Authorities are still looking for 24-year-old Mitrice Richardson, the woman who disappeared after being released from the Malibu-Lost Hills Sheriff's station in apparently drunken condition, following an arrest.
Coroner's investigators searching a rugged ravine in Malibu …
The father of Mitrice Richardson, whose remains were found in a…
A candlelight vigil for the missing woman whose remains were …
Mitrice Richardson, the Los Angeles woman who has been missing …
Numerous people in South Los Angeles have claimed to have seen …
Friends and family of Mitrice Richardson, the South Los Angeles…
A large-scale search in the Santa Monica Mountains failed to …
Updated: Thursday, 29 Jul 2010, 12:15 PM PDT
Published : Wednesday, 28 Jul 2010, 3:32 PM PDT
Los Angeles - There are reports that a woman who has been missing since she was released from the Malibu sheriff's station in September is living in Las Vegas, and authorities today urged her to come forward.
Mitrice Richardson, 25, was arrested Sept. 16 for not paying her bill at a Malibu restaurant, where some witnesses said she appeared to be mentally unbalanced. She was taken to the rural Malibu-Lost Hills Sheriff's Station and released shortly after midnight without her car or purse, and hasn't been heard from since.
Today LAPD Capt. Kevin McClure said police have received information that Richardson may be living in Las Vegas.
"This is the first lead in the 10 months that we have been doing this that we are unable to show that it is not a good lead," he said at a news conference in Las Vegas.
"It is not a verified sighting of her here, but we feel good enough to come up here and spend a good deal of time to get that information out to the community -- that we believe she may be here," McClure said.
Richardson's disappearance triggered massive searches of area canyons, and lawsuits by both her parents, who say the sheriff's department shouldn't have released her from custody.
Sheriff's officials have repeatedly denied they did anything wrong.
McClure said one of the unconfirmed sightings was at the Rio hotel.
"And she was actually sighted by somebody who actually knew her and had had a personal relationship with her, and that individual is very confident that the person he approached in the Rio hotel, that it was Mitrice Richardson," McClure said.
Sheriff's department spokesman Steve Whitmore said earlier that the purpose of the news conference was to "tell Ms. Richardson she is not in any trouble and is not subject to arrest, but please to contact us."
Richardson's father, Michael, told the Los Angeles Times he was informed by a sheriff's deputy there had been about 80 possible sightings of his daughter in Las Vegas.
He also said sheriff's deputies discussed with him the possibility that his daughter was working as a prostitute, and that it was possible someone was keeping her from contacting her family and friends.
Anyone with information about her whereabouts was urged to call (877) LAPD-24-7, or (702) 750-4338.
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