Newport Beach man found dead on wilderness trail

Noaki Schwartz

LAGUNA BEACH -- The body of a Newport Beach man was found Thursday

morning on a Laguna Beach wilderness trail after he was reported missing

by a friend he was jogging with Wednesday.

The Orange County coroner’s office confirmed the man is 22-year-old

Cody Byron Rickert. The friend who reported him missing, Newport Beach

resident Jeffrey Aponte, could not be reached Thursday.

The coroner’s office will conduct an autopsy today to determine

Rickert’s cause of death.

The two men began their run at about noon Wednesday in the Aliso &

Wood Canyons Regional Park, said Laguna Beach Police Sgt. Darren Lenyi.

In the middle of their jog, Rickert reportedly said he didn’t feel well

enough to finish the run.

Aponte told his friend that he had an appointment and continued the

jog without Rickert. But both agreed to touch base later, authorities

said.

Following his appointment, Aponte called Rickert -- who was due at

work by 2 p.m. -- but found that he never showed up.

Worried, Aponte and Rickert’s roommate, whose name was not released,

began searching for their friend back on the wilderness trail, but did

not find him.

They notified the authorities and the Orange County Sheriff’s

Department sent out a search team at about midnight Thursday.

Rickert’s body was found at 11 a.m. by a police helicopter. The body

was located in the brush on a hillside, east of the baseball field at

Alta Laguna Park.

Police notified Rickert’s parents, who live in Oregon, about the

incident, according to the coroner’s office.

Authorities said they don’t expect foul play, but are investigating

the case as a suspicious death until it is proven otherwise, which is a

routine practice, Lenyi said.