The Elimination of Heather Strong

Explicit content warning

08/12/19 • 85 min

Heather Strong was a 26-year old waitress and mother, trying to make ends meet, when she disappeared in 2009. Heather had lived a difficult life which had only gotten worse when she became involved with Joshua Fulgham and Emilia Carr. Joshua was in on-again off-again relationships with both Heather and Emilia. When Heather went missing, Emilia was 8-months pregnant. She claimed that Joshua was the father.
Emilia was known to be jealous of Josh and Heather’s relationship. Just one month before Heather was vanished, Emilia attacked Heather with a knife to her throat and threatened to kill her.
In The Elimination of Heather Strong, we’re talking about a group of young people who lived dysfunctional lives burdened by drug use, sexual and physical abuse, violence, poverty, unplanned pregnancies, and infidelity. Their relationships ended in betrayal and tragedy, leaving one of them dead and two in prison.

Previous Episode

Out to Sea: The Life & Death of Anne Marie Fahey

Anne Marie Fahey was a secretary to the Governor of Delaware when she disappeared in 1996. Anne Marie had been having an affair with a married man—an affair she had ended. But her ex-lover, Thomas Capano, was not a man who took no for an answer. In fact, he had been stalking Anne Marie for weeks.
Thomas Capano, a powerful attorney and father of four, denied knowing anything about Anne Marie’s disappearance. But when the truth came to the surface, Anne Marie’s loved ones were devastated and Capano’s image was destroyed. He was exposed as a womanizer, a man with a temper, and ultimately, a cold-blooded murderer.
Anne Marie had defied Capano when she broke things off with him to pursue a better life with a new love interest. He wanted to keep her to himself. When Anne Marie had the confidence to leave him, he murdered her, enlisting the help of his brother to dispose of her body.
Join us at the quiet end today for Out to Sea: The Murder of Anne Marie Fahey.

Next Episode

What Happened to Mitrice Richardson?

Mitrice Richardson was released from the Lost Hills Sheriff department in Malibu, California, in the middle of the night without her phone, money, or transportation on September 17, 2009. She had been arrested hours earlier after behaving strangely at an upscale restaurant. She was unable to pay her dinner bill and the restaurant staff were concerned that she was mentally unstable or intoxicated.

Once in police custody, Mitrice’s mother was contacted and she was assured that they would be keeping Mitrice overnight. Her mother could pick her up in the morning. But, by morning, Mitrice had been released. Her whereabouts were unknown.

No one knew why Mitrice had driven about 40 miles from her home to the oceanside Malibu neighborhood. She had made some strange Facebook posts and had demonstrated some unusual behavior that day. When she was released after midnight, she was in an area she didn’t know, without any way to contact her family. Her car had been impounded and she was unable to retrieve it.

Mitrice’s family believed that she could have been having a mental health crisis, so her release was both negligent and dangerous. And, as time passed and Mitrice was not found, her family began to feel ignored and deceived by the Sheriff’s office and the LAPD.

Join us at the quiet end today for the story of a disoriented, young African-American woman who was left to fend for herself, in the dead of night, in the rugged terrain of the Santa Monica Mountains, and was never seen or heard from again.

What happened to Mitrice Richardson? The gaps and omissions in the Sheriff’s department’s handling of her case, as well as her family’s discoveries, welcome further investigation into the events of her disappearance.