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The disappearance Thursday of a Utah Transit Authority worker and his utility truck may be linked to last week's alleged abduction of a Centerville woman and her daughters by a father and son who were apprehended over the weekend in Wyoming, officials said Monday.
The UTA worker, Kay Porter Ricks, 63, was still missing Monday.
His vehicle — a white Ford pickup truck bearing Utah plate No. 206886, with a bed-mounted equipment rack and marked with Utah Transit Authority insignia — may have been used by Flint Wayne Harrison and Dereck James Harrison to flee the state, according to a news release from the Sublette County, Wyo., Sheriff's Office.
Ricks' UTA vehicle was last seen Thursday evening being driven by a man near the Ballpark Trax station, at 1300 S. 200 West, according to UTA Police Chief Fred Ross.
He said it is unknown whether the driver at that time was Ricks, but Ross "[didn't] have any reason to believe" it was someone else.
That same day, investigators said the pair of suspected kidnappers may have been at the Ramada Inn near 2400 S. State St. in South Salt Lake. The locations are about 2 miles apart.
Anyone spotting the truck is asked not to approach it, but to contact law enforcement immediately.
Ricks is described as a white male, 5 feet, 6 inches, 180 pounds, wearing a long- sleeve shirt, blue jeans and possibly a bright orange safety vest.
Sublette County sheriff's Sgt. Katherine Peterson said Monday there is no "hard evidence" linking the kidnappers to Ricks' disappearance, but Wyoming police were looking for the truck as part of their search for weapons that may have been in the Harrisons' possession. Ross said including the truck as part of the search was a way to "cover all our bases."
Meanwhile in Pinedale, Wyo., Dereck James Harrison, 22, and his father, Flint Wayne Harrison, 51, appeared in court Monday afternoon for an extradition hearing.
Both of them invoked their right to an attorney, which means there may be another hearing later this week, Peterson said. Bail was set for each man at $750,000 cash-only.
Flint Harrison had turned himself in at the jail in Pinedale on Saturday and provided information that aided deputies in narrowing down the location of his son, who was captured Saturday night.
Both men were fugitives, wanted for allegedly kidnapping and assaulting a Centerville woman and her four teenage daughters May 10.
The two Harrison men were each charged Wednesday in Utah's 2nd District Court with 10 counts of first-degree-felony aggravated kidnapping.
In another development, Maryann Dalrymple Harrison, 45 — who is Dereck Harrison's mother and the ex-wife of Flint Harrison — waived extradition and will be returned to Utah within about 10 days, Peterson said.
Maryann Harrison was arrested in Pinedale about 6 p.m. Saturday for violating terms of her parole by leaving Utah to travel to Wyoming.
Twitter: @remims
Reporter Mariah Noble contributed to this story