The Untold Story of Mitrice Richardson

I'm sure all of you have heard of Natalie Holloway,the young lady from my hometown of Birmingham,Al.who disappeared in Aruba a couple of years ago.Despite the fact it continues to get local and national coverage,her case still hasn't been solved.
But how many of you have ever heard of Mitrice Richardson,the 25 year old grad student with a 4.0 GPA at Cal State-Fullerton?
You haven't heard of this accomplished,ambitious,beautiful daughter,friend and sorority sister?
That's ok don't feel bad,not too many people have because you won't find her story on Larry King or Nancy Grace.You won't see her story in your local newspaper or watch a movie about her life on lifetime. So let me share it with you here in The Board Room.
On the night of Sept.17,2009,Mitrice went to a restaurant in Malibu to have dinner. According to friends,Mitrice forgot her debit card and like many of us,didn't carry cash on her. Not believeing her story,the owner decided to make a CITIZEN'S ARREST and then proceded to call the police. Mitrice was arrested for not being able to pay her tab of $89........YES,I said......EIGHTY-NINE DOLLARS!!! After being arrested and taken to jail,she was "allegedly" released in the early morning hours while it was still dark. I say "allegedly" because no one saw Mitrice after that. There were reports of Mitrice being spotted in Vegas and all kind of other crazy stuff that I don't even feel comfortable talking about here in The Board Room.

My point in bringing up Natalie Holloway was to highlight the fact that mainstream news outlets treated her case like a NATIONAL EMERGENCY and none of those outlets have given more than a solid hour to the disappearance of Mitrice Richardson.Please understand,in no way am I downplaying the importance of finding out exactly what happened to Natalie Holloway. Nor am I blaming the media for covering her story the way they did.I just want to hightlight the fact that we need outlets that inform US about OUR Natalie Holloways or shall I say,OUR Mitrice Richardsons. If there was a national outcry for Mitrice Richardson like there was for Natalie Holloway,maybe someone would have come forward with information about exactly what happened the night she was arrested and released.Instead,her family had to go almost a year without knowing what happened to her. I say a year because unfortunately Mitrice's body was found today.
It wasn't found outside a strip club in Las Vegas.
It wasn't found in some crack house in L.A.
It was found in a Malibu Canyon,not too far from the Malibu jail where she was "allegedly" released.
Her father,Michael Richardson,was irate that nobody contacted him or his family to let them know her remains had been found. My bad,they DID leave him a voicemail and the sheriff called him TEN MINUTES before a news conference to announce that the remains they found,were indeed those of his daughter. When asked why it was handled that way,this was the response of the sheriff.

 

This is a very sad story that I hope you will share with others. This highlights the need for an outlet that covers OUR stories. There are too many celebrities with deep pockets for us not to have our own network.
Sorry,BET doesn't count.
In the past,I have covered things here in The Board Room,that as I look back on it,really didn't deserve covering. That's about to change. Don't get it twisted,I will still discuss social and political issues,but I am determined to make The Board Room a place where stories like Mitrice Richardson's story doesn't go untold.