Around the time he went missing just over a week ago, Daniel Brian Thompson rented a Zipcar in Sacramento that has yet to be returned, according to information posted on a Facebook page dedicated to the search for the 25-year-old Davis man.
Davis police Lt. Paul Doroshov confirmed the Zipcar rental Saturday. The car was a 2012 Honda Insight hybrid with the license-plate number 6WKR534. It was checked out in the area of 10th and I streets in downtown Sacramento.
Friends say they have learned that Thompson purchased an Amtrak ticket from Davis to Sacramento on the day he vanished. Doroshov verified the purchase as well, but “we don’t believe, based on the evidence that we have, that he ever used that ticket,” he said.
As of Saturday afternoon, more than 650 people had “liked” the Facebook page “Bring Daniel Brian Thompson Home,” which contains updates about the search, as well as some additional claims — that Thompson had emptied his bank accounts and may have had a warrant out for his arrest — that police and relatives say have been determined to be false.
Thompson’s father, Brian L. Thompson, said although his son’s account balance is low enough that “he would have to get ahold of friends or family for help” sometime soon, he did not withdraw large amounts of money before he disappeared. And Doroshov said Thompson is not a suspect in any crime.
“We’re only looking for him as a missing person,” he said. “We just want to find him and know that he’s OK.”
Thompson, a scene technician at the Mondavi Center at UC Davis, was last seen by roommates at their K Street residence on April 12. He made plans by text to meet a friend for dinner the following day, but never showed up.
At first, family and friends thought Thompson might have encountered trouble while riding his bike from Davis to the Lake Berryessa area, one of his favorite biking routes.
Brian Thompson, said his son — the third eldest of eight siblings — has a form of muscular dystrophy that causes periodic paralysis in times of stress or when there is a severe change in weather conditions.
“It causes his muscles to basically lose their strength,” Brian Thompson said in a phone interview Friday from his home in Brigham City, Utah, where the family is in regular contact with Davis police investigators. “That’s part of our concern, that he’s out there stranded and weak.”
“We have a huge network of family and friends that loves him and want him to come home,” added his mother, JoLene Thompson.
The Thompsons described their son as a “kind and intelligent” person whose interest in the theater has drawn him to the Mondavi Center for the past three school years. In the summer, he migrates to Maine to work at the Theater at Monmouth, according to his father.
“He’s brilliant at (his work),” said colleague Marissa Tidrick, who posted missing-person fliers Friday afternoon at businesses in University Mall. She said Thompson’s coworkers became concerned last week when he uncharacteristically failed to show up for work and did not respond to their attempts to contact him.
“He’s always connected, either through email or text,” Tidrick said.
Thompson is described as a white male, 5-foot-9 and 155 pounds with wavy brown hair and blue eyes. Friends say he has a large V-shaped scar on his forehead and a handicap-accessible logo tattooed on the back of his right calf. He also wears glasses and has piercings in both ears.
Anyone with information about Thompson’s whereabouts is asked to contact the Davis Police Department at 530-747-5400.
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter @laurenkeene
