New Yorker Reporter May Have Found The Man Who Killed Mitrice Richardson, 15 Years Ago, In Malibu Canyon

A major development in the 15 year old disappearance of Mitrice Richardson. 

A writer for the New Yorker magazine has identified a suspect in what may be the murder of Mitrice Richardson … a Los Angeles woman who disappeared 15 years ago after being released from the Malibu Lost Hills sheriffs station.

The writer … Dana Goodyear … has produced a podcast called Lost Hills Dark Canyon.

Goodyear told KCRW radio yesterday that a man … who died in 2019 … had been living in a fort in a ravine … in upper Malibu Canyon … not far from where Richardson’s body was found.

Goodyear says she and her researcher discopvefred that some people in the Monte Nido neighborhood knew about the man … who was living in a fort in a crevice … a prison parolee with a history of violence against women.

70471 GYEAR FORT

“The two of us were able to learn a huge amount about this person, and we started interviewing people who had never spoken to law-enforcement, who told us things law-enforcement did not know, about this individual’s interactions with Mitrice at the time of her disappearance.

“He actually admitted to having picked her up.

“The reason is all so interesting is because this is somebody who had a history, an extreme history, of violence towards women.

“He been released from prison, returned to his home turf of Monte Nido and was living in a fort in the woods, not far from where Mitirce was seen … less than a mile from where Mitrice was seen in the neighborhood 

“And he even admitted to having seen her … and then told friends, but not law enforcement, that he had picked her up.”

Dana Goodyear … an investigative journalist with the new Yorker … says the man in question man had been hoarding women’s underwear at his fort … including underwear that was the same style as worn by Richardson … the same style as what was missing from Richardson’s remains. 

And Goodyear says she actually went to the fort … and recovered a suitcase that had been sitting out in there weather, for more than 10 year.

A suitcase full of assorted women’s underwear. 

70477 GYEAR UNDERWEAR

“They were different sizes. They were completely different styles.

“You know, we were thinking: one of the items of clothing that Mitrice possibly might have been wearing at time of her disappearance, but that was not found with her remains, was underwear. 

“So we were not sure.  Could any of this have been hers?”

Goodyear says she took the suitcase full of women’s underwear to the county sheriffs homicide bureau … which basically said … that’s very interesting … but dod no testing. 

And the investigative reporter says the word in Monte Nido … is that other people had also discovered the man’s fort. 

And that they had taken underwear and other stuff out of it … 

70488 GYEAR STUFF

“His stuff is still around in certain peoples houses, storage units, basements., people in the community, people who used to be part of the community. 

“I think there is a approvable case here, but it’s something that lawn enforcement would have to take over. 

“And the fact that they have not responded in any way to any of this?

“Actually, it makes me think that they already know it was him.”

Goodyear says the sheriff’s homicide bureau gave the man a lie detector test … which he passed. 

But she says the department was uninterested in taking DNA samples from the underwear that she retrieved from the fort in the canyon,

70479 GOODYEAR LIE DETECTOR 

“His criminal history alone should have made him interesting to them… that to me is really unbelievable. 

“Lie detector tests are really just supposed to be investigative tools, they are no longer considered to be any proof of anything. They can just tell investigators where to probe a little bit deeper. 

“But they took the word of a person who had a man who had been in prison multiple times for serious domestic violence, who we uncovered other stories of him, strangling wom, choking them nearly to death.

“And they took his word that he only saw Mitrice and didn’t interact with her. 

“So that to me is really unbelievable.”

The suspect died in 2019 … according to Dana Goodyear … interviewed yesterday by KCRW’s Madeline Brand.   

The 23 minute interview is available at the KCRW website.

The podcast … Lost Hills Dark Canyon … its available wherever you get podcasts.