Posted on 08/31/2002 10:26:34 AM PDT by IamHD
My prayers go out to the Ricci family during this time. RR was sent up the river and used as a scape-goat. No evidence, whatsoever, linking him to the disappearance of Elizabeth.
May he rest in peace.
Perhaps the Amber Alert served to derail a lot of things in this case. The Amber Alert is intended as a means of enlisting the public's help in locating a missing child. This is generally done by providing recent photos of the child, a description of his/her abductor, a description of how the abduction took place, and usually a description of the vehicle involved. Unfortunately, none of these things were done in this case. The most widely circulated photos of Elizabeth were apparently outdated, no useful physical description of her abductor was provided, details of the actual abduction scenario were kept closely guarded, and there was no known vehicle involved.
What real purpose did the Amber Alert serve in this case? As you have suggested, it might have frighten those involved into doing something rash. Perhaps unfortunately, it has also served to keep the public eye trained on what HAS been made publicly available in this case.......the Smart family, their community, and the Salt Lake City PD.
You are correct in showing that there are many reasons that could have explained his behavior at the garage on the 8th of June. He couldn't clear the matter up because he couldn't admit that he even had the vehicle that day. Answering detective's questions about the seat cover etc. would have been an admission that he was in possession of the Jeep that day. That would have led to the question of where it had been to get so dirty. It appears that this is the question that he really didn't want to answer. We may never know for sure what really happened that day. But his refusal to clear it up leads us to the kind of speculation that others and I have posted. It is speculation, but it is consistent with what we know about this case at this point in time.
I'd like to go over one of the things that you posted and give you my thoughts.
Something tells me that Liz is stuffed in a neighbor's chest freezer in the ol' neighborhood. I hate to say it but that is what I believe.
Since we don't know where Liz is we have to consider this as a possibility. There are aspects of the case that conjure up images of David Westerfield entering the Van Damn home in the middle of the night. The way that the abductor was dressed might be consistent with someone just out for a stroll in the neighborhood. It hasn't been reported that Mary Katherine heard an automobile leave the scene. Perhaps Elizabeth knew the abductor and didn't feel threatened. Then there is Lois' statement in early August that MK recognized the perps voice. This last statement is critical. If it were a neighbors voice that MK recognized then he would have immediately moved to the top of the list of potential suspects. So far we have seen no indication of this. Any perpetrator could have dressed in the manner described. It would be easy to explain MK not hearing a car leave. There have been reports that Elizabeth was led through the bushes and her scent was followed to the curb, not to somebody's home. As for Elizabeth not alerting her family it could have been because she didn't feel threatened or just the opposite. She may have been gripped with fear. I'm confident that LE has looked at all of the neighbors and may still be checking them out. Chief Dinse gave the clear impression that they were still following leads in the case when he said in effect that he would only release his information about Ricci if he remained at the top of the list when the investigation is completed. I think the odds are very slim that someone from the neighborhood would have brazenly gone in the home and taken Elizabeth at gunpoint. It is possible that somebody nearby was a conspirator in the crime but even that is unlikely given what we know today.
Just a thought.
It just crossed my mind. If Ricci did what you said, ..threatened E's life if MK told parents right away, then woudn't it be more beneficial for him to take both of them, rather than leave an eye witness?
Leaving MK there after seeing him, would leave room for her to tell who he was.
"They" say that she saw him, right down to the "hairy arms and backs of hands, clothing etc. and recognised his voice..if she recognised the voice, she HAD to put a name on who the voice belonged to, right?
Don't make sense to me at all, but then, I am very young and maybe with maturity, I will be able to reason better. LOL
'Definitely Something': They say that when a coyote kills a rabbit, the yelp resembles a child's cry. What Steve Voss heard in the early hours of June 5 sounded much more human.
Voss, a gynecologist, was on call so he was sleeping in the back bedroom of his Federal Heights home. He was awakened by his wife who was in the bathroom. They heard a car racing down the street. It was 2:30.
"I drifted and then I heard what I thought was a yell or a scream. It sounded female," Voss says. "I've never heard anything like it before."
Dogs started barking and Voss went downstairs to check on theirs. He looked at the hills behind Tomahawk Drive and saw nothing unusual. He went back to bed.
At 6 a.m., a neighbor dropped by and said, "Go check your kids.'' The Smarts' 14-year-old daughter has been kidnapped from their home on Kristianna Circle, the street below Tomahawk.
An hour later, a police officer knocked on the door and Voss recounted what he had heard.
"I suppose it could have been a coyote. I was half asleep," he says. "But it was definitely something."
You're right, we have seen no indication of the police openly investigating anyone close to the neighborhood. This is purely speculation, but I have always thought that it was possible that Ricci's primary value in this investigation was as a witness.....not as an actual suspect. Federal Heights is a pricey neighborhood. The people who live there are likely to have influential contacts and can most likely afford high priced lawyers. If the police do suspect someone in the neighborhood, I don't think they will make their suspicions public until they have solid evidence. Perhaps they had hoped that Ricci, a man who had worked in several homes in the neighborhood, could provide that evidence.
The fact that the two most public figures in this case were both hospitalized in "near death" conditions is something that I cannot overlook. It suggests to me the distinct possibility that these two men had information that was potentially damaging to someone with power......someone with enough power to have them silenced. Maybe I watch too many movies or read too many books, but I cannot dismiss the fact that the two "talkers" in this case have both met with serious misfortune. In my mind, it leaves open the possibility of a much bigger story than "Ricci did it."
That would be nice to have and I'm sure that it will be available to the public someday. His timeline will clear some of the mystery up.
We might find that Ricci really didn't have time to travel any distance from SLC, and it seems some here have already figured that out. Someone else, and not Ricci, had the jeep during those days it was out of the shop.
If somebody has information or a plausible theory that Richard couldn't have made a long trip during that time then they should post it. I haven't seen anything like that. There is no proof as to who had the Jeep during the time it was out of the shop other than the day it was returned. On that day we have Moul's testimony that Richard returned the Jeep. It is also possible that Richard was the one who secretly took the Jeep on the 30th of May. Nobody here knows one way or the other who took it that day. I think the Jeep was placed in one of the conspirator's garages during most of the time it was gone. It doesn't matter who put it there but I feel that it was hidden from public view. It was taken out on the night of the crime and on the 8th of June when it was returned to Moul's auto service center. How to account for the extra mileage is open to speculation. There is reason to believe that Richard was in the Jeep the night it was driven to Arlington Hills but we can't be sure at this point.
Did the repair shop clean the jeep thoroughly before the police picked it up?
It has been reported that Moul did clean the Jeep after it was returned. This was evident in the photographs of the Jeep showing it in the police impound garage. How thorough the cleaning was is hard to tell. There is still the distinct possibility that the accomplice's trace DNA may have been found. That may be helpful if they ever find the guy.
The Smarts' son said that when Lois saw the cut screen in the kitchen window, she screamed. If the screen was cut, I assume the window was open and Lois was probably facing it when she screamed. Does anyone know if that kitchen window faces toward the Voss house?
It just crossed my mind. If Ricci did what you said, ..threatened E's life if MK told parents right away, then wouldn't it be more beneficial for him to take both of them, rather than leave an eye witness?
The abductor didn't realize he had been spotted by Mary Katherine. All of the statements made in this case are consistent with that.
"They" say that she saw him, right down to the "hairy arms and backs of hands, clothing etc. and recognized his voice if she recognized the voice, she HAD to put a name on who the voice belonged to, right?
Not necessarily. I think she picked the voice out of an audio lineup that she listened to sometime in early August. All she would have said was "That is the voice I heard". The authorities would know whose voice she was listening to.
I thought he did take the newspapers. I don't buy he removed the seat cover because Moul is messy, you usually don't work in the back seat. And Angela claims there was no back seat cover. I don't think the newspapers were for fibers. What he thought might be on the seat cover we don't know, maybe muddiness or maybe something else that might have been on it. I think he returned it muddy because he was anxious to get it turned back in and it was closing time.
and I knew I did not kill Liz or have anything to do with the crime... I'd say he probably did not trust the cops at all and was worried if he turned the stuff over that they may try to pin it on him due to the huge profile and attention the case was getting
I have no doubt he was in on this. His friends think he was. I think the breakin was planned earlier, thus the May 30 date, but they were held up by Lois father's funeral. This time gap May 30 - Jun 5, if someone else took Ricci's Jeep Ricci would have at least called Moul to check on it and found out it was gone and probably reported it stolen if it was. If he were innocent he would have answered all the questions and probably never have gone back to jail. His only charges were a burglary and a robbery he admitted to anyway and he never would have gotten pinned with the armed bank robbery. Even if Ricci thought he was being set up his best bet would have been to tell the truth and hope for a jury with a couple posters on this thread and his lawyer could get him off, the alternative was the rest of his life in jail for certain. Police now are saying they don't have the evidence and wouldn't have charged him without more, what they've said all along. I don't think he would have been convicted if they couldn't have proven it beyond a shadow of a doubt to a jury. I think they have much more evidence than what they're admitting to for whatever reason.
There were plenty of criminals where I lived growing up too and they followed Ricci's pattern. They were pretty normal and likable usually but there were times where they just seemed to flip out and get into their criminal behavior mode for brief periods, similar to Ricci in this case
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