Investigators go door-to-door for missing man

RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA, Calif. (KABC) -- Orange County homicide investigators stepped up the search for a Rancho Santa Margarita man who vanished after being questioned in his wife's disappearance.

A door-to-door search was conducted for Richard Forsberg, 61, in the couple's neighborhood.

Forsberg was last seen Tuesday when Orange County Sheriff's detectives interviewed him about the disappearance of his 61-year-old wife, Marcia. Friends reported her missing since they had not had contact with her since February.

Richard Forsberg had not filed a missing report.

"His initial explanation was that she was with a friend in Phoenix, that the friend had picked her up in March while the friend was at a conference here in the Los Angeles Area," said Sgt. Yvonne Shull of the Orange County Sheriff's Department. "We located that friend and found it not to be true."

Investigators tried a follow up interview with Forsberg but he was nowhere to be found. His wife's silver Volkswagen Beetle was also missing. The California license plate number for the Beetle is 4TIM403.

Neighbors Susan Kontoff asked Forsberg why he hadn't seen his wife of 39 years in several months.

"He said she was with friends in Arizona," Kontoff said. "They're 40th anniversary is coming up and that she was supposed to be home for their anniversary, but nobody had seen or heard from her."

Other neighbors said Marcia Forsberg is a cancer survivor and they suspected that she may have gotten sick again and was in the hospital.

Detectives said there has been activity in Marcia Forsberg's bank account or cell phone. They said her husband is now a person of interest.

"We are searching for him now," Shull said. "We find that it's very suspicious that she's gone, nobody's heard from her, and now he's gone."

Anyone with information is asked to call the Orange County Sheriff's Department at (714) 628-7170.

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