Speaker 1: School of Humans. People often ask me why I choose
Speaker 1: certain cases even when I can't be sure that there
Speaker 1: will be a resolution. I believe that there's no substitute
Speaker 1: for on the ground investigation, and in my Teresa's case,
Speaker 1: I felt that the answers could not be found on
Speaker 1: Google Maps. No matter which road we take, it always
Speaker 1: leads back to Dark Canyon, where her skeletal remains were found.
Speaker 1: Because the crime scene was compromised, the location of the
Speaker 1: remains is one of the only clues that we have.
Speaker 1: We've established that she was seen at Bill Smith's house
Speaker 1: in Montinito, so I'm heading back to Calabasas this time
Speaker 1: with my producer Brandon. There are horse trails behind that property,
Speaker 1: so we've established how she could get from Monte Nito
Speaker 1: up to the beginning of the Backbone trail, but we
Speaker 1: still have not figured out how she got too Dark Canyon.
Speaker 1: That's the bottom line. Job, that's what we're trying to do.
Speaker 1: And you'll see and you can't really It's one of
Speaker 1: those things that you can't see and until you get
Speaker 1: up there and you're like, Okay, I get it. I
Speaker 1: think we're talking about because it seems you know it
Speaker 1: seems like it'd be an easy question to answer, and
Speaker 1: it's really not. Today's mission is to go down all
Speaker 1: of the possible trails that my trice could have gone
Speaker 1: down and see if there's anything that we missed. But
Speaker 1: the thing that really gets me is the fact that
Speaker 1: we like, since we started this, we know that she
Speaker 1: was alive that next day walking around during the day.
Speaker 1: So it's like if they had just looked for her,
Speaker 1: if they'd just looked and hadn't waited an entire day,
Speaker 1: they would have found her and she would be alive.
Speaker 1: And that's really sad. And finally we hope to get
Speaker 1: on the Malibu Canyon Ranch. I'm Catherine Townsend. This is
Speaker 1: hell and gone. We are right now. We are going
Speaker 1: up to the Backbone Trail, which is the public hiking trail.
Speaker 1: There's an access point and we're just gonna see if
Speaker 1: there's since last time we went down through the Creek
Speaker 1: bad We're gonna see if there's a way to get
Speaker 1: to the dirt roads that we just saw that seem
Speaker 1: to lead toward Dark Canyon. We're gonna see if there's
Speaker 1: a way to do that from the Backbone Trail. So
Speaker 1: we are still trying everything we can to find all
Speaker 1: the waves that my Trees could have used to get
Speaker 1: Dark Canyon, and to keep an open mind, we're asking
Speaker 1: again if my Trees could have died in the woods,
Speaker 1: could she have been hiking and fallen to her death?
Speaker 1: As the Sheriff's department suggested in the beginning, we hiked
Speaker 1: that route to see if it's possible. Tired, Okay, So
Speaker 1: here's there's where we are, right right, see where it's
Speaker 1: this Dark Canyon creek. Yep, Okay, that's where the remains are.
Speaker 1: We walked. We hiked all the way like almost there,
Speaker 1: so it looks like almost switchback like that. Maybe the
Speaker 1: second switchback you could get down, see, because that's where
Speaker 1: we were. We run that little got it, see that
Speaker 1: little sticking out thing, that's where we were. So you're right, yeah,
Speaker 1: it does look like if we continue down that dirt road,
Speaker 1: maybe there would have been away. But it was far.
Speaker 1: It was like it was like out there though. That's
Speaker 1: why I'm just thinking maybe, like, well, well Mike a
Speaker 1: little bit and see all right, the backbone trail zigzag
Speaker 1: through the Santa Monica Mountains. As Brandon and I climb
Speaker 1: higher and higher, it becomes harder and harder to imagine
Speaker 1: that my trees could have come this way. For one thing,
Speaker 1: she hated the woods, and according to her autopsy, she
Speaker 1: had no broken bones. If she did fall, her remains
Speaker 1: could not have ended up in the canyon, at least
Speaker 1: not from here. So once we get to about here,
Speaker 1: I just want to see, like, as we go along,
Speaker 1: is there any way other than what we did, which
Speaker 1: we already know we went down there and did it,
Speaker 1: that could have cut through. I think the answer is no,
Speaker 1: to be honest, But now we'll know for sure. The
Speaker 1: higher we climb, the farther away from the remains we got.
Speaker 1: We can't find any paths that deviate from this main
Speaker 1: trail that could have led my trees deeper into the canyon.
Speaker 1: And as soon as we were hiking almost a mile
Speaker 1: from the start of the trails into the woods, we
Speaker 1: could hear someone hammering on the top of the house.
Speaker 1: I was just gonnae on, there's someone on the roof. See,
Speaker 1: that's the other thing. So let's say she's back here
Speaker 1: during the day, walking around all day. It's like someone
Speaker 1: wouldn't have seen her. It's the other thing that I
Speaker 1: can't figure out like, that doesn't make you much sense
Speaker 1: to me. Anyway, what day was it? It was a Friday, Friday,
Speaker 1: so she went missing Thursday night. Friday was the day
Speaker 1: that she was seen in the morning for sure, and
Speaker 1: then they didn't start looking for her on Saturday, so
Speaker 1: you know all day. And also if you scream right here,
Speaker 1: somebody would hear you. If we're here on a Friday,
Speaker 1: which is the same day that she disappeared, and you know,
Speaker 1: the producer and I were here really almost on the
Speaker 1: day to the day when she disappeared. There aren't many
Speaker 1: people on the trail now, but this is I mean,
Speaker 1: you do run across people in this hiking trail. Every
Speaker 1: time I've been up here under normal circumstances, I've seen
Speaker 1: three or four people. So it just seems like more
Speaker 1: people would have seen her if she was out there
Speaker 1: for full twenty four hours. What does that make you feel? Like? Intuitively,
Speaker 1: I don't know. It makes me feel like she you know,
Speaker 1: whatever happened to her either happened really quickly. I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't know, maybe she didn't realize she was in
Speaker 1: danger until something like I guess what I'm getting at
Speaker 1: is if she fell or something like that it seems
Speaker 1: like someone would have hurt her. She was yelling for help,
Speaker 1: laying out there dying, right because like even I mean,
Speaker 1: I guess if she was I don't know though, who
Speaker 1: was hypothermic or something. Who knows. Maybe she didn't scream,
Speaker 1: that's the other thing. Like it possibly she's been out
Speaker 1: there for twenty four hours. Maybe hypothermia is a possibility
Speaker 1: because of the cloths being removed. But this is mild weather,
Speaker 1: this is really this is December. Yeah, Like probably the
Speaker 1: lows at night were in the fifties, so that would
Speaker 1: have taken some time. This doesn't make sense. And if
Speaker 1: it was hypothermia, we know she was seen in that morning,
Speaker 1: so that would mean that she pretty much had to
Speaker 1: stay out there that whole day and night with no
Speaker 1: one seeing her. I guess it's possible, but again it
Speaker 1: feels unlikely. So the backbone trail is looking less and
Speaker 1: less likely. It's super steep up here, and there's just
Speaker 1: no way to veer off and down into the canyon
Speaker 1: without falling off the mountain itself. Her falling, we're getting
Speaker 1: farther and farther away from the remains, actually, so yeah,
Speaker 1: my other producer, Gabby and I took another route down.
Speaker 1: When we went that way, we did make it to
Speaker 1: the site where my trees's remains were found. We walked
Speaker 1: through the area where the Backbone Trail begins, but instead
Speaker 1: of climbing up into the mountains, we went down into
Speaker 1: the creek off the trail and into treacherous territory. And
Speaker 1: I've said before that that wasn't really like a hike.
Speaker 1: It was like a mountain climb. And we decided in
Speaker 1: the end that it would have been very unlikely, basically
Speaker 1: impossible for my trees to have gone that way. It
Speaker 1: seems like it's easy to see how the landscape could
Speaker 1: get the better of someone. Oh, we almost didn't make it.
Speaker 1: I mean I'm not even exaggerate. And when I got out,
Speaker 1: I mean my legs, my ankles to my upper thighs
Speaker 1: were black and blue for weeks because it just from
Speaker 1: stepping in those dead falls and like getting stuck. And also,
Speaker 1: you know, I keep thinking, Brandon, if she did somehow
Speaker 1: stumble down there, why would she take her clothes off
Speaker 1: and just lay down and die like that doesn't make
Speaker 1: any sense to me at all. I mean, I was
Speaker 1: really scared in there at one point, I got really
Speaker 1: freaked out when we saw the hoses and realized that
Speaker 1: they were probably with their brother Cartel. That was really
Speaker 1: freaky and also the real you could there was no
Speaker 1: escape if something did happen you down there, because each
Speaker 1: side it's too steep to climb, and also it's it's
Speaker 1: all leaves and like, you can't scamper up the sides,
Speaker 1: and you can't go. You can't run, you can't run
Speaker 1: backwards ko forwards. Pretty scary. CEC and Ronda have also
Speaker 1: tried to assess the terrain around the ranch property. CEC
Speaker 1: sent me this video they shot while exploring the horse trails.
Speaker 1: It's the closest they've been able to get to the
Speaker 1: Malibu Canyon Ranch property. It's a little hard to understand,
Speaker 1: but here's what it is. Ronda indicates an entrance to
Speaker 1: the creek bed that's a little more direct. C C asked,
Speaker 1: could you carry a body that way? Is it? I
Speaker 1: don't think one person could do it. I mean I
Speaker 1: don't think one person can do it. Okay, So then
Speaker 1: that would be the quickest route to drag a body
Speaker 1: and drop, and it's most secure. This is the road
Speaker 1: that goes up to the Malibu Canyon Ranch, which is
Speaker 1: owned by Sus Randall. Now c C and Ronda haven't
Speaker 1: ever been able to get on the Randall property. The
Speaker 1: closest Ronda has ever come is actually the night my
Speaker 1: Teresa's remains were found. This is where the police set
Speaker 1: up one of their outposts. There's a big parking lot
Speaker 1: at the ranch. We've gotten information from several sources that
Speaker 1: there may have been people working there during the time
Speaker 1: my Terse went missing, possibly security people or someone associated
Speaker 1: with a production, maybe even someone in law enforcement working
Speaker 1: security off duty. Could one of them have encountered my
Speaker 1: trees at some point. Now there is no evidence that
Speaker 1: the people living here had any connection to my Teresa's disappearance,
Speaker 1: but this property could be a major piece of the
Speaker 1: puzzle because of the GPS coordinates of my Teres's clothing.
Speaker 1: The coordinates placed each piece of clothing closer and closer
Speaker 1: to the house. The belt was the closest. It was
Speaker 1: found just five hundred feet from the house. And remember
Speaker 1: no tests have ever been done on this clothing, which
Speaker 1: was relatively intact for having been out in the elements
Speaker 1: for as long as eleven months. This property seemed like
Speaker 1: it could have been a logical place for my trees
Speaker 1: to end up, or at least to pass through on
Speaker 1: her way into the canyon. The fact that her remains
Speaker 1: were found just point two miles from the property is
Speaker 1: something I've heard a lot over the years, but that
Speaker 1: can also be misleading. Yeah, so I mean, yes, as
Speaker 1: you were saying, you can look at an aerial map
Speaker 1: and say, oh, it's only you know, point two miles
Speaker 1: from sort of the backbone trail the back of that
Speaker 1: property to the remains. It seems like it's a straight line.
Speaker 1: Why couldn't she have walked it? And then you get
Speaker 1: out here and you look at this terrain and it's
Speaker 1: it's mountains and huge drop offs, and it's sort of
Speaker 1: like it's point two miles as the crow flies. But
Speaker 1: I'm not a crow and I don't have wings, and
Speaker 1: I can't jump across the hut. That's one of my
Speaker 1: favorite expressions in Arkansas. Oh it's only twenty miles as
Speaker 1: the crow flies. And I'm like, yeah, and how does
Speaker 1: that help me? So it's four hours in a car
Speaker 1: because I don't have wings. There's a sign here that
Speaker 1: says no trespassing, but I still need to get closer
Speaker 1: to the ridge. So we're going to have to get
Speaker 1: even more creative with how we get to the ranch.
Speaker 1: From day one, the day my Terse went missing, her
Speaker 1: father Michael, made it clear that he didn't trust the police.
Speaker 1: He remembers the day he got the call about her disappearance.
Speaker 1: I went to work one morning and a young lady
Speaker 1: I worked with and she she calls me and she says, hey, Mike,
Speaker 1: you know I got two messages from your daughter's mother.
Speaker 1: She says, call her. And I looked at her and
Speaker 1: she has this look of seriousness of those things that
Speaker 1: I had never personally seen. So she's like, I'm serious
Speaker 1: like and I was like, well, now I'm a little
Speaker 1: nervous because her mother doesn't call me like that, And
Speaker 1: so I immediately went to go call her, and she
Speaker 1: had beat me to it. Her mother. They called me
Speaker 1: again and she says, Mike, you know, I think my
Speaker 1: Terse is mensing. And I'm like, what are you talking about?
Speaker 1: You know, what do you mean you think? And so
Speaker 1: she told me everything that happened, and I said, okay,
Speaker 1: well before we jumped to conclusions, let me call the
Speaker 1: precinct and let me see if I can talk to
Speaker 1: some people or whatever. Michael then called the Lost Hills
Speaker 1: Sheriff station and talked with Sharon Cummings, the jailer. I said, so,
Speaker 1: you know, if why, why would you guys release her
Speaker 1: like that? You know, I just don't understand. She's like, well,
Speaker 1: we were overcrowded and we were overpopulated. We needed to
Speaker 1: make room. And I said, well, you so you would
Speaker 1: then just release her in the middle of the night
Speaker 1: in a wild like that. Her response was, well, We're
Speaker 1: not no goddamn babysitting organization, so it was time for her.
Speaker 1: Oh so I said, wow, okay, well, thank you for that.
Speaker 1: And when that got out, a lady that was actually
Speaker 1: in jail that night with My Trees got in touch
Speaker 1: with us. I said, that place you could hear a
Speaker 1: pin drop, It was not crowded. She's lying, and I'm like, wow,
Speaker 1: you know, So that that started it right then and
Speaker 1: there that we knew something was wrong because they were
Speaker 1: everything that they were telling us. It was totally the
Speaker 1: opposite of everything. Before My Trees's remains were found in
Speaker 1: August twenty ten, both her father, Michael and her mother
Speaker 1: Latis filed lawsuits against the Sheriff's Department, Los Angeles County
Speaker 1: and several officers who were on duty the night my
Speaker 1: Trees was arrested. Hired an attorney, Leo Terrell. Terrell focuses
Speaker 1: on civil rights. He's also hosted a talk show on
Speaker 1: AM Radio in Los Angeles. Today at nine o'clock, we
Speaker 1: follow a lawsuit, a lawsuit against the sheriff Department, the
Speaker 1: County of Los Angeles, and nine officers of the LA
Speaker 1: County sheriff Department. On June twenty ninth, twenty ten, Leo
Speaker 1: Terrell with Latissa Ronda held a press conference to announce
Speaker 1: the lawsuit, which would span over five hundred pages. And
Speaker 1: we sued the LA County for one reason. They are
Speaker 1: responsible for the missing status of Miitrice Richardson. Now, the
Speaker 1: sad part about it is this should not have happened,
Speaker 1: and the LA County Sheriff Department was grossly negligent and
Speaker 1: the officers on that shift grossly negligent in allowing her
Speaker 1: to lead and walk out without any form of communication
Speaker 1: with her family or friends. I would submit to you
Speaker 1: that if my Treece Richardson's name was Lindsay Lohan or
Speaker 1: Britney Spears, she would not have been afforded the same
Speaker 1: treatment she would have been treated with royalty with a
Speaker 1: car now. The lawsuit alleged that the police were responsible
Speaker 1: for my Teres's wrongful death due to what they called
Speaker 1: negligence and the fact that they did not take any
Speaker 1: action to evaluate her mental state. It is also quite
Speaker 1: important to know that the gist of this lawsuit talks
Speaker 1: about the mental disability that my Trees Richardson had that
Speaker 1: night and forms the basis for why the shriff department
Speaker 1: was negligent. The sheriff Department should have held my Trees Richardson,
Speaker 1: and they had the obligation to hold My Trees Richardson,
Speaker 1: not only as a fifty one to fifty case which
Speaker 1: gives them the three day hold, but under the American
Speaker 1: with Disabilities Act, a civil rights violation. Later, Michael and
Speaker 1: Latissa's lawsuits were consolidated into one. They alleged that the
Speaker 1: Lost Hills deputies had failed in their duty of care
Speaker 1: to my Trees. The lawsuits alleged that the Lost Hills
Speaker 1: deputies had failed to get medical assistance from my Trees
Speaker 1: despite her bizarre behavior before releasing her in the middle
Speaker 1: of the night. We're also alleging in our lawsuit there
Speaker 1: was an offer to pay that bill. My Treece Richeson
Speaker 1: should not have been arrested. There was a willingness and
Speaker 1: an offer to pay the bill. The sheriff department knew
Speaker 1: that the restaurant knew that the grandmother said we will
Speaker 1: pay the bill. Joffrey and the sheriff Department failed to
Speaker 1: recognize that. I am going to find out from Joffrey's
Speaker 1: if they ever allowed any other person to say, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: we'll let someone come by and pay the bill for you,
Speaker 1: because I find it unusual for them to refuse payment.
Speaker 1: I don't understand that the legal battle only intensified after
Speaker 1: my Trece's remains were found. Later additions to the lawsuit
Speaker 1: alleged that the LASD had moved the body against the
Speaker 1: wishes of the coroner, which would make it difficult, if
Speaker 1: not impossible, to determine a cause of death. Deputies denied
Speaker 1: the charges of unlawful misconduct. The community officer Steve Whitmore
Speaker 1: said in two thousand and nine they had no reason
Speaker 1: to hold my Trees, and here reiterated that doing so
Speaker 1: would have been a civil rights violation. Terrell made it
Speaker 1: clear that Latis was frustrated at what she saw as
Speaker 1: stonewalling by the LAPD, so the lawsuit was away for
Speaker 1: the family to finally be allowed to grill every single
Speaker 1: officer who had been on duty that night. They wanted answers,
Speaker 1: and they clearly felt that taking the case public through
Speaker 1: a civil lawsuit was the only way that they were
Speaker 1: going to get them. This magical lawsuit will allow me
Speaker 1: to interview the polls, examine every single officer that night.
Speaker 1: In twenty eleven, a year after my Chase was found,
Speaker 1: the depositions began. The result of these depositions was a
Speaker 1: long list of disputed facts. Michael Richardson filed one hundred
Speaker 1: and seventy two pages filled with points of contention between
Speaker 1: the LAS and my Teresa's family. A lot of the
Speaker 1: argument seems to be boiling down to the fact that
Speaker 1: diners at the restaurant and Geoffrey's staff told police multiple
Speaker 1: times that they were concerned about my Teresa's mental state,
Speaker 1: but the police didn't seem to do anything. A handful
Speaker 1: of the disputes that Michael outlined read the court should
Speaker 1: exercise its discretion when considering evidence where a defendant is
Speaker 1: the only witness to the fact, and Miss Richardson is
Speaker 1: not alive to provide her recollection of events. Let me
Speaker 1: close by saying this, This lawsuit, unfortunately is necessary. It's painful.
Speaker 1: It's difficult to allege the claims that we have in here.
Speaker 1: There's one claim that we have in here that hurts
Speaker 1: this sudden. It hurts me as a lawyer. It's the
Speaker 1: last claim, wrongful death. The fact that she's been missing,
Speaker 1: the lack of information, the degree of difficulty to include
Speaker 1: that as one of the claims is hurtful and painful
Speaker 1: to the mother. But it's necessary. So the depositions did
Speaker 1: nothing to repair the family's relationship with police. In fact,
Speaker 1: they did the opposite, and in the end, a lot
Speaker 1: of their questions were still unanswered. Neither Michael nor Latise
Speaker 1: ended up going to court. Mi Teresa's parents received a
Speaker 1: joint settlement from the Sheriff's department. Michael said to the
Speaker 1: La Times, in my eyes, as a father, I didn't
Speaker 1: receive justice. My daughter's killer is still out there. The
Speaker 1: settlement from the Sheriff's department was nine hundred thousand dollars.
Speaker 1: Michael and Latis reportedly split the money. Michael later said
Speaker 1: that about half of his money went to attorneys. But well,
Speaker 1: I mean, even if you were just a mixed up traveler,
Speaker 1: you drive up there and you go, oh hey, except
Speaker 1: we've been contacting them like for weeks. That's true. That's
Speaker 1: the only thing. So if we do it, I think
Speaker 1: we'll have to pretend to be a different type of shoot,
Speaker 1: got it, which I'm fine with. Okay. On our hike
Speaker 1: out on the Backbone Trail, Brandon and I were talking
Speaker 1: about different ways we could use to get onto the
Speaker 1: Malibu Canyon Ranch property without being suspected that were the
Speaker 1: podcast crew. We've reached out to them over email, on
Speaker 1: the phone, and through their website without any luck. But
Speaker 1: I need to get onto that property to figure out
Speaker 1: if my trees could have gotten into Dark Canyon that way.
Speaker 1: Listeners of this podcast, I know that I'm an investigative
Speaker 1: journalist and a licensed private investigator. There are definitely a
Speaker 1: lot of similarities between being an investigative journalist and a
Speaker 1: private investigator, but there are also some big differences. As
Speaker 1: a journalist, I've been taught to always be upfront and
Speaker 1: clear and identify myself except in exceptional circumstances. But as
Speaker 1: a PI, lying is not only okay, sometimes it's encouraged.
Speaker 1: It was actually a question on my California PI exam.
Speaker 1: It said lying is fill in the blank. The choices
Speaker 1: were something like always wrong okay in some circumstances, but
Speaker 1: actually the correct answer was encouraged. Really, there are only
Speaker 1: a few rules to follow. One, don't impersonate someone in
Speaker 1: a place of authority, like a police officer or a doctor. Also,
Speaker 1: don't impersonate a real person. So over the years, I've
Speaker 1: developed quite a few aliases, some of them even had
Speaker 1: their own social media profiles. I've also gone under cover
Speaker 1: once I pretended to be a member of a tennis
Speaker 1: club in the Hamptons, even though I can't really play tennis.
Speaker 1: I don't choose alias as often under normal circumstances. I'm
Speaker 1: very open about who I am and what I'm doing.
Speaker 1: I think in general that's the best way to get
Speaker 1: information from people. But sometimes as a last resort we
Speaker 1: do need to resort to some subterfuge, And in my
Speaker 1: Teresa's case, we have written a letter to the people
Speaker 1: who own the land. We've reached out over social media
Speaker 1: and asked to go on the property, and we haven't
Speaker 1: gotten anything back. But last week, when I was scouring
Speaker 1: online desperate for some kind of a break in the case,
Speaker 1: I found out that the house on Payuma Road, the
Speaker 1: private address where police started the height to my Teres's remains,
Speaker 1: is actually on Airbnb. We need to figure out if
Speaker 1: there is any way that my Trees could have hiked
Speaker 1: to the Dark Creek area on her own, and if not,
Speaker 1: we hope that we'll find something along the way that
Speaker 1: could tell us who or what she may have encountered there.
Speaker 1: So we booked a reservation for two nights, so as
Speaker 1: this episode comes out, we'll be on that property at
Speaker 1: the ranch, surveying the ridge and heading up into the mountains,
Speaker 1: hopefully getting some answers. We'll have that next week, which
Speaker 1: is also our last episode for this season. I'm Katherine Townsend.
Speaker 1: This is Helen Gone. Helen Gone is the production of
Speaker 1: School of Humans and iHeartRadio. It's written and narrated by me,
Speaker 1: Catherine Townsend. Our producers are Gabby Watts, Taylor Church, and
Speaker 1: James Morrison. Music is by Ben Sale. Mix is by Tunewelders.
Speaker 1: Our executive producers are Brandon Barr, Elsie Crowley, and Brian Lavin.
Speaker 1: Special Thanks to Chipcroft for use of footage from his
Speaker 1: documentary Boss Compact M School of Humans. School of Humans,