Smart Case, August 3, 2002

08/03/02 | 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.

[varina davis]

"It shows a pattern of his conduct. He’s capable of committing thefts. We have someone who broke into the Smart residence in the middle of the night," said Chief Rick Dinse.

While police chief Rick Dinse says these theft charges show a "connectivity" to the Elizabeth Smart case, Ricci has not been charged with her kidnapping.

"If I could’ve charged him I’d charge him. That doesn’t mean I don’t have anything linking him to the case, I’m not saying that. If I could charge him and prove it today we’d file on it today," said Dinse.

None of the above shows that LE has any conclusive evidence linking Ricci to the alleged kidnapping. It also fails to show LE stating they have conclusive evidence linking him to the case. It is typical policespeak.

Sorry, sherlock, nice try.

[cookiedough]

Deseret News reported at some point (I don't recall the date) that the police want to know what Ricci's been up to for the past two years, and for people to call in tips to them. I guess they are looking for some more associates of his who may be implicated in the kidnapping.

[Sherlock]

"If I could’ve charged him I’d charge him. That doesn’t mean I don’t have anything linking him to the case, I’m not saying that. If I could charge him and prove it today we’d file on it today," said Dinse.

You may not get this but Dinse is saying they are not bluffing about Ricci's involvement, they believe he's involved up to his hairline but their case is not solid yet. This is why they made the statement at the same time they do not plan to make an arrest until they find Elizabeth or her body. They don't want to try this dirtbag and not have 'beyond a reasonable doubt' evidence then find Elizabeth or her body with the conclusive evidence and be locked out by double jeopardy.

[Sherlock]

Deseret News reported at some point (I don't recall the date) that the police want to know what Ricci's been up to for the past two years, and for people to call in tips to them. I guess they are looking for some more associates of his who may be implicated in the kidnapping.

Excellent point, doughgirl! I'm blown away though if, with all the technology and resources of the FBI and US Govt available to them, they wouldn't know who this scumbag was by now.

[varina davis]

You may not get this but Dinse is saying they are not bluffing about Ricci's involvement

What I really don't get, is why I'm replying to this post.

You and others bent on pinning this on someone you consider inferior, might wonder why Ricci would attempt this sort of crime? What's in it for him? No ransom involved, an almost sure trip to prison for life -- or worse, considering his record, and maybe MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL, not nearly enough time to commit the deed in the reported time frame.

[varina davis]

scumbag

Wish I had a dime for every time you have used this term to describe Ricci. Seems to be a favorite. What description will you use if the alleged kidnapper turns out to be that "trusted member of the community?"

[lakey]

brigette's site has the first news report of June 5th:

"'One of the bloodhounds picked up on a scent right outside the Smart house but could only follow it for a few feet before losing it in some bushes,'Baird said. The amount of time that passed from when the alleged kidnapping occurred to when it was reported made it difficult for the bloodhounds to pick up the trail,' he said."

"The suspect broke through a window and told Elizabeth she could take a pair of shoes with her, according to the police. Detective Dwayne Baird said the man was carrying a small-caliber black handgun and left on foot with the girl. He said there was no blood at the scene and no apparent motive.

"'He just walked out the door with her,' Baird said. 'He didn't take a vehicle. He just left on foot.'"

Through the bushes.

[cookiedough]

Ratliff, late of California, had a similar history to Ricci's. It wasn't until late 2001 that he was accused of having committed a sex crime.

I don't think Ricci's history lets him off the hook. Ricci may have had something to do with Liz' abduction.

He has a history of breaking into people's homes, at night, while they are asleep. I tried to put myself into the shoes of a cat burglar. There is no way I'd have the nerve to do that -- I'd be too afraid someone would wake up, possibly shoot me, and that I'd be caught and sent to prison.

So what kind of person has the nerve to commit a crime like that? Ricci does. Since he is a criminal, he has friends who are like-minded, and maybe some of them do, too.

[cookiedough]

Ricci already has an almost sure trip to prison for life, without being convicted for Liz's kidnapping.

[Sherlock]

>>>"trusted member of the community?"

This won't mean anything to you Varina but, now that you've brought this "trusted member of the community" concept up again that you and your friends frequently refer to, I think this will explain for others what LE was talking about.

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (CNN) -- Police said Tuesday a "trusted person in the neighborhood" may be the man who snatched 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart from her home at gunpoint. In hopes someone might recognize him, they released a more detailed description.

Capt. Scott Atkinson said they were looking for a white male, 30 to 40 years old, 5 feet 8 inches to 5 feet 10 inches tall, with a medium build and dark hair.

The night of the abduction, police said the suspect carried a small dark handgun and wore a Polo brand shirt, tan pants, dark shoes and tan cap. He had dark hair on his arms and the back of hands, they said, and was described as calm but "concerned others would awake."

"We believe that this person may be a trusted person in the neighborhood or in the community. [It] might be someone ... that had reason to be here, that had reason to come across the family, all those kind of things we still believe," Atkinson said.

http://pub37.ezboard.com/felizabethsmartcaseforumfrm13.showMessage?topicID=26.topic

This article is from Jun 19, about 5 days after they arrested Ricci and about 5 days before they announced him to the public and well before they found the hat & clothes. I think the telling words are "that had reason to be there, that had reason to come across the family." I take in this they were referring to someone like Ricci, that he had reason to be there and had run across the family by working for them. At this time they were all over Ricci like stink on a skunk in interrogation.

I tend to think if it wasn't Ricci that went in the house it was the strange fellow in the gray Honda seen a few nights before by the milkman. His link to the Smarts is his acqaintance with Ricci. If he had an obsession with Elizabeth that would explain why he was lurking in the neighborhood. More likely he was checking out the house to see if the relatives had cleared out yet. By Ricci hiding his Jeep on May 30 they probably planned to do the kidnapping earlier and had to postpone it due to the funeral of Mrs. Smart's parent on Monday.

The getaway driver in Ricci's bank robbery drove a white Honda. The security man at Shriner's Hospital said the man behaving strangely in the parking lot had short dark hair and was driving a silver Honda.

The license plate on the Honda seen by the milkman later showed up on Edmunds car. The number was not on file with the DMV, they were phony plates. Newhouse said she saw Edmunds with Ricci on Sunday before the kidnapping. So this sighting ties Ricci to Edmunds and the phony plates tie the guy in the white Honda to Edmunds which ties all 3 together. Since this was a phony license plate number they may have had 2 sets of them, one on the Honda and one on Edmunds car, or they may have moved to Edmunds car sometime after the kidnapping. Edmunds license plate number was photographed by a neighbor at least a week after the abduction. When police saw it was the same number as the phony plate on the Honda given by the milkman, the police were obviously very interested in talking to Edmunds. They said later when they got Edmunds he had cooperated and they implied they had gotten information from him. Edmunds may well have been an addict friend of these guys and known more than we realized.

[sandude]

I was here way back in the early Drudge days...the quidam day..the Deep in the Huntgren forest days, and the tsunami days....remember Iowa Hawk....he was great...

Ah, the good old days. What a great resource this site was back in those days. It really freaked old Bill and Hillary out that there were people like Drudge and the FreeRepublic that they couldn't manipulate. I got turned on to this site back in the days when Drudge had a link here. I do remember Iowa Hawk, Clintons a liar, and others.

[Sherlock]

What's in it for him? No ransom involved, an almost sure trip to prison for life -- or worse, considering his record, and maybe MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL, not nearly enough time to commit the deed in the reported time frame.

I don't know, but he must have been really feeling guilty about something if he confessed to the burglary and robbery and gave up the names of his accomplices in the bank robbery. That got him the bank robbery conviction, because Remington gave up Ricci & Young as his accomplices when LE talked to him.

[janette]

Now you are loosing it! I thought you are a person, familiar with the case and somehow decent. Rattlesnakes!!! that's a very helpless new thought! People, don't go into those rediculous emaginations. The case is strange, I still think it's an inside family thing, but dont' come up with rattlesnakes or something like that!!! Or did you try to joke and make us feeling a bit better, because we all are somehow dissapointed by not knowing the truth. LE and Smart are not telling us what they know. Might be nessasary......

[varina davis]

I think the telling words are "that had reason to be there, that had reason to come across the family."

Except he did not have "reason to be there." He had no reason to be there for many months when his work for the Smarts was finished.

[janette]

As far as I know, she was playing the harp in a big group' like a harp orchestra. I saw a little part of a film in tv, at least 20 young girls and in the middle Elizabeth playing the harp. I heard it's very commen, Utha girls and women playing the harp. So playing at the Olympics might mean, she played with a lot of other girls, not a solo. Did anybody hear the same? That means, if she was playing in a group, not a lot focus was on her person.

[varina davis]

It's interesting that the Ricci accusers never come up with how he could have accomplished a kidnapping in the reported time frame. Or why he would have dressed up for a night raid in a polo shirt, golf cap, etc., when he wore a tee shirt to his wedding. And the list goes on....

[sandude]

It's interesting that the Ricci accusers never come up with how he could have accomplished a kidnapping in the reported time frame. Or why he would have dressed up for a night raid in a polo shirt, golf cap, etc., when he wore a tee shirt to his wedding. And the list goes on....

We've responded many times to all of these things and nothing we can say will satisfy you and others who think like you. I feel pretty solid standing with the SLPD/FBI on the issue of Ricci's involvment.

[stlnative]

Why I brought up the rattlesnake issue is because Utah is a deseret area, rattlesnakes among other poisonous snakes live in in Utah.

My step-son at about the age of 16, was bitten by a average size copperhead and almost lost his life over it. He spent several days in the ICU and has a deformed finger over it. They had to take the skin and flap it over the finger that was bitten from the finger next to it on his hand.

Also we know that Elizabeth & Perp left on foot. The Smart family live on the out skirts of SLC. Look up the address and see an ariel map of the where the home is.

I think your post towards me was rude! (now your loosing it - helpless thought - etc!) I guess you do not reside in area that has poisonous snakes around. If Liz was lead away from the home and though the rough terrain behind the Smart home, yes... she could have step on a poisonous snake. There was scream heard that night and the person who heard it said it was in the area behind his house and that it sounded eerie.

Some people think this was a ransom kidnapping, but why was ransom demand never made, did something go wrong and was Liz killed accidently before they could make the ransom demand?

BTW... My step-son was in the emergency room within 15 minutes of being bit. He stuck his hand between rail road ties trying to reach something he dropped between them and bamm he got a full load of copperhead poison in his system. Copperheads normally do not kill people, but rattlesnakes and coral snakes can.

My stepson's whole arm swelled up as big as his thigh on his leg. So my point was a snake bite could have happened to her if the snakes are bad in the Utah area, especially around her house if she was guided through rough terraing to a waiting vehicle. (It is just one possiblity of why a ransom demand was nevre made)

[janette]

I can't believe, you are leaving, I enjoyed your intelligent posts so much. Very sad that some Freepers are so awful stupid!! Please stay, it's so importand for this board to have people like you, please........!!!!!!!

[stlnative]

Here you go honey...

You take a look at the terrain behind the house and tell me that there is no way that snakes would live there.

www.mapquest.com

Here is the addy for you... after you get to the street map drawing click on the Ariel Map tab and zoom on in.

1509 Kristianna Cir
Salt Lake City, UT
84103-4224, US