LANSING — Lansing police have issued a missing person alert for a 31-year-old Lansing woman.
Police said Shannon Kay Hoppe, who has been missing from her residence in the 1200 block of N. Washington Avenue since Sunday, is believed to be having an episode from a medical condition and is most likely disoriented and in a confused state of mind.
Hoppe is believed to be on foot as her vehicle was left at her residence. She is described as 5’7” tall, weighing approximately 120 pounds, with dark hair, a medium complexion and was last seen wearing a yellow and blue sundress
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Hoppe is asked to call the Lansing Police Department at 483-7600.
Concern Shifts to Whether Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station Violated Mitrice Richardson’s Civil Rights
Congress member Maxine Waters continues her steadfast efforts to assist the family of Mitrice Richardson, who vanished eight months ago, following an incident in a Malibu restaurant that led to her being transported to the Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station for booking.
Rep. Waters is awaiting a response to a letter she wrote last week to the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, requesting a federal investigation of the puzzling case.
Waters is adamant that she is deeply concerned that Richardson’s civil rights have been violated. She directed key staffers to meet with the woman’s mother, Latice Sutton, and her family support group members, including Dr. Ronda Hampton, a psychologist with whom Richardson, a Cal State Fullerton honors graduate in psychology, interned, after Waters received numerous telephone calls, emails and faxes asking her to assist their efforts to find the missing woman.
In a letter to Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez, who heads the civil rights section, that was copied to Attorney General Eric Holder, Waters writes, “I am deeply concerned about the circumstances surrounding the detention and release of Mitrice Richardson…who disappeared on Sept. 17, 2009.”
The representative challenges the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s assertion that deputies didn’t know Richardson was mentally ill.
Waters says that restaurant personnel told deputies about the woman’s bizarre behavior, and there reportedly are witnesses who attest to at least one deputy acknowledging that she was “acting crazy.”
Rep. Waters continues, “People with disabilities, including mental disabilities, are a protected class in this country. 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.”
The Congressmember concludes “I believe that the Justice Department is the best-equipped agency to handle this investigation.”
Spokespersons for the LASD maintain that Richardson was handled properly, according to all the department rules, and that she was coherent and rational while in LASD custody.
Reiterating her concerns, Waters said, “I believe that Mitrice’s civil rights were violated when she was arrested and then let go in the middle of the night without money, a phone, or transportation. The roads of Malibu are dark and dangerous at night, and since the Los Angeles Police Department later concluded that Mitrice appeared to be suffering from bipolar disorder that evening, I believe that the circumstances surrounding her disappearance warrant a thorough federal investigation.”
Waters is giving the case this attention even though Richardson is not a resident of her Congressional district.
RECAP
On Sept. 16, 2009, Geoffrey’s restaurant personnel placed a 24-year-old African-American woman, Mitrice Richardson, under private person arrest for nonpayment of an $89.51 dinner tab. A staffer telephoned Lost Hills Station directly, saying “to come pick her up.” The female caller described the woman’s behavior as “crazy.” Witnesses said Richardson told them she was from Mars and began speaking gibberish.
Several deputies took Richardson into custody and drove her to Lost Hills for booking on misdemeanor charges, which could have been handled with field citations that would have allowed her to return to her car and drive away.
A booking cage video, the existence of which was first denied by Lost Hills officials, reportedly indicates physical and mental stress. Richardson appears to be trying to curl up into a fetal position. Family members say her booking photo differs dramatically from her usual appearance. Her eyes appear vacant.
None of the LASD personnel involved in the booking process is willing (or being allowed) to speak to the media.
Richardson was released from the station shortly after midnight on Sept. 17 on foot into the dark and remote industrial area with no money or cell phone.
Her purse had been left in her car that the restaurant reportedly called the Malibu tow yard to remove from the parking lot, including documentation that the woman had several thousand dollars in the bank.
No immediate search was undertaken the first few days that Richardson was reported missing by her mother, but there have been several official agency search efforts in the weeks and months that followed, including aero-drone reconnaissance and mountain search and rescue team field checks that covered areas around the Lost Hills Station. These have not produced a single clue to her whereabouts.
Richardson’s mother, who agrees with subsequent medical assessment that her daughter was experiencing bipolar disorder onset, and her circle of relatives and friends have repeatedly expressed frustration with what they view as foot-dragging by the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department and the City of Los Angeles Police Department—the agency formally in charge of what is still classified as a missing person case.
BACKGROUND
Ronda Hampton and Charles Croft, another support team member, have been working with Congressmember Waters’ staffers from her Washington D.C. and Los Angeles offices for several months.
Several weekends ago, one of her reps, who flew in from Washington, and another rep from her L.A. office met with Hampton and Croft in Malibu to trace Richardson’s steps.
The four also went on an extensive tour of Monte Nido where Richardson is believed to have been sighted at around dawn on the morning that she went missing and several other areas where suspicious activity has been reported.
They then drove to the Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station and talked with a deputy at the front desk. Finally, the four made contact with people who had been at the restaurant on Sept. 16 who “confirmed that Mitrice was not in her right mind and one deputy [who was at the restaurant] agreed.”
After several hours of reconstructing what is known to have transpired, Hampton said Waters’ staffers were reportedly convinced that the FBI needed to become part of the investigation and that Richardson’s civil rights had been violated.
The FBI had declined earlier involvement in the case because Richardson is an adult and there is no indication of foul play, but civil rights violation allegations might be viewed differently.
Hampton told the Malibu Surfside News “that Maxine Waters’ office has stated that they have been following the case, particularly through [MSN articles], and they were waiting for something to break that would allow them some intervention. They stated that there had been nothing they could really do to push for a missing person investigation, but after [the MSN] article about the viewing of the [previously denied] video, they felt that this was an opportunity to investigate a civil rights violation.”
PARENTAL DISCORD
The close cooperation between Waters staff and the mother’s support group has reportedly angered Mitrice Richardson’s father, Michael Richardson, who interrupted Rep. Waters at a political press conference on Monday, demanding recognition that it was he who was bringing about potential DOJ involvement, not the Congressmember.
The father originally took his daughter’s missing person case to a number of media outlets, but many of these outlets are now downplaying his involvement, according to Latice Sutton, who says that they question his behavior and statements.
Mitrice Richardson’s parents never married and went their separate ways when she was very young. Sutton said that since her daughter was six, her husband Larry Sutton was Mitrice’s “de facto” father. She indicated that Michael Richardson was “out of his daughter’s life for about 10 years” and only recently began establishing contact.
Latice Sutton said that public officials tell her they do not want to work with the father, which prompted her to write Congressmember Laura Richardson (no relation), whose political aid Sutton is also trying to enlist, “I do not support Michael Richardson’s antics, views, methods, intimidation, or narcissism, and do not work with him in any way.” Laura Richardson represents the Congressional district where Mitrice Richardson was living before she disappeared.
Sutton said Michael Richardson’s “ambush” of Waters at the press conference has forced her to make her strongest statement so far about him. She told the Malibu Surfside News, “I know that when we bring Mitrice home, and she is well, she will disown his actions. Michael Richardson deserves no credit for aiding in this investigation, but he will get the credit if he destroys the federal investigation.”
NEXT SEARCH EFFORT
The mother and her family and friends are planning a large two-day search the weekend of June 5 and 6 in the greater Malibu area. Maurice Dubois, the father of murdered teenager Amber Dubois who has become a vocal missing persons advocate, will help to coordinate an effort that will involve hikers, horseback riders and trail bikers, as well as general flyer distribution throughout the region.
INFORMATION
Anyone who was in Geoffrey’s restaurant or parking lot the evening of Sept. 16 and recalls anything, no matter how seemingly insignificant, that might be related to this case is asked to email The News at editor@malibu surfsidenews.com
Additional information about the case is available on the mother’s website at www.findmitrice.info; or by contacting Dr. Ronda Hampton at 951-660-8031.
STOCKTON – Stockton Police are searching for a 14-year-old McNair High student who has been reported missing since Friday.
Missing Teens
Marija Mikalonis is described as white, between 5 feet 3 inches and 5 feet 6 inches tall, 140 pounds, with blue eyes and brown hair.
Family members said Makalonis is a freshman at McNair High who has few friends and usually comes straight home after school. The family does not believe she would run away.
She did not come home from school Friday and has not been seen or heard from since, her uncle, Justin Kerlin, said.
Officer Pete Smith said police on Friday did not consider Mikalonis at risk. On Monday, police received information that Mikalonis was seen by a school employee hitchhiking on Eight Mile Road near Highway 99.
“The fact that she was seen engaging in dangerous activity like hitchhiking elevated this to an at-risk case,” Smith said.
Anyone with information on this missing person case can contact Stockton Police at (209) 937-8323 or after hours at (209) 937-8245.
FAIRFIELD, Calif. (KCBS/AP) — Detectives in Fairfield and neighboring Suisun City are looking for leads, as the
search for a woman who would have been celebrating her 25th birthday Friday continues.
Police said Phuong Le disappeared sometime after leaving her home in Suisun City Sunday afternoon.
Her car, along with some personal items, were found outside a Barnes and Nobles bookstore Monday morning.
Investigators have determined she was in the store around 8:30 p.m. Sunday night.
Her family said she recently passed a nurses licensing exam and often went to the bookstore to study.
Meanwhile, hundreds of people turned out to attend a candlelight vigil in Fairfield Friday night, including members of the Solano Community College Nursing Club.
Investigators from the Suisun and Fairfield police departments said they are not aware of anyone who might want to harm the young woman and don’t know if she was taken or if she disappeared on her own.
Fairfield police have set up a tip line at (707) 428-7345 for anyone with information about the case.
A nationwide missing persons alert has also been issued and the FBI is involved in the investigation.
Source
Police are looking for a Suisun City woman who was last seen three days ago at a bookstore in Fairfield.
Missing Woman
Phuong Le, 24, left her home at about 4 p.m. Sunday and was last seen four hours later at the coffee shop in the Barnes and Noble bookstore at 1600 Gateway Blvd. in the Fairfield Mall, police said.
Le’s brother, Huong Le, 28, said today that he became worried when his sister failed to return home by early Monday. He found his sister’s white 1997 Honda Accord in the bookstore parking lot. Her cell phone and backpack were in the trunk, but there was no sign of his sister, he said.
Huong Le said his sister complained Sunday about having to help pass out fliers for her older sister’s hair-salon business, saying she needed time to look for a nursing job. She finished nursing school at Solano Community College in December and passed her oral boards several weeks ago, her brother said.
Huong Le said her sister regularly went to the bookstore to “cool off” after a disagreement. He said his sister had been stressed over the job search, but “this is just beyond unusual.”
Anyone with information is asked to call Fairfield police at (707) 428-7300 or a tip line at (707) 428-7345.
Mother of three disappeared after going for night walk in 2002
Almost eight years ago, Rhonda Wilson — a petite, black-haired, mother of three — left her North Kentville home on a hot summer night to go for a walk.
She’s never been seen since.
Now, RCMP hope that a reward of up to $150,000 might finally solve the mystery of what happened to the 31-year-old whose boyfriend reported her missing Aug. 10, 2002, three days after he said he last saw her.
“Our whole goal is to bring attention to this file, to say it’s still unsolved and to solicit the public’s help in generating tips and information that may help solve this crime,” said RCMP Sgt. Brigdit Leger.
“In the event there’s anyone out there who has any information who may not have come forward yet, we’re hoping that with this coming to the forefront again . . . maybe they’re at a different place in their life where they will share that information.”
Investigators say Wilson’s boyfriend told police Wilson left her Mee Road home to go for a walk at about 9:30 p.m. on Aug. 7.
At the time, Wilson was said to be carrying a purse with only a small amount of cash. Her bank accounts have never been touched.
“This investigation has been open the entire time,” Leger said. “Throughout the years, we’ve received various tips from the public. All these tips were followed up and absolutely exhausted.”
While there were reported sightings of the missing woman, “they’ve all been explored and nothing has been confirmed or verified,” Leger said.
Leger said the police continue to treat the investigation as a missing person’s case.
In the years following Wilson’s disappearance, her father, Ronald Corbin, continued to search the area, fearing his daughter had been murdered. He told The Chronicle Herald he didn’t believe that she would have left her close-knit family, including her children, who ranged in age from three to 10 years when their mother vanished.
No one from Wilson’s family could be reached Friday for comment.
Wilson’s disappearance is the 59th case to be included in the province’s Rewards for Major Unsolved Crimes Program.
Begun in 2006, the program offers cash for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the crimes.
“We urge anyone with any information related to Ms. Wilson’s disappearance to please come forward,” Justice Minister Ross Landry said in a news release.
“We all share a responsibility in terms of building safe communities and no information is too trivial.”
Wilson is described as four-foot-nine and 100 pounds, with shoulder-length straight black hair and hazel eyes.
At the time of her disappearance, she reportedly was wearing dark blue jeans with gold zippers on the pockets, a jean jacket with an embroidered emblem and black, high-heeled sandals.
Anyone with any information can call the Justice Department toll-free at 1-888-710-9090.
More information on this case and the other cases in the program can be found on the department’s website, www.gov.ns.ca/just.
