Rico's path to oblivion
Rico stayed in the park overnight the night of 10/11 October, although he may not have been in his car at times. I have seen no mention of the possibility that he may have made his distinctive size 18 footprints nearby that night.
Rico apparently set off on foot early on 11 October 2014. Having gained 80 pounds since his abortive pro basketball career, Rico seems not too fit. Discarded wet shoes were not found, so he almost certainly wore them. Rico was walking south to the small farming town of Rumsey CA. There are several facts that point to that--the tendency of lost and bewildered persons to drift downhill in their wanderings, the possible knowledge that a town was south of him, and the location where his pack was later found.
Rico was reportedly seen sitting on a guard rail along Route 16 at about 5:30 AM, 500 yards from where his pack was later found. Another sighting reported him walking along Route 16 at 8 AM, location unspecified. By this time, the temperature would be on the rise from its nighttime low of 55 degrees, climbing toward its eventual peak of 88 degrees.(Again, Sacramento data.)
Rico's backpack--which his mother and his fiancee said he habitually carried--was found south of the park, set against a Route 16 guard rail. It contained his cell phone and jumper cables. The pack seemed carefully placed rather than discarded; there were no signs of a struggle. The pack was unripped, and the cell phone was unscuffed. With the cell phone left there, so was Rico's GPS and the chance to locate him through his cell phone.
Because of conflicting sources of information, plus my own transitory errors in identifying park sites, I could not pin down the location where the pack was found. However, at 15:16 in the Disappeared documentary, the site is shown. There's the mileage marker, with a pattern of tree trunks and branches behind it.
Beginning on Route 16 at the entry to Middle Campground, I "walked" south along the highway using Google Earth's Ground View. I worked my way south to the bridge, where I found this view:
https://www.google.com/maps/@38.910...4!1sobeB9xZTcd0XMbJaTSe5PQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656. Note the whitewater downstream. Also note there is no real pedestrian walkway or shoulder on the bridge; a walker is in the auto lane. Further note that blind turn onto the bridge. Imagine standing exactly at the POV of the camera when someone comes barreling around that corner. You would be dog meat. I thought the bridge a major hazard, but still had not located the find site.
Eventually, I cast about south of the bridge. Only when I was working north back towards the bridge did I find it:
https://www.google.com/maps/@38.911...4!1sZ1xO4Nknj3fUY_kpz0I26Q!2e0!7i13312!8i6656. Mileage marker here reads 4.20 miles. The larger number on these paddle-boards represents the mileage to that point; the smaller numbers to the right pinpoint it to the hundredth of a mile. The trees seem to match the video. This is an overhead viewpoint of the location:
https://www.google.com/maps/@38.9109307,-122.2656827,107a,20y,45t/data=!3m1!1e3. It lies between the bridge and Camp Haswell. This finding proves Rico crossed the bridge to deposit the pack. Remember, he was later reported within 500 yards of his pack, direction unspecified. That distance northward could return him to the bridge, though one would think an informant would have mentioned the bridge.
Starting as early as the morning of 11 October, and for the next week, Rico disappears from notice. Later in the search, at 5:30 AM 19 October, a southbound motorist on Route 16 saw a large individual walking on the narrow cattle guard righthand dirt shoulder near the Lower Site. That same day, a searcher found fresh large footprints at the park. They proved to be larger than a deputy's size 16 shoe. If they were tracks made earlier and overlooked, they have little meaning. However, reportedly the newly discovered footprints were freshly made.
Here Rico's path seems to end, either south of the bridge or back at the park.
Sources: Yolo County Sheriff's Office reports
Disappeared documentary
[video=youtube;mBzra7gQfqg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBzra7gQfqg[/video]