Dark Creek

We've established that she was seen at Bill Smith's house in Montinito, so I'm heading back to Calabasas this time with my producer Brandon. There are horse trails behind that property, so we've established how she could get from Monte Nito up to the beginning of the Backbone trail, but we still have not figured out how she got too Dark Canyon. That's the bottom line. Job, that's what we're trying to do.

And you'll see and you can't really It's one of those things that you can't see and until you get up there and you're like, Okay, I get it. I think we're talking about because it seems you know it seems like it'd be an easy question to answer, and it's really not. Today's mission is to go down all of the possible trails that my trice could have gone

down and see if there's anything that we missed. But the thing that really gets me is the fact that we like, since we started this, we know that she was alive that next day walking around during the day. So it's like if they had just looked for her, if they'd just looked and hadn't waited an entire day, they would have found her and she would be alive. And that's really sad. And finally we hope to get on the Malibu Canyon Ranch. I'm Catherine Townsend. This is

hell and gone. We are right now. We are going up to the Backbone Trail, which is the public hiking trail. There's an access point and we're just gonna see if there's since last time we went down through the Creek bad We're gonna see if there's a way to get to the dirt roads that we just saw that seem to lead toward Dark Canyon. We're gonna see if there's

a way to do that from the Backbone Trail. So we are still trying everything we can to find all the waves that my Trees could have used to get Dark Canyon, and to keep an open mind, we're asking again if my Trees could have died in the woods, could she have been hiking and fallen to her death? As the Sheriff's department suggested in the beginning, we hiked that route to see if it's possible. Tired, Okay, So here's there's where we are, right right, see where it's

this Dark Canyon creek. Yep, Okay, that's where the remains are. We walked. We hiked all the way like almost there, so it looks like almost switchback like that. Maybe the second switchback you could get down, see, because that's where we were. We run that little got it, see that little sticking out thing, that's where we were. So you're right, yeah, it does look like if we continue down that dirt road, maybe there would have been away. But it was far.

It was like it was like out there though. That's why I'm just thinking maybe, like, well, well Mike a little bit and see all right, the backbone trail zigzag through the Santa Monica Mountains. As Brandon and I climb higher and higher, it becomes harder and harder to imagine that my trees could have come this way. For one thing, she hated the woods, and according to her autopsy, she had no broken bones. If she did fall, her remains could not have ended up in the canyon, at least

not from here. So once we get to about here, I just want to see, like, as we go along, is there any way other than what we did, which we already know we went down there and did it, that could have cut through. I think the answer is no, to be honest, But now we'll know for sure. The higher we climb, the farther away from the remains we got. We can't find any paths that deviate from this main trail that could have led my trees deeper into the canyon.

And as soon as we were hiking almost a mile from the start of the trails into the woods, we could hear someone hammering on the top of the house. I was just gonnae on, there's someone on the roof. See, that's the other thing. So let's say she's back here during the day, walking around all day. It's like someone wouldn't have seen her. It's the other thing that I can't figure out like, that doesn't make you much sense to me. Anyway, what day was it? It was a Friday, Friday,

so she went missing Thursday night. Friday was the day that she was seen in the morning for sure, and then they didn't start looking for her on Saturday, so you know all day. And also if you scream right here, somebody would hear you. If we're here on a Friday, which is the same day that she disappeared, and you know, the producer and I were here really almost on the day to the day when she disappeared. There aren't many people on the trail now, but this is I mean,

you do run across people in this hiking trail. Every time I've been up here under normal circumstances, I've seen three or four people. So it just seems like more people would have seen her if she was out there for full twenty four hours. What does that make you feel? Like? Intuitively, I don't know. It makes me feel like she you know,

whatever happened to her either happened really quickly. I mean, I don't know, maybe she didn't realize she was in danger until something like I guess what I'm getting at is if she fell or something like that it seems like someone would have hurt her. She was yelling for help, laying out there dying, right because like even I mean, I guess if she was I don't know though, who was hypothermic or something. Who knows. Maybe she didn't scream, that's the other thing. Like it possibly she's been out

there for twenty four hours. Maybe hypothermia is a possibility because of the cloths being removed. But this is mild weather, this is really this is December. Yeah, Like probably the lows at night were in the fifties, so that would have taken some time. This doesn't make sense. And if it was hypothermia, we know she was seen in that morning, so that would mean that she pretty much had to stay out there that whole day and night with no one seeing her. I guess it's possible, but again it

feels unlikely. So the backbone trail is looking less and less likely. It's super steep up here, and there's just no way to veer off and down into the canyon without falling off the mountain itself. Her falling, we're getting farther and farther away from the remains, actually, so yeah, my other producer, Gabby and I took another route down. When we went that way, we did make it to

the site where my trees's remains were found. We walked through the area where the Backbone Trail begins, but instead of climbing up into the mountains, we went down into the creek off the trail and into treacherous territory. And I've said before that that wasn't really like a hike. It was like a mountain climb. And we decided in the end that it would have been very unlikely, basically impossible for my trees to have gone that way. It seems like it's easy to see how the landscape could

get the better of someone. Oh, we almost didn't make it. I mean I'm not even exaggerate. And when I got out, I mean my legs, my ankles to my upper thighs were black and blue for weeks because it just from stepping in those dead falls and like getting stuck. And also, you know, I keep thinking, Brandon, if she did somehow stumble down there, why would she take her clothes off and just lay down and die like that doesn't make

any sense to me at all. I mean, I was really scared in there at one point, I got really freaked out when we saw the hoses and realized that they were probably with their brother Cartel. That was really freaky and also the real you could there was no escape if something did happen you down there, because each side it's too steep to climb, and also it's it's all leaves and like, you can't scamper up the sides, and you can't go. You can't run, you can't run

backwards ko forwards. Pretty scary. CEC and Ronda have also tried to assess the terrain around the ranch property. CEC sent me this video they shot while exploring the horse trails. It's the closest they've been able to get to the Malibu Canyon Ranch property. It's a little hard to understand, but here's what it is. Ronda indicates an entrance to the creek bed that's a little more direct. C C asked, could you carry a body that way? Is it? I don't think one person could do it. I mean I

don't think one person can do it. Okay, So then that would be the quickest route to drag a body and drop, and it's most secure. This is the road that goes up to the Malibu Canyon Ranch, which is owned by Sus Randall. Now c C and Ronda haven't ever been able to get on the Randall property. The closest Ronda has ever come is actually the night my Teresa's remains were found. This is where the police set up one of their outposts. There's a big parking lot

at the ranch. We've gotten information from several sources that there may have been people working there during the time my Terse went missing, possibly security people or someone associated with a production, maybe even someone in law enforcement working security off duty. Could one of them have encountered my

trees at some point. Now there is no evidence that the people living here had any connection to my Teresa's disappearance, but this property could be a major piece of the puzzle because of the GPS coordinates of my Teres's clothing. The coordinates placed each piece of clothing closer and closer to the house. The belt was the closest. It was

found just five hundred feet from the house. And remember no tests have ever been done on this clothing, which was relatively intact for having been out in the elements for as long as eleven months. This property seemed like it could have been a logical place for my trees to end up, or at least to pass through on her way into the canyon. The fact that her remains were found just point two miles from the property is something I've heard a lot over the years, but that

can also be misleading. Yeah, so I mean, yes, as you were saying, you can look at an aerial map and say, oh, it's only you know, point two miles from sort of the backbone trail the back of that property to the remains. It seems like it's a straight line. Why couldn't she have walked it? And then you get out here and you look at this terrain and it's it's mountains and huge drop offs, and it's sort of like it's point two miles as the crow flies. But I'm not a crow and I don't have wings, and

I can't jump across the hut. That's one of my favorite expressions in Arkansas. Oh it's only twenty miles as the crow flies. And I'm like, yeah, and how does that help me? So it's four hours in a car because I don't have wings. There's a sign here that says no trespassing, but I still need to get closer to the ridge. So we're going to have to get even more creative with how we get to the ranch.

From day one, the day my Terse went missing, her father Michael, made it clear that he didn't trust the police. He remembers the day he got the call about her disappearance. I went to work one morning and a young lady I worked with and she she calls me and she says, hey, Mike, you know I got two messages from your daughter's mother. She says, call her. And I looked at her and she has this look of seriousness of those things that

I had never personally seen. So she's like, I'm serious like and I was like, well, now I'm a little nervous because her mother doesn't call me like that, And so I immediately went to go call her, and she had beat me to it. Her mother. They called me again and she says, Mike, you know, I think my Terse is mensing. And I'm like, what are you talking about?

You know, what do you mean you think? And so she told me everything that happened, and I said, okay, well before we jumped to conclusions, let me call the precinct and let me see if I can talk to some people or whatever. Michael then called the Lost Hills Sheriff station and talked with Sharon Cummings, the jailer. I said, so, you know, if why, why would you guys release her like that? You know, I just don't understand. She's like, well,

we were overcrowded and we were overpopulated. We needed to make room. And I said, well, you so you would then just release her in the middle of the night in a wild like that. Her response was, well, We're not no goddamn babysitting organization, so it was time for her. Oh so I said, wow, okay, well, thank you for that. And when that got out, a lady that was actually in jail that night with My Trees got in touch with us. I said, that place you could hear a

pin drop, It was not crowded. She's lying, and I'm like, wow, you know, So that that started it right then and there that we knew something was wrong because they were everything that they were telling us. It was totally the opposite of everything. Before My Trees's remains were found in August twenty ten, both her father, Michael and her mother Latis filed lawsuits against the Sheriff's Department, Los Angeles County and several officers who were on duty the night my

Trees was arrested. Hired an attorney, Leo Terrell. Terrell focuses on civil rights. He's also hosted a talk show on AM Radio in Los Angeles. Today at nine o'clock, we follow a lawsuit, a lawsuit against the sheriff Department, the County of Los Angeles, and nine officers of the LA County sheriff Department. On June twenty ninth, twenty ten, Leo Terrell with Latissa Ronda held a press conference to announce the lawsuit, which would span over five hundred pages. And

we sued the LA County for one reason. They are responsible for the missing status of Miitrice Richardson. Now, the sad part about it is this should not have happened, and the LA County Sheriff Department was grossly negligent and the officers on that shift grossly negligent in allowing her to lead and walk out without any form of communication

with her family or friends. I would submit to you that if my Treece Richardson's name was Lindsay Lohan or Britney Spears, she would not have been afforded the same treatment she would have been treated with royalty with a car now. The lawsuit alleged that the police were responsible for my Teres's wrongful death due to what they called negligence and the fact that they did not take any

action to evaluate her mental state. It is also quite important to know that the gist of this lawsuit talks about the mental disability that my Trees Richardson had that night and forms the basis for why the shriff department was negligent. The sheriff Department should have held my Trees Richardson, and they had the obligation to hold My Trees Richardson, not only as a fifty one to fifty case which gives them the three day hold, but under the American

with Disabilities Act, a civil rights violation. Later, Michael and Latissa's lawsuits were consolidated into one. They alleged that the Lost Hills deputies had failed in their duty of care to my Trees. The lawsuits alleged that the Lost Hills deputies had failed to get medical assistance from my Trees despite her bizarre behavior before releasing her in the middle of the night. We're also alleging in our lawsuit there was an offer to pay that bill. My Treece Richeson

should not have been arrested. There was a willingness and an offer to pay the bill. The sheriff department knew that the restaurant knew that the grandmother said we will pay the bill. Joffrey and the sheriff Department failed to recognize that. I am going to find out from Joffrey's if they ever allowed any other person to say, oh, yeah, we'll let someone come by and pay the bill for you, because I find it unusual for them to refuse payment.

I don't understand that the legal battle only intensified after my Trece's remains were found. Later additions to the lawsuit alleged that the LASD had moved the body against the wishes of the coroner, which would make it difficult, if not impossible, to determine a cause of death. Deputies denied the charges of unlawful misconduct. The community officer Steve Whitmore said in two thousand and nine they had no reason to hold my Trees, and here reiterated that doing so

would have been a civil rights violation. Terrell made it clear that Latis was frustrated at what she saw as stonewalling by the LAPD, so the lawsuit was away for the family to finally be allowed to grill every single officer who had been on duty that night. They wanted answers, and they clearly felt that taking the case public through a civil lawsuit was the only way that they were

going to get them. This magical lawsuit will allow me to interview the polls, examine every single officer that night. In twenty eleven, a year after my Chase was found, the depositions began. The result of these depositions was a long list of disputed facts. Michael Richardson filed one hundred and seventy two pages filled with points of contention between

the LAS and my Teresa's family. A lot of the argument seems to be boiling down to the fact that diners at the restaurant and Geoffrey's staff told police multiple times that they were concerned about my Teresa's mental state, but the police didn't seem to do anything. A handful of the disputes that Michael outlined read the court should exercise its discretion when considering evidence where a defendant is the only witness to the fact, and Miss Richardson is

not alive to provide her recollection of events. Let me close by saying this, This lawsuit, unfortunately is necessary. It's painful. It's difficult to allege the claims that we have in here. There's one claim that we have in here that hurts this sudden. It hurts me as a lawyer. It's the last claim, wrongful death. The fact that she's been missing, the lack of information, the degree of difficulty to include that as one of the claims is hurtful and painful

to the mother. But it's necessary. So the depositions did nothing to repair the family's relationship with police. In fact, they did the opposite, and in the end, a lot of their questions were still unanswered. Neither Michael nor Latise ended up going to court. Mi Teresa's parents received a joint settlement from the Sheriff's department. Michael said to the La Times, in my eyes, as a father, I didn't

receive justice. My daughter's killer is still out there. The settlement from the Sheriff's department was nine hundred thousand dollars. Michael and Latis reportedly split the money. Michael later said that about half of his money went to attorneys. But well, I mean, even if you were just a mixed up traveler, you drive up there and you go, oh hey, except we've been contacting them like for weeks. That's true. That's

the only thing. So if we do it, I think we'll have to pretend to be a different type of shoot, got it, which I'm fine with. Okay. On our hike out on the Backbone Trail, Brandon and I were talking about different ways we could use to get onto the Malibu Canyon Ranch property without being suspected that were the podcast crew. We've reached out to them over email, on

the phone, and through their website without any luck. But I need to get onto that property to figure out if my trees could have gotten into Dark Canyon that way. Listeners of this podcast, I know that I'm an investigative journalist and a licensed private investigator. There are definitely a lot of similarities between being an investigative journalist and a private investigator, but there are also some big differences. As a journalist, I've been taught to always be upfront and

clear and identify myself except in exceptional circumstances. But as a PI, lying is not only okay, sometimes it's encouraged. It was actually a question on my California PI exam. It said lying is fill in the blank. The choices were something like always wrong okay in some circumstances, but actually the correct answer was encouraged. Really, there are only a few rules to follow. One, don't impersonate someone in a place of authority, like a police officer or a doctor. Also,

don't impersonate a real person. So over the years, I've developed quite a few aliases, some of them even had their own social media profiles. I've also gone under cover once I pretended to be a member of a tennis club in the Hamptons, even though I can't really play tennis. I don't choose alias as often under normal circumstances. I'm very open about who I am and what I'm doing. I think in general that's the best way to get

information from people. But sometimes as a last resort we do need to resort to some subterfuge, And in my Teresa's case, we have written a letter to the people who own the land. We've reached out over social media and asked to go on the property, and we haven't gotten anything back. But last week, when I was scouring online desperate for some kind of a break in the case, I found out that the house on Payuma Road, the private address where police started the height to my Teres's remains,

is actually on Airbnb. We need to figure out if there is any way that my Trees could have hiked to the Dark Creek area on her own, and if not, we hope that we'll find something along the way that could tell us who or what she may have encountered there. So we booked a reservation for two nights, so as this episode comes out, we'll be on that property at the ranch, surveying the ridge and heading up into the mountains, hopefully getting some answers. We'll have that next week, which

is also our last episode for this season. I'm Katherine Townsend. This is Helen Gone. Helen Gone is the production of School of Humans and iHeartRadio. It's written and narrated by me, Catherine Townsend. Our producers are Gabby Watts, Taylor Church, and James Morrison. Music is by Ben Sale. Mix is by Tunewelders. Our executive producers are Brandon Barr, Elsie Crowley, and Brian Lavin. Special Thanks to Chipcroft for use of footage from his

documentary Boss Compact M School of Humans. School of Humans,