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? 

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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. 

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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.

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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. 

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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. 

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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. 

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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 starting to talk.

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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 artists of the 20th century, and how their vision impacts ours. Listen in your favorite podcast player.

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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. 

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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. 

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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.

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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. 

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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. 

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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. 

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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.

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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. 

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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. 

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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.

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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. 

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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.

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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. 

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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. 

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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. 

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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.

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Miki Dora, Malibu’s most celebrated surfer, was known as Da Cat. Gorgeous, graceful, and debonair, Miki was intimidating. He ruled Malibu from the 1950s to the 1970s. But then, he disappeared. Because Miki was not just a surfer. He was a con artist, who led the FBI on a 7 year hunt around the globe, while he searched for the perfect wave.

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There’s an evil undercurrent that runs through the surf world, and it all leads back to the Dark Prince of Malibu: Miki Dora. A surfer who ruled Malibu from the 1950s to the 1970s, he was also a con man and led the FBI on a 7-year manhunt around the world. To many people, Miki is a hero. But there’s darkness in the legacy he left behind. 

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Dana has some big news. A teaser for Season Three of Lost Hills, an update on the Rauda case, and your next podcast binge: Alphabet Boys.

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Sharing a preview of Deep Cover: Never Seen Again the story of two young women, living on opposite sides of the country, who went missing at almost the exact same time. Seven years later, their stories collided when one woman resurfaced – posing as the other. A small-town detective became obsessed with the case, convinced that one of them was a spy. Twenty years later, that woman is telling her tale. Listen to Deep Cover and hear the entire story at

[https://link.chtbl.com/hillsdeepcover]

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Fred's first wife, Jeanne, started flying for United in the 1960s, at the height of the glamorous jet age. The job was adventurous and fun, and it inducted Jeanne into a tight-knit sorority of fellow flight attendants—a group of women who would be first shocked, then haunted by her unexplained death. In this Season 2 bonus episode, a flight attendant who worked with Jeanne the day of her drowning shares new details about Jeanne’s last flight and final hours.

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Rob Lowe moved to Malibu in 1976, when he was 12. The Malibu of his youth was crazy. He saw Fonzie jump the shark, at Paradise Cove. He saw Nick Nolte at the grocery store. He saw coke—at a 7th-grader’s birthday party. The kids were running wild and the parents were running wilder. His mind was blown, never to recover. In this Season 2 bonus episode, Lowe takes us on a trippy trip down memory lane. 

You can hear more from Rob Lowe on his podcasts: “Literally! With Rob Lowe” and “Parks and Recollection.” 

This episode comes out for free on February 4th and is available now for Pushkin+ subscribers.

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Fred’s daughters share a trove of correspondence, and wrestle with unanswered questions about Jeanne’s death. The fight for Fred’s release continues. And a trip to Bird Rock brings resolution, at last.

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Fred’s trial is the longest and most expensive in Santa Barbara history, and the dory plays a starring role. Stan Roden, the DA, wants to send Fred to the gas chamber at San Quentin. At the heart of the trial are two conflicting sets of autopsies. Which expert is to be believed?

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Fred hires a high-powered defense attorney and a team of private eyes, and starts pushing back on the detectives’ narrative. He’s got an explanation for everything: his real-estate holdings, his income, and all those insurance policies. But can the detectives explain why their witnesses are walking back statements?

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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.

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After Fred’s arrest, detectives start looking into his finances. How does a civilian employee of the Navy afford a beachfront home, on a gated road in Malibu, and a brand-new $150K sailboat? Also, they learn that the Roehlers owned large insurance policies. Could that be the motive the cops are looking for?

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The sheriff’s department orders a new set of autopsies on Verna and Doug, to be conducted in secret. Now, there’s enough evidence to arrest Fred. Meanwhile, detectives talk to his neighbors, coworkers, and friends. Some say he’s a charming, dedicated family man, while others whisper of a dark side and a hair-trigger temper. Also, one of Doug’s best friends remembers life in the Roehler household. 

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Shortly after Jeanne’s death, Fred starts seeing Verna, one of Jeanne’s closest friends. It’s a whirlwind romance, and soon they’re merging families. The timeline of their relationship stokes Malibu gossip, and, later, piques the interest of detectives. Was it just a coincidence that Verna’s first husband had died unexpectedly, too?

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It’s 1976 and Jeanne is in thrall to Lifespring, a self-improvement group, or, some would say, a cult. She is manifesting her future—without Fred. This alternative reality never arrives. Instead, Jeanne dies. And the similarities to Verna’s death are eerie.

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Fred’s first wife, Jeanne, a flight attendant for United Airlines, is glamorous, outgoing, the life of the party. But there are tensions in the marriage and they’re mounting. Jeanne tells her sister she’s had enough. She’s in love with someone else.

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The Ventura County Medical Examiner determines Verna and Doug’s deaths to be accidental drownings, so Fred moves forward with funeral plans. But the cremations are halted after a family friend calls in a tip to the sheriff’s department. Fred receives some unexpected visitors. . . and they want to know what happened to his first wife.

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Fred, Verna, and their four young children are the happiest-looking family in Malibu. It’s a Brady Bunch story, a blended family living by the beach. But when they take their 50-foot sailboat, Perseverance, to the Channel Islands, tragedy strikes, and Verna and Doug mysteriously drown. Fred’s story—that it was all a terrible accident—has a problem. And her name is Lady. 

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In January 1981, Verna Johnson-Roehler and her young son, Doug, drowned while boating thirty miles off the coast of Malibu. Verna’s husband, Fred Roehler, was the sole survivor and only witness. 

Initially, the deaths were ruled accidental. But a phone call from a Malibu neighbor changed everything. Was Fred a monster, masquerading as the perfect Malibu dad? Or was an innocent man convicted by his gossiping neighbors?

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Since Lost Hills debuted, two sources have come forward with new information about Anthony Rauda: a new, alleged victim and his half-sister.

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On the night that Tristan Beaudette was killed while camping with his daughters, the campground at Malibu Creek State Park was full of families. Just across the access road from Beaudette’s tent, Stacey Sebourn was in a tent with her eight-year-old daughter and her daughter’s best friend. Sebourn provides a harrowing first-hand account of her experience.

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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. 

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Two hikers who stumbled on Rauda’s camp before the Beaudette murder lament a missed opportunity to stop the crime before it happened.

Sgt. Wright and Lt. Royal file whistleblower lawsuits against the sheriff’s department, and Sgt. Wright shares damaging information.

Erica Wu prepares to move, and, after nearly three years, scatters some of Tristan Beaudette’s ashes.

With Anthony Rauda in custody, will peace return to Malibu?

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As the judge questions Anthony Rauda’s competency to stand trial, the prosecutor lays out her case. There’s still no weapon for the first five shootings, and no clear motive.

But a look at Rauda’s writing reveals a secret connection to the crime.

And a close examination of a photograph taken by a citizen investigator at Rauda’s camp gives rise to a stunning discovery: potentially critical evidence that law enforcement overlooked. 

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Lost Hills Station is embroiled in scandal. But the new captain is determined to set the story straight.

He says there were major errors in the investigation, and points a finger at two respected Lost Hills detectives: Sgt. Tui Wright and Lt. James Royal.

Ian Kincaid, a shooting victim, describes overhearing a private conversation at Lost Hills Station.

As her relationship with Sheriff Villanueva deepens, Cece Woods feels her power in Malibu grow. 

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Who is Anthony Rauda?

He’s more than a drifter. He’s an aspiring musician and a writer, with a long history of mental-health struggles and an extensive criminal record. He's a committed survivalist, attempting to live completely off the grid and without assistance. He’s been arrested repeatedly with antique firearms and gunpowder.

And he hates the Lost Hills cops.

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The cops went from saying that they couldn’t connect the crimes to saying that one person, Anthony Rauda, had done them all. Is that even possible?

When officials at California State Parks refuse to answer questions, a hiker in Malibu Creek State Park reveals the location of Rauda’s camp.

And Jimmy Rogers, victim of Near MIss #1, describes being awakened just before dawn by an explosion . . . aimed at his head. He says the cops told him vital information about the so-called missing shotgun.

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