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House burns; where's the owner?

Lawrence H. Ricker, 83, would tell neighbors when he was leaving town. Investigators and cadaver sniffing dogs turn up nothing. The cane he used was still inside the charred house.

By ABHI RAGHUNATHAN
Published March 29, 2006

Neighbors saw Lawrence H. Ricker, 83, smiling Tuesday afternoon as he walked outside to throw away lint from his dryer.

Later that night, they saw firefighters trying to put out a blaze engulfing his home at 4160 14th Street N.

But no one has seen Ricker since then. Investigators found no sign of him when they searched his house. His 1978 Toyota Corolla was in the garage, untouched.

Ricker's family and friends say he has a sound mind, adheres to strict habits and would not leave without telling them.

"It doesn't make any sense at all - none of it," said his daughter, Lauren Connor, 50, as she stood in front of the ruined house Wednesday and fought back tears. "Not the fire, not him missing."

The authorities are puzzled. They don't know where Ricker is, or what started the fire just before 11:40 p.m.

"It's very mysterious," said Bill Doniel, a spokesman for the St. Petersburg Police Department. "When you have a fire like this, you expect to find something when looking the next day."

Investigators have found little inside Ricker's home besides ashes and wrecked furniture.

The fire destroyed rooms, collapsed the roof and turned the floor into a soggy black mess. Bits of broken blue china plates are everywhere.

After failing to find Ricker, investigators used cadaver dogs Wednesday to search the house but found nothing.

Ricker was a psychologist for decades. In the 1950s, he diagnosed emotional difficulties in children as a staff psychologist for the Child Guidance Clinic of Pinellas County.

He went on to run a private psychological practice and work as a professor at the University of South Florida.

He retired from USF when he was 65 and from his psychological practice when he was 70, family members said.

Ricker was a slight man with white hair and a mustache who wore glasses. When he left the house, he carried a cane because he had arthritis; the cane was in his house after the fire.

He spent his first years in retirement caring for his wife, Faye, who suffered from Alzheimer's disease. After 54 years of marriage, she died in 2002 at 86.

Ricker is a man of habits. Hedidn't like driving at night. Before leaving for vacations, he would leave pages of notes detailing his itinerary with his neighbors.

"We always looked out for each other," said Roger Jones, 61, who saw Ricker hours before the fire on Tuesday. "He would let us know when he went traveling. It's not like him to just go away without telling anyone."

Authorities ask anyone with information about Ricker to call Detective Bill Schorn at (727) 892-5212.

Times researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report. Abhi Raghunathan can be reached at araghunathan@sptimes.com or 727 893-8472.

[Last modified March 29, 2006, 23:14:54]