Welcome to the thread, Platero. Last summer I would have looked at a disrepency like Baird's and Ed Smart's statements here and thought they were actually working together because they thought this roofer might be holding Elizabeth and this was the best strategy to protect her. Ed did show surprise that John Walsh talked about the roofer on LKL in December, it seemed Ed didn't expect him to make the roofer public until their story airs on America's Most Wanted.
If this roofer is truly a potential suspect, it's hard to imagine the police wouldn't have found him by now with the help of the FBI or put out a description for help from the public. I would also like to know if the roofer's description matches the sketch released by Ed Smart in the days after Ricci's death of the pig roaster driving the blue SUV. Hopefully these type questions will be answered when the America's Most Wanted program airs.