Smart Case, August 1, 2002

08/01/02 | Jolly Green

[Jolly Green]

Time Line
04/01/01	Sunday	Ricci burglarizes a Smart neighbor's home taking various items.
06/05/01	Tuesday	Ricci steals items from the Smart home while he is employed there as a handyman. Ricci is charged in July of 2002 of 1 count of theft related to the Smart incident.
05/30/02	Thursday	~ Ricci returns to pick up his Jeep at the auto repair shop before the shop has a chance to fully fix it He tells the repairman that it needed for an emergency.
06/04/02	Tuesday	~ Ricci is at work from about 9am to 5:30pm ~ Ricci claims he spends the evening with friends
06/05/02	Wednesday	~ 1:05am - 2 cars are spotted on the SLC Shriner's Hospital Parking Lot by a hospital security guard, two blocks from the Smart residence ~ 1:30am (approx) - Elizabeth is kidnapped from her home ~ 1:30am - Ricci claims to be in bed asleep with his with wife. ~ Ricci is scheduled to be off work all day today. ~ 7:21am - Rachel/Amber alert is issued and national media is involved. ~ 8:30am - Ricci and his neighbor talk about the kidnapping of Elizabeth, Ricci seems to know too much information about it. ~ Sometime during this day Ricci is visited by police in regards to Elizabeth's kidnapping as reported by Angela Ricci (Richard A. Ricci's Wife which is an ex-convict herself) ~ Ricci is seen by his neighbor digging a hole by his (Ricci's) trailer early in the morning. (heard the neighbor say this on TV)
06/06/02	Thursday	~ Ricci is scheduled to work from 9am to 5:30pm today, but instead works from 10:30am to 7:00pm ~ Police talk to Ricci this day about the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping. (The media is reporting this, so it could be wrong)
06/08/02	Saturday	~ Ricci returns the Jeep to the repair shop to get it fixed. The Jeep is muddy and the repair shop owner sees Ricci remove seat covers from the back of the jeep and place them into a plastic garbage bag that already contains other stuff in it. Also the repair shop owner said a muddy post hole digger was in the back of the Jeep, Ricci removes this also. Ricci has a man waiting across the street to give him a ride. Ricci takes the plastic bag and contents along with the post hole digger with him. Also there is 500 to 1000 extra miles on the Jeep since Ricci picked it up on May 30th, 2002.
06/14/02	Friday	~ Ricci is taken into custody for a parole violation, this being drinking while on parole and association with other ex-cons.
07/11/02	Thursday	Formal charges are filed against Ricci (2 counts of theft & 1 count of burglary) on the theft & burglary of the Smart neighbors home which occurred in April 2001, and 1 more count of theft for stealing from the Smart home on June 6th, 2001.
Special thanks to Brigette for starting this timeline.

[JudyB1938]

I don't remember how tall Ricci is. Somebody else will though, I am sure. However, it seems like somebody said he was 5'8".

He sure doesn't look very tall in that picture. But like you said, maybe the atty is HUGE.

[JudyB1938]

I don't understand how one guy can overcome FOUR teenagers! Back in 1958, my husband and I were parked on a hill looking at the city lights. A car with 4 teenagers pulled up. They all had guns and tried to get us. To make a long story short, my husband and I made mincemeat out of all of them. Don't people FIGHT any more?

[cookiedough]

I'm nearly certain that I read in either the Trib or the D. News that Ricci is 6 feet tall.

[MiloMarch]

If it had really been a robbery - which it appeared to be at first, and the kid jumped the guy and got the GIRL shot dead, what do you think her parents would be saying?

They'd be telling the boy "YOU got my daughter killed because you didn't want to hand over the $8 you had in your wallet?!"

Or “My daughter is dead because you didn’t want to hand over the keys to your stupid Bronco?!

And remember he picked off the couples separately. There weren’t four people standing around at the same time with a gun pointed at them.

[JudyB1938]

I don't care. When it happened to us it was FOUR of them against the two of us. And they had their guns pointing at us, too. I'd rather be shot dead on the spot than to be taken off to be tortured!!!!!!

[Bella]

Press conference within 5min re CA kidnapping. Descriptions being given on the girls. Sketch artist working on pix of kidnapper now.

[JudyB1938]

I am praying! Almost in tears. Those poor girls. They are probably gentle like Elizabeth and will "follow orders" to the torture chamber.

Parents, please teach your kids not to give in - to FIGHT! There ~IS~ a fate worse than death.

[Bella]

http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/725891/posts?q=1&&page=101

Two Teenagers Kidnapped In Lancaster, CA

[Sherlock]

>So now the cops have questioned him, and he's off the hook "for the moment" so he's going to take a vehicle that he knows is directly linked to a kidnapping/murder back to his REGULAR mechanic, leave it out in the open, windows down? C'mon, Ricci may not captain the good ship Brainiac, but he's not going to make such a blatant mistake.

First of all, he had to bury the evidence at all costs. He had to take care of business and didn't have a little time. My guess is he felt he had to get the Jeep back in Moul's shop before it closed and he just didn't have time to do the cleanup. Also he had to get home and get cleaned up before the police came by asking questions. Also a possible post-homicidal depression could contribute to sloppiness. I can't explain why he did what he did, but the things we do observe tell the story of what he did.

[JudyB1938]

I can't figure out how to reply to you on that thread. It's all weird. But anyway ... I was pleased to see the tone of the posters which indicates they feel the same way I do about not giving in. Do you know why the original thread was pulled?

[Sherlock]

>In addition, investigators searched Ricci's father-in-law's storage shack earlier this week and found a machete, white polo sweatshirt, some light-colored pants and a tan hat — clothing that fits the description of the alleged abductor provided by the only witness to the kidnapping, Mary Katherine, Elizabeth's 9-year-old sister. Sources told ABCNEWS that Ricci was seen carrying a machete when he dropped off the Jeep.

http://more.abcnews.go.com/sections/gma/dailynews/missingutahgirl020628.html

I don't know if this is accurate but ABC News reported that police found the shirt, the pants, the hat, and the machette all stashed together in the father-in-laws shack. This raised my eyebrows when I read it.

[JudyB1938]

Correct me if I am not remembering right, but didn't the description of the clothing change to fit the description of what they found in the shed?

[varina davis]

I really do appreciate your starting a new thread every day. But it sure would be nice if you'd make a separate thread out of the timeline, with a link to it on each thread. It really is so long. And growing. :0)

PING!

[FR_addict]

they feel the same way I do about not giving in.

Circunstances are different in every case and fighting may have been the best course of action for your group. It didn't sound like the kids that were attacking you had the gun against the back of the head. I don't blame these kids for not fighting back. There were only two of them at a time against a criminal with a gun.

I hope the girls are not dead. The fact that he didn't kill the young men leads me to be hopeful for the girls. If the young man had fought the guy, he would be dead. Against a gun at the back of the head, this young man had no choice.

I fought a mugger once. I was so mad, he took all the money I had, he kept hitting me and hitting me in the back of the head. He finally stopped and I was still mad, I thought about running after him. At least my common sense finally took over. I let my adrenaline take over and was stupid to have fought this man even though he didn't have a gun. Being a woman, I didn't really have a chance against him. I wouldn't have been hit repeatedly if I had just let him take my purse.

These young men were doing what most of us would have done with a gun butted up to the back of our head. The one young man said he thought the man had only planned to rob them.

[Neenah]

I have been searing all over the place for the wedding picture of Richard and Angela Ricci. It was on t.v., but you know all the programs that are covering this !!

I can't remember where it was shown..However, on the wedding picture, HE IS VERY TALL..When I saw it, I thought he was about 6'5"...and she was small...the top of her head, didn't come to his shoulders !!

Then I saw this picture at the araignment, and David Smith has to be a giant of a man !!

I will keep looking for the wedding picture.

[stlnative]

PING - I finally have my desk top computer back up.
If you wish to taken off om Smart Case Ping List, please send me a private FR Reply (FR Email).

[Neenah]

I am just making what you posted a little more readable.

Smart family relying on faith

Granddad extols civic outpouring of love and help By Patty Henetz

Associated Press staff writer

Every day for three months, Lois Smart took her children to visit her bedridden father. The kids, with a work ethic impressed upon them by their parents, kept the lawn mowed and planted a flower garden for their granddad.

Media representatives quiz Sheriff's Capt. Jim Strong about the search in Emigration Canyon. Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News Myron Francom died at his home in Holladay last Saturday, leaving nine children and 51 grandchildren. On Monday, granddaughter Elizabeth Smart played the harp at his funeral. She played "Silent Night" because Christmas, when all his large clan gathered together, was her grandfather's favorite time, and that was his favorite tune.

Two nights later, a gunman crept into Elizabeth's bedroom and took her from her devoted LDS family, so devastating Lois Smart that she now finds it nearly impossible to speak.

Thursday morning, Lois Smart appeared on the "Today" show, uttered a few words and fell apart. "She didn't even have time to mourn her father. She has a broken heart. She cries 24 hours a day," her brother Mark Francom said. "She said to me, 'Why would he pick my home?' "

Lois is the second-youngest of eight siblings; her husband Ed is the second-oldest of six. Their six children range in age from 3 to 15. The Francoms have lived in the Salt Lake area for three generations. The Smarts' roots stretch back to Charles C. Rich, one of Brigham Young's 12 apostles. Rich ran the Winter Quarters camp in Nebraska in 1846-47 during the Mormons' pioneer trek to the Salt Lake Valley.

Lois and Ed Smart married 16 years ago, when both were in their late 20s, after meeting at a church function for young adults. "That's where the spark was kindled," said David Smart, one of Ed's brothers. Ed Smart has built two businesses, Smart Realty and First National Mortgage. Described as "a real entrepreneur," Ed bought houses, fixed them up and sold them. He was just finishing up a remodeling project on his current Federal Heights home, listed with a $1.19 million asking price. The children helped with the remodeling by cleaning up after the workers.

The Smart children are all musical. Elizabeth and her sister play the harp. Their brothers play piano and the banjo. Musical shows are always part of family gatherings. They had picnics in their grandfather's back yard and mountain weekends in the family cabin in Brighton, a Wasatch Mountain ski resort. Family clearly is their center of gravity. "Lois is like the mother hen, guarding her chicks," David Smart said. "They'd always be picked up from school. Not left. They were always well-trained, very responsible," Mark Francom said. "That's the thing that's so diabolical. That man couldn't have picked a mother more devoted," Francom said. "Even he, in his perverted way, couldn't have imagined what this has done to her."

The Smart family wants to talk to reporters because they believe the attention will help their search. But they adamantly shield their children, particularly Elizabeth's 9-year-old sister who the abductor terrorized into two hours of silence before she went to her parents to tell them what had happened.

Highway Patrol officers use helicopter to search Emigration Canyon. Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News "We are trying not to talk to her about this, so the pressure's not on, so she's not rethinking this over and over, to help reduce the trauma," David Smart said.

The family's ties to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints run deep. On Wednesday, President Gordon B. Hinckley called Charles Smart, Elizabeth's grandfather. "He said, 'Charles, we're sorry for your trouble. We remembered you in our prayers in the temple. Is there anything else we can do?' " Smart said. President Hinckley's son, Richard, led the prayer meeting at the Federal Heights Ward Wednesday night. An estimated 300 people turned out. "I thought we would have 30 people," Charles Smart said. "A lot of people there weren't members of the church."

On Thursday, 100 LDS missionaries turned out to help search along with more than 1,000 other volunteers. On Thursday, church leaders issued an unusual official statement that expressed concern for Elizabeth, called on her abductor to release her unharmed and "welcomed" church members to help with the search effort and bring comfort to the family.

Thirty hours after Elizabeth's disappearance, her family was out in force at the Shriners Hospital in Salt Lake City, headquarters of the massive volunteer search effort to find the 14-year-old girl. A $250,000 reward for her safe return had been posted. Volunteers have spread out across the foothills of the Wasatch Mountains and the streets of Salt Lake City. "It's about the most exciting testimony of civic volunteering and love," Charles Smart said. "We are completely consumed by this," said Francom. "Every passing hour is just really hard to take."

The family fasted and prayed all day Wednesday, Francom said. Their thoughts turned to Elizabeth's abductor. "Many prayers have been given (in) hope he would soften his heart," Francom said. "That is what we hope will be his lesson. That she with her bright, beautiful smile will come back to us." "We have our faith," added Laurie Francom Warner, one of Elizabeth's many cousins. "God is the most important person on our side."

Above article from the Meridian

[Neenah]

Here is the Transcript of last nights Larry King Live with Ed Smart.

[Bella]

2 threads started, they pulled one.

[whenigettime]

Thanks for the LKL transcript bit.

If all this info is pointing to Ricci, then why the wait? This is getting fishier and fishier to me.