Missing Man, Claiming Amnesia, Resurfaces

Free-lance photographer Michael F. Ritter, who disappeared three weeks ago from his ransacked, bloodstained office in Reno--triggering speculation that he was a victim of foul play--walked into his parish church in Reno and said he was suffering from amnesia, police reported Friday.

“I don’t know who I am. I want you to help find my family,” Ritter told an employee at the Reno Christian Fellowship Church on Thursday afternoon, according to sources close to the investigation.

An anonymous letter received by The Times last week claimed that Ritter, 39, had been murdered and “buried somewhere in the Southern California Desert.” The letter was signed, “Amnesiaman.”

Reno police, who had speculated earlier that Ritter might have staged his disappearance, said Friday that they believe Ritter may have written the letter. They declined to discuss further details of the case, but they said no charges had been filed.

Being Questioned

Officers said Ritter was sequestered Friday with his family and investigators, who were questioning him about his disappearance.

Ritter, 39, vanished from his office the night of Sept. 16 after telling his wife on the telephone that he had to hang up because a man at the door said his car had broken down and needed to borrow the phone to summon help.

The next morning, Ritter’s business partner reported finding the office ransacked and bloodstained, and more than $5,000 in cash missing. Ritter and his car were gone.

Ritter’s wife, Candy, said a few days later that her husband had no known financial or personal troubles. She called him “straight as an arrow” and said, “I just know he was abducted.”

Then, on Sept. 27, The Times received the anonymous letter, which said:

“I’m writing this letter in an effort to confess to the killing of Michael F. Ritter. . . . Everything happened so fast that he was dead before I knew what I was doing. . . . I’m enclosing his Visa card to prove that I’m not a hoax. . . . “

The letter also said:

“I have a loss of memory and cannot recall exactly where he is buried, somewhere in the Southern California Desert. I parked his car in a Safeway parking lot, near the Riverside Bus Depot.” The car was found in the lot after The Times informed the FBI about the letter.

On Thursday, The Reno Gazette-Journal received a letter and a diary--both purportedly written by “Amnesiaman.”

The 50-page diary recounted how “Amnesiaman” had awakened to find himself locked in the trunk of a car, had managed to escape, had killed a man--his apparent abductor--with a rock and buried him in the desert, had found a bag in the car containing money, had driven to Riverside and had abandoned the car and then began an Odyssey that took him to Las Vegas and eventually back to Reno.

Also Thursday, Ritter walked into the church. Police said he appeared tired and disheveled, but otherwise unharmed.

Since Ritter’s disappearance, no body has been found in the Southern California desert.