I read this subreddit every day, but this is my first post. I was surprised this case has never been highlighted here, so I figured I’d give it a write-up.

Most of this is from the Wikipedia article on Harris; other sources are linked within.

Background

Rico Harris was once a promising basketball star. In his days at a Los Angeles community college and Cal State-Northridge in the 1990s, he was eyed by the NBA — even considered a possible first-round draft pick. But substance abuse problems kept him from going pro. He eventually played for the Harlem Globetrotters briefly in 2000 before a head injury left him unable to play.

It appears Harris kicked his drug and alcohol problem in 2007.

Final Trip

By 2014, he was in a long-distance relationship with a woman in Seattle. He was in the process of moving in with her there, and he had a job interview lined up in Seattle as a property appraiser — a professional, non-athletic opportunity he was supposedly excited about.

But first, he went to visit his family in the LA suburb of Alhambra. Harris grew up in a tumultuous household, it seems, and he evidently wanted to get some sort of closure before beginning a life in the Pacific Northwest. His mother doesn’t believe he got what he was looking for.

Harris left Alhambra shortly after midnight — very early on the day of Oct. 10, 2014 — to begin the 17-hour drive to Seattle. His job interview was scheduled for the following day, the 11th.

Harris drove north on I-5. Investigators determined that he purchased gas in Lodi, about 40 miles south of Sacramento. At 10:45 a.m., he called his girlfriend from north of Sacramento and left a message saying he was going "into the mountains" to rest. At 11:15 a.m., he turned his phone off, and no one has heard from him since.

Investigation

His family and girlfriend waited until Oct. 14 to report him missing to police. That same day, a Yolo County sheriff’s deputy spotted a black Nissan Maxima parked in a parking lot along Route 16, north of Rumsey, CA, for the second straight day. This area is quite rural and scenic; the road winds around Cache Creek. It is nearly an hour from I-5.

The car belonged to Harris. It was out of gas and had a nearly dead battery. Inside was his wallet, minus one credit card and his ID. His phone was not in the car. There was also a bottle filled with some kind of liquor and an empty bottle that smelled of the same liquor.

Once authorities learned Harris had been reported missing, they began a search of the area. The search around the creek involved ATVs, helicopters, a thermographic camera and, eventually, divers in the creek. Harris was not found.

First Sightings: Two motorists reported seeing someone fitting Harris’s description in the area on Oct. 11, a full day after his last voicemail to his girlfriend. One said he was walking along the road, the other said he was sitting on a guardrail overlooking the creek about two miles from the parking lot. Near the spot on the guardrail, authorities located his backpack along the side of the road.

Phone: Harris’s phone and charger were in the backpack (along with jumper cables, according to at least one source). His phone contained images of the creek and Harris striking playful poses, along with accidental videos in which Harris appears to be having a good time, singing and tossing things around his car. All were timestamped Oct. 10.

Last sighting: This one is interesting. On Oct. 19 — more than a week after he arrived in the area and well after the search had begun — a man said he saw someone the previous day fitting Harris’s description and wearing clothes consistent with what Harris was last known to be wearing. The motorist said the man he saw was walking toward the parking lot where Harris's car had been. The car had been towed days earlier. Police found footprints between the creek and the parking lot consistent with Harris’s shoe size.

There have been no further sightings of Harris, who, at 6’ 9” and 300 pounds, would presumably stand out in a crowd.

So...What Happened?

This case interests me because I’ve had my own self-reflective moments in the woods of Northern California. I can see how sitting alongside a creek can lead to some serious revelations.

The most obvious theory, in my opinion, is that Harris died in the woods. We all know that even the most thorough searches have failed to locate bodies not far from where they were last seen. But unless the last sighting was a misidentification, it would mean Harris — who had lived his whole life in urban Los Angeles — had been in the woods for more than a week, presumably with no camping gear or other supplies.

The lead investigator doesn’t think Harris is in the woods, though. Detective Dean Nylund of the Yolo County Sheriff’s Office doesn’t suspect foul play. He believes Harris ended up in the area after getting lost (evidently his phone indicated his route there was haphazard), stuck around for awhile pondering his situation in life, and then, once he found his car had been towed, walked or hitched a ride somewhere. This doesn't explain what he was doing in the woods for more than a week, but it would mean he is very likely still alive.

I’m certainly not a detective, but that seems rather optimistic to me. What do you think?