I was saving that for the Hollywood screenplay which I'll have you write. On a serious note, if the abductors were going to hold Elizabeth for an extended period of time before making a ransom demand then they would have had to have done something to assure the family that she was still alive and well.
I wonder if Ricci was as capable as an educated person, say an engineer, of doing such detailed planning in advance.
There are a number of things to point out here. It was a group effort and the planning may have gone on for awhile. Richard was a very intelligent person according to Fred the security man. As a career criminal he would have picked up a lot of things each time he was in the joint. I think that most career criminals are aware of the potency of DNA evidence. Many a convict has been found guilty based on this science and that kind of information would spread fast in the prison system. In short, I think that Richard was perfectly capable of planning this. He probably had input from others as well and we have no idea of the mental capability of his chief accomplice.
As for their keeping her alive for several weeks, I can't imagine more than maybe 1% of kidnappers considering such a thing.
The scenario I proposed is only one of many that would involve a ransom. It is probably the one with the best chances of success though. Chief Dinse did say that this was a very unusual crime.
I think the police are more inclined to set up parallel investigations in a situation like this--runaway, AND possible abduction.
You could be right. Perhaps 3 or 4 detectives might have worked the case. Still far fewer than what we have seen involved in this case. There is no way the FBI would have gotten involved until way late in the game if even that.
CRIMINALS NEVER THINK THEY ARE GOING TO GET CAUGHT.
That's true of a good deal of them. They are not quite as smart as they think they are. Hollywood usually portrays criminals as sexy and smart but the reality is that most are low life brutes. The glimpse that Angela gave of Richard the other night though shows that he was more than that. His violent past shows us a more sociopathic side. He was a complicated man that's for sure.
I really think the bunch of cars would have been around the elder Francoms' home--not around the decedent's daughter's home.
You really have no idea of just how large an extended Mormon family can be. I'd be surprised if there wasn't a large group at Ed and Lois' place during this time.
For an easier ransom kidnapping, why not choose Mary K. or little 3-yr-old William?
A good question. It has been reported that Lois and Elizabeth were extremely close. Richard probably picked up on this and could have felt that Liz was the prize catch as far as a big ransom went. He also knew enough about Liz to accurately predict that she would not put up a struggle.