Missing lawyer calls in Orlando

Accounts vary of what happened to the Dade City man, who was gone through the weekend. He told his brother he was abducted.

By MOLLY MOORHEAD
Published November 22, 2004

[Times photo: Edmund Fountain} Above) Jason Ricardo Overjoyed at news that Jason Ricardo has been found, his mother, Sheila, and brother, Brian, answer questions at a news conference Sunday at the Dade City police station. Right) Dade City lawyer Jason Ricardo, 34, was missing since Friday. He called his wife Sunday from Orlando. He says he was abducted.

DADE CITY - The 34-year-old Dade City lawyer who was missing through the weekend called his family from Orlando on Sunday to say he was all right.

The tale of where Jason Ricardo was for nearly 48 hours is a tangle of conflicting stories and lengthy gaps.

He told his brother he was abducted, beaten and left in a field Friday and that he wandered dazed until calling home.

He told Orlando police, who questioned him Sunday, that he was accosted by a man in a Plant City parking lot and that his car was stolen. He said he was frightened and took a taxi to Orlando, Orlando police Lt. Luis Tanzi said.

Tanzi said officers were not investigating and could not account for the time between Ricardo's arrival in Orlando and when he called home.

Dade City police Chief Phil Thompson said Ricardo's family called the department about 4 p.m. Sunday while Ricardo was on the line. Dade City contacted Orlando police, which sent a patrol car to the pay phone Ricardo was calling from. Police found him on Orange Avenue in downtown Orlando, Tanzi said.

Ricardo's gold Volvo, with the Florida State Seminoles tag S1QUM, was missing Sunday.

Ricardo's brother, Brian, said he spoke to Ricardo briefly on the phone Sunday and that there were gaps in Ricardo's memory because he had been hit in the head and knocked out. Brian Ricardo said his brother told him he was kidnapped.

"He was definitely abducted," Brian Ricardo said.

Jason Ricardo was to meet a client near Lakeland on Friday afternoon, authorities said. Authorities and family members said little about that meeting.

But Brian Ricardo painted a harrowing picture of what happened to his brother: held at knifepoint, forced to strip down to his underwear, punched in the face and left in a field. Brian Ricardo said he did not know where the field was.

Early Saturday morning, Jason Ricardo woke up and started walking, his brother said.

"He was dazed and confused, wondering what to do," Brian Ricardo said.

Later the same morning, Jill Ricardo, Jason's wife, said she received a call from a man in Plant City who had found Jason's clothes and wallet in a trash bin near a grocery store. His credit cards were still inside.

Jason Ricardo made his way to a neighborhood, his brother said, and put on clothes he found on a clothesline.

"It took him until 4 this afternoon to get ahold of us," Brian Ricardo said. "When I talked to my brother, he didn't know a whole lot. He couldn't remember the sequence of events. He got knocked out."

On Sunday afternoon, Jason Ricardo found a pay phone and called his wife.

Brian Ricardo said Sunday that family and friends erupted with joy when the call came. Until then, he said, hope had been fading.

"I honestly thought we'd be burying my brother this week," Brian Ricardo said.

It was unclear Sunday which agency, if any, was leading the investigation of the case.

Dade City police referred questions to Plant City, saying that was the lead agency in the investigation. Orlando police said the same.

Plant City police said they knew nothing of that.

"We haven't been contacted by anybody to lead an investigation." Plant City police Sgt. Sherrie Craven said.

Jason Ricardo's mother, Sheila, said she couldn't wait to hug her son.

"I'm just elated," she said. "He's alive, and that's the main thing."

[Last modified November 22, 2004, 10:39:48]