DAVIS-

Just like a play staged at the Mondavi Center at U.C. Davis, the disappearance and discovery of 25-year-old Daniel Brian Thompson has several acts.

First, there was the cryptic text and no-show on April 13th.

“Saturday, a friend had texted him an invite and received a response saying he’s on his way and then he never showed up,” Lt. Paul Doroshov of Davis P.D. told FOX40. 

Then there was the no-show, no call to work at his employer of two and a half years, the Mondavi Center.

“It’s very uncharacteristic of him to have missed work like that and not have notified them at all,” Daniel’s father, Brian Thompson said.

It was managers at the Mondavi Center, along with his roommate who filed the missing person’s report. After seemingly vanishing into thin air, his Utah family was worried. With his rented ZipCar gone and no cell phone trail, friends hung fliers in both Davis and Sacramento begging for information about his return.

“My own belief was that he was fine, it was just waiting and waiting and waiting to be able to hear that for sure,” said the elder Thompson.

Then on Sunday afternoon, April 21st, Thompson was spotted in Lake County near Clear Lake, the third act, came to a close, when his mom and dad had a missed call in Utah.

Two friends from the Mondavi Center picked Thompson up in Lake County. He told authorities he crashed the rental car in a wooded area and tried to get back to the main road by walking, only to get lost – surviving by eating pine nuts.