Meet Richard L. Carrico, Award-winning Historian and True Crime Author

Author Richard L. Carrico

A veteran of the U. S. Army, for more than forty years, I have been in pursuit of archaeological and historical truth with a strong desire to share that information with the public. This journey has carried me through thirty years as an educator at the university level having taught anthropology, archaeology, modern history, Spanish colonial history, and American culture. I have excavated artifacts dating back more than 12,000 ago, researched Spanish archives from the 18th and 19th centuries, and teased information out of police files from the 1930s.

On average, I annually make more than thirty presentations to a wide variety of audiences. Over the past few decades, I am often the “go-to-guy” for print, radio, and television stories dealing with Native Americans, archaeology, and history. I appeared in an Emmy-awarded documentary on the native people of San Diego County and recently served as the guide for a pilot television series on wineries and distilleries.

In addition to the Southwest and Far West, my research has taken me to mainland Mexico, Baja California, and southern France.

I pride myself on being able to write for the lay public as well as the more academically polished audience. There are many ways to tell a good story about the past and the fascinating people who inhabited that past. Some examples of my published writing include the following:

Non-Academic Publications

Baja California Magazine (Freelance articles)

California Magazine (General interest)

Currents Newsletter of the San Dieguito River Conservancy (Cover article on native peoples)

Highway Patrolman Magazine (Freelance article)

Ipai: The People (Feature articles in an occasional publication of the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians)

North Coast Times (Book reviewer)

Ranch & Coast Magazine (Features writer: History and Prehistory)

Ramona Home Journal (Features and History/Archaeology

San Diego Home & Garden Magazine ((Historic people and places features)

San Diego Reader (True crime)

San Diego Union-Tribune (Historic features)

Skyhopper: Imperial Airlines In-Flight Magazine (Special report on archaeology)

In addition, I have authored four stand-alone published books including on the history of the community of Ramona (Arcadia Press), one on the history of wines and wineries of San Diego County (Sunbelt/Recuerdos Publications), one on haunted places in San Diego County (Recuerdos Publications), and an academic best seller on the history of the Indians of San Diego County (Sunbelt Publications), chapters in several other books on archaeology and history, and more than thirty articles in professional academic journals.