An updated complaint was filed against Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Homicide detective Dan McElderry after it was revealed in recent court findings that McElderry lied in a case leading to the false conviction of Miguel Solorio who was wrongfully convicted of murder. Photo byThe National Registry of Exonerations The defense and the prosecution’s failure…
On September 17th, 2023, many will be honoring the 14th anniversary of the disappearance of Mitrice Richardson who was released from the Lost Hills Station shortly after midnight, with no car, no cell phone and no means to get her to safety. Ten months later, her mummified remains were discovered approximately six miles from the…
Fourteen years ago, Mitrice Richardson took the journey to Malibu, in the midst of what we now know to be a serious mental health episode, which wrongfully landed her behind bars and ultimately cost her her life. Was it murder? Dr. Ronda Hampton and I think so. Hampton, a clinical psychologist and mentor to Richardson,…
Today marks 13 years since the LA County Medical Examiner’s office confirmed the identification of Mitrice Richardson’s partially mummified remains, found just three days before on August 9th, 2010, in a remote area in Malibu Canyon known to locals as “Dark Canyon”. At the time of the discovery, Park Rangers were surveying an area previously…
For over two decades, the family of Gladys Arellano hoped for justice in the 17 year-old’s murder which took place on Super Bowl Sunday in 1996. Arellano’s body was found two days later in Topanga Canyon, 30 feet off a main road in a ravine. Authorities said she was partially clothed and appeared to be…
More than 13 years ago, Mitrice Richardson disappeared into the Malibu Hills never to be seen alive again. The high-profile case has continued to gain media attention consistently throughout the years and will continue the trend with the new children’s book series “The Skool Kids” inspired by Dr Ronda Hampton’s journey as an advocate for justice in…
For over a decade, Dr. Ronda Hampton has fought for justice on behalf of those who have no voice. Hampton, a clinical psychologist from Diamond Bar, began her journey as a Missing Persons and Mental Health advocate immediately after 24-year-old Mitrice Richardson disappeared under suspicious circumstances after being released from the Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station…
In 2018, during my investigation into the Malibu Creek State Park Shootings, I met Dr. Ronda Hampton, who I have since continued to work with on multiple missing persons cases. In September 2019, in collaboration with Dr. Hampton and as a result of my reporting on the shootings, a new tip came in in the…
Long time Missing Persons advocate Dr. Ronda Hampton, an integral part of the high-profile Mitrice Richardson case has launched a social media campaign to assist in the search for Elaine Park, a young actress that went missing in the same general area of Dark Canyon in 2017. Over the last 11 years since Mitrice Richardson…
The families of three high profile cases that occurred in the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department jurisdiction, were recently denied additional assistance to get answers in their unsolved cases. The families of Mitrice Richardson, Elaine Park and Matthew Weaver Jr. personally contacted Sheriff Alex Villanueva on April 1st, 2021 requesting a lateral investigation. Five days later,…
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Malibu Daily News Editor in Chief Cece Woods founded The Local Malibu, an activism based platform, in 2014. The publication was instrumental in the success of two ballot measures, seating three Malibu City Councilmen in 2016 and the supporting the top two vote-getters again in 2020.
During the summer of 2018, Woods exposed the law enforcement cover-up in the Malibu Creek State Park Shootings and a few short months later, provided the most comprehensive local news coverage during the Woolsey Fire attracting over 1 million hits across her social media platforms.