WEBVTT - Where is Mitrice? 0:00:07.605 --> 0:00:15.645 A school of humans. What one technological advancement do you 0:00:15.725 --> 0:00:21.005 wish had never been invented? Cell phones. In two thousand 0:00:21.045 --> 0:00:24.685 and seven, my Teres Richardson participated in the Miss Fullerton 0:00:24.725 --> 0:00:29.165 Beauty pageant. That's Fullerton, California, just south of Los Angeles. 0:00:29.325 --> 0:00:34.205 Although when you're stranded, they help contact your family and 0:00:34.325 --> 0:00:36.845 the need of a spare tire or just in any 0:00:36.885 --> 0:00:40.085 need of emergency, but they also cause a lot of accidents, 0:00:40.085 --> 0:00:42.845 and they cause a lot of friendships from forming, because 0:00:43.045 --> 0:00:44.645 as soon as people get out of class, the first 0:00:44.645 --> 0:00:46.325 thing they want to do is talk on their cell phones. 0:00:46.405 --> 0:00:49.325 So I just wish that cell phones would be limited 0:00:49.405 --> 0:00:54.645 to just emergencies only. She's wearing a dazzling beige ball 0:00:54.685 --> 0:00:57.925 gown and glides across the stage to Frank Sinatra's The 0:00:57.965 --> 0:01:01.725 Way You Look Tonight. She's funny, beautiful, and has an 0:01:01.765 --> 0:01:09.165 electric smile. Two years later, her family released this pageant 0:01:09.205 --> 0:01:11.605 video to show the public what my Terse looks like, 0:01:12.165 --> 0:01:16.325 how she talks, how she walks. Because my Terse is missing, 0:01:17.565 --> 0:01:21.645 desperate for answers, friends and family had begun to retrace 0:01:21.805 --> 0:01:26.365 my Teresa's steps. I'm Catherine Townsend and this is hell 0:01:26.445 --> 0:02:03.245 and gone. It's five thirty five am on September seventeenth, 0:02:03.365 --> 0:02:07.285 two thousand and nine, and Teresa's mother, Latisse, is terrified. 0:02:07.925 --> 0:02:10.245 She called the Lost Hills Sheriff station at around four 0:02:10.405 --> 0:02:13.165 thirty am to ask about my Teresa's bail and to 0:02:13.205 --> 0:02:15.805 make arrangements to pick up her daughter, only for the 0:02:15.885 --> 0:02:18.405 jailer to tell her that my Teres had been released 0:02:18.525 --> 0:02:23.565 hours earlier laus Hield Station bomb gardener. So Latis called 0:02:23.605 --> 0:02:26.405 back and was connected to another officer. Yes, hi, my 0:02:26.485 --> 0:02:28.725 name is Latista, and I called not too long ago 0:02:28.805 --> 0:02:32.125 regarding my daughter. My Trees rook at this Latista's telling 0:02:32.205 --> 0:02:34.805 him that her daughter was forty miles from home and 0:02:34.845 --> 0:02:37.925 depressed and had no way home and no knowledge of 0:02:37.925 --> 0:02:40.925 the area. She doesn't know the area. She's never been 0:02:40.965 --> 0:02:45.325 in your area. Where does she live? He is unfamiliar 0:02:45.365 --> 0:02:48.205 with that area. Do you think that possibly could have 0:02:48.205 --> 0:02:52.605 gotten a bus home? And oh, listen, my Chad has 0:02:52.685 --> 0:02:55.565 never ridden a bus. No, she would not know how 0:02:55.605 --> 0:02:59.605 to ride a bus. I would probably wait till, you know, 0:03:00.365 --> 0:03:03.045 early this morning, and if she doesn't turn up, you 0:03:03.045 --> 0:03:07.925 can certainly call. I don't suspect anything bad happened. The 0:03:08.005 --> 0:03:10.205 officer she was on the phone with said she should 0:03:10.205 --> 0:03:12.805 wait a few hours before filing a missing person's report. 0:03:13.405 --> 0:03:15.325 We heard part of that phone call at the end 0:03:15.365 --> 0:03:17.925 of the last episode, but the rest of it is 0:03:17.965 --> 0:03:22.125 even more heartbreaking. I'm concerned because, well, first of all, 0:03:22.165 --> 0:03:25.045 I thought they were going to keep her overnight because 0:03:25.045 --> 0:03:31.565 she was highly intoxicated. Something, something is obviously going on 0:03:31.645 --> 0:03:35.405 with her. Have you tried to the jailer and yes, yes, yes, 0:03:35.565 --> 0:03:37.885 yes I have. He said he tried to get her 0:03:37.885 --> 0:03:40.085 to stable. Because she was an adult, they had to 0:03:40.165 --> 0:03:44.005 let her go. I believe that she is highly depressed, 0:03:44.965 --> 0:03:52.045 and she she's in a depressive state. You know, it 0:03:52.045 --> 0:03:55.245 could be possible that maybe she I mean, there's a 0:03:55.245 --> 0:03:58.365 lot of options and a lot of possibilities, and I 0:03:58.365 --> 0:04:02.885 don't think all of them would be, you know, something dire. 0:04:03.285 --> 0:04:06.685 But I can certainly understand and your fears, you know, 0:04:07.325 --> 0:04:11.005 being your daughter and all that. Well, I think she's suppressed. 0:04:11.125 --> 0:04:16.925 That's what happens. That's worth than just okay. That and 0:04:16.965 --> 0:04:19.165 the fact that she's in an area where she doesn't 0:04:19.485 --> 0:04:23.405 know where she's at. It doesn't take medication at all. No, 0:04:24.725 --> 0:04:27.205 I believe it's a state that she's in, right now 0:04:27.245 --> 0:04:33.045 because of just the weird activities to speaking what's name 0:04:33.565 --> 0:04:43.645 her name is, Latise is growing more and more alarmed 0:04:43.885 --> 0:04:46.645 that the police don't seem to be doing more. Her 0:04:46.725 --> 0:04:49.365 daughter had been out of jail for hours and no 0:04:49.405 --> 0:04:53.125 one had heard from her. Why didn't they seem to care? 0:04:59.725 --> 0:05:04.005 By Friday morning, she was getting desperate. That's when Latis 0:05:04.005 --> 0:05:09.365 called doctor Ronda Hampton. So she went missing, you know, 0:05:09.485 --> 0:05:12.805 technically at twelve twenty eighth on Thursday. And her mom 0:05:12.965 --> 0:05:16.325 called me on Friday and she was just asking me 0:05:16.365 --> 0:05:19.845 if my Trees had contacted me or if she had 0:05:19.885 --> 0:05:22.605 seen by the office or something like that, and then 0:05:22.605 --> 0:05:24.325 she kind of explained to me what was going on. 0:05:25.405 --> 0:05:28.285 Ronda and Latisse had gone through my Teresa's social media 0:05:28.845 --> 0:05:33.645 and what they found was disturbing. Ronda called the police 0:05:34.045 --> 0:05:38.325 and insisted that the situation was urgent. Latis and Ronda 0:05:38.405 --> 0:05:41.325 re emphasized to the police that they believed my Trees 0:05:41.405 --> 0:05:44.405 may be experiencing some sort of mental health issue. They 0:05:44.445 --> 0:05:48.405 couldn't wait any longer. They needed to look for my trees. Now, 0:05:48.965 --> 0:05:51.365 did they start searching right away or how long did 0:05:51.405 --> 0:05:54.885 it take them to start searching? So what happened was, 0:05:55.125 --> 0:05:59.605 and they claim that they searched that same day, although 0:05:59.645 --> 0:06:02.245 none of the neighbors would call that happening at all. 0:06:02.965 --> 0:06:07.965 So I when I talked to it was LAPD of 0:06:08.045 --> 0:06:10.285 a case at this time. When I talked to the LAPD, 0:06:10.525 --> 0:06:13.725 they weren't planning on doing a search. Basically, she told 0:06:13.765 --> 0:06:16.925 me that we needed to have some compelling information to 0:06:16.965 --> 0:06:19.805 secure the funds to do a search. So, you know, 0:06:19.845 --> 0:06:22.205 I went back and forth with the detective from LAPD 0:06:23.085 --> 0:06:25.405 and then eventually, I guess I was able to give 0:06:25.445 --> 0:06:28.565 her enough information that she said that okay, fine. They 0:06:28.605 --> 0:06:30.325 finally agreed to do a search, and that would have 0:06:30.365 --> 0:06:33.685 been on Saturday. And I think it was that Friday 0:06:33.725 --> 0:06:37.085 that we learned about the Montanino phone call. The night 0:06:37.125 --> 0:06:40.125 my tse went missing, the Lost Hills Sheriff's Department got 0:06:40.125 --> 0:06:44.365 another call from a retired KATV Los Angeles local news 0:06:44.365 --> 0:06:48.805 reporter named Bill Smith well Saffa office CAMPI yeah, Hi, Hey, 0:06:49.005 --> 0:06:51.405 this is a smith a Cold Canyon. We had a 0:06:51.445 --> 0:06:53.885 prowler walking around through the backyard here, but we don't 0:06:53.925 --> 0:06:56.165 know what the situation was. I've going not here a 0:06:56.245 --> 0:06:57.805 unit in the area might do a little drive buy 0:06:57.885 --> 0:07:00.725 or something. Bill said that he had seen someone on 0:07:00.765 --> 0:07:04.125 his property in the early morning hours of September seventeenth, 0:07:04.645 --> 0:07:18.805 an African America, matching my Teresa's description. We talked about 0:07:18.845 --> 0:07:21.485 this in the last episode. If you don't live in 0:07:21.485 --> 0:07:24.085 the LA area, you might think of it and the 0:07:24.125 --> 0:07:28.605 surrounding areas as a sprawling city or Malibu as a 0:07:28.605 --> 0:07:32.045 star studded beach front crowded with surfers. But up in 0:07:32.085 --> 0:07:35.685 the mountains, it's a different story. It would have been 0:07:35.725 --> 0:07:39.165 absolutely deserted at night, and a young woman walking alone 0:07:39.325 --> 0:07:42.325 would have stood out, and it goes from neighborhood to 0:07:42.405 --> 0:07:45.205 woods in the blink of an eye. You're absolutely correct, 0:07:45.245 --> 0:07:47.205 because I remember when I was still living up in 0:07:47.285 --> 0:07:50.605 Seattle and I was thinking about moving to LA I 0:07:50.725 --> 0:07:53.845 read about somebody, just in a line of I think 0:07:53.845 --> 0:07:56.645 it was outside magazines. Somebody said the mountains of Los 0:07:56.685 --> 0:07:59.285 Angeles and I went, what, There's no mountains in the 0:07:59.325 --> 0:08:02.885 Los Angeles. Come on, and it's what you're talking about 0:08:02.925 --> 0:08:05.525 is absolutely true. Unless you're here, you don't realize that 0:08:05.605 --> 0:08:09.365 there is a mountain range. Brian Rooney literally wrote the 0:08:09.405 --> 0:08:13.045 book about Malibu Creek State Park because it's home to 0:08:13.205 --> 0:08:16.525 biologically diverse landscape that made it right for the movies. 0:08:17.365 --> 0:08:20.805 Paramount and twentieth Century Fox use the landscape, which included 0:08:20.845 --> 0:08:24.125 Malibu Creek State Park, to shoot dozens of movies and 0:08:24.165 --> 0:08:28.885 TV shows, including the TV series Mash But for park 0:08:29.005 --> 0:08:33.965 visitors it's also dangerous. Malibu Search and Rescue are busy 0:08:34.045 --> 0:08:38.885 year round rescuing hikers from around the park. Hazard's for sure, 0:08:39.005 --> 0:08:43.165 like you mentioned, rattlesnakes, for sure. It's remarkable how many 0:08:43.245 --> 0:08:46.645 people come to the very popular Malibu Creek State Park 0:08:46.685 --> 0:08:48.565 and do not have a map with them and have 0:08:48.645 --> 0:08:52.125 no idea where they're going. They just arrive. It is 0:08:52.165 --> 0:08:55.125 so close to the city that people come out under 0:08:55.205 --> 0:08:59.005 prepared and they don't think about the dangers of that 0:08:59.045 --> 0:09:03.325 They're going into a backcountry area where there is you know, 0:09:03.845 --> 0:09:07.645 bad cell service, no running water, basically very few bathrooms, 0:09:08.045 --> 0:09:10.205 all that type of stuff, and they come out underprepared 0:09:10.285 --> 0:09:14.205 and they don't understand that this is not a shopping mall. 0:09:14.405 --> 0:09:18.845 And dangers if you're talking natural dangers, of course, you know, 0:09:18.965 --> 0:09:22.085 like I said, getting lost, getting hurt, falling down a canyon, 0:09:22.965 --> 0:09:27.205 falling down off a ridge line, or something like that. Obviously, 0:09:27.245 --> 0:09:31.565 the animals are here. It might help too. That one 0:09:31.605 --> 0:09:33.765 of the most interesting things about these mountains is because 0:09:33.805 --> 0:09:36.405 there is Pacific Coast Highway on one side and the 0:09:36.405 --> 0:09:38.965 one to one Freeway on the other side. If you're 0:09:39.005 --> 0:09:41.725 ever actually lost, all you have to do is walk 0:09:41.805 --> 0:09:45.565 downhill and you will hit one of those major arteries. 0:09:45.725 --> 0:09:50.725 So as long as you're walking downhill, you'll hit civilization. 0:09:51.245 --> 0:09:55.205 But if you're walking across and not going downhill, then 0:09:55.245 --> 0:09:56.845 you can be in trouble because you could go on. 0:09:56.965 --> 0:09:59.725 It's a fifty mile long range and you could theoretically 0:09:59.805 --> 0:10:04.445 walk for a long way and not hit anything. Montegnito 0:10:04.605 --> 0:10:06.885 is a neighborhood that's about six miles from the Lost 0:10:06.925 --> 0:10:10.245 Hills Sheriff Station. It backs onto the Santa Monica Mountains. 0:10:10.725 --> 0:10:13.605 It's quiet up there. There are horse trails and private 0:10:13.645 --> 0:10:16.165 hiking trails that cut through the back of several residential 0:10:16.165 --> 0:10:20.005 properties and lead up into the mountains. Bill Smith was 0:10:20.045 --> 0:10:23.685 a retired TV reporter in two thousand and nine when 0:10:23.725 --> 0:10:26.245 he called the police that night, he said that he 0:10:26.325 --> 0:10:29.925 spotted a prowler sitting on his back porch. I don't 0:10:29.925 --> 0:10:31.085 know if you have a unit in the area, might 0:10:31.085 --> 0:10:34.765 do a little drive buy or something Okay, where's this it? 0:10:35.085 --> 0:10:37.965 This is Cold Canyon and we just said a strange 0:10:38.005 --> 0:10:40.245 woman walk up through the back gyard here. There's fairly 0:10:40.365 --> 0:10:42.485 large property and she was sitting on the steps right 0:10:42.605 --> 0:10:44.445 right on the back of the house. Here. This is 0:10:44.605 --> 0:10:47.045 kind of a circular driveway and the big gates were closed, 0:10:47.085 --> 0:10:49.285 so we don't know where this woman came from. There's 0:10:49.325 --> 0:10:52.525 a horse trail, hiking trail accessed through here, but we've 0:10:52.525 --> 0:10:54.645 never had this kind of thing happen before. Once she 0:10:54.685 --> 0:10:57.285 looked like white black as you know, a tall, slim 0:10:57.325 --> 0:11:01.885 black woman with afro hair. I thought she was sitting 0:11:01.925 --> 0:11:03.685 down stretched out on the wooden steps in the back 0:11:03.725 --> 0:11:05.125 of the house. Hard to tell, but does she look 0:11:05.205 --> 0:11:08.325 like she'd have been medium too, slightly tall with a 0:11:08.365 --> 0:11:11.365 big aprol hair, very skinny, and I think she was 0:11:11.365 --> 0:11:14.285 wearing maybe jeans or tight pants with a T shirt. 0:11:14.685 --> 0:11:16.525 Do you think you've never seen her there before? No? Never, 0:11:16.565 --> 0:11:18.685 nobody's ever does that. I mean, the people hike on 0:11:18.685 --> 0:11:20.365 the trail all the time. We you know, the trail 0:11:20.445 --> 0:11:21.965 goes through our property, but we leave it open on 0:11:22.005 --> 0:11:23.845 purpose because it's kind of a nice thing for horses 0:11:23.845 --> 0:11:26.685 and people. And said she's laying across me. She was 0:11:26.805 --> 0:11:28.925 laying across the steps or but she was sitting kind 0:11:28.925 --> 0:11:31.285 of sprawled out on the wooden steps in the back 0:11:31.325 --> 0:11:32.805 of the house, right against the back of the house. 0:11:33.365 --> 0:11:35.725 She since got up and left. She since gone. Yeah, 0:11:35.725 --> 0:11:37.325 she's been gone about five minutes now. But as we 0:11:37.405 --> 0:11:39.165 follow it over, we thought maybe a little drive by 0:11:39.205 --> 0:11:41.965 wouldn't be a bad idea. And what direction was she 0:11:42.005 --> 0:11:43.525 did she last seen him? He never saw her. She 0:11:43.765 --> 0:11:47.325 once she left, she just disappeared. I moved from one 0:11:47.365 --> 0:11:49.685 wind to another. I said to her, I hollered down. 0:11:49.725 --> 0:11:51.645 Are you all right? She said, I'm just resting or 0:11:51.685 --> 0:11:56.005 something like that. But she's certainly gone out of her 0:11:56.005 --> 0:11:57.765 way to get to that close to the house because 0:11:57.805 --> 0:12:00.045 the hiking trail is not that close down the ridge. 0:12:00.045 --> 0:12:01.405 A great listen to me, I haven't checked the area 0:12:01.445 --> 0:12:03.685 for I appreciate that very much. Now the problems, thank you. 0:12:05.765 --> 0:12:09.765 Here the timeline gets a little fuzzy. We ask for 0:12:09.805 --> 0:12:12.285 the audio of the phone calls and the call logs 0:12:12.325 --> 0:12:15.365 from the LASD, but we're told that call logs are 0:12:15.445 --> 0:12:19.805 usually destroyed after two years. Lost hill sheriffs say they 0:12:19.845 --> 0:12:23.085 got the call at six thirty am, but Bill Smith 0:12:23.205 --> 0:12:26.325 keeps saying it's dark and he can't see the woman clearly. 0:12:27.245 --> 0:12:30.085 But according to records, the sun rose over the Santa 0:12:30.125 --> 0:12:34.205 Monica Mountains at six forty am on Thursday, September seventeenth, 0:12:34.325 --> 0:12:37.965 two thousand and nine, so it was already getting light out. 0:12:38.165 --> 0:12:39.885 But if she was in a man a state because 0:12:39.925 --> 0:12:41.845 she had walked all the way from Lost Hills to 0:12:42.525 --> 0:12:48.405 Bill Smith's home, I mean, rare, but it's possible. But 0:12:48.885 --> 0:12:52.445 it's just almighty strange. This is to Shaka Starwell. He 0:12:52.565 --> 0:12:56.605 works at react La react as a volunteer organization that 0:12:56.685 --> 0:12:59.925 acts as a liaison between families and police and also 0:12:59.965 --> 0:13:04.725 helps organize searches and missing persons cases for families. Tshaka 0:13:04.765 --> 0:13:08.005 says the same thing that the family was feeling. They 0:13:08.005 --> 0:13:10.405 didn't understand how my trees could have walked the six 0:13:10.485 --> 0:13:13.605 miles from the Lost Hill Sheriff station to Montanito in 0:13:13.605 --> 0:13:16.485 the pitch black without even a cell phone light to 0:13:16.525 --> 0:13:19.765 illuminate the way, because if it was six she would 0:13:19.805 --> 0:13:22.725 at least a blue skylight there, So I thought it 0:13:22.765 --> 0:13:25.325 was in the wee hours. There's no way that she walked. 0:13:25.445 --> 0:13:28.125 She can't even walk and get there in two hours. 0:13:28.285 --> 0:13:32.045 I just don't see it. There's no way she can 0:13:32.325 --> 0:13:35.645 drive from the freeway and get to Bill Smith's house 0:13:35.685 --> 0:13:38.485 without a map. And there are a lot of other 0:13:38.565 --> 0:13:43.285 places between Loss Hills the station and Bill Smith's home. 0:13:43.805 --> 0:13:47.725 There's a equestering yard, there's a state park all to 0:13:47.805 --> 0:13:50.725 the side around that road, and I mean, I'm just 0:13:50.765 --> 0:13:52.445 told them when we get down down and there, of 0:13:52.445 --> 0:13:54.765 course there's a gas station other things right there in 0:13:54.765 --> 0:13:57.365 the middle area. How does she just skip all of that? 0:13:58.245 --> 0:14:00.725 It is possible to walk to Monteanito from the Lost 0:14:00.765 --> 0:14:04.325 Hill Sheriff's apartment, but how she got to Monteannito and 0:14:04.325 --> 0:14:09.405 why comes central questions of the investigation. I drove up 0:14:09.445 --> 0:14:11.965 to the station to try to piece together the route. Okay, 0:14:13.485 --> 0:14:16.725 so as you can see, look how the road is already. 0:14:17.205 --> 0:14:19.605 Imagine trying to walk down this at night. There's no side, 0:14:20.485 --> 0:14:23.565 there's no no shoulder. The Lost Hills Sheriff station is 0:14:23.565 --> 0:14:26.885 about a fifteen minute drive from Joffrey's, the restaurant where 0:14:26.925 --> 0:14:29.285 the police picked up my trees. But in the tunnel 0:14:29.325 --> 0:14:31.565 there's not even like one of those little walkway things. 0:14:31.925 --> 0:14:33.765 So like literally if you're going through that tunnel and 0:14:33.765 --> 0:14:35.685 there's a car it's going to hit you in this 0:14:35.885 --> 0:14:39.045 right here. You would just never imagine three minutes ago. 0:14:39.325 --> 0:14:42.965 The drive from Jeoffreys to the station is treacherous. There 0:14:43.005 --> 0:14:46.725 are tons of hairpin turns, no shoulder and no sidewalk. 0:14:47.245 --> 0:14:50.485 The road is surrounded by mountains. One side of the 0:14:50.525 --> 0:14:53.285 road has a guardrail before a long fall into a 0:14:53.325 --> 0:14:56.485 canyon and left onto a door road. You drive through 0:14:56.525 --> 0:14:59.845 a tunnel and there's no pedestrian shoulder, so anyone trying 0:14:59.885 --> 0:15:01.765 to walk through could not make it through that tunnel 0:15:01.765 --> 0:15:06.125 with any traffic, especially at night when it's dark. So 0:15:06.165 --> 0:15:08.245 it should be right up here. Yeah, I kind of. 0:15:08.685 --> 0:15:13.805 I'm going to think I recognized this. Let's see turning raft. 0:15:13.925 --> 0:15:16.845 Then you will arrive at your destinations over here. I 0:15:16.925 --> 0:15:18.925 was on the right in it. That's right, it's on 0:15:18.965 --> 0:15:22.205 the left here it is, that's right here. The Lost 0:15:22.245 --> 0:15:25.245 Hills Sheriff Station is situated between a few neighborhoods that 0:15:25.325 --> 0:15:28.845 are gated with brick walls and large commercial and industrial 0:15:28.885 --> 0:15:32.205 buildings that are closed at night. There are no open 0:15:32.245 --> 0:15:35.645 businesses around you can't go in, i think, and no 0:15:35.725 --> 0:15:39.565 public transportation. The last buses would have stopped running hours 0:15:39.605 --> 0:15:43.885 before My Trees was released. You all right, So here 0:15:43.885 --> 0:15:46.445 it is. There's the front door. I'm just going to 0:15:46.565 --> 0:15:48.285 drive around to the so you see if there's a 0:15:48.325 --> 0:15:52.645 side door. My Trees was released at twelve fifteen am 0:15:52.685 --> 0:15:56.085 and left the building at twelve thirty eight. SHARONN. Cummings, 0:15:56.165 --> 0:15:58.885 the jailer on duty that night, said she'd offered My 0:15:58.925 --> 0:16:01.485 Trees the chance to use the phone, but My Trees 0:16:01.485 --> 0:16:05.045 turned the offer down. Cummings also said she told My 0:16:05.085 --> 0:16:07.685 Trees she could wait into the lobby until someone came 0:16:07.725 --> 0:16:10.525 and got her. So, yeah, this is it. And when 0:16:10.525 --> 0:16:14.485 she left here she went back that way. My triest 0:16:14.605 --> 0:16:17.005 left through the side door of the station. She had 0:16:17.005 --> 0:16:20.645 two options, go back down the winding path toward Jeoffrey's 0:16:20.645 --> 0:16:23.565 and the Pacific Coast Highway, or she could go the 0:16:23.565 --> 0:16:26.405 other way, the way that had a sidewalk at least 0:16:26.445 --> 0:16:29.245 for a few miles along Los Virgins Road, which turns 0:16:29.245 --> 0:16:31.845 into Malibu Canyon Road. If I was trying to get 0:16:31.845 --> 0:16:33.925 back to the beach, I would have gone this way, honestly, 0:16:35.565 --> 0:16:38.645 And that is where it gets treacherous. But again it's 0:16:38.765 --> 0:16:42.925 very misleading. You feel like you're going down toward the beach. 0:16:44.245 --> 0:16:47.325 Montenito is like the first like once you get out 0:16:47.365 --> 0:16:48.605 and you rouzer in the middle of nowhere, it's like 0:16:48.645 --> 0:16:52.405 the next neighborhood along Bill Smith's house in Monteennito is 0:16:52.525 --> 0:16:55.925 right off Malibu Canyon Road, but the neighborhood is nestled 0:16:55.925 --> 0:16:59.605 between hiking trails and rugged wilderness. So it's odd that 0:16:59.685 --> 0:17:02.205 she would have walked there in the pitch blackness. So 0:17:02.245 --> 0:17:06.205 that was Bill Smiths and then from there, it's really 0:17:06.245 --> 0:17:10.365 confusing around here, like her family started to wonder, could 0:17:10.365 --> 0:17:13.325 my trees have been driven to Montenito Number one. I 0:17:13.325 --> 0:17:16.165 don't buy for one minute that she walked, but let 0:17:16.205 --> 0:17:18.125 me just go with that. I'll let's just I'll go 0:17:18.205 --> 0:17:21.405 with it. If she did walk, it would make sense 0:17:21.445 --> 0:17:24.045 to me that she would make a right hand turn. Okay, fine, 0:17:24.205 --> 0:17:27.405 gotta walk one direction. Okay, that makes sense. It would 0:17:27.485 --> 0:17:29.325 even make sense to me that she would stay on 0:17:29.565 --> 0:17:33.085 the main road, you know, because at least it's paved, 0:17:33.325 --> 0:17:35.325 right And it also would make sense to me that 0:17:35.325 --> 0:17:36.965 she would make a right because when you go down 0:17:37.165 --> 0:17:39.805 nothing's open. The Albertson's is closed. Everything is closed at 0:17:39.845 --> 0:17:43.565 that time. Okay, so she'll make a right. Well, if 0:17:43.605 --> 0:17:45.525 she was if she If if she was the person 0:17:45.525 --> 0:17:47.805 who was seen at six thirty in the morning, then 0:17:47.845 --> 0:17:50.005 there was light, right, so there's some there had to 0:17:50.045 --> 0:17:53.085 be some light. Well, if so. Number one, we think 0:17:53.125 --> 0:17:55.165 she was there closer to four thirty in the morning, okay, 0:17:55.245 --> 0:18:00.445 but but even or five thirty, but they keep We're 0:18:00.445 --> 0:18:03.445 not really sure on the time, but neighbors were hearing 0:18:03.485 --> 0:18:08.725 her well before sixth thirty in the morning. On Saturday, 0:18:08.845 --> 0:18:13.925 September nineteenth, police began their search for my trees. When 0:18:13.965 --> 0:18:17.885 investigators looked outside Bill Smith's house, they found tracks that 0:18:17.925 --> 0:18:21.605 they believed came from my teresa sneakers. According to Los 0:18:21.645 --> 0:18:26.805 Angeles Magazine, the sneaker prints were found out front. They 0:18:26.845 --> 0:18:29.925 followed the prince but lost them before they went down 0:18:29.965 --> 0:18:34.685 into the canyon called Dark Creek. My Teresa's family says 0:18:34.725 --> 0:18:37.365 that police told them to avoid the area to not 0:18:37.565 --> 0:18:40.965 contaminate it. I wonder why they told you guys that 0:18:41.845 --> 0:18:44.005 I don't know, And you know, thank goodness for reporters. 0:18:44.045 --> 0:18:46.245 I have to tell you, because there was a reporter 0:18:47.045 --> 0:18:51.165 as we were patching out flyers who told us basically 0:18:51.445 --> 0:18:54.125 to get our asses up to the canyon, right, you know, 0:18:54.205 --> 0:18:55.885 and kind of told us, this is what you need 0:18:55.885 --> 0:18:58.845 to do, and and you know, thank goodness for time 0:18:58.925 --> 0:19:04.965 because we did. We didn't know exactly where we were going, 0:19:05.205 --> 0:19:08.045 but we kind of drove around the canyon and then 0:19:08.085 --> 0:19:11.085 I you know, we didn't We still didn't know exactly 0:19:11.085 --> 0:19:16.845 where we're going. They had found footprints, and they really 0:19:16.925 --> 0:19:20.165 played me. You know, I was very naive back then, 0:19:20.725 --> 0:19:23.765 and so they told me that they had found footprints 0:19:23.965 --> 0:19:25.925 and that it looked like my truth was walking and 0:19:25.965 --> 0:19:31.685 then she was running, and then like and where she 0:19:31.805 --> 0:19:34.005 was running. They were concerned that she may have jumped, 0:19:34.845 --> 0:19:38.165 and so they didn't say this, but they intimated that, like, 0:19:39.165 --> 0:19:41.005 look if they were gonna fight, like as if it 0:19:41.085 --> 0:19:44.085 was suicide, and so we wouldn't want to be We 0:19:44.085 --> 0:19:47.845 wouldn't want to find that my Treesa's friends and family 0:19:47.965 --> 0:19:50.685 also questioned the police's decision to start the search in 0:19:50.765 --> 0:19:55.485 Monteanito rather than the Lost Hill Sheriff station. If the 0:19:55.525 --> 0:19:58.365 search of dogs had been deployed near the station, they wondered, 0:19:58.965 --> 0:20:01.125 could they have figured out if my Trees got into 0:20:01.165 --> 0:20:05.005 a vehicle. They used dogs, but they only used them 0:20:05.205 --> 0:20:07.445 from Where did they start from? Did they start from 0:20:07.485 --> 0:20:09.285 Bill Smith's house? Or did they start from the station. 0:20:10.645 --> 0:20:13.405 So they did not start from the station at all, 0:20:13.645 --> 0:20:17.045 and they started I mean, I guess we would have 0:20:17.125 --> 0:20:20.085 to believe that they started in Montanaedo, because I remember 0:20:20.085 --> 0:20:23.565 we weren't allowed to be there when that was happening, right, 0:20:23.645 --> 0:20:26.765 So whether they were, I believe that they were in 0:20:27.005 --> 0:20:30.245 the Bill Smith's area and in the houses in that area, 0:20:30.325 --> 0:20:32.325 because some of the neighbors have told me that they, 0:20:32.925 --> 0:20:35.725 you know, that they saw, you know, the police out 0:20:35.725 --> 0:20:38.165 there on that day. That part only lasted four or 0:20:38.165 --> 0:20:40.045 five hours though, and then they were out. It was 0:20:40.045 --> 0:20:43.125 supposed to be a two day, all day search, right, 0:20:43.165 --> 0:20:45.765 but it literally was four hours and that was it. 0:20:47.205 --> 0:20:49.285 Ronda said that when she was told by police that 0:20:49.285 --> 0:20:52.125 they were calling office search at four point thirty Saturday afternoon, 0:20:52.605 --> 0:21:00.405 she was shocked and angry. In the week after my 0:21:00.485 --> 0:21:03.885 Terse went missing, friends and family began flooding into the 0:21:03.925 --> 0:21:07.685 area around Lost Hills and Antito and posting flyers with 0:21:07.765 --> 0:21:12.325 photos of Matreesa's face everywhere. There were several photos of 0:21:12.325 --> 0:21:15.085 my trees on the flyer, and the contrast between the 0:21:15.085 --> 0:21:18.245 glamour shot was smooth hair and a dazzling smile and 0:21:18.245 --> 0:21:21.565 the one of her police mugshot is stark. In the 0:21:21.605 --> 0:21:24.445 second photo, my Treece has a faint smile on her face, 0:21:24.805 --> 0:21:28.165 but she has bags under her eyes. Chipcroft is a 0:21:28.165 --> 0:21:31.445 documentary filmmaker who lives in the area. It was I 0:21:31.445 --> 0:21:36.365 had moved to LA on September one, two thousand and nine, 0:21:37.165 --> 0:21:41.085 and I was settling in and it was about three 0:21:41.125 --> 0:21:44.725 weeks later that I was looking at the La Times 0:21:44.845 --> 0:21:49.605 online and I saw an article, a picture actually of 0:21:49.645 --> 0:21:53.005 a young African American woman holding a sign saying find 0:21:53.045 --> 0:21:56.885 my trees. And she was INVALIDU obviously along the highway 0:21:56.965 --> 0:21:59.725 and they were. It was during the one, I think 0:21:59.725 --> 0:22:02.685 the first Saturday after My Trees went missing. Chip was 0:22:02.805 --> 0:22:06.485 unsettled by the sheriff's cavalier attitude towards my Teresa's disappearance 0:22:06.885 --> 0:22:10.285 when this When I saw this article, it just didn't 0:22:10.525 --> 0:22:13.685 ring true to me that she went missing with you know, 0:22:13.925 --> 0:22:17.645 no phone, no no nothing, no car, no way home, 0:22:17.965 --> 0:22:22.525 no money or anything. And so I immediately felt this 0:22:22.885 --> 0:22:26.805 was based on obfuly a racist situation, and I think 0:22:26.845 --> 0:22:28.885 I still think it is, and I think she was 0:22:28.925 --> 0:22:32.765 considered to be an expendable young black woman from South 0:22:32.965 --> 0:22:36.565 LA that they probably might not even miss the people 0:22:36.565 --> 0:22:38.765 wouldn't care about so much. But it turned out not 0:22:38.805 --> 0:22:41.645 to be the case. So anyway, So I there was 0:22:41.685 --> 0:22:45.605 an email address in the article for Ronda, and I 0:22:45.685 --> 0:22:50.925 emailed Ronda about the about the case, and she said 0:22:50.965 --> 0:22:54.845 that they were having a press conference coming up in 0:22:54.885 --> 0:23:00.645 the following week at the Sheriff's headquarters. And I said, well, okay, 0:23:00.645 --> 0:23:02.485 I'll come by and maybe I can meet you all, 0:23:02.525 --> 0:23:07.085 and I'll bring my camera. This is my daughter, My 0:23:07.765 --> 0:23:11.485 Richardson Chip headed to the Lost Hill Sheriff's department and 0:23:11.525 --> 0:23:15.085 recorded Latis as she made a passionate plea to police 0:23:15.525 --> 0:23:20.045 to search harder for my trees. They failed her. She 0:23:20.245 --> 0:23:23.605 is suffering somewhere because we believe she is still alive, 0:23:24.165 --> 0:23:26.965 but they're not doing enough to search for her. We 0:23:27.045 --> 0:23:31.325 are suffering every day, not knowing what to do to 0:23:31.445 --> 0:23:34.845 find my daughter. They know this area, they have the 0:23:34.965 --> 0:23:38.205 means to daily search for her. I believe they have 0:23:38.245 --> 0:23:42.445