Lost Hills investigates the dark side of Malibu, California. Beneath a seductive facade, this city of billionaires, celebrities, and surf bums is hiding something menacing.
On September 16, 2009, 24-year-old Mitrice Richardson was arrested by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for failing to pay her bill at a restaurant in Malibu, CA. After being released from Lost Hills Station shortly after midnight, she disappeared. Eleven months later, her naked, skeletal remains were discovered in a canyon some six miles away.
For nearly 15 years, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Mitrice’s friends and family, and generations of internet sleuths have tried to crack the case.
To this day, her death remains an unsolved mystery.
The truth lies in the remote Malibu community where Mitrice was last seen. And now, finally, people are starting to talk.
Hosted by Dana Goodyear (The New Yorker) and produced by Western Sound and Pushkin Industries. Show artwork copyright Francesca Gabbiani.
Subscribe to Pushkin plus to hear the whole season early, and ad free. Find Pushkin plus on the Lost Hills show page in Apple Podcasts or at Pushkin.fm.
Follow us @losthillspod on Twitter and Instagram for a deeper dive into the stories.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department listened to our podcast and now they’re asking us some new questions — and answering some of ours. Are they ready to reopen the investigation into Mitrice’s death? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Dana lays out all the evidence, and we await results from forensic testing. We reconnect with Mitrice’s loved ones, as they celebrate what would have been her 39th birthday. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
A round of cold calls yields brand new information tying the Person of Interest to Mitrice. We return to the fort in the woods, and make a startling discovery. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The home of a local firefighter is infiltrated by an informant hoping to get more information on the Person of Interest. And a hike planned for Dark Canyon instead leads to the Lost Hills Station. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
A 2011 exhumation of Mitrice’s remains leads to a second autopsy. Meanwhile, a woman describes a disturbing encounter in Monte Nido around the time of Mitrice’s death. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
We learn everything we can about our Person of Interest — a longtime member of the Monte Nido community, who went from golden boy to convict to off-the-grid survivalist living in the woods. We check his criminal history and discover a troubling pattern of violence. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Looking for a way into Dark Canyon, we follow a former pot grower on a treacherous route, and pay a visit to the Porn Ranch, which borders Dark Canyon. Plus, a retired LASD sergeant reveals that there was a Person of Interest in the case. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Eleven months after her disappearance, Mitrice’s naked remains are discovered in an abandoned pot field in Dark Canyon, just above Monte Nido. Deputies on scene make a controversial decision, sparking conflict with the LA County Coroner. And Mitrice’s recovered clothing goes missing. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Three years before Mitrice’s arrest, Mel Gibson was arrested for drunk driving on Pacific Coast Highway. An interview with the arresting officer, James Mee, reveals the power wielded by celebrities in Malibu. Would Mitrice’s story have ended differently if she were rich and famous? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
As the months pass with no sign of Mitrice, rumors abound. Law enforcement questions the artist behind a creepy mural. And deputies raid a fort in the wilderness looking for human remains. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Six hours after her release from Lost Hills Station, Mitrice is spotted in the rural community of Monte Nido. Investigators find Mitrice’s footprints, and neighbors report unusual disturbances around the time of her disappearance. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mitrice arrives at Geoffrey’s restaurant in Malibu on Sept. 16, 2009, claiming she’s there to “avenge the death of Michael Jackson.” When she walks out without paying, a restaurant staffer calls 911. Deputies bring Mitrice to Lost Hills Station, where Mitrice’s cellmate overhears a worrying conversation. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Investigators search Mitrice’s impounded car and find several journals she wrote in the last months of her life. Never before shared publicly, the journals offer details about Mitrice’s mental state and her complicated love life. We track down an old girlfriend, who reveals Mitrice’s secret struggle. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
As Mitrice Richardson’s disappearance dominates news headlines, the Sheriff’s Department defends its decision to release her with no phone, no wallet, and no ride. Meanwhile, Mitrice’s autopsy raises puzzling questions about a missing bone, and a long-buried interview introduces a new witness. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The disappearance and death of Mitrice Richardson remains Malibu, CA’s most baffling unsolved case. It’s been nearly 14 years since her remains were discovered in a remote canyon, and still, no one has been held accountable for her demise. From the beginning, the LA County Sheriff’s Department said Richardson’s case likely couldn’t be solved. And to this day, her death remains a mystery. The truth lies in the remote Malibu community where Mitrice was last seen. And now, finally, people are start...
You’ve heard of artist Jackson Pollock, but you may have never heard of Lee Krasner. Krasner was an artist, Pollock’s wife, and the woman who made him famous. She also changed everything about the landscape of modern art. Death of an Artist: Krasner and Pollock is a story about love, power, alcoholism and an ill-timed death. Hosted by curator, author, and broadcaster Katy Hessel, this 6-episode series from Pushkin Industries and Samizdat Audio offers an inside look into two of the greatest artis...
Hosted by Dan Leone, Lost Hill's composer and sound designer, Ripple is a new investigative show that revisits major stories to judge their lasting impacts. This season investigates the BP Oil Spill — was an environmental disaster prevented or has it been ignored? Subscribe now to Ripple . See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Textured Waves is a Black female surf collective focused on promoting diversity in the water and teaching Black youth to surf. In this bonus episode, Dana talks to two of the collective’s founding members, Chelsea Woody and Martina Duran, about joy in the ocean, localism, and an accomplished Black surfer from the era of Miki Dora. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Malibu, 1950. Before Gidget, before even Miki Dora, there was one surfer who ruled the waves and was known for cutting down anyone who got in her way. And she thought Miki was the kook. In this bonus episode, Dana talks to Vikki Flaxman Williams, the original surfer girl of Malibu, who at 91 is still as tough as ever. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
When he dies, in 2002, Miki leaves wreckage in his wake. A stash of letters reveal his deepest and most toxic beliefs. And Linda Cuy explains the true cost of Miki’s rebellious search for surf. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
After prison, Miki is a changed man . . . kind of. He knows better than to break the law again. So he finds other ways to make money. He gets Quiksilver, the surf apparel company, to put him on the payroll. And with the help of a couple of celebrity surfers, Kelly Slater and Chris Malloy, Miki tries to get back on top. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
After getting busted in France in 1981, Miki finally surrenders himself to the FBI. Agents have spent years interviewing denizens of the surf world, gathering dirt on Miki. His criminal file is 876 pages long. Miki decides to face the music, but he still has a couple tricks up his sleeve. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Kevin Naughton and Craig Peterson are on assignment for Surfer magazine. Their task? Find Miki Dora. When they do, he’s living in a campervan in the South of France, surfing perfect empty waves. And waiting for his next recruits. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
After moaning about the ruination of Malibu for years, Miki sets out … for New Zealand. He and Linda are going to use a bunch of fraudulent airline tickets and fake credit cards to disappear. There’s just one problem: they’re being hunted. Linda has another con artist boyfriend who is keen to find her. And Miki is wanted by the FBI. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
From nothing, a surf industry is born. There are magazines. And gear. And competitions. Everyone is hustling…. Including Miki. He introduces a new board called Da Cat, complete with an outrageous ad campaign. He also has a new girlfriend, a surfer named Linda Cuy, who has the makings of a full-on accomplice. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Miki puts his surfing skills to use in the Gidget movies and in every beach party movie he can get cast in. He wants to be a star, but he doesn’t want to really work. He and his girlfriend Diane Oosterveen dress up and go to Hollywood parties at night–and rob the guests. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mainland surfing has been steeped in the symbols of fascism since its inception. Iron Crosses, swastikas, Nazi uniforms…in the golden era of surfing, surfers flaunt them on their boards and in the early surf movies. Miki Dora is famous for his SS leather trench coat and using a board emblazoned with a giant swastika. He polices Malibu, forces newcomers, known as kooks, off their boards and off the beach. He lets everyone know that Malibu is his territory. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy ...
Kathy Kohner’s family were immigrants from Eastern Europe who helped launch the Golden Age of Hollywood. Miki Dora’s family had also escaped the rise of fascism to start anew in California. Their fathers were part of the same tight-knit emigre community. But Miki decides that Kathy is an interloper. And tries to drive her out of Malibu. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In the bitchen’ summer of 1956, a 15 year-old girl named Kathy Kohner shows up in Malibu and asks the guys to teach her how to surf. They call her Gidget. Soon, her father writes a book based on her diaries. The book becomes a movie, and a TV show, and a cultural juggernaut. And Miki, one of Kathy’s new surfer pals, is furious. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The most iconic surfer in Southern California was born in… Hungary. Emigrating to Los Angeles as a baby, he was raised partly by his father, a sophisticated European wine lover and restaurateur, and partly by his mother and her new husband, a hard-charging surfer named Gard Chapin. After Gard’s rumored murder, Miki is never the same. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
