WEBVTT - 3. Call for Help 0:00:15.036 --> 0:00:31.516 Pushkin. September sixteenth, two thousand and nine, the day my 0:00:31.596 --> 0:00:34.716 Teres drove to Malibu, her long time off and on 0:00:34.796 --> 0:00:38.996 girlfriend Desiree Black, decided to do something drastic. 0:00:40.276 --> 0:00:46.916 That was the day that I had, I mean finally 0:00:46.956 --> 0:00:51.676 worked up the courage to try and like break it off, 0:00:51.756 --> 0:00:56.996 call it quits, but definitely was not brave enough to 0:00:57.036 --> 0:00:57.796 do that in person. 0:00:58.916 --> 0:01:00.316 She wrote my Teresa text. 0:01:01.236 --> 0:01:05.956 It went something along the lines of I love you, 0:01:06.036 --> 0:01:09.596 I care about you, but I don't think I can 0:01:10.036 --> 0:01:11.196 do this anymore. 0:01:12.276 --> 0:01:14.636 My Teres had been seeing Tessa on and off during 0:01:14.636 --> 0:01:17.396 her relationship with Desiree, and now she was head over 0:01:17.436 --> 0:01:21.596 heels for this new woman, Hannah Parks. Desiree was over it. 0:01:22.716 --> 0:01:25.876 I think that it really weighed on me that I 0:01:27.276 --> 0:01:34.516 had to share. So I text that and her response 0:01:35.396 --> 0:01:41.276 was definitely unexpected. Her response was just like, I love you, 0:01:41.356 --> 0:01:45.996 I totally understand you're an amazing person, and like all 0:01:46.036 --> 0:01:49.076 of the things that you don't want to hear when 0:01:49.956 --> 0:01:53.476 you're trying to break it off with somebody, like those 0:01:53.516 --> 0:01:55.436 are all of the things that I was getting. 0:01:56.356 --> 0:01:59.196 After she sent the text, Desiree, who was still a 0:01:59.236 --> 0:02:02.316 student at cal State Fullerton, had to go to track practice, 0:02:02.876 --> 0:02:05.276 but she thought about my tries the whole time. 0:02:06.436 --> 0:02:12.356 I mean, like immediately I regretted sending that text. I 0:02:12.436 --> 0:02:14.836 just didn't know how much I was gonna regret it, 0:02:15.596 --> 0:02:22.076 because that day she didn't come home, and that was 0:02:22.316 --> 0:02:23.876 definitely out of the ordinary. 0:02:24.676 --> 0:02:28.236 My Tree still slept over at desires occasionally, and she 0:02:28.436 --> 0:02:32.516 was expecting her that night. At seven pm, when she 0:02:32.556 --> 0:02:35.196 got out of practice, she started texting my Trees. 0:02:36.236 --> 0:02:41.596 She wasn't responding, and I just assumed that that was 0:02:41.636 --> 0:02:46.556 my own fault because of the text message that I'd 0:02:46.556 --> 0:02:49.836 sent out before I went to practice, which was we're 0:02:49.836 --> 0:02:54.276 not doing this anymore. I didn't believe me. I don't 0:02:54.596 --> 0:02:58.236 think that she believed me either, But that's. 0:02:58.156 --> 0:02:58.796 What I said. 0:02:59.996 --> 0:03:02.116 Do you remember making dinner that night and waiting for it? 0:03:03.036 --> 0:03:08.276 To be honest, that whole chunk of time in my 0:03:08.316 --> 0:03:13.836 life is just a blur, Like it was not a 0:03:13.876 --> 0:03:17.836 good time for me, and so I did cook dinner, 0:03:18.596 --> 0:03:24.116 But I can't say for sure, like what else I 0:03:24.236 --> 0:03:28.676 was doing besides like just kind of wondering where she 0:03:28.796 --> 0:03:29.236 was at. 0:03:31.676 --> 0:03:34.956 At seven pm, my treece was nowhere near Desiree's place. 0:03:35.556 --> 0:03:38.916 She was pulling into Jeffreys, an upscale restaurant on Pacific 0:03:38.956 --> 0:03:42.476 Coast Highway. My Treece would later tell the cops she 0:03:42.516 --> 0:03:45.756 stopped at Jeoffrey's because she saw the white fairy lights 0:03:45.876 --> 0:03:49.236 dangling from the trees. She parked in the valet lot. 0:03:50.036 --> 0:03:52.556 Her car was a beater, a ten year old Honda 0:03:52.556 --> 0:03:56.156 Civic with a jerry rigged ignition. She told the valet 0:03:56.196 --> 0:03:58.556 she was there to meet up with Hannah, Hannah with 0:03:58.636 --> 0:04:02.956 the tattoos. She walked past the hostess station to a table, 0:04:03.276 --> 0:04:08.756 smiling at everyone. She ordered a steak and an ocean breeze. 0:04:09.516 --> 0:04:12.716 Within two hours, deputies from Lost Hill Station would be 0:04:12.756 --> 0:04:15.436 at the restaurant, trying to figure out what to do 0:04:15.516 --> 0:04:18.396 with this charming young woman who couldn't pay her eighty 0:04:18.516 --> 0:04:22.116 nine dollars and fifty one cent bill. Where did she 0:04:22.156 --> 0:04:26.516 come from? That was easy. She was from Mars, she said. 0:04:26.916 --> 0:04:30.276 And what was she doing there? Well, she said sweetly, 0:04:30.956 --> 0:04:34.316 she was there to avenge the death of Michael Jackson. 0:04:40.396 --> 0:05:09.996 I'm Dana Goodyear and this is Lost Hills, Episode three, 0:05:10.716 --> 0:05:17.996 Call for Help. Hannah Parks says my Trees had been 0:05:18.156 --> 0:05:21.716 in a state of full blown psychosis for over a week. 0:05:23.276 --> 0:05:26.596 She'd lost her grasp on reality. For one thing, Hannah 0:05:26.596 --> 0:05:29.596 says she had no plans to meet My Trees at Jeffrey's. 0:05:30.116 --> 0:05:33.636 That was all in My Teresa's head. My Trees had 0:05:33.676 --> 0:05:37.436 been writing desperately in her journal about not sleeping, about 0:05:37.436 --> 0:05:42.076 being trapped in a never ending waking dream. When she 0:05:42.156 --> 0:05:45.996 got to Jeffrey's. She'd been awake for something like five days. 0:05:47.556 --> 0:05:50.476 Throughout the early morning hours and into the afternoon of 0:05:50.516 --> 0:05:54.316 September sixteenth, she'd churned out a steady stream of social 0:05:54.356 --> 0:06:00.356 media posts about her favorite subject, Michael Jackson. Her journals 0:06:00.356 --> 0:06:02.556 and messages in this episode are being read by an 0:06:02.596 --> 0:06:10.836 actor and have been lightly edited for clarity. One seventeen AM. 0:06:09.476 --> 0:06:13.996 Oh mg, Michael Jackson, I was your biggest fan in 0:06:14.036 --> 0:06:19.036 the world, but you already knew My Trees rich Ardson, 0:06:19.796 --> 0:06:23.076 It's all in the eyes of a believer slash child 0:06:24.076 --> 0:06:31.636 five thirteen AM mood Mike jack current mood crazy, I'm tired. 0:06:31.996 --> 0:06:37.036 I'm so tired. See me, somebody please, I'm here. Doesn't 0:06:37.076 --> 0:06:40.436 anyone hear me? Ghost? 0:06:41.356 --> 0:06:43.516 Eight forty seven AM. 0:06:43.556 --> 0:06:49.356 Princess Diana and Michael Jackson equal My Trees America's Princess. 0:06:50.116 --> 0:06:52.996 Long Live the King, she. 0:06:52.996 --> 0:06:55.276 Went to her job at the freight company owned by 0:06:55.316 --> 0:06:59.676 Tessa's family. She kept posting strange things all day long. 0:07:00.556 --> 0:07:04.116 With Michael's death, the legend is born that proof my 0:07:04.276 --> 0:07:07.316 playing tricks on me forgives that's father. 0:07:09.236 --> 0:07:10.036 The believers were there. 0:07:09.996 --> 0:07:16.036 Flash one thirty four PM two I equal six s's 0:07:16.396 --> 0:07:21.036 Michael Jackson's number one fan. I know it omd omz 0:07:21.396 --> 0:07:23.116 omz omd. 0:07:25.236 --> 0:07:28.476 According to law enforcement documents, while my Truce was watching 0:07:28.556 --> 0:07:30.956 a soap opera in the break room at the freight company, 0:07:31.476 --> 0:07:34.196 she thought that one of the actresses gave her quote 0:07:34.356 --> 0:07:37.516 a message from God telling her to go to Malibu. 0:07:38.516 --> 0:07:41.196 So she was acting strange at work. She wasn't, you know, 0:07:41.276 --> 0:07:43.996 getting her work done because my Truth was very efficient 0:07:44.076 --> 0:07:44.636 at her job. 0:07:45.556 --> 0:07:49.476 This is doctor Ronda Hampton. She's a psychologist my Trees 0:07:49.596 --> 0:07:52.076 interned for in college. 0:07:52.396 --> 0:07:55.356 It's almost like I saw her, what four days a week, 0:07:55.676 --> 0:07:57.276 and we would spend a lot of time together. 0:07:58.076 --> 0:08:00.956 She considered herself a mentor to my Trees. 0:08:01.436 --> 0:08:03.516 So, I mean a lot of our relationship was definitely 0:08:03.596 --> 0:08:07.316 about the work, but it was also about her future. 0:08:08.356 --> 0:08:11.356 Myce was doctor Hampton's intern in two thousand and seven. 0:08:11.396 --> 0:08:14.356 In two thousand and eight, and during that time, doctor 0:08:14.396 --> 0:08:17.156 Hampton began to notice a change in my Trees. 0:08:18.236 --> 0:08:20.516 That her symptoms were really subtle. You know, it wasn't 0:08:20.556 --> 0:08:24.436 anything that was bizarre. A couple times she would come 0:08:24.436 --> 0:08:28.876 in very disheveled or very angry sometimes, and I started 0:08:28.916 --> 0:08:31.836 to notice like a cyclical pattern to that, and it 0:08:31.876 --> 0:08:34.036 was almost like clockwork. I can tell, like every six 0:08:34.116 --> 0:08:37.236 or seven weeks, something's going to happen. You're gonna look 0:08:37.636 --> 0:08:38.396 not right right. 0:08:39.556 --> 0:08:43.196 She urged by Trees to get a psychiatric evaluation. This 0:08:43.276 --> 0:08:45.876 would have been at least a year before Hannah was 0:08:45.996 --> 0:08:47.556 urging her to do the same thing. 0:08:48.676 --> 0:08:52.836 We talked about specifically about bipolar disorder and about the 0:08:52.876 --> 0:08:55.596 treatment for that. And I mean she was very open 0:08:55.956 --> 0:08:59.596 to hearing that. And I know that she got evaluated, 0:08:59.636 --> 0:09:01.556 and I know that she went to the school counseling 0:09:01.596 --> 0:09:03.036 center at least on two occasions. 0:09:04.516 --> 0:09:08.676 Over time, my Teresa's condition grew noticeably worse, but no 0:09:08.676 --> 0:09:13.276 one Hannah seemed to really comprehend just how bad things 0:09:13.276 --> 0:09:19.516 had gotten. My Teresa's mother, Lettis, was preoccupied with marital problems. 0:09:19.836 --> 0:09:22.716 Although they later got back together in two thousand and nine, 0:09:22.756 --> 0:09:24.836 she and her husband Larry, were in the midst of 0:09:24.836 --> 0:09:28.476 a painful divorce, and she had Mia, her young daughter 0:09:28.516 --> 0:09:32.716 with Larry, to worry about. On the day of her disappearance, 0:09:32.836 --> 0:09:36.156 my Trees sent her mother some really confusing texts, which 0:09:36.236 --> 0:09:39.796 Lettis included in her memoir twelve forty eight. 0:09:39.836 --> 0:09:43.396 AM, I told you I would take care of everything, Mommy, 0:09:43.956 --> 0:09:44.476 I love you. 0:09:45.796 --> 0:09:47.636 Three oh four am. 0:09:48.156 --> 0:09:51.756 Did you know my name means behind every man is 0:09:51.796 --> 0:09:52.796 a strong woman? 0:09:54.556 --> 0:09:57.356 What have you taken care of? Lettis replied when she 0:09:57.436 --> 0:10:02.876 woke up my Rice, I'm not understanding. After my Trees 0:10:02.956 --> 0:10:06.516 left work, she didn't go straight to Malibu. She headed 0:10:06.556 --> 0:10:10.236 to cal State Fullerton. She was looking for one of 0:10:10.236 --> 0:10:14.236 her old psychology professors, someone she may have recently confided 0:10:14.276 --> 0:10:15.796 in about her mental problems. 0:10:17.076 --> 0:10:19.276 That professor was not in the office at the time, 0:10:19.316 --> 0:10:20.876 like I think, she may have been teaching a class, 0:10:20.916 --> 0:10:22.916 and so when my Chreece went in there, they said 0:10:22.996 --> 0:10:24.556 she's not going to be here for a few hours. 0:10:24.596 --> 0:10:27.076 And apparently from what I hear is my treet sat 0:10:27.076 --> 0:10:29.276 there and waited for the professor to come so for 0:10:29.796 --> 0:10:30.796 whatever amount of time. 0:10:31.676 --> 0:10:34.476 When the professor returned to her office, she found my 0:10:34.596 --> 0:10:38.716 Trees in an elevated state, talking excitedly about publishing her 0:10:38.796 --> 0:10:43.116 journals as a book. Recognizing something was wrong, the professor 0:10:43.196 --> 0:10:45.516 tried to find someone to help my Trees. 0:10:46.476 --> 0:10:51.476 And so that professor actually walked my Trees to another 0:10:51.516 --> 0:10:55.836 professor who was a clinical psychologist, walked her to that 0:10:56.116 --> 0:11:00.676 psychologist's office. And my Terce was apparently not happy with that, 0:11:01.116 --> 0:11:03.316 and so my Treece at that point said, well, I 0:11:03.356 --> 0:11:04.996 got to go. I'm going to go hang out with 0:11:05.036 --> 0:11:10.116 my friends, and so she ran off left campus. 0:11:10.236 --> 0:11:12.676 She stopped by her aunt's house, where she left some 0:11:12.716 --> 0:11:17.556 flyers advertising her go go dancing. Then she set out 0:11:17.556 --> 0:11:18.196 for Malibu. 0:11:19.316 --> 0:11:21.036 She did say the beach was calling her, so that 0:11:21.156 --> 0:11:22.916 was one of the things that she had said earlier 0:11:22.916 --> 0:11:25.276 in that day. I could see her driving out to 0:11:25.356 --> 0:11:27.956 the beach. She was familiar with Pepperdine because she was 0:11:27.996 --> 0:11:30.796 considering going there for grad school. I can't say whether 0:11:30.836 --> 0:11:33.156 she had ever eaten that Joffrees of before, I don't know, 0:11:34.036 --> 0:11:35.916 but I do know that she was familiar enough with 0:11:35.996 --> 0:11:38.836 how to get to Malibu and the beach. 0:11:39.836 --> 0:11:42.516 In her journals, my Terries wrote about the ocean as 0:11:42.556 --> 0:11:46.116 a place of healing, a place of calm, she was 0:11:46.156 --> 0:12:16.476 in pain and she thought Malibu would help. Can you 0:12:16.556 --> 0:12:20.036 settle a long running question for us, Why is it 0:12:20.076 --> 0:12:22.316 called Jeffrey's not Jeffreys. 0:12:23.356 --> 0:12:26.076 You give me times people have had that argument. Settle 0:12:26.076 --> 0:12:27.836 a bet, and I'm like, Okay, I know exactly what 0:12:27.916 --> 0:12:28.516 you're talking about. 0:12:29.356 --> 0:12:32.676 This is jeff Peterson. He owns Jeoffrey's Malibu. 0:12:33.756 --> 0:12:39.716 Jeoffrey and Harvey Baskin started Jeffreys in nineteen eighty three. Yes, 0:12:39.796 --> 0:12:44.836 it should be pronounced Jeffreys, but his name was Jeoffrey. 0:12:44.996 --> 0:12:47.956 Jeff lives in a big McMansion in Malibu. When I 0:12:47.996 --> 0:12:49.556 went to see him, he was in the middle of 0:12:49.596 --> 0:12:52.516 a divorce. The place was half empty, and his two 0:12:52.556 --> 0:12:56.076 gigantic dogs were jumping all over the place. He told 0:12:56.076 --> 0:12:58.156 me he came to la in the late eighties to 0:12:58.156 --> 0:13:01.916 be an actor and started busing tables at Jeffreys. Eventually 0:13:02.116 --> 0:13:02.956 he bought the place. 0:13:03.476 --> 0:13:07.316 Lucky for me, I'm a terrible actor. Fail at one 0:13:07.356 --> 0:13:08.996 thing to do well at something else. 0:13:10.956 --> 0:13:15.876 Jeffreys is a Malibu institution. I think tourists, aging celebrities 0:13:16.076 --> 0:13:19.716 and a few Malibu regulars sipping cocktails and eating food 0:13:19.796 --> 0:13:21.716 that hasn't changed since the eighties. 0:13:22.996 --> 0:13:25.596 Well, it sits along like a cliff overlooking the ocean, 0:13:25.956 --> 0:13:30.716 and it's surrounded by gardens and water fountains and fire pits. 0:13:30.996 --> 0:13:33.516 I mean, I was talking to Chuck Woolery one time, 0:13:33.556 --> 0:13:36.476 the old dating game guy. I was Love Connection, one 0:13:36.516 --> 0:13:39.196 of those things, and he was at the restaurant filming something, 0:13:39.276 --> 0:13:41.316 and he said, you know what, this was the number 0:13:41.316 --> 0:13:43.476 one place that men would always say they take their 0:13:43.556 --> 0:13:48.236 dates because it's so romantic and relaxing. So there's a 0:13:48.276 --> 0:13:51.436 lot of anniversaries and dates and birthdays and special occasions. 0:13:52.276 --> 0:13:55.516 It's a celebrity clubhouse. The art on the walls is 0:13:55.556 --> 0:13:58.836 made by patrons like Clint Eastwood and John Travolta. 0:13:59.796 --> 0:14:02.276 Yes, we get our celebrities. I used to wait on 0:14:02.676 --> 0:14:05.436 Redford back in the day. Nicest man in the world. 0:14:05.956 --> 0:14:09.076 What a class act. So we get a combination of both, 0:14:09.436 --> 0:14:11.476 and we get presidents. So we get. 0:14:11.316 --> 0:14:17.036 Everybody in depositions they gave later. Just about everyone who 0:14:17.156 --> 0:14:20.036 interacted with my Treece at the restaurant said they noticed 0:14:20.036 --> 0:14:23.596 that something was wrong with her. The valet, for instance, 0:14:24.156 --> 0:14:26.676 he says he found my Treees sitting in his car 0:14:27.156 --> 0:14:30.116 rifling through his CDs when he asked her what she 0:14:30.236 --> 0:14:35.956 was doing. She replied, it's subliminal, and the hostess, she says, 0:14:35.996 --> 0:14:38.036 my Trees got up from the table where she'd been 0:14:38.076 --> 0:14:42.316 seated alone and joined a party of seven. Hi, sorry, 0:14:42.356 --> 0:14:44.996 I'm late. Can I sit next to you? She asked 0:14:44.996 --> 0:14:49.076 one of the strangers. From what these witnesses said later, 0:14:49.436 --> 0:14:54.756 my Rice was pretty amusing, chatty, spirited, and zany, talking 0:14:54.756 --> 0:14:57.756 about her fascination with the number eight and her plans 0:14:57.756 --> 0:15:02.596 to move to Hawaii, and of course Michael Jackson. In 0:15:02.676 --> 0:15:06.836 her deposition, the hostess stated, quote, at this point, I 0:15:06.916 --> 0:15:09.996 did not make too much of the situation because during 0:15:10.036 --> 0:15:13.196 my time working in Malibu, I had encountered lots of 0:15:13.236 --> 0:15:17.916 people who were off in their behavior and personalities. Unquote. 0:15:19.356 --> 0:15:22.716 About an hour after my terse walked into Jeoffrey's, she 0:15:22.756 --> 0:15:27.236 walked out past the hostess stand to the valet. There 0:15:27.276 --> 0:15:33.116 was just one problem. She hadn't paid her bill. In 0:15:33.156 --> 0:15:36.356 his deposition, the manager says he confronted my Rise in 0:15:36.396 --> 0:15:39.276 the parking lot. When she said she couldn't pay, he 0:15:39.316 --> 0:15:43.276 took her back inside. He asked her to empty her pockets, 0:15:43.476 --> 0:15:45.716 thinking there might be a credit card or some cash 0:15:45.796 --> 0:15:50.476 in there. She pulled out a joint. Instead, the manager 0:15:50.516 --> 0:15:51.756 called Jeff, the owner. 0:15:52.796 --> 0:15:56.156 I can remember that night. I remember I was sitting 0:15:56.196 --> 0:15:58.956 on a couch, not this couch, but another couch right here. 0:15:59.356 --> 0:16:01.356 I was sucking a fair flew down. I had a 0:16:01.396 --> 0:16:05.196 cold for the best of my recollection. Calls me up. 0:16:05.556 --> 0:16:08.316 He tells me there's a lady there. They don't know 0:16:08.316 --> 0:16:11.956 if something's wrong with her, if she's mentally ill, if 0:16:11.956 --> 0:16:14.916 she's drunk, if she's high, she's only had one drink, 0:16:15.556 --> 0:16:18.556 and she's talking in gibberish, and he doesn't know what 0:16:18.636 --> 0:16:18.956 to do. 0:16:20.356 --> 0:16:24.196 According to law enforcement documents, when the manager confronted my 0:16:24.316 --> 0:16:28.036 Terse about paying her bill, she said quote that she 0:16:28.196 --> 0:16:30.516 was from Mars and that she was going to have 0:16:30.596 --> 0:16:32.396 sex with him unquote. 0:16:33.436 --> 0:16:36.116 So I think the managers, really they just wanted to 0:16:36.156 --> 0:16:38.796 help her, because the message I got from her was 0:16:38.956 --> 0:16:41.436 that she was a nice, sweet she wasn't threatening, she 0:16:41.516 --> 0:16:47.516 wasn't mean, but something was just very wrong. One of 0:16:47.556 --> 0:16:49.636 the concerns was that we couldn't let her go that 0:16:49.756 --> 0:16:52.756 night without calling for help, because if you let a 0:16:52.796 --> 0:16:56.476 person who's obviously something's wrong with them, and like I said, 0:16:56.516 --> 0:16:58.196 I didn't know if it was drugs or alcohol or 0:16:58.196 --> 0:17:01.156 mental illness. If you let a person go and give 0:17:01.236 --> 0:17:03.516 them their car keys and send them out under the 0:17:03.596 --> 0:17:07.316 road and they run over a child or hit a family, 0:17:07.916 --> 0:17:10.556 then people ask you the question and why do would 0:17:10.596 --> 0:17:11.516 you let this person go? 0:17:14.396 --> 0:17:17.676 At eight thirty pm, the manager told the bartender to 0:17:17.836 --> 0:17:20.636 call nine to one one. 0:17:20.156 --> 0:17:22.036 Loss Show Station deputy for Left I can help you. 0:17:22.236 --> 0:17:26.636 Hi, I'm calling from Jeffrey's Restaurant, Nalibu. We have a 0:17:26.836 --> 0:17:29.476 guest here who is refusing to pay her bill, and 0:17:29.916 --> 0:17:32.316 you think she may She sounds really crazy. 0:17:32.356 --> 0:17:32.796 She may be on. 0:17:32.836 --> 0:17:33.676 Drugs or something. 0:17:34.556 --> 0:17:35.716 We are wondering if something to come. 0:17:35.636 --> 0:17:38.836 By and pick her up in Is she a white, Black, 0:17:38.876 --> 0:17:39.676 Asian Hispanic? 0:17:40.036 --> 0:17:43.276 She's young black girls, probably in her twenties. 0:17:44.796 --> 0:17:46.716 Is she with anybody else, No, it's just her. 0:17:47.876 --> 0:17:52.356 Twenty minutes later, three Lost Hill's deputies arrived at Jeffrey's. 0:17:53.076 --> 0:17:57.996 Now the equation changed. The deputy searched my Teresa's car, 0:17:58.396 --> 0:18:01.316 supposedly looking for a form of payment, and found it 0:18:01.356 --> 0:18:05.356 was a mess full of CDs, clothes, and shoes. It 0:18:05.476 --> 0:18:08.276 was so bad they thought maybe she'd been living out 0:18:08.276 --> 0:18:12.276 of it, which was pretty accurate. In the trunk they 0:18:12.316 --> 0:18:15.636 found some handles, of vodka, a half drunk bottle of tequila, 0:18:16.116 --> 0:18:19.196 and half a case of beer, and between the two 0:18:19.196 --> 0:18:23.236 front seats they found a small bag of weed. The 0:18:23.316 --> 0:18:25.836 valet asked a deputy what was wrong with my Trees. 0:18:26.876 --> 0:18:30.196 He replied that she was quote a ding, which is 0:18:30.316 --> 0:18:35.476 cop speak for mentally ill. With the deputies, my Treuce 0:18:35.636 --> 0:18:41.076 was lovely. Later, according to investigation documents, they said that 0:18:41.156 --> 0:18:46.276 while she quote seemed slightly embarrassed, Miss Richardson was cooperative 0:18:46.436 --> 0:18:51.916 and polite unquote. The deputies gave her a field sobriety test, 0:18:52.476 --> 0:18:57.676 which she passed. My Trees was trained at keeping up appearances. 0:18:58.196 --> 0:19:00.476 She was afraid of what was happening to her mind, 0:19:00.956 --> 0:19:03.036 and she was in the midst of a crisis that 0:19:03.156 --> 0:19:06.516 was altering her sense of reality. When they asked her 0:19:06.556 --> 0:19:12.716 if she had a history of psychiatric problems, she said no. Still, 0:19:13.036 --> 0:19:16.036 she had to pay that bill. The hostess asked my 0:19:16.356 --> 0:19:19.596 Es if there was anyone she could call. My Rice 0:19:19.676 --> 0:19:22.916 gave her the number of her great grandmother, Mildred Harris. 0:19:23.676 --> 0:19:25.916 The hostess called her and asked her if she could 0:19:25.956 --> 0:19:28.076 come to the restaurant and take care of the bill. 0:19:29.156 --> 0:19:31.796 Jeoffrey's apparently had a policy, and they wouldn't take a 0:19:31.836 --> 0:19:35.036 credit card over the phone. I'm ninety one years old, 0:19:35.036 --> 0:19:39.836 Miss Harris said, I can't drive to Malibu. Then my 0:19:39.956 --> 0:19:43.636 Teres's mother, Latis, called the restaurant and spoke to a manager. 0:19:44.356 --> 0:19:48.236 Investigation documents state that Latisse told the manager her daughter 0:19:48.316 --> 0:19:51.316 had quote been spending time with persons of whom she 0:19:51.356 --> 0:19:54.756 did not approve end quote needed to learn a lesson 0:19:54.836 --> 0:19:58.916 and be taken to jail. My Teresa's offense, dine and 0:19:59.036 --> 0:20:04.036 dash or defrauding an innkeeper was misdemeanor petty theft. That's 0:20:04.076 --> 0:20:07.316 typically a citation, not a crime for which a person 0:20:07.396 --> 0:20:11.756 usually gets taken into custody. But the Jeoffrey's management didn't 0:20:11.756 --> 0:20:14.796 want my Trees leaving in her car. The cops told 0:20:14.796 --> 0:20:16.756 the manager that if he wanted them to take my 0:20:16.836 --> 0:20:20.156 Teres away, the manager would have to make a citizen's arrest. 0:20:21.636 --> 0:20:25.076 Here's how Jeff Peterson, the owner of Jeoffrey's, explains it. 0:20:26.356 --> 0:20:30.516 So what happened was and excuse my dogs there coming 0:20:30.556 --> 0:20:33.076 in the room now. The only way that we were 0:20:33.156 --> 0:20:36.076 able to get her help. The deputy told us, you 0:20:36.196 --> 0:20:37.836 have to charge. We have to be able to take 0:20:37.836 --> 0:20:40.996 her away on something because we didn't defrauding that came 0:20:41.036 --> 0:20:43.116 from them, So they told us, this is what you 0:20:43.156 --> 0:20:44.956 need to do for us to be able to get 0:20:44.956 --> 0:20:45.316 her help. 0:20:46.196 --> 0:20:50.076 There was another option, though, the deputies could have put 0:20:50.156 --> 0:20:54.276 my Rise on a seventy two hour psychiatric hold, also 0:20:54.476 --> 0:20:58.716 known as a fifty one fifty. Jeff says he had 0:20:58.796 --> 0:20:59.596 no idea. 0:21:00.516 --> 0:21:03.636 If I knew that there was other ways, like if 0:21:03.636 --> 0:21:05.156 she could be a charge on a fifty one to 0:21:05.156 --> 0:21:07.916 fifty and take infremntal evaluation and we didn't have to 0:21:07.956 --> 0:21:10.996 do that, then absolutely, why the heck would I want 0:21:10.996 --> 0:21:13.716 a charger because it has never been about eighty nine dollars. 0:21:14.636 --> 0:21:17.756 The Lost Tail's deputies executed a citizen's arrest on the 0:21:17.796 --> 0:21:20.956 dine and dash charge, and also charged my Trees with 0:21:21.036 --> 0:21:25.156 another misdemeanor for the pot in her car. Everyone, even 0:21:25.196 --> 0:21:28.836 her mother, seemed to agree she'd be better off in custody, 0:21:30.156 --> 0:21:33.756 so Anthony Lrero, the arresting officer, decided to hard book 0:21:33.796 --> 0:21:37.556 her at the Lost Tail Sheriff's station. The justification he 0:21:37.596 --> 0:21:40.396 gave his superiors is that he was worried about her, 0:21:41.036 --> 0:21:44.036 that she was quote a little ditzy, and he was 0:21:44.436 --> 0:21:49.156 uneasy about just letting her go. According to internal station 0:21:49.276 --> 0:21:53.156 correspondence written after my Trese was officially a missing person 0:21:53.396 --> 0:21:59.836 or MP quote, deputies uncomfortable with field release, no articulated reason, 0:22:00.076 --> 0:22:06.276 instinctive feeling concern for MP's welfare. Lrero put my Trease 0:22:06.316 --> 0:22:08.316 in the back of a squad car and they drove 0:22:08.436 --> 0:22:13.436 through Malibu Canyon to the station about thirteen miles away. Meanwhile, 0:22:13.636 --> 0:22:15.836 her car was taken to a tow yard near Pacific 0:22:15.876 --> 0:22:20.276 Coast Highway, where it was impounded. While my Trace was 0:22:20.316 --> 0:22:24.836 in transit, deputies were preparing for her arrival. One of 0:22:24.836 --> 0:22:27.556 the deputies who had responded to the Jeoffrey's call typed 0:22:27.556 --> 0:22:31.796 a message to another deputy over the interdepartmental computer system 0:22:32.236 --> 0:22:36.876 at station in fifteen refem search. He wrote, what'd you get? 0:22:37.076 --> 0:22:39.996 His colleague typed back, defrauding an innkeeper? 0:22:40.356 --> 0:22:40.796 Lol? 0:22:41.596 --> 0:22:45.516 What did she leave without paying? Tried but failed, then 0:22:45.556 --> 0:22:49.436 had no means to pay? Citizens arrest? Why didn't you 0:22:49.476 --> 0:22:54.316 help assist her out? This exchange is callous and it 0:22:54.396 --> 0:22:59.436 has uncomfortable racial undertones. My Trace was a black female 0:22:59.796 --> 0:23:03.956 alone and in crisis in Malibu. For many, her race 0:23:03.996 --> 0:23:06.436 would be the defining factor in what happened to her, 0:23:07.396 --> 0:23:11.076 she should have been granted extra protection. But that's not 0:23:11.156 --> 0:23:15.876 what happened. What happened is that sometime on that long 0:23:16.036 --> 0:23:19.756 dark drive from the restaurant to the station, the concern 0:23:19.836 --> 0:23:22.876 for my Teres's well being that had justified her arrest 0:23:22.956 --> 0:23:40.116 in the first place seemed to vanish. 0:23:40.196 --> 0:23:42.436 I am calling. I'm a little fred that right now. 0:23:42.756 --> 0:23:46.196 Understand my daughter is being brought into the station. My 0:23:46.316 --> 0:23:49.676 Terce richard'son. Has they made it to the station yet? 0:23:49.756 --> 0:23:50.876 And she's been booked? 0:23:51.836 --> 0:23:52.156 Okay? 0:23:52.236 --> 0:23:53.796 Is do you know where she's coming from? 0:23:54.956 --> 0:23:59.196 It's some restaurant out in Malibu and I didn't even 0:23:59.236 --> 0:24:00.796 think to get the name the manager. 0:24:01.476 --> 0:24:03.716 The only place we have somebody that's in custody that 0:24:03.756 --> 0:24:06.076 they just announced on the radio that they're coming up 0:24:06.076 --> 0:24:09.076 as from Jeffrey's in Jotha Highway. 0:24:09.836 --> 0:24:11.196 It's the only female. 0:24:10.876 --> 0:24:12.796 That's bringing brought up to the station as we speak. 0:24:12.836 --> 0:24:14.956 They actually just put it on the radio right before 0:24:14.996 --> 0:24:15.436 you call them. 0:24:16.196 --> 0:24:18.756 This is a recording of a call Latise Sutton made 0:24:18.796 --> 0:24:21.116 to Lost Hill Station on the night of the arrest. 0:24:21.636 --> 0:24:24.876 It was published on the Internet shortly after my Trieste disappeared. 0:24:25.836 --> 0:24:30.036 Okay, okay, I'm her mother, and are you guys want 0:24:30.076 --> 0:24:32.316 to book her and then release her on her own 0:24:32.756 --> 0:24:36.476 RECOGNI tonight because it's just dark. She doesn't have a car, 0:24:36.516 --> 0:24:39.396 and I don't want her wandering out. I'm totally just 0:24:39.716 --> 0:24:42.436 taken aback because it is so out of character for her. 0:24:43.076 --> 0:24:46.196 And you'll see when she comes in she's well spoken. 0:24:46.516 --> 0:24:48.236 I think the only way I will come and get 0:24:48.276 --> 0:24:50.236 her tonight is if you guys are going to release 0:24:50.236 --> 0:24:50.876 her tonight. 0:24:51.796 --> 0:24:56.116 It was already late, almost ten pm. Latis lived at 0:24:56.196 --> 0:24:59.516 least an hour away from the station. She and Larry 0:24:59.516 --> 0:25:02.076 weren't living together at the time, and she couldn't leave 0:25:02.116 --> 0:25:03.476 their daughter home alone. 0:25:04.316 --> 0:25:06.796 It's going to be held in custody for some type 0:25:06.796 --> 0:25:10.316 of arraignment tomorrow. Then I will wait until tomorrow. You 0:25:10.396 --> 0:25:12.596 definitely have no place, you know. I mean, she's not 0:25:12.716 --> 0:25:15.796 from that area, and I would hate to wake up 0:25:15.796 --> 0:25:19.076