[sandude]

Another thing that comes to mind is that no matter what the situation was in the morning, the Smart home would have been loaded with foriegn DNA and fingerprints from the gathering that was held the evening before. This alone would have complicated the investigation without anyone having come into the home on that morning. I'm not suggesting that the crime scene wasn't contaminated after the abduction, but the party the night before would have had the same result.

[Utah Girl]

Plus, Lois's father had just died the previous Saturday and the funeral was Monday. Who knows was in the house on that day.

[Jolly Green]

Some of you are aware that I spent most of the last two weeks in the SLC area. During that period, I was able to meet socially with 4 SLCPD officers on several different occasions. FWIW, the following information may be useful or at least interesting:

- Three FBI agents "lived" in the Smart home for a period of time following the abduction. This isn't surprising, given many movie scripts where the Feds move in to trace calls and coach the parents in kidnapping cases.
- One officer essentially confirmed a published report saying that MK didn't see the perp's face.
- I asked about the published report about a mask, and none had ever heard anything about a mask.
- The SLCPD really pulled out all the stops to break the case and find ES - resulting in lots of overtime. The public also turned out in droves to search for ES. One patrolman said "you couldn't go anywhere without seeing the bright orange markings on the searchers."
- There seems to be very little doubt among the rank and file that Ricci is the guy, though he may have had an accomplice.
- There is a lot of interest in the area where Ricci hunted deer. I'll have more to say on that in a later post.
- I had previously aired suspicions about Fred Trujilo(sp), the security guard at Shriners Hospital, who saw and video taped cars in the parking lot at 1:00am on the morning of the abduction. You will recall that he had previously worked as a guard at the state prison and HE KNEW Ricci! To me that was an astronomical coincidence. I also speculated that the hospital security job was a step down in salary, benefits and prestige from being a prison guard. One of the officers agreed with me, saying that he might have been dismissed for cause.
- Dinse was apparently not pleased with the leaks and took steps to stop those leaks - apparently with good success.
- Resources are now being re-assigned to other investigations. This could mean the beginning of the end or it might mean a dead end.