and allows Claudia to continue to live with him. Claudia becomes pregnant, and Ric convinces Sonny the baby could be his. On June 25, 2009, Ric flees Port Charles and moves to Los Angeles, in the hopes of leaving Sonny, Claudia, and all his demons behind. In his final scene, he is seen entering an elevator and telling Claudia, "Don't worry about me. I'll be back," and smiling as the doors close. On July 20, 2009, Claudia contacts Ric, telling him Sonny is the father of her child. There is no need for him to return to Port Charles. Moments after hanging up, Claudia is run off the road and suffers a miscarriage months after the fire at General Hospital. 2014–16 Nearly five years later, Ric returns to Port Charles amidst an escalating mob war between Sonny and Julian Jerome. Having recently discovered that Julian's organization is being financed by an anonymous benefactor, Sonny suspects Ric of being Julian's backer. Ric insists that he is only in town to reconnect with Molly, upsetting Alexis when he sides with Molly, now a teenager, in an argument. Ric also reconnects with Elizabeth and asks her on a date. After he was arrested for shooting someone because he was framed by an unknown criminal, his daughter Molly and half-brother Sonny visited Ric at the PCPD. When it was learned that Julian had Ric framed as the man he worked for, Anna Devane arranged for him to stage his own death by having it appear he was shot dead by Nathan West in a fake jail break attempt. He then left Port Charles and was given a new identity. Ric was later kidnapped from witness protection by Carlos Rivera under the orders of Johnny Zacchara. He was saved by Ric's new client Shawn Butler and later commissioner Jordan Ashford, Ric comes back to Molly unharmed. He was appointed acting district attorney by Mayor Janice Lomax during the case of Silas Clay where Ric got to know Jordan Ashford. He visits Elizabeth Webber at General Hospital after Jason and Sam visited Ric's client Shawn in Pentonville and the wedding disaster at the All-Saints Church. Reception In 2004, Hearst won a Daytime Emmy Award as "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series" for the role, at the 31st Daytime Emmy Awards. He won again in 2007 in the "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series" category.