Waters Asks DOJ to Probe Missing Woman's Case

Rep. Maxine Waters (CA-35) is asking the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the disappearance of 25-year-old Mitrice Richardson, who vanished after she was released from the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff's Station in the early morning hours of Sept. 17, 2009.

Richardson, a Cal State Fullerton grad, was arrested on the night of Sept. 16 for failing to pay an $89 bill at Geoffrey's, a restaurant in Malibu.

She was also behaving unusually, and in a call to the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff's Station, a restaurant employee said Richardson was talking like she was on drugs.

Richardson was released from the station around 1:25 a.m. without a cell phone, money, identification or a car and has not been seen since.

She is also believed to suffer from a bipolar disorder.

Waters says that the sheriff's station violated Richardson's civil rights by releasing her given her mental state.

"People with disabilities, including mental disabilities, are a protected class in this country," Waters said in a May 5 letter addressed to the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division. "It appears the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff's Department failed to follow its own policies, which state that individuals with mental disabilities are to be released into the care of family, friends or medical professionals."

Since Richardson's disappearance, Steve Whitmore, a spokesman for the L.A. County Sheriff's Department, has said that policy was followed with regard to her release.

Waters initially asked the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to look into to the matter, but the agency responded by saying it does not handle adult missing persons cases, only persons under the age of 18.

The Department of Justice has yet to issue a response.

Several searches for a body were conducted, including one in March, but have come up empty.

Richardson is 5 feet, 5 inches tall and about 125 pounds.

She has tattoos on her lower abdomen and behind her neck.

A $25,000 reward is being offered for information that leads to Richardson's whereabouts.