Ricky Williams was the product of an affair between life-long Genoa City resident, private detective Paul Williams, and the beautiful Isabella Braña. Isabella arrived in Genoa City in March of 2001, as a favor to old friend Michael Baldwin. Michael was in love with Christine Blair, and got her to seduce Paul Williams to break up his already-shaky marriage to Christine. Isabella went to Paul as a damsel in distress, in hiding and afraid of her ex-husband who was in prison. Paul took the case, and Isabella ended up living in his apartment to be safe. She ended up pregnant with Ricky, after one night in his bed. That same night Christine decided to come back to Genoa City and work on their broken marriage, walking in on them kissing passionately in the living room. Instead Christine crept back out, and filed for divorce.

Isabella didn't want to tell Paul that she was pregnant because she felt that he was too hung up on Chris, but when Paul found out about the baby's paternity, he wanted to be a father to the child. Isabella continued to use her manipulating ways to keep him under her thumb as tightly as possible. Paul's mother, Mary, went to great lengths to try to convince him that Isabella was all wrong for him and would ruin his life, and she tried to convince Isabella to go away to a home for unwed mothers. All despite the fact that Isabella was providing Mary with the grandchild, and Paul with the child, they both had always wanted. Instead Isabella started pressuring Paul to get married. Their baby boy, Ricardo Carl Williams, was born, but unlike Isabella's delusions, Paul was not willing to become one happy family with her. Complicating things was the sudden return of Christine, who rebuffed him for the baby's sake, although she still had feelings for Paul. Paul's response was to marry and move in with Isabella.

Paul invited Isabella's estranged father Ricardo to Ricky's Christening, and they happily reunited. Paul took Ricky to Isabella's parents in Los Angeles, leaving Isabella to finish packing for their move to L.A. Chris went to L.A., she and Paul reconciled, and they returned to Genoa City together, leaving Ricky in L.A. Isabella attempted to murder Chris for revenge, and ended up committed to a mental institution. Although Chris and Paul never did end up together again, Ricky spent the remainder of his childhood with Isabella's parents. Paul would mention that he visited or phoned Ricky from time to time.

In 2011, Paul was thrilled to discover that his son Ricky, a graduate student in journalism, had secured an internship working for well-known attorney, Avery Bailey Clark, in Genoa City. But his assistant D.A. daughter Heather was shocked to discover that her half-brother Ricky would be helping Avery defend Sharon Newman for murder.

Working for Avery, Ricky took photos of his half-sister Heather in a romantic embrace in the hotel room of one of the key witnesses in the case. He was hoping to use the photos to get a sensational story to work for Restless Style magazine, but Ricky got to know Heather better and realized that she had grown up without their father too, and was quite psychologically damaged from her abusive stepfather. So Ricky declined to sell the photos to Phyllis, and only gave them to Avery as a last resort to save her client, Sharon.

Just as Avery was about to expose Heather to get a mistrial, Ronan and Phyllis burst into the courtroom, and were allowed to present new evidence. After hearing the audio of Sharon trying to save the woman she was accused of murdering, the judge left it up to the D.A.'s office. Heather dropped the charges against Sharon, and Sharon was set free.

Although they ended up not having to use the photos, Phyllis stole them from the courtroom and put them up online with a sensational story about the A.D.A. fraternizing with a witness. Heather was fired as A.D.A. as a result. Ricky filed a lawsuit against Phyllis and Restless Style for using work without payment with Avery representing him, and Avery filed a criminal complaint for theft of evidence from an attorney in court. With her career ruined, Paul said goodbye to Heather, who left for New York City to stay with her mother, April, then Paul tore into Ricky for humiliating his sister.

After Phyllis was fired from Restless Style, Ricky attempted to get Phyllis' former job, but the owner, Billy Abbott, turned him down. So Ricky and Phyllis made a deal where in exchange for the Restless Style website passcode, he would drop the lawsuit against her. Then using the passcode, Ricky published a story to the Restless Style website claiming that Nikki Newman was the new suspect in the Diane Jenkins murder. Later when Phyllis was rehired as editor in chief at Restless Style, Ricky began bugging her for a job, again threatening to let Billy know how he hacked into their website. But Billy refused to allow Ricky to work there.

When Ricky heard that his aunt Patty was back in town and had shot Jack Abbott, he went to his uncle Father Todd's church, because Patty always went to Todd when she was on the run. Patty was already holed up in the church bell tower, and Ricky found her there, regressed to a childlike state. Ricky's probing made Patty mad, but not before she disclosed that Adam been the one who helped her escape the mental institution years before. Ronan and Paul arrived, and Paul and Todd talked Patty into giving herself up. Patty was later sent to the prison hospital.

Ricky went to Phyllis with his big story with all the dirt on Patty and Jack, but Phyllis said no. She told Ricky that she and Jack were once married, and now friends, and forgodsake, Patty was Ricky's aunt. But much to his father Paul's dismay, Ricky published his story about Patty on a true crime blog, and it went viral. Paul confronted Ricky, demanding to know how he could do that to his aunt Patty. Ricky countered that he empathized with Patty because she was just like his mother, Isabella. Ricky remarked that both Patty and Isabella had loved Paul, but Paul had abandoned them, and Ricky too. Ricky said that Paul had only visited him every couple of years, and that they had never been a family.

Eden began hanging out with Ricky, hoping to make Daniel jealous, but it didn't work as Daniel thought of her only as a friend. When Kevin moved out of the apartment, Eden invited Ricky to move into Kevin's bedroom and become her roommate.

Ricky got a pass to see Patty at the prison hospital, but Paul found out and got him banned, and took his place. Patty told Paul that Adam had been the one who helped her escape from Windcliff. Meanwhile Ricky took the story to Phyllis who bought it. She published it in Restless Style with no credit to Ricky, the cover featuring a red-faced, devil horned Adam with "Satan's Understudy hits the big time." Paul confronted Phyllis and Ricky for exploiting Patty, saying they were as bad as Adam.

Daisy Carter convinced Ricky Williams that she innocently wanted to be a mother to her child and that Phyllis and Daniel were out to get her baby away from her, so she and Ricky became involved, and Ricky vowed to keep Phyllis, with whom he had is own grudge, from winning. The day before Lucy's custody hearing, Ricky snatched Lucy while in her father Daniel's care. After a frantic search by Daniel, Ricky returned her, claiming to have found her in the parking lot. When the incident came out in court, Daisy was allowed to keep Lucy. After Daniel lost the custody case, Phyllis fired Ricky, convinced that he had been behind it, which only made Ricky more intent on finding something in Phyllis' past to expose and make a name for himself.

After Ricky's threats against Phyllis scared Eden, she asked him to move out of her apartment. After Daisy moved in with Daniel, Ricky blackmailed Daisy into giving him her apartment and paying his rent, or he would tell the courts how he took Lucy to get custody from Daniel. Ricky let Eden know that he was living across the hall from her, then later let himself into Eden's apartment, cautioned her not to tell Michael of his threats against Phyllis, returned her key, but kept a copy. So when Noah returned to town, and needed a place to stay, Eden asked him to move in with her platonically, to help safeguard her from Ricky.

Paul asked Avery for her opinion of Ricky. She told Paul that she had hired him being impressed with his resume, but without the usual references, and she felt that he was amoral. Avery told Paul that Ricky's girlfriend had killed herself after he broke up with her, so he had thrown himself into his work. Avery later looked up an article in the Northwestern University paper which disclosed his girlfriend's name, Rachel Dalton, and that she had been a senior in the college of arts and sciences. Paul decided to look up Rachel's best friend, Melissa Townsend, who was mentioned in the article. Melissa told Paul that Rachel had been a foster child who had beaten the odds by graduating from college, and she had a great job lined up. She said that Rachel had been afraid of Ricky and tried to break up with him, but he would turn on the charm and not let her. Melissa thought there was something wrong with Ricky. Melissa said she was proud when Rachel had finally ended it, then Rachel was found dead. Melissa didn't think it was suicide, and she thought that Ricky had killed her, but she couldn't prove it.

Looking for dirt on Phyllis, Ricky, as a reporter, got an interview with her former husband, rock star Danny Romalotti, who refused to discuss Phyllis, had him escorted out by security, and tipped her off. When questioned by Paul, Phyllis told him that Ricky was a little off and sneaky.

Paul did some digging and contacted Craig Hunt of Evanston, Illinois, who was anxious to meet Paul in Genoa City at Jimmy's Bar, to talk about Rachel. Ricky met Paul there instead, and later Craig was discovered as a fatality in a car wreck on the highway. Christine got Paul more information, that Rachel had been found dead in a bath tub with the door locked from the inside so police concluded that she had overdosed on a sedative, and a probable suicide. Paul became convinced that Ricky had been involved in both murders. Christine begged Paul to turn the case over to someone else, not to investigate his own son.

Meanwhile Ricky got into Restless Style and uploaded an app to spy on Phyllis through her laptop, where he later saw Phyllis and Danny argue about their past marriage and her rivalry with Christine. Daisy got Ricky into Phyllis' apartment where Ricky found a business card for Dr. Tim Reid, her former psychiatrist. Ricky found Tim in Kenosha, Wisconsin, called and told him that he was researching an unauthorized biography of Phyllis Summers. Tim told him that he was better off handling a rattlesnake, that he never wanted to hear her name again, and hung up on him. So Ricky visited him in Kenosha, where he found the former doctor living out of packing boxes in a dingy apartment, and working as a security guard at an industrial plant. Plying Tim with a bottle of fine wine, Tim opened up, saying that Phyllis had been like a siren who had drawn him in until she wrecked his life, that she pretended to care about him, and that they had even been engaged. Tim said that Phyllis had driven him to rage, revenge, and jealousy because all she really wanted was Danny, and was consumed by her hatred of Christine. While Tim excused himself to the bathroom, Ricky took Phyllis' file out of the patient file boxes that littered the room. Tim realized that he had taken it after Ricky had left, but rationalized that Phyllis "deserved everything she got".

Ricky began reading Phyllis' file from when Tim was seeing both Phyllis and Danny for court-mandated marriage counseling. The notes described her as independent, intelligent, and defensive, and said that Danny had bitterly alleged that she drugged and raped him to become pregnant with Daniel to trap him into marriage. Tim wrote that Phyllis saw Christine not merely as a rival but an existential threat, despite the fact that Chris had been involved with Paul. Tim described Phyllis as delusional in thinking that Danny actually loved her, and devastated when she lost custody of Daniel. As Ricky was reading of how Phyllis had seduced Tim, Tim phoned Ricky. Tim said that he knew that Ricky had Phyllis' file, and tipped him that to expose her, he should check out what Phyllis was up to during Christmas of 1994.

Examining the files during the time period specified, Tim's notes said that Phyllis had been reluctant to discuss the guilt she felt over Sasha Green's death. Ricky told Phyllis that he was writing an expose about her past, mentioning her therapist. Phyllis paid Tim a visit, questioned him about Ricky, and demanded her patient file. After Tim told her he had shredded it years ago, she told him to contact her if anyone came looking for info on her -- or else. Ricky returned to Tim's again asking for more information about Sasha Green, and threatened Tim when he refused. Later Tim was reported missing by his employer when he didn't show up for work. Ricky's father, Paul, began investigating, fearing the Ricky was behind the death of his former girlfriend, the informant who was going to tell Paul about it, and the disappearance of Tim Reid.

When Ricky's half-sister, Heather, returned to town, she discovered that Daisy had sublet her apartment to Ricky without permission, so she threw Ricky out and moved back in. After hearing that Heather had originally taken that apartment as a safe house from someone who tried to kill her, Ricky returned and planted something wrapped as a gift and a camera to watch her open it. Then Ricky taunted Paul with the fact that he had left Heather a gift, and led him to believe that it was a bomb. Paul went to rescue Heather, but found it was just a music box.

From the rental car receipt evidence that Ricky had gotten from Tim Reid, Daisy discovered that Phyllis had been the driver of the rental car who had run down Paul and Cricket back in 1990, and she confronted Phyllis with the fact. Daniel overheard, and was aghast at what his mother had done. Phyllis had to confess to Daniel, but claimed it had been an accident, that she had only tried to scare Christine after she had seen her kissing Danny, bur her foot had hit the accelerator instead of the brake. Daisy used it to blackmail them into treating her as they should treat Daniel's wife. When they turned on her, Daisy went to Ricky offering to help him get revenge on Phyllis. Then Daisy blackmailed Ricky with the knowledge that he was observing Heather with cameras into helping her flee Genoa City with Lucy. Eden overheard him agree.

Later left alone in Ricky's room, Daisy discovered a video on his laptop which showed Ricky drowning his former girlfriend Rachel in the bathtub. Shocked, Daisy slammed the laptop shut and left, making excuses as Ricky returned. Ricky opened the laptop and realized what Daisy had seen, and he deleted the file. Outside, Daisy called D.A. Michael Baldwin, asking to meet him in an alley to disclose some important information.

Ricky met Daisy in the alley instead. Michael later found only Daisy's scarf in the alley. The next day in his room, Ricky removed Daisy's wallet and cell phone from her purse, remarking that he was relieved to see nothing in the paper about "poor little Daisy". Questioned by Paul about his involvement with Daisy and her disappearance, Ricky shared that he and Daisy had a lot in common – both of them had mentally disturbed mothers, no support from their fathers, and were treated like sludge from the moment they walked into town.

Ricky began using Daisy's credit card to charge pizza and bus tickets in Canada posing as Daniel, making it appear that Daisy was on the run. That plus Daniel's blood being found on Daisy's scarf, and an email to Kevin from Daisy telling him that she feared Daniel and asking Kevin to raise Lucy if anything happened to her, caused Daniel to be arrested for suspicion of murder.

Eden, suspicious of Ricky, searched Ricky's room and found Daisy's wallet, credit card, and phone. Ricky discovered her there, saying, "Now you know my secret, and now I have to kill you." Ricky threw Eden against the bathtub, and she was knocked unconscious. Kevin told Paul that Eden was missing, and that Eden was sure that Ricky was involved in Daisy's disappearance. Meanwhile Ricky held a knife to Eden's throat, asking Eden's limp body if she was ready to die, and telling her that no one would ever find her body or Daisy's.

Paul arrived at Ricky's. Paul and Ricky argued, and Paul refused to leave until they came to an understanding. Ricky told Paul how lonely he had been as a child with no one to be a parent to him, that his grandparents were too old to have a child, and never understood him. Ricky told Paul how he had visited Isabella in the mental institution, but when she got too violent and had to be doped up, he no longer had been allowed to. He reminded Paul that as his father, he had only sent cash on birthdays. Trying to get rid of Paul, Ricky agreed to try to get to know Paul the next day. Paul grabbed Ricky's room card on his way out, and noticed a backpack on the floor. Ricky returned to the bathroom to kill Eden.

Paul realized that the backpack was Eden's and ran back up to the room. Opening the bathroom door, Paul found Ricky on the floor with a knife at Eden's throat. When Ricky refused to drop the knife, Paul pulled a gun on him. Paul pleaded with Ricky, to drop the gun and not kill Eden. Ricky admitted, "Rachel thought she could leave me. I killed her, and got away with it too." Ricky also told Paul that Craig Hunt should have kept his mouth shut, or he wouldn't have had to kill him. Admitting the he had gotten rid of Daisy, Ricky said that Daisy had it coming, and felt he had done the town a favor. Ricky exclaimed, "Are you proud of your boy? This is all your fault, the reason I turned out this way, a product of your neglect. Are you going to take out your own kid?" Paul begged Ricky to drop the gun. Ricky begged Paul to shoot. Ricky stood up to stab Eden, Paul shot him, and Ricky flew backward and out of the window. Paul stood at the window sobbing as he looked down below at his dead son, Ricky.

When Eden awoke on the floor, she looked out the broken window and saw Ricky's dead body lying on the ground below. She asked Paul what had happened, but he just told her to call the police. When they arrived, Paul was in shock and could not speak, but Ronan persuaded Paul to tell him what had happened. In the lobby, Paul and Heather cried and hugged. Heather warned Paul that he could not leave, but later Paul slipped away, ended up at the sanitarium in Los Angles to see Isabella and told her what had happened to their son. But Isabella sat with her back to Paul, brushing her hair and humming, and did not respond.

The police were skeptical of Paul's story since no knife was found, and Eden had suffered a head injury, and was unconscious at the time, and later could not even remember why she had been in Ricky's apartment or why she had texted Kevin. The gun was found to be unregistered with serial numbers filed off, so Lauren had to admit to Michael that the gun had been hers which Paul had taken away from her. Due to the conflict of interest with Heather and Michael, Ronan took over as the lead investigator for the DA's office on the case. Paul turned himself in, Avery became is attorney, and Paul told his story. Ronan let them know that due to the lack of corroborating evidence, it appeared to be premeditated murder, and he had to arrest Paul. When Daisy's wallet and cell phone were found to have been dumped by Ricky, Daniel was excluded as a person of interest in her disappearance, and she was assumed to have been murdered by Ricky. Among Ricky's things were clippings about Paul, and photos of them together.

Paul was released to attend Ricky's funeral. His brother Father Todd was in Africa so could not attend. Paul told Ricky's grandparents in California, who were outraged, and would not attend. Mary was not mentioned. At the graveside service Paul reminisced with Nina and Heather about a father's day card Ricky had made and sent when he had been seven or eight, featuring a boy looking up at his father with a smile. Ricky had written about his life, sports, and said he loved him and hoped they would see each other, but how the next year Ricky's card had sent just a happy fathers day card and only signed his name – a big clue that he should have seem more of him. Unseen by Paul, a crucifix was dropped on Ricky's grave. After the funeral, Paul was arrested by Ronan for first degree murder.

A few months after Daisy had disappeared, when Sharon was checked into Fairview Sanitarium for 72-hour observation, she ran into Daisy, alive and well. Daisy had checked herself in under an assumed name to escape Ricky.

Although Ricky's laptop had disappeared, Paul found a flash drive in a snow globe that Ricky had, and called Michael. They played the file that was on it which was of Ricky saying that if he was dead, his father Paul had done it.