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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.

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....