Mitrice Richardson |
LOS ANGELES -- L.A. County Sheriff's officials say there have been several "credible sightings" of missing grad-student Mitrice Richardson at a Las Vegas hotel and they're pleading for her to contact her family.
Las Vegas police Capt. Kevin McClure announced Thursday that an acquaintance reported seeing Mitrice Richardson recently at the Rio.
McClure says the sighting is unverified, but if the 25-year-old is in town, she should let police and family know she's safe.
Los Angeles County authorities say she's not in trouble and doesn't face arrest.
Richardson's father, Michael Richardson, said Wednesday that a Sheriff's Department official told him the department had gathered information on 80 possible sightings of his daughter in Las Vegas.
One of those sightings involved a friend from Richardson's teenage years who said he saw her in a bar at the Rio on Father's Day weekend in June, prompting a search by L.A. County sheriff's investigators.
Richardson, who has bipolar disorder, vanished on around 1:25 a.m. Sept. 17 after being briefly detained at a sheriff's station near Malibu for failing to pay a restaurant bill.
She told restaurant employees that she was from Mars and spoke to them in a made-up language.
Her odd behavior and failure to pay for a steak and a drink prompted restaurant staff to call deputies.
Sheriff's officials say they also found a small amount of marijuana in her car, and Richardson, who passed a sobriety test, was booked at the sheriff's station for failing to pay her bill.
She was released about 1:25 a.m. the next morning, according to the sheriff's department.
Her 1990 Honda Civic was impounded, and she walked away from the station with no purse or cell phone.
Richardson's mother said she believes her daughter was in a "manic state of mind" because she was sending "erratic" text messages to family and friends the afternoon of Sept. 16.
The Sheriff's Department has come under fire for not holding her for a psychological evaluation.
The department has said Richardson appeared rational and it felt it had a legal obligation to release her in a timely manner.
Investigators say they have since found evidence in the missing woman's diaries and text messages that she was suffering from severe bipolar disorder.
A homeowner on Cold Canyon Road reported a woman resting in her yard about 6:30 a.m., but when deputies arrived, the woman was gone.
Mitrice Richardson is African American with brown hair and hazel-brown eyes.
She is about 5 feet, 5 inches tall and about 125 pounds and has tattoos on her lower abdomen and on the back of her neck.
Las Vegas police Capt. Kevin McClure announced Thursday that an acquaintance reported seeing Mitrice Richardson recently at the Rio.
McClure says the sighting is unverified, but if the 25-year-old is in town, she should let police and family know she's safe.
Los Angeles County authorities say she's not in trouble and doesn't face arrest.
Richardson's father, Michael Richardson, said Wednesday that a Sheriff's Department official told him the department had gathered information on 80 possible sightings of his daughter in Las Vegas.
One of those sightings involved a friend from Richardson's teenage years who said he saw her in a bar at the Rio on Father's Day weekend in June, prompting a search by L.A. County sheriff's investigators.
Richardson, who has bipolar disorder, vanished on around 1:25 a.m. Sept. 17 after being briefly detained at a sheriff's station near Malibu for failing to pay a restaurant bill.
She told restaurant employees that she was from Mars and spoke to them in a made-up language.
Her odd behavior and failure to pay for a steak and a drink prompted restaurant staff to call deputies.
Sheriff's officials say they also found a small amount of marijuana in her car, and Richardson, who passed a sobriety test, was booked at the sheriff's station for failing to pay her bill.
She was released about 1:25 a.m. the next morning, according to the sheriff's department.
Her 1990 Honda Civic was impounded, and she walked away from the station with no purse or cell phone.
Richardson's mother said she believes her daughter was in a "manic state of mind" because she was sending "erratic" text messages to family and friends the afternoon of Sept. 16.
The Sheriff's Department has come under fire for not holding her for a psychological evaluation.
The department has said Richardson appeared rational and it felt it had a legal obligation to release her in a timely manner.
Investigators say they have since found evidence in the missing woman's diaries and text messages that she was suffering from severe bipolar disorder.
A homeowner on Cold Canyon Road reported a woman resting in her yard about 6:30 a.m., but when deputies arrived, the woman was gone.
Mitrice Richardson is African American with brown hair and hazel-brown eyes.
She is about 5 feet, 5 inches tall and about 125 pounds and has tattoos on her lower abdomen and on the back of her neck.
