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CNN LARRY KING LIVE

Interview With John Walsh

Aired December 23, 2002 - 21:00 ET

http://www.silenter.com/cgi-bin/nph-go.cgi/00000/687474702f7777772e636e6e2e636f6d2f5452414e534352495054532f303231322f32332f6c6b6c2e30302e68746d6c
Excerpts:

KING: All right, let's talk about the Elizabeth Smart case, which the media has kind of left now. What is your best read on that tragedy in Utah?

WALSH: I spent yesterday by coincidence with Ed and Lois Smart. I had them on "The John Walsh Show" to kind of give an update to the case. You know, Ricci, the guy that was the main suspect, died in prison of an aneurysm. He's the guy that was the handyman at the house that put 1,000 miles on his pickup truck during the two days that she was missing. He was a burglar. He also had a rap sheet, which a lot of the media doesn't understand. He spent 10 years in jail. He tried to blow the head off of a cop with a shotgun. This is a real bad guy.

I hope that he didn't take the secret of Elizabeth Smart to the grave with him. I talked to Ed and Lois yesterday. I said, don't give up hope. Justice delayed isn't justice denied.

What's killing them is the fact of the not knowing. I think they're prepared for the worst. Most parents of missing children are prepared for the worst. But their young daughter has now said that she believes that Ricci wasn't the guy in there that night, that it may have been another guy that did some work on their roof, an itinerant guy that worked at a homeless shelter, and he may be a suspect in this. And I don't want to give away a lot of breaking information here, but "America's Most Wanted" is going to take a look at the Smart case, because I know one thing, we have been able to solve crimes after 10 years.

So I gave the Smarts, you know, the best encouragement I could and said, look, don't give up hope. We'll relook at the case. It is normal for the media tension to die down, and to try to have a good holiday. This is going to be the first Christmas without this beautiful girl, and the Smarts have five other beautiful children. So they're trying to hold that family together.

I said, you know, do the best you can with your five children. Don't give up hope, and, you know what, we'll take another look at this case and try to keep it alive.

John Walsh is very good friends with Jeanne Boylan. I wonder if she is the one that leaked to John what MK said about the intruder.

'America's Most Wanted' Points to New Suspect in Smart Kidnap

BY MICHAEL VIGH
THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE

The host of "America's Most Wanted" told a national television audience Monday that the only witness in the abduction of Elizabeth Smart may have seen a homeless roofer kidnap her older sister.

Though Salt Lake City police quickly denied John Walsh's account Tuesday, a Smart family spokesman refused to dismiss the potential lead.

"I'm not denying what [Walsh] said," said family spokesman Chris Thomas. "There's definitely some significance to this one."

Thomas said that the Smart family would release further information on the man in early January, adding that "once it's appropriate, they'll be making a statement."

Police have said since early in the investigation that former Smart handyman Richard Ricci is their primary suspect in the then-14-year-old girl's disappearance on June 5. Ricci died in August of a brain hemorrhage he suffered in his Utah State Prison cell, where he was held on a parole violation.

"Ricci is our primary suspect and remains that way," Salt Lake City police Detective Dwayne Baird said.

But Walsh said on CNN's "Larry King Live" that Elizabeth's sister Mary Katherine -- who feigned sleep in her sister's room during the kidnapping -- "has now said that she believes that Ricci wasn't the guy in [the bedroom] that night, that it may have been another guy that did some work on their roof."

Walsh described the man as an "itinerant" who worked for one day at the Smarts' Salt Lake City home several months before Elizabeth was kidnapped at gunpoint from her bedroom. The man apparently used an alias when he worked at the Smart home, and police have been unable to locate him.

Baird said investigators have known about him for months, adding that he is "on the same level of priority as several hundred people we've looked at."

Baird said police have no reason to believe the man was even in the Salt Lake City area the morning that Elizabeth was abducted. Still, they would like to talk to him.

Baird also said that any speculation that Mary Katherine has changed her story is "nonsense. That's inconsistent with everything we've found in connection with this investigation."

Walsh pledged to profile the man -- and the roofer's possible role -- on a future episode of his show, but no date has been scheduled.

"I hope that [Ricci] didn't take the secret of Elizabeth Smart to the grave with him," Walsh said.

Thomas added that the Smarts still believe their daughter is alive and are hoping that the holiday season will "soften someone's heart. There would be no greater gift than having Elizabeth back home on Christmas."
mvigh@sltrib.com