WEBVTT - 8. Rick Trouble 0:00:15.036 --> 0:00:26.476 Pushkin. Sergeant Towey Wright told me about the guy with 0:00:26.556 --> 0:00:29.716 the fort in the spring of twenty twenty one. It 0:00:29.796 --> 0:00:31.756 was about to be my birthday, and I felt like 0:00:31.796 --> 0:00:35.516 I'd just gotten the gift of a lifetime. I texted 0:00:35.516 --> 0:00:39.076 Haley right away. I told her the cops had suspected 0:00:39.116 --> 0:00:43.916 foul play. They had investigated someone there was a person 0:00:43.956 --> 0:00:53.796 of interest. His name was Richard Wayne Forsburg. Some googling 0:00:53.876 --> 0:00:57.236 pulled up an obituary from a funeral home in Westlake Village, 0:00:57.676 --> 0:01:01.956 a valley community not far from Montanito. Forsburg had died 0:01:02.036 --> 0:01:03.996 a year and a half earlier, at the age of 0:01:04.076 --> 0:01:08.276 sixty four. The picture on the website wasn't a middle 0:01:08.276 --> 0:01:12.276 aged man, though, it was a strapping, blonde California kid 0:01:12.476 --> 0:01:17.236 circa nineteen seventy three, blue eyes, bullneck, stuffed into a 0:01:17.276 --> 0:01:21.276 brown suit, probably for a high school photo. The guest 0:01:21.276 --> 0:01:24.396 book was filled with comments from his neighborhood friends and 0:01:24.476 --> 0:01:29.916 former classmates at a Gurra High. Guys revered him. Quote Wow, 0:01:30.076 --> 0:01:34.876 rick we had so many adventures. Yahoo. Women adored him. 0:01:35.076 --> 0:01:39.316 Quote Ricky was a talented athlete, handsome as hell, always 0:01:39.356 --> 0:01:41.476 the life of the party, and just a wonderful guy, 0:01:42.276 --> 0:01:46.396 one of the loves of my early years. This wasn't 0:01:46.396 --> 0:01:49.516 the profile I'd been expecting. He sounded like a bit 0:01:49.516 --> 0:01:52.156 of a charmer, a bit of a hell raiser, definitely 0:01:52.196 --> 0:01:55.996 a bro, but not on the surface anyway a monster 0:01:56.996 --> 0:02:01.236 in any case. He wasn't reviled, rejected, or an outcast 0:02:01.316 --> 0:02:05.036 of his former world. He was a golden child. 0:02:10.956 --> 0:02:13.596 I don't care now, yeah, right down the street. I've 0:02:13.596 --> 0:02:15.036 lived in Montana all my life. 0:02:16.196 --> 0:02:19.316 Six weeks after Sergeant Wright told me about Rick, I 0:02:19.356 --> 0:02:21.956 saw the video that Raven Masterson had made of the 0:02:21.956 --> 0:02:22.996 Montanito lifer. 0:02:24.236 --> 0:02:29.116 But so I just heard this a couple weeks later, 0:02:29.236 --> 0:02:32.396 you know, I hear that she's missing, and then you know, 0:02:32.436 --> 0:02:36.356 I walk through all this stuff's going on like sorry, 0:02:37.556 --> 0:02:41.996 I'm up with my spot, like two days later, and 0:02:42.116 --> 0:02:44.556 I see And I've seen a lot of vultures in 0:02:44.596 --> 0:02:47.116 my life. I lived after fifty years, right right, I've 0:02:47.156 --> 0:02:53.116 never seen one hundred vultures just swoom. I seem like 0:02:53.196 --> 0:02:55.156 a thousand of them, you know, I mean, I've never 0:02:55.196 --> 0:02:58.076 seen that many, you. 0:02:56.036 --> 0:02:58.036 Know, So when did you see this? 0:02:58.836 --> 0:03:02.276 I saw this like two days after she was missing, 0:03:02.436 --> 0:03:04.836 maybe four days after she was Missing. 0:03:06.036 --> 0:03:08.996 Raven titled her video the fall Guy because she thought 0:03:08.996 --> 0:03:12.236 he was a scapegoat. She doesn't say his name, but 0:03:12.316 --> 0:03:15.516 I recognized him though he'd aged and faded. 0:03:19.276 --> 0:03:23.476 Zucka. I don't know any of the facts except for 0:03:23.556 --> 0:03:25.956 that the constant Eye was the last one to see 0:03:25.956 --> 0:03:26.396 her live. 0:03:28.356 --> 0:03:38.036 It was Rick Forstberg. I'm Dana Goodyear and this is 0:03:38.156 --> 0:04:12.916 Lost Hills episode eight, Rick Trouble. As soon as we 0:04:12.996 --> 0:04:15.996 got Rick's name, we started hunting for information about him. 0:04:16.876 --> 0:04:20.596 Who was he? We found a Facebook group called Once 0:04:20.636 --> 0:04:24.236 Upon a Time in Montanito. Skimming through it was like 0:04:24.316 --> 0:04:28.316 reading an old timey California fairy tale, full of images 0:04:28.356 --> 0:04:33.036 of picnics, parties, motorcycle rallies, horseback rides, and sun struck 0:04:33.116 --> 0:04:37.996 days at Surfrider Beach and Corr's beer. A lot of 0:04:38.076 --> 0:04:41.916 Corr's beer. We found pictures of Rick back in the 0:04:41.996 --> 0:04:45.316 day in bell bottoms or short shorts and tearing around 0:04:45.316 --> 0:04:48.956 a track on his motorcycle. One commenter on the page 0:04:48.996 --> 0:04:53.756 calls him the Montanito nick Nolty, and in general, the 0:04:53.796 --> 0:04:56.956 page seemed like an informal memorial to the community's boys, 0:04:57.636 --> 0:05:01.116 boys who played rough, partied hard, and died before their time. 0:05:02.436 --> 0:05:07.396 They called themselves the Montanito Boys, and Rick was their ringleader. 0:05:08.316 --> 0:05:12.516 He's tall, handsome, He's got a really good vibe, bright 0:05:12.516 --> 0:05:17.076 blue eyes, tan, just gorgeous. He was just beautiful to me, 0:05:17.836 --> 0:05:18.876 absolutely beautiful. 0:05:20.036 --> 0:05:23.396 This is Sharie Ameck. After many failed attempts to set 0:05:23.476 --> 0:05:26.436 up an interview, we dropped by our house one day unannounced, 0:05:26.956 --> 0:05:29.876 and to our surprise, she invites us into her backyard. 0:05:30.636 --> 0:05:33.116 It's the house she grew up in and the yard 0:05:33.196 --> 0:05:33.916 she got married in. 0:05:35.636 --> 0:05:40.156 Rick did everything like for my wedding I had here 0:05:40.676 --> 0:05:41.436 with my dad. 0:05:42.076 --> 0:05:45.556 He was always down to help and he knew what 0:05:45.596 --> 0:05:46.116 he was doing. 0:05:47.196 --> 0:05:49.636 Her parents were half a generation older than Rick and 0:05:49.716 --> 0:05:52.516 extremely close to him, and Rick was like a big 0:05:52.556 --> 0:05:55.156 brother to her. He lived with them off and on, 0:05:55.516 --> 0:05:56.636 and she worshiped him. 0:05:57.756 --> 0:06:04.916 And Rick was always just loud and I'm loud. He's loud, 0:06:04.996 --> 0:06:08.316 and he's loves loves you. He just loves you and 0:06:08.436 --> 0:06:12.676 he loves live. Excuse me, that's my phone. It never rings. 0:06:14.236 --> 0:06:17.796 It's someone named Art Davis on the phone. We've actually 0:06:17.796 --> 0:06:21.476 been trying to reach Art for months. Two His stepdad 0:06:21.516 --> 0:06:25.556 and Rick's dad owned an HVAC business with Scherie's grandfather, 0:06:26.236 --> 0:06:28.996 and Art and Rick were childhood best friends. 0:06:30.156 --> 0:06:35.196 Arty, come over, just come back, just come home home. See, 0:06:35.236 --> 0:06:36.316 isn't that fucking crazy? 0:06:37.436 --> 0:06:38.756 Something's never changed. 0:06:39.516 --> 0:06:43.476 My god, we're family. We're family. 0:06:45.876 --> 0:06:48.276 A few minutes later, Art walks into the yard and 0:06:48.356 --> 0:06:51.756 joins us on the patio. He's lanky and weathered, a 0:06:51.756 --> 0:06:55.196 former basketball player who's been working as a roofer for decades. 0:06:55.996 --> 0:06:58.716 And that's how we end up doing an impromptu interview 0:06:58.796 --> 0:07:02.836 with two of Rick's most loyal, longtime friends. 0:07:03.516 --> 0:07:08.676 Okay, and I met Rick in nineteen sixty three. 0:07:09.396 --> 0:07:11.876 Just shut up and show her. No, just kind of just. 0:07:11.836 --> 0:07:14.876 Building up a little story here, right, Okay, look at 0:07:14.876 --> 0:07:17.196 this picture. This is Rick and his sister. 0:07:18.036 --> 0:07:20.356 Art shows us a picture on his phone of two 0:07:20.436 --> 0:07:23.476 little white, blonde kids back in the days when his 0:07:23.556 --> 0:07:27.396 family and the Forestburgs were neighbors in Malibu Meadows, a 0:07:27.436 --> 0:07:31.996 private area in Lower Montanito. Art says, whatever was going on, 0:07:32.436 --> 0:07:34.316 Rick was always at the center of it. 0:07:35.236 --> 0:07:38.996 Rick he was known good, bad or otherwise he was known. 0:07:39.516 --> 0:07:42.396 He could just be sitting in his dad's boat in 0:07:42.436 --> 0:07:46.436 the garage, put that hot engine in the back man, 0:07:46.556 --> 0:07:48.556 and all the kids in the neighborhood. We'd all go 0:07:48.676 --> 0:07:51.836 down there and we'd sit around. You know, Rick, what's 0:07:51.956 --> 0:07:52.476 Rick doing? 0:07:53.996 --> 0:07:54.236 You know? 0:07:54.556 --> 0:07:56.556 Rick was always the guy. 0:07:57.956 --> 0:08:02.356 Rick was an adrenaline junkie, dirt bikes, motorcycles, cars, boats. 0:08:02.836 --> 0:08:05.076 If it could go, he wanted it to go faster. 0:08:05.956 --> 0:08:08.676 His family spent time at Lake Havasu and he became 0:08:08.716 --> 0:08:12.556 an ex optional water skier. He had no fear and 0:08:12.596 --> 0:08:13.796 no internal monitor. 0:08:15.036 --> 0:08:19.356 He could barefoot water ski any circle raced. And those guys, 0:08:19.516 --> 0:08:24.996 the boats that he was behind there, It's the scariest 0:08:24.996 --> 0:08:28.996 thing that I ever did, just being an observer for 0:08:29.116 --> 0:08:30.796 one of the races that they were in. You know, 0:08:30.876 --> 0:08:33.396 like you get like fifteen boats going into one turn 0:08:34.036 --> 0:08:37.236 and the wake behind the boats is so high you 0:08:37.276 --> 0:08:40.516 can't even see the skier and the skis that they're 0:08:40.516 --> 0:08:43.276 in are so thick so that they can go right 0:08:43.316 --> 0:08:45.876 through that stuff, you know, and they were just like 0:08:45.956 --> 0:08:49.796 thumbs up. Thumbs up means faster, faster. 0:08:50.476 --> 0:08:55.676 So Art and Sharie hold a candle for the heroic 0:08:55.756 --> 0:08:58.356 side of wreck. But I wondered what some of the 0:08:58.396 --> 0:09:02.476 other surviving Montinito boys would say. So Haley and I 0:09:02.596 --> 0:09:05.876 head to an assisted living facility in Long Beach an 0:09:05.956 --> 0:09:08.276 hour and a half down the coast from Malibu. 0:09:09.156 --> 0:09:15.076 Names William English Hall, and we had oatmeal and fried 0:09:15.116 --> 0:09:19.036 egg and sausage and biscuit for breakfast. 0:09:19.356 --> 0:09:21.876 Were set up in the employee breakroom where there's a 0:09:21.876 --> 0:09:25.756 handyman repairing the ceiling. Bill that's what he goes by. 0:09:26.236 --> 0:09:27.716 Knew Rick his whole life. 0:09:28.396 --> 0:09:33.276 My dad called him Tricky Ricky, which is kind of 0:09:33.276 --> 0:09:35.196 a good nickname for him. 0:09:35.876 --> 0:09:38.476 Bill and his brothers were part of the Montanito Boys. 0:09:39.756 --> 0:09:43.316 And were they in addition to being like Rick, like 0:09:43.396 --> 0:09:46.076 handsome and athletic and the ladies like them, were they 0:09:46.116 --> 0:09:47.836 also kind of bad boys? 0:09:48.396 --> 0:09:51.836 You know, I wouldn't say real bad boys, but yeah, 0:09:52.516 --> 0:09:57.916 in the drugs and whatever. You know, we all kind 0:09:57.956 --> 0:09:59.676 of dallied with drugs. 0:09:59.276 --> 0:10:04.836 Though it was the times right ye. The Montanito Boys 0:10:04.876 --> 0:10:07.516 spent their days playing in the creek and exploring the 0:10:07.556 --> 0:10:10.996 canyons and riding motorcycle on a course they built at 0:10:10.996 --> 0:10:14.676 the Triangle that was a patch of undeveloped land formed 0:10:14.676 --> 0:10:21.116 by Payuma, Cold Canyon and wood Bluff Roads. 0:10:21.756 --> 0:10:24.956 My first memory of Rick, I was probably about eight 0:10:25.036 --> 0:10:27.916 years old, and I was down the street from my parents' 0:10:27.916 --> 0:10:32.036 house and he ran up to my bike and grabbed 0:10:32.076 --> 0:10:33.596 my bike and stole my bike. 0:10:34.956 --> 0:10:38.796 This is Jay Engelshall. He's one of Bill's brothers, a skinny, 0:10:38.876 --> 0:10:42.796 self effacing guy who's clearly still living hard. We met 0:10:42.876 --> 0:10:44.876 him in the parking lot of a sporting goods store 0:10:44.916 --> 0:10:47.516 near his brother's nursing home and sat in my car 0:10:47.556 --> 0:10:50.996 to talk. Jay remembers Rick as rowdy and fun when 0:10:50.996 --> 0:10:54.556 they were younger. One time, after Rick crashed his corvat, 0:10:54.956 --> 0:10:57.276 he was fixing it up in the Engelshall's driveway. 0:10:58.356 --> 0:11:00.876 He was working on the fenders and stuff, but us, 0:11:00.876 --> 0:11:03.156 being kids, we jumped in the front of it, like 0:11:03.236 --> 0:11:07.276 five of us, and he starts it up, and he 0:11:07.316 --> 0:11:10.796 took us around the circle down the down below my parents' house. 0:11:10.796 --> 0:11:14.476 There's a big circle with gravel and dirt roads. He 0:11:14.596 --> 0:11:19.516 was pretty much just sideways around every turn, gravels shooting 0:11:19.596 --> 0:11:23.556 up and dust and oh the neighbors should be coming 0:11:23.596 --> 0:11:26.516 out shaking their finger on them. The dangerous. We had 0:11:26.596 --> 0:11:30.556 kids in the rood, but it was a lot of fun. 0:11:31.116 --> 0:11:33.636 There was quite a few times he gave us rides 0:11:33.716 --> 0:11:37.516 like that, just either crying, laughing or peeing in our 0:11:37.556 --> 0:11:43.396 pants or Yeah, it was pretty insane, pretty crazy. 0:11:44.916 --> 0:11:47.796 But it was not all fun and games. The Montanito 0:11:47.876 --> 0:11:52.316 Boys had enemies, the Malibu cops who hunted the boys 0:11:52.436 --> 0:11:53.076 from the air. 0:11:54.236 --> 0:11:59.596 They were pretty very I would just say aggressive with 0:11:59.676 --> 0:12:01.876 the helicopter. I mean, I remember I thought it was 0:12:01.916 --> 0:12:04.436 a little too much at the time, chasing them with 0:12:04.476 --> 0:12:06.436 helicopters on the dirt bikes. 0:12:07.116 --> 0:12:10.076 As they got older, the trouble got deeper. There was 0:12:10.156 --> 0:12:12.876 one wild party that has become part of the community's 0:12:12.916 --> 0:12:16.596 collective memory, not because it was so crazy, there were 0:12:16.636 --> 0:12:19.436 a lot of wild parties back then, because of what 0:12:19.556 --> 0:12:21.276 happened after the cops showed up. 0:12:22.436 --> 0:12:27.036 They broke it up and they told us, you know, 0:12:27.076 --> 0:12:29.516 wrap it up in the night or whatever. But there 0:12:29.556 --> 0:12:31.516 was still a bunch of beer left in the kegs. 0:12:31.556 --> 0:12:36.476 So the older brothers took the keg to Lust Canyon. 0:12:37.716 --> 0:12:39.676 That was one of the Montonito Boys hideouts. 0:12:40.756 --> 0:12:42.876 When the cops got there, I guess, a couple of 0:12:42.996 --> 0:12:46.996 guys just ran off in the hills and they you know, 0:12:47.156 --> 0:12:51.196 basically taunting and you know, flipping them off or whatever, 0:12:51.636 --> 0:12:54.596 yelling back at him, you know, leave us alone. 0:12:55.436 --> 0:12:57.996 The cops pursued them and they ended up attacking a 0:12:58.076 --> 0:12:59.116 kid called Glen. 0:13:00.436 --> 0:13:03.156 They beat him with the flash light and it almost 0:13:03.156 --> 0:13:06.876 cut his era off. But he had stitches everywhere, I 0:13:06.916 --> 0:13:08.876 mean all over his heads, forehead and all that. 0:13:10.116 --> 0:13:13.436 Jay says, the cops were always focused on Rick. It 0:13:13.556 --> 0:13:15.396 was pretty obvious that he was a problem. 0:13:16.396 --> 0:13:20.796 Rick was playing one of the worst kids in that neighborhood, 0:13:20.916 --> 0:13:23.476 you know, with them, so that he was well known 0:13:23.516 --> 0:13:25.076 in that regard. 0:13:26.356 --> 0:13:28.996 And one of the worst beatings the Malibu cops ever 0:13:29.076 --> 0:13:33.036 doled out was to none other than Rick Forsberg. Some 0:13:33.076 --> 0:13:49.356 people said it changed him forever. 0:13:51.036 --> 0:13:56.516 Okay, Hi, I'm Neil Samuelson, author of malbou Up the Grid, 0:13:56.996 --> 0:14:00.876 a book about the Malibu area and all that has 0:14:01.196 --> 0:14:05.116 transpired here in the years past. How's that. 0:14:06.636 --> 0:14:09.996 After Rick died in twenty nineteen, his family put up 0:14:09.996 --> 0:14:13.396 the obituary site. That's how we found his old friend Neil. 0:14:13.956 --> 0:14:16.396 In the comments section, there was a plug for his book, 0:14:16.796 --> 0:14:19.876 a self published memoir of growing up on the margins 0:14:19.876 --> 0:14:20.436 of Malibu. 0:14:21.836 --> 0:14:23.996 It was the best place in the world to grow up. 0:14:24.436 --> 0:14:27.476 And eventually, you know, it all kind of caught up 0:14:27.476 --> 0:14:30.716 to us. You know, some of us were real successful, 0:14:30.876 --> 0:14:34.316 and some of us stayed around here and we were 0:14:34.436 --> 0:14:37.636 caught in this you know, little world that we couldn't 0:14:37.636 --> 0:14:42.076 get out of. The parents were pretty well off, and 0:14:42.196 --> 0:14:44.796 you know, although Rick never lived off this folks, he 0:14:44.916 --> 0:14:50.076 was bounding a demined to make it on his own. So, 0:14:50.316 --> 0:14:53.036 I mean he was you know, I mean, he was 0:14:53.076 --> 0:14:55.876 a good guy, but the alcohol kind of brought him 0:14:55.916 --> 0:14:56.716 down a little bit. 0:14:58.436 --> 0:15:01.116 Neil was several years younger than Rick, and he lived 0:15:01.156 --> 0:15:04.076 in a different neighborhood, but they hung out together, and 0:15:04.116 --> 0:15:07.396 he knows a lot about Rick's history. He's even given 0:15:07.476 --> 0:15:08.876 Rick a special pseudonym in the. 0:15:08.876 --> 0:15:12.196 Book, Oh Trouble, Rick Trouble. 0:15:13.436 --> 0:15:16.796 A lot of Rick's personality, Neil says, can be explained 0:15:16.836 --> 0:15:18.876 by what happened to him as a kid at the 0:15:18.956 --> 0:15:22.676 hands of the Malibu cops. He says, the Malibu cops 0:15:22.716 --> 0:15:27.596 were notorious and vindictive, and they absolutely despised the spoiled 0:15:27.676 --> 0:15:28.516 kids in the area. 0:15:29.636 --> 0:15:32.636 Oh, they were the roughest of the budge. You know, 0:15:32.716 --> 0:15:36.316 you didn't want to mess with the Malbouy sheriffs, especially 0:15:36.356 --> 0:15:39.436 as poked you know, rich kids. You know that we 0:15:39.436 --> 0:15:44.156 were like the pray for them home host. A lot 0:15:44.196 --> 0:15:48.316 of kids got beaten up by those guys. But you know, 0:15:48.436 --> 0:15:52.436 as you If you run, you've got to pay the consequences. 0:15:53.316 --> 0:15:57.076 Rick would always run, but one night in the spring 0:15:57.076 --> 0:15:59.436 of nineteen seventy seven he got caught. 0:16:00.476 --> 0:16:05.276 This was my grad night, and I was supposed to 0:16:05.276 --> 0:16:08.916 be graduated, and you know, and I'm messing around with 0:16:08.956 --> 0:16:10.356 the older kids. 0:16:11.356 --> 0:16:13.796 Banded up at the old missile site at the top 0:16:13.796 --> 0:16:17.076 of Payuma Road, where obviously they weren't supposed to be 0:16:17.716 --> 0:16:20.636 the nuclear missiles were gone, but it was government property. 0:16:21.836 --> 0:16:24.716 We you know, found a spot and we're up there 0:16:24.796 --> 0:16:27.956 hanging out, and you know, we had a little pod, 0:16:27.996 --> 0:16:31.596 but nothing, you know, big, and then all of a sudden, boom, 0:16:31.596 --> 0:16:34.476 out of the blue, there's cops there, you know. So 0:16:35.236 --> 0:16:40.396 two of the guys ran, and then Rick tried to run, 0:16:40.796 --> 0:16:43.756 and he was the last guy to run, so they 0:16:43.836 --> 0:16:47.556 ran him down and he tried to get away and 0:16:47.596 --> 0:16:52.276 they cornered him, and the guy just really hammered him. 0:16:52.436 --> 0:16:57.396 They really just beat him to a pulp and they 0:16:57.636 --> 0:17:00.076 dragged him up to the police car. 0:17:00.716 --> 0:17:03.196 Neil's watching all this from the back of a cop car. 0:17:03.716 --> 0:17:06.076 He's been arrested and is about to be taken to 0:17:06.156 --> 0:17:09.836 the place the kids call the Malibu Hilton, a facetious 0:17:09.916 --> 0:17:12.116 nickname for the local jail. 0:17:12.436 --> 0:17:17.196 We watched Rick just get clubbed. The guy just kept 0:17:17.236 --> 0:17:20.876 beating on him, hitting his legs. Finally he crumbled to 0:17:20.916 --> 0:17:25.076 the ground and that's when they took off and they 0:17:25.076 --> 0:17:27.996 wouldn't allow us to see the rest of it. So 0:17:28.396 --> 0:17:31.396 they took us down to jail, and we didn't know 0:17:31.436 --> 0:17:35.796 what happened to Rick. And four or five hours went by. 0:17:37.316 --> 0:17:44.436 Rick came back to the jail and he was his 0:17:44.556 --> 0:17:47.836 head was shaved and he had stitches all over his head, 0:17:48.996 --> 0:17:53.356 and he was very defiant and it's like very mad. 0:17:54.756 --> 0:17:58.396 After the beating, Rick's golden boy glamour began to tarnish. 0:17:58.796 --> 0:18:01.916 He got wilder and meaner, and his relationship with law 0:18:01.996 --> 0:18:06.436 enforcement grew more combative. In the years that followed, Rick 0:18:06.596 --> 0:18:09.076 was in and out of police custody and did time 0:18:09.276 --> 0:18:10.116 in state prison. 0:18:11.476 --> 0:18:15.276 Rick was always one of those guys that was going 0:18:15.356 --> 0:18:19.556 to conquer the world. Man, he had it in him, 0:18:19.596 --> 0:18:23.476 you know, and little by little, you know, he kept 0:18:23.476 --> 0:18:28.676 getting in these situations where he would, you know, run 0:18:28.716 --> 0:18:33.356 from the police and something would happen. I mean, I 0:18:33.396 --> 0:18:36.836 could think of five different incidentss just off the top 0:18:36.876 --> 0:18:42.196 of my head, where he would run and have police contact, you. 0:18:42.116 --> 0:18:46.196 Know, and he would right back to wouldn't he One. 0:18:46.076 --> 0:18:49.636 Time he did, Yeah, And that's the one that got 0:18:49.716 --> 0:18:53.436 him in the most trouble. He ended up hurting a 0:18:53.476 --> 0:18:57.436 couple of police officers. I think it was the way 0:18:57.476 --> 0:19:03.236 the story goes. But you know, he he was kind 0:19:03.276 --> 0:19:06.636 of a mystery. After a couple of years, you'd see him, 0:19:06.636 --> 0:19:12.076 he tell us his story, and uh, he was living 0:19:12.116 --> 0:19:15.196 all over the place. Most of the time. He lived 0:19:15.196 --> 0:19:20.396 a very suffered life. 0:19:21.076 --> 0:19:24.796 Rick's family continued living in Montanito. His father died a 0:19:24.796 --> 0:19:26.996 few years ago, but his mother and one of his 0:19:27.076 --> 0:19:31.116 two sisters are still there today, respected and beloved members 0:19:31.116 --> 0:19:35.356 of the community. As an adult, Rick lived in various 0:19:35.396 --> 0:19:38.516 places around southern California and spent some time in Hawaii, 0:19:38.796 --> 0:19:43.036 but he always gravitated back to the area he was from, 0:19:43.196 --> 0:19:45.556 and in July of two thousand and nine, when he 0:19:45.636 --> 0:19:48.476 was released from prison for the last time, he came 0:19:48.516 --> 0:19:53.356 back to Montanito. This was two months before My Trees disappeared. 0:19:55.236 --> 0:19:58.636 Friends say by the time Rick returned from prison, he 0:19:58.716 --> 0:20:00.876 was no longer welcome at the house he grew up in, 0:20:02.356 --> 0:20:04.956 but Rick had been building forts in growing pots since 0:20:04.956 --> 0:20:07.636 he was a kid, he was at home in the woods, 0:20:08.116 --> 0:20:10.276 so he built himself a hide out at the base 0:20:10.316 --> 0:20:13.356 of a large tree in the woods off Payuma Road, 0:20:13.916 --> 0:20:16.556 and he retreated there to hang out and tend his 0:20:16.596 --> 0:20:21.516 plants in peace. Neil says he thinks he knows where 0:20:21.596 --> 0:20:24.996 Rick's spot was. He remembers going there a few times. 0:20:25.636 --> 0:20:29.076 Okay, so you guys follow me and I'll drive real slow. 0:20:30.036 --> 0:20:32.836 We follow him up Payuma Road, past the entrance to 0:20:32.876 --> 0:20:35.796 the Porn Ranch and around another bend or two. We 0:20:35.956 --> 0:20:37.996 park in a turnout and get out of the cars. 0:20:38.876 --> 0:20:41.316 He points down into the dense brush below. 0:20:42.396 --> 0:20:45.876 Well, this is his spot that I knew, where he 0:20:45.996 --> 0:20:47.076 grew a couple of plants. 0:20:47.716 --> 0:20:48.516 It's right here. 0:20:48.796 --> 0:20:51.556 Was he a physically fit guy, because getting down there 0:20:51.556 --> 0:20:52.796 looks like a giant pain. 0:20:52.996 --> 0:20:56.636 Oh yeah, Well, like I said, yeah, it's rough walking 0:20:56.676 --> 0:21:00.236 down there. That's why it's so secluded. That's why it's 0:21:00.236 --> 0:21:03.516 a perfect spot for somebody to hide out in. I'm 0:21:03.556 --> 0:21:06.316 sure there was a little trail here ten years ago. Though. 0:21:06.516 --> 0:21:10.076 Right before leaving, I want to run one more thing 0:21:10.116 --> 0:21:12.796 by him. I just want to verify that the fort 0:21:12.916 --> 0:21:15.956 Sergeant Wright told me about is the same one Neil visited. 0:21:17.956 --> 0:21:19.596 So what I was going to tell you is that 0:21:21.156 --> 0:21:25.116 I heard that there was like a tip that, oh 0:21:25.116 --> 0:21:29.756 my god, this guy has a little structure and there's 0:21:29.996 --> 0:21:33.836 somebody had seen it and said there's a rib cage 0:21:33.876 --> 0:21:37.436 in there, and they came and looked and it was 0:21:37.476 --> 0:21:42.316 a deer rib cage and ricked. 0:21:42.676 --> 0:21:45.276 Eight and deer. You know, he's he was a he 0:21:45.396 --> 0:21:48.276 kind of went into you know, wild boat. I think, 0:21:48.316 --> 0:21:48.556 you know. 0:21:53.956 --> 0:21:56.476 A few days after Neil shows me the general area 0:21:56.516 --> 0:21:59.796 of rick Spot, I meet up with Sergeant Wright. He's 0:21:59.796 --> 0:22:03.236 got something for me. It's the coordinates for Rix Fort. 0:22:04.076 --> 0:22:07.476 I punched them into Google Maps. There off to the 0:22:07.516 --> 0:22:11.076 side of Payuma Road is a skeletal tree right in 0:22:11.116 --> 0:22:13.916 the area Neil had showed me, and there's a trail 0:22:13.996 --> 0:22:17.516 running by it, a section of the Backbone Trail. I 0:22:17.596 --> 0:22:20.716 decide to go check it out. I'm thinking maybe I'll 0:22:20.716 --> 0:22:28.476 find something, some remnant of wreck. I picked my way 0:22:28.516 --> 0:22:32.996 through overgrown dry brush. The brush forms tunnels and you 0:22:33.076 --> 0:22:39.756 have to crouch low to get through. Is that an 0:22:39.756 --> 0:22:44.916 access trail? Where does that one go from? On the ground, 0:22:44.996 --> 0:22:47.796 I spot a plastic water bottle and some black irrigation 0:22:47.916 --> 0:22:51.876 tubes and other items that look like detritus from growing pot. 0:22:53.956 --> 0:22:55.996 I remember the thing that I was told is that 0:22:56.116 --> 0:23:00.516 there were four trees that, in not a perfect square, 0:23:00.636 --> 0:23:05.196 had been kind of bound together and topped over. I 0:23:05.236 --> 0:23:08.756 find the big dead tree pushed up against a smaller tree. 0:23:08.836 --> 0:23:13.196 Nearby is a decaying mattress, the fabrics caving in and torn. 0:23:13.796 --> 0:23:18.596 It looks like a home for rats. Nothing else. That's 0:23:18.636 --> 0:23:24.196 all that was left of Rick's old fort. But I've 0:23:24.276 --> 0:23:27.836 learned the fort wasn't the only place Rick was hanging out. 0:23:28.036 --> 0:23:31.716 He was down in the neighborhood too, partying with old friends, 0:23:32.436 --> 0:23:34.716 and back in two thousand and nine when my trise 0:23:34.756 --> 0:23:53.156 went missing, some of them immediately thought of Rick. Laura 0:23:53.236 --> 0:23:56.876 and Ray Robbins Shari Ameck's parents were like a surrogate 0:23:56.956 --> 0:24:00.276 family for Rick. Over the years, the Robins would be 0:24:00.316 --> 0:24:02.476 a refuge for him when he wore out his welcome 0:24:02.516 --> 0:24:05.316 at home, and in two thousand and nine, after he 0:24:05.356 --> 0:24:07.836 got out of prison, when he wasn't at his fort, 0:24:08.156 --> 0:24:10.836 he was spending a lot of time there. He'd use 0:24:10.916 --> 0:24:13.836 the shower or sleep on the couch, and sometimes he'd 0:24:13.876 --> 0:24:17.076 live in the basement. Rick's parents would give the Robins 0:24:17.076 --> 0:24:20.516 money for his room and board. Rick was middle aged, 0:24:20.836 --> 0:24:23.156 fifty four years old in the summer of two thousand 0:24:23.156 --> 0:24:25.436 and nine, but he was kind of like a kid 0:24:25.476 --> 0:24:28.356 who refused to grow up, and even though he had 0:24:28.396 --> 0:24:30.956 the Robin's house to stay at, he generally preferred to 0:24:30.956 --> 0:24:33.596 be up at his spot. He'd walk or ride his 0:24:33.636 --> 0:24:37.036 motorcycle up Payuma Road at dusk and head back down 0:24:37.036 --> 0:24:40.716 to the neighborhood at dawn. Back on the patio with 0:24:40.756 --> 0:24:45.316 Shari and Art, I ask about Rick's spot, did you 0:24:45.356 --> 0:24:46.356 ever go up to the fort? 0:24:46.476 --> 0:24:49.756 I did not not your scene up there. You know, 0:24:50.196 --> 0:24:53.156 I didn't want to go. I didn't want to know. 0:24:54.836 --> 0:24:58.516 I didn't want to know. He was so proud of 0:24:58.556 --> 0:25:00.876 it too, it was hilarious. He took my ex husband 0:25:00.916 --> 0:25:04.596 up there and he went up there, and my ex 0:25:04.716 --> 0:25:06.756 was like, oh my god, like it's so awesome. He's 0:25:06.756 --> 0:25:08.796 got it all set up like a tent and it's 0:25:08.836 --> 0:25:11.196 all He's got a chair and a couch and the 0:25:11.276 --> 0:25:14.156 light and this and the that. I'm like, oh my godness, 0:25:14.236 --> 0:25:16.796 why is he doing that. He doesn't need to do that. 0:25:17.116 --> 0:25:19.396 But he was growing pot up there, so you know, 0:25:19.476 --> 0:25:21.756 he was protecting his plants and at that time it 0:25:21.796 --> 0:25:22.556 was still illegal. 0:25:23.116 --> 0:25:23.316 You know. 0:25:23.356 --> 0:25:26.196 Also, I was like, oh my god, you're growing plants. Ah, 0:25:26.236 --> 0:25:31.876 you're gonna get busted. My mom, be careful, Rick, Rick, 0:25:31.956 --> 0:25:32.556 be careful. 0:25:34.636 --> 0:25:37.636 Rick had been drinking and smoking pot and using PCP 0:25:38.116 --> 0:25:41.156