In February 2024, celebrated children’s book author and illustrator Petra Mathers and her husband, photographer Michael Mathers, mailed letters to dozens of friends and family members to let them know they had died by suicide. Petra and Michael were by all accounts healthy, happy, and deeply in love. As much a love story as one about death, it begs the question: what did that decision do to the people left to mourn them?

In season 3 of Death of an Artist, journalists Leon Neyfakh and Alice Gregory set out to interview everyone who got one of Petra and Michael’s letters—as one married couple trying to understand another. Told through intimate conversations with Petra and Michael’s friends and family about their own relationships to aging, grief, death, and the friends they thought they knew, Death of an Artist weaves together a portrait of a community grappling with the Mathers’ deaths and the final words they left behind.

Search for Death of an Artist wherever you get podcasts. And get early, ad-free access to the entire season now by subscribing to Pushkin+ on the Apple Podcasts show page or at pushkin.fm/plus.

In February 2024, celebrated children&rsquo;s book author and illustrator Petra Mathers and her husband, photographer Michael Mathers, mailed letters to dozens of friends and family members to let them know they had died by suicide. Petra and Michael were by all accounts healthy, happy, and deeply in love. As much a love story as one about death, it begs the question: what did that decision do to the people left to mourn them?
In season 3 of Death of an Artist, journalists Leon Neyfakh and Alice Gregory set out to interview everyone who got one of Petra and Michael&rsquo;s letters&mdash;as one married couple trying to understand another. Told through intimate conversations with Petra and Michael&rsquo;s friends and family about their own relationships to aging, grief, death, and the friends they thought they knew, Death of an Artist weaves together a portrait of a community grappling with the Mathers&rsquo; deaths and the final words they left behind.
Search for Death of an Artist wherever you get podcasts. And get early, ad-free access to the entire season now by subscribing to Pushkin+ on the Apple Podcasts <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/death-of-an-artist/id1628639926">show page</a> or at <a href="https://www.pushkin.fm/join-pushkin">pushkin.fm/plus</a>.

Lost Hills investigates the dark side of Malibu, California. Beneath a seductive facade, this city of billionaires, celebrities, and surf bums is hiding something menacing.

On September 16, 2009, 24-year-old Mitrice Richardson was arrested by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for failing to pay her bill at a restaurant in Malibu, CA. After being released from Lost Hills Station shortly after midnight, she disappeared. Eleven months later, her naked, skeletal remains were discovered in a canyon some six miles away. 

For nearly 15 years, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Mitrice’s friends and family, and generations of internet sleuths have tried to crack the case. 

To this day, her death remains an unsolved mystery. 

The truth lies in the remote Malibu community where Mitrice was last seen. And now, finally, people are starting to talk.

Hosted by Dana Goodyear (The New Yorker) and produced by Western Sound and Pushkin Industries. Show artwork copyright Francesca Gabbiani.

Subscribe to Pushkin plus to hear the whole season early, and ad free.  Find Pushkin plus on the Lost Hills show page in Apple Podcasts or at Pushkin.fm.

Follow us @losthillspod on Twitter and Instagram for a deeper dive into the stories.

Lost Hills investigates the dark side of Malibu, California. Beneath a seductive facade, this city of billionaires, celebrities, and surf bums is hiding something menacing.
On September 16, 2009, 24-year-old Mitrice Richardson was arrested by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for failing to pay her bill at a restaurant in Malibu, CA. After being released from Lost Hills Station shortly after midnight, she disappeared. Eleven months later, her naked, skeletal remains were discovered in a canyon some six miles away. 
For nearly 15 years, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Mitrice’s friends and family, and generations of internet sleuths have tried to crack the case. 
To this day, her death remains an unsolved mystery. 
The truth lies in the remote Malibu community where Mitrice was last seen. And now, finally, people are starting to talk.
Hosted by Dana Goodyear (The New Yorker) and produced by Western Sound and Pushkin Industries. Show artwork copyright Francesca Gabbiani.
Subscribe to Pushkin plus to hear the whole season early, and ad free.  Find Pushkin plus on the Lost Hills show page in Apple Podcasts or at <a href="https://www.pushkin.fm/join-pushkin" data-stringify-link="http://Pushkin.fm" data-sk="tooltip_parent">Pushkin.fm</a>.
Follow us <a href="https://twitter.com/losthillspod?lang=en">@losthillspod</a> on Twitter and Instagram for a deeper dive into the stories.

Lost Hills: Dark Canyon

Petra Mathers and Her Michael | From Death of an Artist 

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/3e579fc8-c3cb-449f-b434-b4b0011b8316/transcript