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Western Sound and Pushkin Industries

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.

Lost Hills: The Dark Prince

Here's a preview from the new season of Malcolm Gladwell's Revisionist History podcast, The Alabama Murders. Florence, Alabama. 1988. A preacher has an affair. A woman is murdered. One death cascades into more, stretching across decades and leaving no one untouched — victims, bystanders, perpetrators, and those just trying to help. Eventually, the consequences lead to the center of a hot national debate on who should be allowed to live, who should die, and how the state should kill them. On The Alabama Murders, Malcolm asks: why, in our efforts to alleviate suffering, do we so often make it worse?
 
Find Revisionist History: The Alabama Murders wherever you get podcasts. To get early access to ad-free episodes and extra content, subscribe to Pushkin+ on the Revisionist History show page on Apple Podcasts or at pushkin.fm/plus.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From Revisionist History: The Alabama Murders

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.

Important Lost Hills - Dark Canyon Update

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.

12. Dig Two Graves

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.

11. The Suitcase

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.

10. The Wallypad

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.

9. Fearful Witness

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.

8. Rick Trouble

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.

7. In the Shit

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.

6. Reconnaissance

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.

Bonus: Get Jim

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.

3. Gidget Goes to Hollywood, Pt1

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