06:05.076 pretty much what Mitrice's friends and family were feeling when 0:06:05.116 --> 0:06:10.036 the first mural was discovered and debunked. They still didn't 0:06:10.076 --> 0:06:13.376 know what had happened to Mitrice. They were desperate to 0:06:13.436 --> 0:06:17.796 find her or find out. But they couldn't distinguish what 0:06:17.856 --> 0:06:20.816 might be crucial information that could lead them to an 0:06:20.976 --> 0:06:30.006 answer from what was spinning them blindfolded, in circles. I'm 0:06:30.036 --> 0:07:02.476 Dana Goodyear, and this is Lost Hills. Episode 5, So Close. 0:07:06.896 --> 0:07:10.666 Throughout the fall of 2009, Mitrice's case was all over 0:07:10.706 --> 0:07:13.566 the news, and the pressure on the Sheriff's Department to 0:07:13.626 --> 0:07:16.366 explain their decision to release her without a safe ride 0:07:16.406 --> 0:07:21.096 home was intense. Here's a report from NBCLA. 0:07:22.396 --> 0:07:25.296 Among all the swirling questions in this case, one thing 0:07:25.396 --> 0:07:29.426 is certain. Mitrice Richardson was last seen leaving this substation 0:07:29.556 --> 0:07:30.196 a week ago. 0:07:30.616 --> 0:07:33.686 She was not intoxicated. She was not disoriented. The L.A. 0:07:33.726 --> 0:07:38.206 County Sheriff's Department did not only everything procedurally correct, but 0:07:38.386 --> 0:07:39.266 was morally right. 0:07:39.706 --> 0:07:43.566 The Sheriff's Department says they'll launch another expansive search, a 0:07:43.626 --> 0:07:46.346 hunt for clues as authorities try to figure out how 0:07:46.386 --> 0:07:49.266 a beautiful young woman could simply vanish into the night 0:07:49.806 --> 0:07:51.146 outside a sheriff's station. 0:07:52.536 --> 0:07:55.676 The Sheriff's Department had arrested and released Mitrice on the 0:07:55.716 --> 0:07:59.216 assumption that she was not gravely disabled or a danger 0:07:59.256 --> 0:08:02.716 to herself or others. Now that she was missing, they 0:08:02.736 --> 0:08:06.256 were at pains to explain why, if she was perfectly fine, 0:08:06.696 --> 0:08:09.716 she had not returned to her family. This is a 0:08:09.756 --> 0:08:13.486 recording that documentarian Chip Croft made of a press conference 0:08:13.636 --> 0:08:17.526 outside Lost Hills Station three weeks after Mitrice's disappearance. 0:08:18.546 --> 0:08:20.946 Steve Whitmore, Sheriff's Department spokesman. 0:08:21.946 --> 0:08:23.936 Now, the important thing that I want to say, and 0:08:23.956 --> 0:08:27.136 I've said since the beginning, is we want to find 0:08:27.596 --> 0:08:28.516 Mitrice Richardson. 0:08:29.356 --> 0:08:31.716 That's all we want to do. We want to find her. 0:08:32.716 --> 0:08:36.406 At the station, he said, Mitrice gave no indication of 0:08:36.466 --> 0:08:37.686 needing psychiatric help. 0:08:38.646 --> 0:08:42.666 She exhibited no signs of incapacitation whatsoever, no mental challenges. 0:08:43.266 --> 0:08:44.986 She was not under the influence. 0:08:45.306 --> 0:08:48.366 We gave her an extensive field sobriety test where the 0:08:48.546 --> 0:08:51.616 eyes are checked, where the pulse is checked. where this 0:08:51.716 --> 0:08:55.436 language is checked, where a person's physical abilities are checked. 0:08:56.536 --> 0:08:59.356 The jailer, he said, had offered Maitrese a bed in 0:08:59.396 --> 0:09:02.676 an unlocked cell and also told her she was free 0:09:02.736 --> 0:09:04.436 to wait in the lobby for a ride. 0:09:05.556 --> 0:09:07.796 And when she came here, the jailer, it was an 0:09:07.876 --> 0:09:10.556 African-American jailer, by the way, a woman who had been 0:09:10.596 --> 0:09:13.066 a jailer for 14 years with the L.A. County Sheriff's Department, 0:09:13.486 --> 0:09:15.486 talked to her at great length, visited with her, talked 0:09:15.526 --> 0:09:18.626 about music, jazz she liked, gospel she didn't. 0:09:19.006 --> 0:09:21.966 There was a lucid conversation. That jailer said, why don't 0:09:21.996 --> 0:09:22.536 you stay? 0:09:23.286 --> 0:09:27.346 A quick aside. A very senior member of the detective division, 0:09:27.666 --> 0:09:30.646 now retired, told me that one of the sheriff's department's 0:09:30.786 --> 0:09:34.846 biggest mistakes in the whole Mitrice-Richardson episode was that they 0:09:34.886 --> 0:09:39.216 didn't ask the Lost Hills jailer, Sharon Cummings, a black woman, 0:09:39.716 --> 0:09:43.596 to explain to the public why she'd been released. I 0:09:43.656 --> 0:09:47.316 wondered what Cummings would have said. She's also retired now, 0:09:47.556 --> 0:09:51.646 so I called her. The minute I said, Mitrice Richardson, 0:09:52.306 --> 0:09:57.676 she hung up the phone. At the press conference, Steve Whitmore, 0:09:57.876 --> 0:10:01.736 the Sheriff's Department spokesman, continued to defend the decision to 0:10:01.796 --> 0:10:02.916 let Mitrice leave. 0:10:03.896 --> 0:10:07.606 This is a 24-year-old adult who is fully cognizant of 0:10:07.626 --> 0:10:12.096 her surroundings and is is coherent to said extent. If 0:10:12.296 --> 0:10:16.776 we hold them against their will, it's called over-detention. You 0:10:16.796 --> 0:10:17.856 can't do that in America. 0:10:19.456 --> 0:10:24.016 But reporters pressed. Didn't the Lost Hills deputies have some 0:10:24.096 --> 0:10:27.856 responsibility to help her? Shouldn't she have been driven back 0:10:27.896 --> 0:10:28.376 to her car? 0:10:29.316 --> 0:10:31.256 If she had asked, sure. But let me, that's an 0:10:31.296 --> 0:10:34.316 interesting question. We did that before. We've been asked to 0:10:34.356 --> 0:10:35.556 do that. And we've done it. 0:10:36.136 --> 0:10:38.176 And then we've been disciplined for doing it. 0:10:38.686 --> 0:10:39.586 Taking somebody back. 0:10:39.726 --> 0:10:41.146 Exactly. Oh, yes. 0:10:41.666 --> 0:10:44.306 We've been, people, if it's late at night, if the 0:10:44.326 --> 0:10:47.126 situation warrants it, not only in Malibu, but any station. 0:10:47.766 --> 0:10:50.296 There's some, especially in some stations where, like Century, where 0:10:50.616 --> 0:10:52.096 there may be some danger. 0:10:52.396 --> 0:10:56.356 And I mean real danger. I mean, you know, real danger. Now, 0:10:56.396 --> 0:10:57.796 that doesn't say there's no danger here. 0:10:59.436 --> 0:11:02.376 It makes sense the Sheriff's Department didn't want to dwell 0:11:02.516 --> 0:11:07.776 on Mitrice's mental state. It might expose them to liability. Soon, 0:11:08.016 --> 0:11:12.396 Mitrice's family would sue the county for negligence, intentional infliction 0:11:12.416 --> 0:11:17.256 of emotional distress, and wrongful death. That claim ended in 0:11:17.756 --> 0:11:21.726 a $ 900, 000 settlement for the family. But for the LAPD, 0:11:22.066 --> 0:11:25.866 the lead agency tasked with finding her, Mitrice's mental health 0:11:25.966 --> 0:11:32.086 was becoming an important investigative angle. Not long after Mitrice's disappearance, 0:11:32.226 --> 0:11:35.626 detectives reached out to Hannah Parks, the woman she'd fallen 0:11:35.666 --> 0:11:39.246 for in the summer of 2009. She knew Mitrice was 0:11:39.326 --> 0:11:42.126 missing and was waiting anxiously for her to get in touch. 0:11:43.006 --> 0:11:45.866 In the back of my mind, I kept thinking maybe 0:11:45.926 --> 0:11:48.866 she'll pop up. Like I thought maybe she would just 0:11:48.986 --> 0:11:50.986 come to my house. I was waiting for her to 0:11:51.026 --> 0:11:54.566 kind of like reach out. I thought it was weird 0:11:54.586 --> 0:11:56.476 that she wasn't texting or calling, but then of course 0:11:56.506 --> 0:11:58.936 she didn't have her phone. But for me, in the 0:11:58.976 --> 0:12:02.856 back of my mind, of course I was concerned because 0:12:02.896 --> 0:12:06.716 I knew the mental state she was in. But I 0:12:06.756 --> 0:12:10.736 was like, she'll come over. Like, she'll pop up. 0:12:11.956 --> 0:12:15.826 She was startled to get a call from LAPD Robbery Homicide. 0:12:16.946 --> 0:12:19.606 They said, hey, we need to meet with you about 0:12:20.186 --> 0:12:24.506 the disappearance of my Therese Richardson. And we're on our 0:12:24.546 --> 0:12:26.066 way right now. And I'm like. 0:12:26.716 --> 0:12:30.336 I'm at work, and they're like, we don't care. Hannah 0:12:30.376 --> 0:12:32.716 called her mom, and together they went to meet the 0:12:32.776 --> 0:12:34.276 detectives at a Starbucks. 0:12:35.476 --> 0:12:39.156 They just asked me a bunch of questions about how 0:12:39.236 --> 0:12:45.526 I knew her, our relationship, things like that. And I 0:12:45.646 --> 0:12:47.126 asked them, why L.A. 0:12:47.126 --> 0:12:48.586 Homicide? 0:12:48.606 --> 0:12:55.566 Like, Why homicide? Because she's just missing, right? So shouldn't 0:12:55.586 --> 0:12:57.026 this be like missing persons? 0:12:58.966 --> 0:13:01.666 At first, Hannah felt like she might be a suspect. 0:13:02.756 --> 0:13:08.156 Then once they started talking to me more, I think 0:13:08.196 --> 0:13:13.016 they very quickly realized, like, I wasn't, I didn't have 0:13:13.096 --> 0:13:17.766 anything to do with it. Then they started trying to 0:13:17.806 --> 0:13:22.156 just get more information out of me regarding... my trees really. 0:13:23.676 --> 0:13:26.516 The detectives asked Hannah if they could look around her home. 0:13:27.596 --> 0:13:31.276 They ended up following me back to my apartment and 0:13:32.976 --> 0:13:35.396 I gave them like everything I had of my trees. 0:13:35.476 --> 0:13:41.256 So there was a couple of journals, some clothes. 0:13:41.516 --> 0:13:42.686 And just a few little things. 0:13:42.706 --> 0:13:44.546 Like I didn't have that much, but I gave them 0:13:45.066 --> 0:13:46.606 everything of hers that was at the house. 0:13:47.856 --> 0:13:51.236 Detectives also searched Mitrice's car at the tow yard in 0:13:51.276 --> 0:13:55.186 Malibu and recovered a black purse containing several more journals. 0:13:56.546 --> 0:13:59.766 According to her father, they also found her wallet underneath 0:13:59.826 --> 0:14:03.046 a seat. It contained a bank card connected to an 0:14:03.106 --> 0:14:06.966 account with plenty of money in it. The journals were 0:14:06.986 --> 0:14:10.586 handed over to Detective Chuck Knowles, one of the LAPD 0:14:10.666 --> 0:14:13.806 robbery homicide detectives who'd been assigned to take over what 0:14:13.826 --> 0:14:19.256 was still, officially, a missing persons case. Knowles had the 0:14:19.276 --> 0:14:23.836 journals analyzed by an LAPD psychologist who saw indications of 0:14:23.916 --> 0:14:28.666 severe bipolar disorder. From Mitrice's phone records, they determined that 0:14:28.706 --> 0:14:31.226 she had not slept for five days by the time 0:14:31.266 --> 0:14:36.886 she arrived at Joffrey's. Knowles now understood how acute Mitrice's 0:14:36.946 --> 0:14:40.446 mental illness was at the time of her disappearance. It 0:14:40.506 --> 0:14:43.956 was the very recognition her friends and family had hoped for, 0:14:44.496 --> 0:14:48.286 to add urgency to the search. but it had an 0:14:48.446 --> 0:14:53.956 unintended effect. Because now, the LAPD appeared to view her 0:14:54.096 --> 0:14:57.856 illness and erratic behavior as a likely explanation for the 0:14:57.896 --> 0:15:01.736 fact that she couldn't be found. Mitrice might have committed 0:15:01.796 --> 0:15:06.596 suicide or succumbed to the elements. Or, as Detective Knowles 0:15:06.716 --> 0:15:10.536 told the LA Times, she could have, quote, gotten herself 0:15:10.616 --> 0:15:14.546 into a comfortable relationship outside of her immediate friends and family. 0:15:16.506 --> 0:15:20.186 In other words, the cops were implying Mitrice had made 0:15:20.266 --> 0:15:35.516 herself disappear. One of the central mysteries of Mitrice's case 0:15:35.736 --> 0:15:38.756 is how she got from Lost Hill Station to Montanito, 0:15:39.416 --> 0:15:44.396 six miles in the dark. Law enforcement checked with local 0:15:44.436 --> 0:15:49.316 taxi companies. There was no record of her. Leaving Lost 0:15:49.356 --> 0:15:52.846 Hill Station, she would have, in all likelihood, walked east 0:15:52.996 --> 0:15:56.026 on Agora Road. In about a mile, she would have 0:15:56.066 --> 0:15:59.706 hit Las Virginas Road. To the left, past the McDonald's 0:15:59.726 --> 0:16:02.246 and a couple of gas stations, is the 101 freeway. 0:16:03.786 --> 0:16:06.566 To the right, the road takes you through Malibu Canyon 0:16:06.666 --> 0:16:10.466 to Montanito. If you keep going, you hit Pacific Coast 0:16:10.506 --> 0:16:14.206 Highway and the ocean. Was she trying to get back 0:16:14.246 --> 0:16:17.146 to her car? And had she really gone all that 0:16:17.216 --> 0:16:23.056 way on foot? As soon as Mitrice went missing, her 0:16:23.156 --> 0:16:27.336 inner circle began demanding documentation of her arrest and detention. 0:16:28.016 --> 0:16:30.676 More than anything, they wanted to see the video footage 0:16:30.896 --> 0:16:34.536 of Mitrice leaving Lost Hill Station. They wanted to see 0:16:34.616 --> 0:16:37.076 which way she walked, or if someone who had yet 0:16:37.096 --> 0:16:40.446 to come forward had picked her up. They were hoping 0:16:40.546 --> 0:16:44.386 for a clue. But they were told there was no videotape. 0:16:45.156 --> 0:16:47.256 At least, that's what they were told at first. 0:16:48.176 --> 0:16:52.296 That story changes. So originally, we were told there were 0:16:52.336 --> 0:16:53.076 no front cameras. 0:16:53.816 --> 0:16:54.096 Dr. 0:16:54.136 --> 0:16:55.056 Rhonda Hampton again. 0:16:56.296 --> 0:16:59.566 Every weekend, we were doing a search somewhere in some way, right? 0:17:00.206 --> 0:17:03.286 And so we kept coming back to how do we 0:17:03.326 --> 0:17:05.666 know that we're going in the right directions? So we 0:17:05.706 --> 0:17:07.946 were asking about the video so that we can see 0:17:07.986 --> 0:17:09.906 which way she walked when she went out the front door. 0:17:10.766 --> 0:17:12.926 And then they just denied that there was ever the 0:17:13.006 --> 0:17:14.006 existence of a video. 0:17:15.166 --> 0:17:17.546 When they presented the Sheriff's Department with a picture of 0:17:17.586 --> 0:17:20.826 the camera at the front of Lost Hill Station, the 0:17:20.866 --> 0:17:21.666 story shifted. 0:17:22.346 --> 0:17:24.626 We were told, oh, there are cameras, but it's recorded over. 0:17:25.826 --> 0:17:27.726 And then the story shifted again. 0:17:28.966 --> 0:17:31.026 And then the next one was, it's live, and so 0:17:31.786 --> 0:17:34.716 we don't record that. All three of those. 0:17:36.936 --> 0:17:41.116 The evolving answer did nothing to satisfy Mitrice's friends and family. 0:17:41.766 --> 0:17:44.626 and did everything to convince them that the sheriff's department 0:17:44.706 --> 0:17:51.436 was hiding information, to throw them off, on purpose. Eventually, Dr. 0:17:51.476 --> 0:17:54.456 Hampton says, she asked about the video in a meeting 0:17:54.516 --> 0:17:57.556 with Tom Martin, who was the captain at Lost Hills 0:17:57.596 --> 0:17:59.316 Station when Mitrice went missing. 0:18:00.536 --> 0:18:05.076 And then Tom Martin admitted at that point that he 0:18:05.136 --> 0:18:10.466 had the video, that he had had it, and that 0:18:10.486 --> 0:18:11.286 it was in his desk. 0:18:12.906 --> 0:18:15.866 So there was a video, and this whole time it 0:18:15.906 --> 0:18:18.666 was at the station, in the captain's desk? 0:18:19.306 --> 0:18:21.266 I mean, we were, it was pretty heated because it 0:18:21.306 --> 0:18:23.106 was like, wait, you lied all this time and said 0:18:23.126 --> 0:18:25.166 that there wasn't a video? You know, like, why would 0:18:25.206 --> 0:18:27.576 you hide it? He never answered that question. 0:18:28.576 --> 0:18:31.796 The impression that the sheriff's department was lying only deepened 0:18:31.956 --> 0:18:35.076 when Mitrice's friends and family actually got to see the video. 0:18:36.016 --> 0:18:39.136 It was screened for them with a homicide detective named 0:18:39.296 --> 0:18:43.396 Lieutenant Mike Rawson, who was assisting on the case. It 0:18:43.436 --> 0:18:47.296 showed my Therese inside Lost Hill Station, and contrary to 0:18:47.316 --> 0:18:50.296 what the sheriff's spokesman had claimed, she did seem to 0:18:50.336 --> 0:18:51.276 be acting erratic. 0:18:52.516 --> 0:18:58.416 From what I recall seeing on the video, she's placed 0:18:58.516 --> 0:19:05.106 in the cell with another woman, and she interacts with 0:19:05.126 --> 0:19:09.066 that woman a bit, and she's pacing back and forth, 0:19:09.146 --> 0:19:16.566 and eventually the woman... leaves. And so she's there by herself. 0:19:16.586 --> 0:19:18.956 And she goes up to the phone. She picks up 0:19:18.976 --> 0:19:21.516 the phone several times. She picks up the phone, puts 0:19:21.536 --> 0:19:26.996 it down, picks it up, puts it down. She starts 0:19:27.496 --> 0:19:30.716 swinging on the side of, so like the door and 0:19:30.756 --> 0:19:32.696 the jail has like a bar on it kind of. 0:19:32.736 --> 0:19:35.406 And so she starts swinging. You know how kids, you'll 0:19:35.426 --> 0:19:37.386 see them kind of doing it in like when they're 0:19:37.426 --> 0:19:41.046 in a crib. It's kind of doing that. And then 0:19:41.066 --> 0:19:44.176 my tree says, kind of sitting or laying like in 0:19:44.296 --> 0:19:47.916 fetal position on this like concrete bench. 0:19:49.236 --> 0:19:50.896 When it got to the part of the video where 0:19:50.916 --> 0:19:54.846 Mitrice was about to be released, Dr. Hampton watched attentively. 0:19:55.606 --> 0:19:58.706 This was the moment she'd been most focused on, where 0:19:58.726 --> 0:20:01.496 she might get to see which way Mitrice went, or 0:20:01.536 --> 0:20:02.626 if someone had picked her up. 0:20:03.776 --> 0:20:06.096 They're collecting her, and so they gave her this, like, 0:20:06.996 --> 0:20:09.756 it's like a clear baggie, right? And it has, like, 0:20:09.776 --> 0:20:11.416 her belt in it, her hat's in it. There's some 0:20:11.476 --> 0:20:14.976 other paperwork in there. And then she's putting on her 0:20:14.996 --> 0:20:19.476 items and... And then they walk her out. Sharon Cummins, 0:20:19.556 --> 0:20:23.736 the jailer, walks her out of the side door. And 0:20:24.136 --> 0:20:27.216 so when she opens that door, it's pitch dark so 0:20:27.236 --> 0:20:29.696 that when they both exit together after that, all you 0:20:29.716 --> 0:20:32.996 see is darkness. And then the screen goes black, right? 0:20:33.816 --> 0:20:36.186 At that point, when the screen went black, we kind 0:20:36.226 --> 0:20:37.446 of thought the video was over. 0:20:38.256 --> 0:20:42.066 But the tape was still rolling, showing the darkened exterior 0:20:42.166 --> 0:20:42.826 of the station. 0:20:42.846 --> 0:20:42.906 So. 0:20:45.586 --> 0:20:49.626 The guy who was showing us the film, um, I 0:20:49.646 --> 0:20:52.996 was sitting to his right. And so even though the 0:20:53.026 --> 0:20:55.606 screen was black, he looks over at me and he 0:20:55.656 --> 0:20:57.596 like nods his head. Like he's trying to get me 0:20:57.636 --> 0:20:59.716 to look at something. So I, you know, I just 0:20:59.736 --> 0:21:03.476 kind of look up and then Jonathan also looked up 0:21:03.616 --> 0:21:07.316 my Teresa's cousin. And he says, who's that? Because even 0:21:07.356 --> 0:21:11.616 though the screen was black at some point, um, So 0:21:11.656 --> 0:21:15.116 two minutes pass, but Sharon Cummins comes back and opens 0:21:15.156 --> 0:21:18.316 her door. And then at the same time, the deputy, 0:21:19.076 --> 0:21:21.816 a deputy leaves. Like, as soon as that door shut, 0:21:21.896 --> 0:21:22.756 the deputy leaves. 0:21:23.836 --> 0:21:26.426 They hadn't known that a deputy had left the station 0:21:26.586 --> 0:21:30.386 shortly after Mitrice. It seemed like the answer they'd been 0:21:30.426 --> 0:21:30.966 looking for. 0:21:31.766 --> 0:21:33.826 So then we're like, wait a minute, who was that 0:21:33.866 --> 0:21:37.946 who was leaving? I can tell that Lieutenant Rawson was 0:21:38.026 --> 0:21:41.596 very surprised. that there was more footage on that video 0:21:41.856 --> 0:21:45.126 because his face turned absolutely beet red. 0:21:47.646 --> 0:21:50.626 The Sheriff's Department claims that all the deputies working that 0:21:50.666 --> 0:21:53.956 night were accounted for, and a report from the Office 0:21:54.016 --> 0:21:58.696 of Independent Review, a civilian oversight group, concluded that deputies 0:21:58.716 --> 0:22:04.506 had acted lawfully in Mitrice's arrest and release. Still, over 0:22:04.546 --> 0:22:08.336 the years, many people have speculated that a deputy from 0:22:08.416 --> 0:22:12.296 Lost Hills Station might have picked up Mitrice, assaulted her, 0:22:12.636 --> 0:22:16.386 killed her, and dumped her body. Or that a deputy 0:22:16.426 --> 0:22:19.226 may have picked her up and assaulted her, causing her 0:22:19.266 --> 0:22:23.746 to flee into Montanito, where she died. There is no 0:22:23.946 --> 0:22:27.786 evidence to support either scenario, but it doesn't seem to matter. 0:22:28.636 --> 0:22:32.836 The Sheriff's Department's consistent impulse to shield themselves from blame 0:22:33.256 --> 0:22:38.356 made everything they did looked like a cover-up. Here's Michael, 0:22:38.536 --> 0:22:41.536 Mitrice's dad. This is from the first time I met him, 0:22:41.936 --> 0:22:44.636 almost five years ago, at an event being held on 0:22:44.676 --> 0:22:49.106 the 10-year anniversary of Mitrice's disappearance. He was firm in 0:22:49.166 --> 0:22:52.686 his belief that Mitrice's death was an inside job. 0:22:54.106 --> 0:22:56.946 So it was a cover-up from the time Mitrice was released. 0:22:57.616 --> 0:22:59.956 all the way up and still to now, to this day, 0:23:00.016 --> 0:23:03.136 it's still a cover up. And even though, you know, 0:23:03.296 --> 0:23:07.886 let's say, how can you 100% surely say it was 0:23:07.966 --> 0:23:10.646 a sheriff that did something to my trees? Well, it's 0:23:10.686 --> 0:23:14.586 very easy at this point in time. I'm not going 0:23:14.606 --> 0:23:18.326 to lie about something that I didn't do. If I 0:23:18.376 --> 0:23:23.336 didn't do it, here's all the information. And ironically, the 0:23:23.396 --> 0:23:26.926 same thing that The sheriffs expect for you to do 0:23:27.026 --> 0:23:30.066 as a witness. If you don't do it, you get 0:23:30.106 --> 0:23:34.486 arrested for it. So like saying withholding evidence such as 0:23:34.546 --> 0:23:37.186 a tape of a crime, guess who's going to jail? 0:23:37.626 --> 0:23:40.366 The person withholding, and none of them went to jail. 0:23:41.886 --> 0:23:46.486 With the help of Dr. Hampton, Mitrice's family asked then-California 0:23:46.586 --> 0:23:50.766 Attorney General Kamala Harris to open a criminal investigation into 0:23:50.806 --> 0:23:55.116 the conduct of sheriff's deputies. including Captain Tom Martin, for 0:23:55.156 --> 0:24:00.816 his possession of the videotape. In a 2016 report, Harris's 0:24:00.936 --> 0:24:05.496 office found, quote, it is entirely doubtful that Martin can 0:24:05.536 --> 0:24:09.696 be successfully prosecuted for concealment of evidence as the tape 0:24:09.856 --> 0:24:17.106 was preserved and its contents eventually produced, unquote. In the 0:24:17.166 --> 0:24:20.326 course of our reporting, we heard of two more irregularities, 0:24:20.766 --> 0:24:24.126 from very different ends of the spectrum regarding deputies and 0:24:24.166 --> 0:24:27.686 Mitrice at the time of her release. The first was 0:24:27.746 --> 0:24:32.636 from Shermaine Henderson, Mitrice's cellmate at Lost Hills. She said 0:24:32.766 --> 0:24:36.096 she was uncomfortable with the way Mitrice was released. Even 0:24:36.136 --> 0:24:38.116 though they were no longer in the same cell, she 0:24:38.136 --> 0:24:40.756 could tell that Mitrice was leaving the station without a 0:24:40.796 --> 0:24:44.296 ride after midnight. That seemed wrong to her. 0:24:45.076 --> 0:24:47.316 I guess they cited her out. But when you cite 0:24:47.336 --> 0:24:48.936 someone out, you still don't let them leave until midnight. 0:24:49.336 --> 0:24:50.776 They have a way to get somewhere. 0:24:50.796 --> 0:24:51.956 I mean, they. 0:24:51.906 --> 0:24:54.026 Can call a cab on their own, you know, something 0:24:54.046 --> 0:24:56.726 like that. You know, because it's in the middle of nowhere. 0:24:58.266 --> 0:25:01.006 But what she heard next actually gave her the creeps. 0:25:01.806 --> 0:25:04.316 What I was hearing, like, they were saying they would 0:25:04.376 --> 0:25:05.616 drop her off. 0:25:07.476 --> 0:25:10.996 One of the deputies, she said, offered to give Mitrice 0:25:11.216 --> 0:25:11.656 a ride. 0:25:12.756 --> 0:25:15.536 Yes, yes, one of the deputies. It was a male deputy. 0:25:16.026 --> 0:25:19.666 Did you think that was weird or inappropriate that he 0:25:19.726 --> 0:25:21.306 had offered to give her a ride? 0:25:21.346 --> 0:25:21.586 Yes. 0:25:22.146 --> 0:25:23.546