i don't understand what mitrice's state of mind was the night she vanished. people at the restaurant shooifs acting strangely. she seemed intoxicated. if you look at her mug shot and we're going to show you right now, her mug shot and compare it to other shots the earrings are the normal shots, the mug shot, her hair's wild. she doesn't look like the same person. so my question to you is, did she have any kind of a psychological or emotional problem that you know of? why would she suddenly behave erratically like this? >> caller: and that's why i came down to something was either in her drink or she had a meltdown. i don't know what led to that. i don't know, but i know when i'd seen her booking picture i had goose bumps. i did not recognize person, of my daughter. it brought tears to my eyes and it scared me profusively. >> you know it's happened in the past that mickey's, as they used to call them in the old day, ug

the attorney for mitrice's family tells a totally different story. he says there's a cover-up going on and he claims to have audiotapes to prove it. we will address those tapes in a moment but first, joining me on the phone, i'm delighted to have steve whitmore, senior media advisor for the l.a. county sheriff's department. steve, i want to give you a chance to respond to all these accusations. now, here's a clip from leo terrell, the family's attorney. this is what he said last night right here on our show, "issues." let's listen. >> we were at the lapd station last night, jane. we asked to see the police report. after 15 days, they would not release it. we asked to get the phone messages from the calls she made. they refused to release it. there is a cover-up going on right now. >> all right. steve whitmore, those are pretty strong words. you represent the sheriff's department. has a police report been published? what about these tapes of phone calls that we hear could exist? >> well, let me first deal with the police report. and the police report

but first, mitrice was 24 years old. she was an adult.ably adults can handle themselves even at 12:30 in the morning so why would that be the responsibility of the police to take care of her? >> she was fundamental reasons, contessa. one, they let her leave in an area that she was completely unaware of. 65 miles from her home, contessa without a car oi or way to get home at 12:30 at night. more importantly, con ses that, she was in a crisis state. she had exhibited bizarre behavior. and sheriff's officers are supposedly trained to have these individuals evaluated. to see if they need some type of mental or medical assistance. contessa, they failed to take any action to address her mental state of mind. >> let me play part of the interview that alex did yesterday with steve whitmore from the l.a. county's sheriff's department. >> we obviously did everything we believe not only procedurally correct but what we believe to be right. our civilian jailer, custody assistants, said to miss richardson, if you want to stay the night, you can stay t

and talked to her a lot, and when mitrice was finally released, the woman, it was a woman, said to mitrice would you like to just stay the night and stay in the cell, there's a bed, there's a bathroom, you're still free to go, but at least there's a place here where you can stay. >> i want to take issue with that, carla. >> that's okay. again, i'm not sure that this is what happened. i'm just telling you what the sheriff's department says. >> the custody assistant is the same lady who told mr. richardson quote, we don't run a babysitting operation here. and that shows you the state of mind of that department, because they didn't understand the magnitude of the issue involving mitrice. she had issues. >> what issues did she have, leo? >> she had mental issues which were demonstrated at joffrey's, demonstrated by her request to sit with strangers, about her coming from a different planet. >> jane -- >> those were the issues. >> jane, to protect against corporate liability here, you would really think that any organization would say well, you know, we are the ones who removed her from the str

and talked to her a lot, and when mitrice was finally released, the woman, it was a woman, said to mitrice would you like to just stay the night and stay in the cell, there's a bed, there's a bathroom, you're still free to go, but at least there's a place here where you can stay. >> i want to take issue with that, carla. >> that's okay. again, i'm not sure that this is what happened. i'm just telling you what the sheriff's department says. >> the custody assistant is the same lady who told mr. richardson quote, we don't run a babysitting operation here. and that shows you the state of mind of that department, because they didn't understand the magnitude of the issue involving mitrice. she had issues. >> what issues did she have, leo? >> she had mental issues which were demonstrated at joffrey's, demonstrated by her request to sit with strangers, about her coming from a different planet. >> jane -- >> those were the issues. >> jane, to protect against corporate liability here, you would really think that any organization would say well, you know, we are the ones who removed her from the str

no, mitrice is not street-savvy. mitrice pretty much had a pretty sheltered upbringing. sheltered and involved in positive activities all of her life. so, no, she is not street savvy. and i do need to say that although mitrice had money, she did not have money in her possession. >> right. >> and so, her being out there alone is very frightening for me because she is not street savvy. >> michael, the sheriff's department declined to appear in this live interview, but as you saw in that piece, they did grant us an interview on tape yesterday, and they said, look, we did what we were supposed to do. this is a young lady who is not intoxicated. we had no legal grounds to keep her overnight. we offered her a bed and she declined. what more did you want them to do? >> well, that's all inconsistencies. i've talked to them several times since my daughter's been missing. the first time they offered her to sleep in the lobby. now they're saying they offered her a bed. i don't know anyone who likes to raise their hand and say they want to stay in jail, first of all. second of all,

and talked to her a lot, and when mitrice was finally released, the woman, it was a woman, said to mitrice would you like to just stay the night and stay in the cell, there's a bed, there's a bathroom, you're still free to go, but at least there's a place here where you can stay. >> i want to take issue with that, carla. >> that's okay. again, i'm not sure that this is what happened. i'm just telling you what the sheriff's department says. >> the custody assistant is the same lady who told mr. richardson quote, we don't run a babysitting operation here. and that shows you the state of mind of that department, because they didn't understand the magnitude of the issue involving mitrice. she had issues. >> what issues did she have, leo? >> she had mental issues which were demonstrated at joffrey's, demonstrated by her request to sit with strangers, about her coming from a different planet. >> jane -- >> those were the issues. >> jane, to protect against corporate liability here, you would really think that any organization would say well, you know, we are the ones who removed her from the str

they were called by the restaurant because apparently she -- mitrice did not pay her bill.innkeeper said she was exhibiting bizarre behavior. she sat down with strangers who did not know who she was. and she exhibited conduct and made comments that were bizarre. they came there, they approached her, and then they tried to work out the payment of the bill. the grandmother agreed to pay the bill. apparently that wasn't enough. they decided to arrest her at the restaurant. >> so, steve whitemore from the l.a. county sheriff's department spoke with alex witt yesterday. let me play his response to all of this. >> we obviously did everything we believe not only procedurally correct but what we believe to be right. our civilian jailer, for example, known as custody assistants, said to miss richardson if you want to stay the night i encourage you to do so. she didn't want to do that. and we have no legal right to keep somebody past their time. >> you know, leo, the sheriff's department arguing she's an adult woman, she was already out that night. and that they didn't have a legal r

. >> that was mitrice richardson's cousin, the 24-year-old woman has been missing since the night of september 17th. that's about 12 days ago when she walked out of a sheriff's station in the middle of the night, 1:30 a.m., no phone, no car. they'd impounded her car. no purse. back to my pan fastic panel. so delighted to have michael richardson. the father of the missing woman joining us on the phone. mr. richardson, stand-by. we want to include some our other guests for a second. robin robin, what i don't understand. she had this much pot. we know in california, something called medicinal pot. i lived there for 18 years. everybody's taking medicinal pot. nobody's impounding their cars. anybody can buy medicinal pot by walking big store and saying i've got a tooth ache or an ear ache, okay? so why are they going to the lengths of impounding this woman's car because she's got a little bit of pot on her? >> i have no idea the amount of pot, but obviously she didn't say it was medicinal pot and they were just looking for some excuse. it's almost like harassment to me i'm sitting here th

where is mitrice richardson? >> certainly unanswered questions. >>> breaking news coming in from the carribean island of cur sow. five fbi agents have arrived on the island to search for the u.s. vice counsel, james hogan. hogan appeared thursday night. the 39-year-old diplomat was telling his wife he was going for a walk. never returned. on friday his jeans found on the remote spot of the island. police say they're investigating all possible scenario iviolence. the coast guard, u.s. marines and the u.s. navy helicopter crew are all searching for hogan as we speak. talk about a wake up call. i had a heart attack at 57. my doctor told me i should've been... doing more for my high cholesterol. what was i thinking? but now i trust my heart to lipitor. when diet and exercise are not enough, adding lipitor may help. unlike some other cholesterol lowering medications, lipitor is fda approved to reduce the risk... of heart attack, stroke, and certain kinds of heart surgeries... if you have several common risk factors...

. >> steve, i've heard that there was a sighting of mitrice.to figure out how this plays into all this, that she and on someone's back patio and said she was just there resting. they apparently go in to make a call to police to say something, what's up about this, and then she's gone. where does that fit into this? >> as far as we can tell, this is how that occurred. at about 6:36 in the morning on a thursday, which would be the morning after she had left, when she left about 1:00, 1:30 give or take. >> so five hours later. >> there was a report there was a person sleeping on the rear steps of the residents inn, 500 block of colt canyon road. deputies were dispatched and we arrived at 6:55. so what is that? that's under 20 minutes. there was nobody there. it's important to know even though that call came in and we responded expeditiously, it may not have been her or anything at all. we did respond to that. and because of that missing person report of somebody being on the rear steps, we have been certainlying in that area since that report. >>

meanwhile, mitrice richardson's parents continue to hold out hope through their frustration. >> it is hard to put into words what i feel as a mother. i can tell you with absolute certainty, it feels like i have stepped into a nightmare. >> that was ann curry reporting. now authorities went on to say an official at the jail offered richardson to stay the night but she refuse dod that. she declined. the 24-year-old was on track to become a substitute teacher. jim? >> pat, d.c.-area transportation officials are partnering together now to draw attention to the deadly hazard of distracting driving in construction zones. the campaign is called orange cone, no phones. new research released today shows more than half of all drivers use a cell phone while behind the wheel. nearly 1 in every 4 belt way drivers reads or writes a text message. those texters are 20 times more likely to have had an accident or near miss due to the distraction of their cell phones. the distraction is especially dangerous in construction zones. >> let me warn you, if you drive the belt way in virginia and you feel co

. >> this is what's so upsettinging to mitrice's parents. she has no money no keys no car how was she supposed to get transportation? they knew you were going to pick her up? >> that is correct. that is the issue that is the question that we are still trying to help answer today. >> i can answer it for you it's gross negligence. they dropped the ball. it's grossly negligent. i was a legal advice year to the sheriff in broward county. there's no way you should release your daughter onto the streets like this. the girl was studying for a ph.d. in a local college? >> she was gathering her paperwork to enter a ph.d. program. i also question when they were in the process of arresting her in the field they gave her a sobriety test which she apparently successfully passed. i have to question if they suspected she was intoxicated and she distributed terrible, odd behavior but she passed the sobriety test, shouldn't the next step be -- didn't they have a duty to then provide some type of evaluation? >> i agree with you, i agree with you. let's bring

. >>> police in southern california are still baffled by the disappearance of mitrice richardson who disappeared after being released from a l.a. county sheriff's office. search teams with rescue dogs and on horseback combed the rugged terrain near malibu. >> we are searching about a 60 to 80-square-mile area and we're searching basically from the malibu sheriff's station onward to malibu itself. >> reporter: that malibu sheriff's station is the last place richardson was seen and where her parents are laying the blame for her disappearance. >> it was nothing protecting her when they allowed her to walk out that door based on policy and procedure. >> reporter: richardson was arrested after she reportedly refused to pay an $89 bill at this exclusive malibu restaurant. management says she looked soaper but also described her behavior as unusual. police found a small amount of marijuana in her c and took her into custody. she was booked, then released at about 1:30 a.m. after making a few phone calls, the 24-year-old, who her mother says was atrade of the dark and lacked street savvy, le

mitrice richardson went missing on september 16. that's when police say she was arrested for not having enough money to pay for her dinner. she allegedly had marijuana on her. richardson disappeared after being released. her father made a plea for her safe return. >> you can never do no wrong in my eyes, so if you had a meltdown, come holler at me. we can always sit down and talk about it. >> richardson's family says she was also acting strange and may have been emotionally distressed. >>> a father says his son and daughter were kidnapped by his ex-wife. the dad eventually tracked them down halfway around the world. but new for you in the next half hour. find out why he is now the one in jail. >>> a college football star was badly injured after dropping a weight bar on his neck. rafer weigel is here with that story. rafer? that sounds horribly painful. >> i can only imagine, natasha. usc running back staffon johnson had to go into emergency surgery for more than seven hours according to a hospital spokesman after he dropped a weight