Missing Woman Search Focuses on Monte Nido

September 26, 2009 UPDATE: Searchers say missing woman was spotted in Monte Nido several days ago, acting strangely. ###

Sheriff’s Department authorities say over 100 professionals and volunteers are searching the hills near Calabasas for Mitrice Richardson, a 24-year-old woman who has been missing for over a week.

Richardson was arrested by sheriff’s deputies on for apparently failing to pay an $89 bill at Geoffrey’s Malibu restaurant last week and for possessing less than an ounce of marijuana in her car. She was taken to the Lost Hills station Calabasas and released at 1:25am Thursday morning, Sept. 17, without her car, which authorities impounded.

There have been no reports of her whereabouts since.

“We’ve been searching almost every day,” said Steve Whitmore, Sheriff’s Department told the L.A. Times. “We did a big search last Saturday. This one will be bigger.”

Whitmore said search personnel will be on foot, horseback and helicopters.

Richardson’s parents have criticized the Sheriff’s Department for releasing her at that hour, but authorities say she appeared competent.

The woman’s father, Michael Richardson, said he was worried about his daughter’s condition. Referring to her booking photo, he said, “She looked like a demon had come inside her. That was not my daughter,” he said. “It ran chills up my spine. I’ve never seen my daughter look like that.”

“They allowed her to walk out of that facility and down that road in the pitch black night,” he told The Times. “That’s not right. Now, I just want to find my child.”

Authorities said Richardson was made an offer to stay at the jail but refused.

She is a graduate of Cal State Fullerton and recently moved to Los Angeles.

The LAPD is also involved in the search and ask that anyone with information call the LAPD’s Missing Persons Unit at (213) 485-5381, or 1-877-LAPD-24-7 after business hours or on weekends.