Monday, October 5, 2009

Mitrice Richardson Missing in Same Stretch of Malibu Area That Claimed Life of Actress' Husband

Diahann Carroll with her young husband, Robert DeLeon, then managing editor at Jet (Courtesy: Diahann-Carroll.Info)

This is a really interesting observation from Jerry Brice’s Blog, also on WordPress. If true, it may take longer to find a body than we know, especially since Mitrice is not related to or is a celebrity. And it puts paid to the very idea that Mitrice was in some kind of suburban area of Southern California. I’ve been on the Pacific Coast Highway myself, and by no stretch of the imagination can it be considered lining a suburb in that area.

The sheriff’s deputies haven’t done their job; they need to take a much closer look.

Reality Check: Diahann Carroll’s 3rd Husband, Jet Editor Robert DeLeon, [...] Went Missing, and Found Dead In Same Rural Area of Malibu Canyon That Mitrice Richardson Is Missing

In March of 1977, Robert DeLeon was found at the bottom of a canyon in Malibu, close to Topanga Canyon, in the wreckage of his totally destroyed Ferrari. He had been missing for several weeks, in this hilly forest in the countryside of Malibu, California.

This is the same place that Mitrice Richardson has gone missing currently, after the Malibu sheriff callously and carelessly let her wander, by their own account against their advice, while suffering an apparent mental lapse, into the coyote infested, steep deadly cliff area, that awaits those walking around at night. This area is dangerous for these same reasons during the day, as well.

Diahann Carroll’s third husband was a Jet Magazine managing editor named Robert DeLeon. They wed in May, 1975. They were still married when he was killed in a car accident on March 31, 1977. DeLeon was reported to have been intoxicated when last seen alive, driving away into Malibu canyon. If you are not familiar with this part of Malibu, to get an idea of where Mitrice was left to fend for herself, look on the street views for this part of Malibu and Topanga Canyon on Google Maps, and Google Earth.

DeLeon went missing there in 1977 for over two weeks, even though helicopters and bloodhounds were used in the air, and on foot. There is not much reporting about Robert DeLeon’s death on the internet, but I hope that the Mitrice Richardson debacle can be put into perspective, given the amount of time that this area has been known to be treacherous, in light of the disappearance of Diahann Carroll’s late husband Robert DeLeon, and the circumstances that prevented him from being found sooner in this rural part of Malibu.

Why on earth would they let her walk into the forest alone at the dead of night, I can see they are busy defending their indefensible actions, to cover any legal liability, rather than manning-up, and admitting their callousness in this matter.

Diahann Carroll was 40, Robert DeLeon was 24 when they met in the course of her publicity tour for the film, Claudine. After a three-month courtship, they married. (From the photo, DeLeon not only looks young, he looks gay–but looks are not the whole picture.) Carroll was looking forward to an early retirement in Oakland, California with her husband in tow, but when DeLeon began to act the fool drinking and running through her money, the DeLeons moved back to Los Angeles, possibly for Carroll to take on film or TV roles to recoup her losses. This marriage might have resulted in another divorce had he not been killed in what was a clear case of drunk driving. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Carroll eulogized her husband as a “a complex, brilliant young man.”

Mitrice was complex and brilliant, too. And from what some blogs like this one are saying, lesbian.

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