Free Republic
Browse · Search
Smoky Backroom
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Elizabeth Smart--New Suspect, New Thread
Larry King Live; KUTV; Salt Lake Tribune; etc. ^ | December 23, 24, 25, 2002 | Various

Posted on 12/26/2002 2:56:18 PM PST by Palladin

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.

(Excerpt) Read more at silenter.com ...


TOPICS: Heated Discussion
KEYWORDS: amw; briandavidmitchell; elizabethsmart; missingchild; newsuspect
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 121-140141-160161-180 ... 401-411 next last
Comment #141 Removed by Moderator

To: scaredkat
Good comments. I do believe though that the Smarts are doing a pretty good balancing act with the disappearance of Elizabeth and filling the needs of their other five children. Personally, I didn't get the idea that the Smarts were saying to their kids "let's celebrate, have fun", I think they were remembering Elizabeth. I do not envy Lois Smart the task she has before her, so far I think she has done a good job of taking care of her children, and remembering Elizabeth.
142 posted on 01/10/2003 8:10:22 PM PST by Utah Girl (Here I come to save the day, Mighty Mouse is on his way!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 138 | View Replies]

To: Utah Girl
I think Lois is doing a good job too, but I just think in the long run the kids might have bad flashbacks and feel guilty for doing it.
143 posted on 01/10/2003 8:20:07 PM PST by scaredkat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 142 | View Replies]

Comment #144 Removed by Moderator

Comment #145 Removed by Moderator

To: lakey
And Ed doesn't come across as a grieving father, sorry to say. He strains to but....

I think Ed was struggling a bit because that blonde that hosted the show was SO GOOD LOOKING, I think Ed was most understandably a bit beside himself.

146 posted on 01/10/2003 9:08:30 PM PST by Sherlock
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 135 | View Replies]

To: Platero
Another thing I learned was that the back door leading into the woods was found unlocked after the abduction, which implies that the abductor exited through this door and that he was familiar with the house surroundings, which does not necessarily imply that the kidnapper was from the neighborhood, only that he had studied the entry point into the house as well as the exit door and escape.

Another new highly important bit of information from tonight was that the Smarts trusted the people that worked on their house and did indeed give them keys to the house. As I've said before I don't believe Ricci was the guy that went into the house but the cut screen as a ruse when the intruder actually went in with a key points to Ricci's planning, planning by someone who had been given access to a key and was trying to make it look like it was pulled off by someone who didn't have a key.

Other evidences of Ricci planning MO - middle of the night breakin to home he had worked on, small black handgun, Jeep taken out of Moul's under suspicious circumstances and not parked at Ricci's trailer similar to MO where he loaned friends his vehicle to rob the food shelter then got caught with the stolen food, bragging to friends what easy pickins there were at the Smart house and that he was going to rob them, etc.

Also the fact the kidnapper went around the house and was seen again by MC snooping in the brothers' bedroom when he already had Liz in tow proves this guy was a moron, small time thief like Ricci.

147 posted on 01/10/2003 9:34:41 PM PST by Sherlock
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 141 | View Replies]

To: Sherlock
ROFLMAO!!
148 posted on 01/10/2003 9:38:05 PM PST by Bella
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 146 | View Replies]

To: Utah Girl; All
It has been a long time since I have posted and I only saw tidbits of the 48 hours special tonight.

After seeing and hearing what I did tonight, I now believe that this was a burglary gone bad. I think whoever entered the house did enter with a key and through the back door. I think the screen cutting may have been a way for someone to pass things or drop things through before they went upstairs to case the place. I don't think taking Liz was part of the plan when one of them entered the home, but Liz may have stirred in her sleep (without MC knowing it) and woke up and saw the prep, maybe he decided to take her because she saw him. I read somewhere it was here or on another board that the cut on the screen was in the shape of a "U", The question is...was it an upside down "U", that allowed the tongue of the upside down "U" to flap down towards the ground?, was it big enough to allow the perp to pass things through to maybe hand to another perp or to just drop the items quietly out of the window to a soft area on the ground without him having to touch the sides of the screen? Sure the back door was not far from the window, but maybe the door made noise when it was opened or closed. Maybe the window was used as a pass thru because the person on the outside could look into the house better and beyond the persons backside who was in the house to see if someone was sneekiing up on the person who was on the inside. Also even if an alarm system is not on in the house, the door sensors will make a clicking noise still when the door is opened and closed.

Maybe Ricci was involved to the point of passing a key to the house on to someone, and maybe the deal was that the person who went in with the key that was provided by Ricci was to give Ricci part of what was taken from the home. A key for in exchange for 1/2 of what was taken out of the home.

I still do not believe Ricci was near or in the home that night, but maybe 2 of his friends were. Maybe Ricci knew the "hit" on the house was going down and maybe he loaned out his Jeep and provided the key to the house. The kidnapping of Liz may have been something that the perp inside the house felt he had to do. He and his partner (not Ricci) may have taken Liz and killed her in Ricci's borrowed Jeep. Ricci may have not found out about the kidnapping and possibly them killing her until he heard it on the TV the next morning. I still think the person who called Moul's Shop was not Ricci's wife, but was a wife or a girlfriend of one of the perps that was at the house that night and drove there by borrowing Ricci's Jeep.

Ok... why would Ricci not clear his name since he was not there that night? I'd say he kept mumm because he took part in helping them gain access to the home by providing the key and his Jeep, not to mention maybe details of the layout of the house. Since they kidnapped her and probably killed her he also would go on trial for helping plan and plot out the burglary that went badly wrong and resulted in the kidnapping and a possible the murder of Liz. He was on his 3rd time with the new 3 times your out...laws and if he was somehow connected to the crime in anyway since the end results of his actions lead to at least her being kidnapped and possibly murdered he could have faced a death sentence due to his past, even though he did not go into the home. Sure he finally confessed to earlier robbery of the home, but that was after they found the items in his home. Ok so now he is caught for the early robbery and may face live in prison, but he at least will not be facing death unless they link him to the kidnapping and death of Liz, even if he just provided the key & his Jeep for what he thought was just going to be a robbery. Ricci would sit back and not talk until the Police could actually find some hard evidence to link him, but that never happened and I bet if they had he would have spilled his guts to make a deal. Why deal with the police until you know what they have something on you? It is possible he may have helped them discard her body after the fact and sometime within a few days after she was kidnapped.
149 posted on 01/10/2003 9:58:51 PM PST by stlnative
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 145 | View Replies]

To: Sherlock
The Smarts TRUSTED the people who worked for them!! No, they didn't, or Ricci would not have been fired by Ed.

Just because they sit & oil their squeaky machine on t.v. does not dismiss the matters they prefer to have fall through a crevice and disappear.

150 posted on 01/10/2003 10:00:38 PM PST by lakey
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 147 | View Replies]

Comment #151 Removed by Moderator

To: lakey
Lakey... Rarely I agree with Sherlock...But his statement,They trusted the people who worked for them is true. They did trust them until they were robbed, no telling who had keys before the trust ended and yes I believe they felt safe or untouchable even though there may have been keys out there, so they did not change the locks. I think the screen cutting was not to make it look like an entry area, but was done to pass things out of the house quietly as they went through the house. Why take all of it upstairs when you go upstairs to get more? It is too easy to just cut a screen and drop it down to soft ground and pick it up as you go out the door one last time to make your escape. If the "U" was cut big enough... passing things through it without picking up fibers would be easy, especially if it was cut in a upside down "U"
152 posted on 01/10/2003 10:11:54 PM PST by stlnative
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 150 | View Replies]

To: All
Is it not true that we know items were taken from the home that night?

No... we don't know what and the police have not released what was taken as it would be key evidence linking to person to the Smart Home on that night. My guess is they are hoping the things taken will pop up somewhere at sometime. If they do it would be a hot lead in the case.
153 posted on 01/10/2003 10:18:32 PM PST by stlnative
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 152 | View Replies]

To: All
CORRECTION

Is it not true that we know items were taken from the home that night?

YES?... but we don't know what and the police have not released what was taken as it would be key evidence linking to person to the Smart Home on that night. My guess is they are hoping the things taken will pop up somewhere at sometime. If they do it would be a hot lead in the case.
154 posted on 01/10/2003 10:20:57 PM PST by stlnative
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 153 | View Replies]

Comment #155 Removed by Moderator

To: brigette
I wish what you say were true. In my opinion, it isn't. There are too many unanswered questions & no one of importance wants to ask them - they seem to not even want these issues brought up. Ed & Lois know that the public is in sympathy with them, & they're playing on that...Ed is, anyway.

Tonight's program, though I haven't reviewed my video tape yet, appeared to have been messages to Elizabeth from her siblings & parents. E likes grapefruit, let's buy some. In case she decides to come home maybe?

I'm tired. Goodnight.

156 posted on 01/10/2003 10:31:22 PM PST by lakey
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 152 | View Replies]

To: Platero
Yes, I have read that Ed did re-hire Ricci. Not sure that info was true. That's the trouble with this case - so if you're confused, you've joined the crowd.

'nite for now.

157 posted on 01/10/2003 10:33:11 PM PST by lakey
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 155 | View Replies]

To: brigette
I still find it hard to believe that a Ricci type criminal would ever think he could make a haul with the whole family right there....

think about that...if they really wanted money or jewelry or tv's or computers or even the harp for that matter, then would the perp's have picked a better time to gain access to the house....

we know the family took vacations together ...perhaps that would have been the time to hit the house...

that being said, some criminals perhaps like Ricci do things just for the thrill of getting away with it....who knows..

sadly, I too wonder whether we will ever know what happened to poor Liz.....

multiple the grief of the Smart's by thousands, because there are a lot of grieving parents out there....I keep thinking back to Molly Bish.....

still not totally convinced it was a Ricci operation....but there is definately a "criminal class" out there and he was part of it for sure....

158 posted on 01/10/2003 10:35:26 PM PST by cherry
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 149 | View Replies]

To: All
I guess I have been out of the click here for too long and no one wants to make any comments to my posts tonight.

Oh well... I had not planned to get back into this case like I was before, but I now believe the cut screen was used to pass or drop stolen items through. The window was not far from the ground and the door was not used continually because the house was wired with sensors that still beep quietly when doors are opened and closed, even if the system is not on.
159 posted on 01/10/2003 10:35:31 PM PST by stlnative
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 155 | View Replies]

To: cherry
I still find it hard to believe that a Ricci type criminal would ever think he could make a haul with the whole family right there....

I don't think he went in the Smart house, but may have found someone that was willing to. Also remember he did enter the neighbors house and even rummaged through drawers while a guest lady friend slept in a bed in the same bedroom that had the dresser in it and she even spoke to him, as she thought it was member of the family and told him it was ok to turn a light on and Ricci even answered back to her.

Oh well I am hitting the bed. Goodnight!
160 posted on 01/10/2003 10:42:41 PM PST by stlnative
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 158 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 121-140141-160161-180 ... 401-411 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Smoky Backroom
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson