Jose Ricardo Garay Garay, 40, known as Rick, disappeared in the Sonoran Desert near Sasabe, Arizona after setting out to return to his family in the San Francisco Bay Area in the summer of 2009. He had been deported to El Salvador seven weeks earlier and was traveling north with a group from his hometown, guided by smugglers. On the evening of June 30, 2009, he made a final phone call to his fiancée from south of the U.S.-Mexico border, said he would begin walking the next morning, and promised to be home for the Fourth of July.

He was last described wearing blue jeans, a green shirt and white tennis shoes, and carrying a wooden rosary with a cross. He is Hispanic, with black hair and brown eyes, and has several tattoos: a lion’s face on his right chest, the name Garay on his right forearm, and two hands holding a baby with the name Diana on his left arm. About a month after his call, a member of the group reported that two people had been left behind in the desert, and one was Jose.

Does anyone have information about Jose’s route through the Sasabe area or the group he traveled with that could help his family?