Former Harlem Globetrotter Missing On Road Trip, Car Abandoned In Northern California
ALHAMBRA (CBSLA.com) — Former member of the Harlem Globetrotters, Rico Harris, has disappeared while on a road trip to Seattle.
Harris, 37, departed from his mother's Alhambra home over a week ago to visit his girlfriend in Seattle. His car was discovered three days after he left, abandoned, in Yolo County in Northern California.
Harris' family has grown increasingly worried ever since the former Globetrotter, who had recently relocated to Seattle, did not contact them after he left for the trip.
The vehicle was discovered by deputies near Yolo County Regional State Park on Route 16. Also found was his cell phone and a backpack nearby.
Harris' mother and stepfather say they are holding on to hope that he will be found.
"We don't want to think about the worst, so right now I'm keeping myself very optimistic," Harris' mother Margaret Fernandez said. "I'm not really letting my mind wander anywhere else. It's an ongoing investigation, so I'm very hopeful."
"I feel that confident that we're going to find him, that he's going to come through, wherever he is," stepfather Charles Taylor said. "I have to believe that. I have that kind of faith that we're going to find him."
Harris suffers from bipolar disorder.