Homicide investigators join search for Mitrice Richardson

Mitrice Richardson (Photo courtesy of Richardson family)

By WIRE SERVICES

Story Published: Dec 15, 2009 at 1:51 AM PDT

Story Updated: Dec 15, 2009 at 1:55 AM PDT

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Sheriff Lee Baca on Monday ordered a homicide investigation into the disappearance of Mitrice Richardson although he does not necessarily believe she is dead.   

A three-person sheriff's homicide team will join the Los Angeles Police Department's search for the 24-year-old who mysteriously vanished after walking out of the Lost Hills Sheriff's Station on Sept. 24, the Los Angeles Times reported on its Web site.   

"He has declared it a homicide investigation,'' Steve Whitmore, a spokesman for Baca, told The Times. "But by opening up a homicide investigation, it does allow the sheriff's department to put some of our top investigators on the case.''   

Richardson disappeared after being released from the Lost Hills sheriff's station jail for her arrest on suspicion of not paying her bill at a Malibu restaurant.   

The Cal State Fullerton graduate may have had "a major mental breakdown,'' said Los Angeles police Detective Chuck Knolls.   

Richardson's family had been campaigning for the sheriff to open up the case as a homicide investigation.

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