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SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Transit Authority is asking for the public's help in finding an employee who vanished while working a shift Thursday evening.
Kay Porter Ricks, 63, a maintenance worker for UTA, was last seen driving his company pickup truck on 600 South just off I-15 on Thursday, said UTA Police Chief Fred Ross. Ricks was scheduled to work that day from 3:30 p.m. to midnight.
At some point Thursday night, Ricks' supervisor attempted to make radio contact with him for a checkup, something supervisors routinely do with employees, said Ron Benson, UTA deputy general manager of rail systems infrastructure.
When Ricks failed to respond after several attempts at contacting him, a search was initiated. Benson said that happened about 8 p.m. Thursday.
As of 3 p.m. Friday, there had been no trace of Ricks, Ross said.
"We have exhausted every investigative tool to our disposal at this point, and we have yet to locate this individual. … We have no concrete leads to follow up on," the police chief said. "We will not stop until we find him."
Earlier reports of the truck being recovered were not true, Ross said. When asked whether Ricks' cellphone had been recovered, Ross said, "We are working on a couple of items I'm not going to disclose at this time."
Ross said surveillance video from TRAX stations have provided no clues about Ricks' whereabouts.
Family members say there's no way Ricks just ran away.
"Kay would not just up and go somewhere without telling somebody," said Richard Massey, a spokesman for the Ricks family. "There is no reason for this to happen on Kay's side, or his wife's. It's just that out of the ordinary."
Despite the unusual circumstances, there was no indication of foul play, Ross said.
"At this point, nothing is leading us to believe there are any type of suspicious circumstances," he said.
Like most maintenance workers, Ricks typically worked by himself in the downtown area, fixing TRAX signals and other mechanical items, Benson said.
Both Benson and Ross said Ricks, who has worked for UTA since 2010, has been a great employee with no prior problems.
"We're very concerned. He's a member of the UTA family, and we want to get him back," Benson said, holding back tears.
Ricks is about 5 feet 6 inches tall and 180 pounds, with green eyes and short brown hair on his balding head. He was last seen wearing a long-sleeve plaid shirt, blue jeans and possibly a bright orange safety vest.
He was last seen driving a 2013 F-150 with an equipment rack mounted on the bed. Ross noted there are about 80 such vehicles in UTA's fleet. Ricks was driving one with Utah license plate No. 206886 EX.
Anyone with information about Ricks' whereabouts is asked to call police at 801-287-3937.
Contributing: Ashley Moser
