Elizabeth Smart Thread, 9/26/02 to ???

[Utah Girl]

Hold the phones. I just found some interesting information in a Salt Lake Tribune article. Bad reporting? It says that Richard and Angela Ricci were married in February, 2000, not February 2001. Here is the sentence (with the link). click here

"He's not got a mean bone in his body," she said. "Not that I've seen, anyway."

Morse added that Ricci helps her and her husband around the house and often cooks them dinner. "He's a good boy," Morse insisted.

Ricci married Morse's daughter, Angela, a year ago on Valentine's Day, and moved in with the woman and her 11-year-old son. Morse, who lives next door, said Ricci, who currently works for a nursery, comes home every night at 6 p.m. to be with his family.

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I was operating under the assumption that Angela had helped Richard Ricci start a new life, but he was out committing bank robberies after he married her. Kind of puts a whole new light on things as far as their relationship goes. I'll try to find a definite wedding date for the two of them, don't want to jump the gun here. OK, some more from this article (it is an oldy, but goody.)

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Convict Placed at 'Top of the List'

Handyman's alibi in Smart investigation'suspect,' police say; Convict Placed At 'Top of List' In Smart Case

BY MICHAEL VIGH and STEPHEN HUNT THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE

Police investigating the disappearance of 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart have placed a career criminal at the "top of the list" of potential suspects because he worked as a handyman at the girl's home last year and has a questionable alibi for the morning the teen vanished.

Richard Albert Ricci , 48, also closely fits the description that Elizabeth's 9-year-old sister gave to investigators, Salt Lake City Police Chief Rick Dinse said Monday.

"I want to emphasize he is, at this point in time, not a charged suspect, but he is very interesting and there are a lot of unanswered questions," Dinse said.

Police picked up Ricci on an unrelated parole violation June 14, and he has since taken multiple polygraph tests. Dinse declined to comment on the results but said Ricci has denied any involvement in the June 5 disappearance. The chief added investigators have questions about Ricci's whereabouts from May 31 to June 8.

Dinse said Ricci was interviewed the day after Elizabeth disappeared and is now being revisited. "Some of the things he told us then are suspect today," Dinse said. "We're spending more time on [Ricci] than we are on any one witness in this case."

Police have not shown the lone witness, Mary Katherine Smart, a picture of Ricci. But family spokesman Chris Thomas said the Smart children were familiar with Ricci, who Dinse said spent "considerable time" in the Smart home.

His last contact with the family was in September, Dinse said, adding Ricci had worked at other homes in the Smarts' Federal Heights neighborhood. He is a suspect in other unspecified crimes in the area, Dinse said.

In recent days, police have searched Ricci's Kearns trailer home and his cars, including a 1993 Jeep that Elizabeth's father, Ed, gave to Ricci in payment for painting and yard work at the Smarts' home. Investigators also searched a trailer home and cars belonging to Ricci's in-laws.

Dinse said items were taken from Ricci's home, but he declined to elaborate. He added that Ricci's wife, Angela, was cooperating with investigators.

Ricci's mother-in-law, Roxie Morse, said police also dug up a small tomato garden in Ricci's back yard at the Shadow Ridge Estates, 5075 W. 4700 South, in Kearns. Morse defended her son-in-law, saying he was home in the early morning hours of June 5 and does not have the personality to kidnap a young girl.

"He's not got a mean bone in his body," she said. "Not that I've seen, anyway." Morse added that Ricci helps her and her husband around the house and often cooks them dinner. "He's a good boy," Morse insisted. Ricci married Morse's daughter, Angela, a year ago on Valentine's Day, and moved in with the woman and her 11-year-old son. Morse, who lives next door, said Ricci, who currently works for a nursery, comes home every night at 6 p.m. to be with his family.

Morse began crying as she spoke of Elizabeth Smart. "I'd give anything to find that little girl," she said. "Any human being would."

She said her daughter and grandson left their home Monday morning to avoid reporters.

Ricci -- who once shot and wounded a police officer during a burglary -- has spent much of the past 30 years behind bars. Since his first adult conviction for burglary in 1972, he has been convicted of theft, escape from custody, aggravated robbery and attempted murder.

He has escaped or absconded from Utah State Prison twice, the first time in 1978, when he failed to return from a home visit during Easter weekend; and again in 1983, when he subsequently fired a sawed-off shotgun at an officer who interrupted him during the burglary of a Salt Lake City drug store, according to Salt Lake Tribune news stories from the time.

On Aug. 27, 1983, Salt Lake City police officer Mike Hill responded to a burglary call at a Sugar House pharmacy, where he found Ricci hiding in bushes outside the store. When Ricci refused to drop his shotgun, Hill fired two shots at the parolee, but missed. Ricci returned fire, striking Hill's head and hand with pellets. The officer was not seriously injured, according to news accounts, and Ricci was arrested in the area about two hours later.

As part of a plea negotiation, Ricci pleaded guilty to first-degree felony attempted murder and second-degree felony escape. And, in connection with an earlier robbery of a fast-food restaurant, he pleaded to first-degree felony aggravated robbery. Five other felonies were dismissed.

Sentenced to prison for up to life, Ricci was paroled in 1995, but was returned less than a year later after committing a theft in Sevier County, according to court records.

Ricci has repeatedly failed at parole, according to prison records. He was paroled most recently in September 2000.

Police investigating Elizabeth Smart's disappearance arrested Ricci on June 14 for allegedly violating that parole by committing an April 4, 2001, burglary, possessing alcohol and failing to complete a treatment program.

The 6-foot, 160-pound Ricci has had trouble with drug abuse, according to prison records. A carpenter by trade, he has in the past listed his home address as Elsinore, in Sevier County, as well as Salt Lake City.

Ricci's mother-in-law discounted his prison record, saying, "Everybody has a little trouble in their life." (This is my favorite line in the whole piece. UG)

Over the weekend, Salt Lake police went to West Virginia to talk to Bret Michael Edmunds, a 26-year-old drifter who had been sought for questioning in the apparent abduction.

On Thursday, Edmunds checked himself in to City Hospital in Martinsburg, W.Va., for drug-related liver damage. He was listed in serious but stable condition on Monday.

Dinse said Monday that Edmunds was cooperative and allowed investigators to search his car.

"We have taken some items of interest out of that automobile and we will be sending them to the lab," said Dan Roberts, assistant special agent in charge for the Salt Lake FBI office.

Dinse added that the questioning did not move Edmunds "any closer to being a suspect." He added that police had discovered no connection between Edmunds and Ricci.

[Yellowcat]

Varina, you said: "They went to Charles' house. It sounds like the "family" was already there when Tom stopped there.
"Charles" lives near the former bishop."
__________
By former bishop, do you mean the one who was charged with sexually abusing a 13-year old girl in the library of the church? Has there been any more news recently about that case?

Someone else posted recently about a former bishop--that his wife had given birth to a new baby just a couple of days before. If this is the same former bishop, then he would probably have no alibi for the night Elizabeth was taken if his wife was still in the hospital.

I wasn't aware of this same former bishop being the bishop of Elizabeth's ward, but was he the bishop of Charles Smart's ward? I wonder if that same former bishop was one of the 40 to 50 people at Elizabeth's house before Police got around to closing it off as a crime scene 3 hours after they arrived?

I am wondering too if the 40 or 50 people mentioned by Ed were all friends and neighbors? Maybe that was just a general statement and a guess at the number, and he was including all the policemen and other law enforcement people who were there too.

I wish I could find some good sources for the time Ed actually called the police that morning, and for the time Tom says Ed called him. I believe there's a conflict someway but I'm not sure.

[Utah Girl]

No luck in my search for Ricci's alibi, ie: him supposedly being at a drug rehab meeting. He did fail to go, but I can't find anything at the SL Tribune that would tie it in as an alibi. I must have read it on one of the threads from someone's recollection of a TV interview or something.

[Utah Girl]

A little news on the Smart front today. From the Deseret News.

Regular press briefings in the past for Smarts

By Pat Reavy and Derek Jensen
Deseret News staff writers

There was a time when Smart family spokesman Chris Thomas couldn't even answer his cell phone because of the calls from local and national reporters wanting to know the latest in the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping case.

"I was receiving more than 100 calls a day," Thomas said. "I had to buy a new phone. My phone zapped out after week one."

Since replacing his cell phone during week two of the media frenzy surrounding the kidnapping, Thomas said he's logged about 4,200 calls

Now more than 3 1/2 months since Smart was taken by gunpoint from her bedroom, those calls are down to just two or three a day from local reporters.

And for the first time since this mysterious case unfolded June 5, the Smart family has ended its regularly scheduled press conferences.

Despite intense media coverage and overwhelming support from the community to help look for the missing 14-year-old, police have yet to name a suspect or find any trace of Elizabeth.

While the end of the weekly press briefings brings to a close a remnant of the media circus that exploded around the kidnapping, it doesn't mean Smart family members have ended their tireless efforts to find Elizabeth, Thomas said.

"The fact that they're not doing press conferences is in no way an indication that they've given up," Thomas said. "They're still actively involved in doing the things they can do."

Family members still meet every Tuesday to plan ways to continue looking for Elizabeth. Another press conference will likely be scheduled in the next couple weeks to urge the thousands of deer hunters throughout the state to keep their eyes open for Elizabeth.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth's parents, Ed and Lois Smart, continue to make occasional appearances on national television programs like "Larry King Live."

The Smarts flew to New York Sept. 12 for an interview with John Walsh, and "America's Most Wanted" is planning an update on the Smart case this weekend, Thomas said.

The Smarts' interview schedule is a far cry from the rampant pace of a couple months ago.

Less than 24 hours after the kidnapping, Ed Smart stood before the intimidating eyes of reporters to make an emotional plea for Elizabeth's safe return. Lois Smart was so distraught that it took all her strength to look up at the glaring eyes of reporters and cameras.

The next morning, the Smarts made the rounds on the national television shows such as "Today" and "Good Morning America," again pleading for the return of their daughter and announcing a $250,000 reward.

The daily news briefings soon shifted to Shriners Hospital and then to the lawn of an LDS ward house across the street. A small village for national news organizations emerged practically overnight on the church's lawn.

Despite scorching heat, a member of the Smart family would provide daily whatever new information they could and would answer the barrage of often repetitive and sometimes ridiculous questions from the media. At the peak of the media frenzy, Thomas said he counted 17 television cameras and about 50 reporters and cameramen at the news conferences.

Ed Smart answered what questions he could as the names of Bret Edmunds and Richard Ricci came into the spotlight.

As the weeks grew into months and the national media moved on to other stories, the Smarts continued to appear daily for media briefings. When there was nothing new to report on Elizabeth's case, the family would talk about the rash of other abductions from the summer and would push for a national Amber Alert system.

At times the anger and the almost desperateness could be seen in Ed Smart's eyes and heard in his voice. At other times he seemed amazingly calm for a man under so much grief and pressure.

In August the number of news conferences was cut to three times a week. Later, as the Smart family members began to outnumber reporters, the news conferences were cut to two and then just one a week.

Sept. 17 was the last regularly scheduled news conference. Ed Smart said the family will still hold press briefings as new information is developed. The Elizabeth Smart Web site, www.elizabethsmart.com, is still operating.

[Utah Girl]

Ex-LDS bishop appears in court

A former bishop in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints charged with sexually abusing a young female ward member made his first appearance in court Thursday morning.

Spencer Dixon

Spencer Dixon, 38, appeared before 3rd District Judge Leon Dever on one charge of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, a first-degree felony. Dixon said nothing during the hearing, which lasted less than one minute.

He is scheduled for a roll call hearing Oct. 15.

Dixon and his attorney, Brad Rich, left the courthouse in downtown Salt Lake City without saying anything to reporters.

Dixon was charged Sept. 5 with sexually abusing a 13-year-old girl who attended his ward, court documents state. Dixon was bishop when he allegedly abused the girl Aug. 24 in the library of an LDS ward house near 1300 South and 2400 East, according to court documents.

Charges against Dixon were raised from a second-degree felony to a first-degree felony because he was the religious leader of the alleged victim.

If convicted, Dixon faces a potential sentence of five years to life in prison.

[varina davis]

Someone else posted recently about a former bishop--that his wife had given birth to a new baby just a couple of days before. If this is the same former bishop, then he would probably have no alibi for the night Elizabeth was taken if his wife was still in the hospital.

That's what some people are wondering. The birth was in either the Salt Lake City Tribune or Deseret News archives. I don't know which Ward was his, or if any of the extended Smart family were members of his Ward. Maybe Utah Girl would know.

[FR_addict]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,56396,00.html

VAN SUSTEREN: All right. We're going to take a quick break. David and Angela, stand by. We're going to be right back.

We continue with more on the search for Elizabeth Smart. We're back with Richard Ricci's wife, Angela, and his attorney, David Smith.

Angela, how long have you been married to your husband?

RICCI: Since February 14th, Valentine's Day, this year.

VAN SUSTEREN: How long have you known your husband?

RICCI: Oh, about a year and a half.

VAN SUSTEREN: Where'd you meet him?

RICCI: Through my brother.

[varina davis]

Do you have the source for the article? Thanks.

[Neenah]

We were talking about conflicting reports on MK, and what she said about " at gunpoint ".....(Neenah)

KING: All right, now let's help us, Ed, to understand something with regard to young Catherine in all of this.

Initially police said that she was threatened by the kidnapper, and that's why she didn't immediately tell you. They now say the abductor didn't speak at all or even realize that she'd seen him. The kidnapper said to -- that Mary Catherine got out of bed soon after, and then did not head to her parents' room, but retreated in fear when she thought the man -- or saw the man still in the house.

What -- can you get us up to date on what that aspect of the story is?

E. SMART: You know, I really can't go into the details, other than, you know, if you were in a room experiencing -- if somebody was threatening your sister, what would you do? I mean, would you get up, would you stay in bed? What would you do?

That's the only thing that I can even think of.

And, you know, Mary Catherine has been incredibly strong through this whole ordeal. And, you know, we have not asked her questions.Sorry, but this does not compute with me. Why wouldn't you sit with your daughter and ask her what happened? You are the people she loves and trusts more than anyone in the world. This is hard to believe. We -- you know, we don't want to have -- see any more scars on her than what was initially put there by this perpetrator.So the reason for not asking her any questions, is they don't want any more scars on her than what was initially put there by this perp? Please, for you parents here on this board...do you belive this?

And we just -- you know, we've tried so hard to, you know, keep our children out of the limelight just so that they could maintain some kind of sense of innocence or a normal life-trend.

I mean, we're not really public people. When I say that, we don't like to be in the limelight. We never would have, in our wildest dreams, ever have thought that this would happen.

And so we just feel a tremendous need not to put any pressure on Mary Catherine.It is one thing to keep MK sheltered from the press, and out of the public view, that I agree with. But to imply that by them, the parents to not ask her ANYTHING because it would put pressure on her, is to me a calculated story in front of a national audience of people who sincerely care about what happened to this beautiful girl.

KING: Well Lois, can we say then that the initial stories about the kidnapper threatening her were wrong?

E. SMART: You know, it's easy to me to perceive that there's a threat there. And, you know, the rest of it's really in the hands of the police and what they've talked to her. We just -- we really try to stay away from it as much as possible.

KING: How then is she, Lois? How is this 9-year-old?

L. SMART: She is doing remarkably well. She has a lot of family -- cousins, aunts and uncles -- who have rallied around her and the other children. They do fun things that help her, try to take her mind off what has happened.

She's doing very well. She has a little dog now that follows her around.

KING: Is she still in school, or is school out for the summer?

L. SMART: No. School is out for the summer.

Source, Larry King Transcripts

This is one of the reasons why I have alot of trouble with the little information we have. Every time they speak..it is not coherent. This has nothing to do with HATING the Smarts. It has everything to do with pointing out that many have problems in this country following this, when there are so many things said that just don't make sense. It sounds like a purposfull runaround.

[varina davis]

Nothing about their responses sounds natural, Neenah. To say they didn't question MK is the height of subterfuge, IMHO. A daughter is missing, thought to be kidnapped, AND THEY DON'T QUESTION THE ONLY EYE WITNESS?! Not hardly.

[Neenah]

purposfull=purposeful

[anatolfz]

He's saying they haven't been cross-examining the poor girl.

[Neenah]

I just ran across this.......

One law enforcement official was asked if Mary Catherine had been hypnotized by investigators as part of their interviewing her. "It is safe to say we've tried everything," the official said.

Source,CNN

[sandude]

1069 posted on 9/26/02 4:03 AM Central by sandude

What's really sad is that I'm on Pacific Time so that was 2:03 AM. Can't sleep when I know I have to get up so early. Then to top it off the mission was cancelled and the early show was for naught.

[Sherlock]

As soon as I started reading this article I knew it was Neenah and trash Smart parents. Excerpt from views on Westerfield case posted by Neenah trashing the Van Dam parents and accusing them of sexual abuse and hiding evidence:

And they ignored the blood on her pajamas and beanbag chair, by the way. They didn't test the spot in the carpet either that Demon VanDam steam cleaned before the police got there. They didn't identify the fingerprints on the outside door or the blood on the cement outside or the drag marks outside. They didn't put her journal into testimony where she has some very telling comments - the type of comments that sexually-abused children use.

But all of that evidence in the Van Dam home can never be tested in the future. They re-carpeted and re-painted the entire house. All evidence is lost forever. We will never know, probably, the real killer of little Danielle.

I believe Westerfield was set up by a swingers group and that he is not just "not guilty" but that he is INNOCENT of this horrible crime.

Exerpts from this post by Neenah trashing this time the Smart parents and accusing them of lying:

And, you know, Mary Catherine has been incredibly strong through this whole ordeal. And, you know, we have not asked her questions.Sorry, but this does not compute with me. Why wouldn't you sit with your daughter and ask her what happened? You are the people she loves and trusts more than anyone in the world. This is hard to believe. We -- you know, we don't want to have -- see any more scars on her than what was initially put there by this perpetrator.So the reason for not asking her any questions, is they don't want any more scars on her than what was initially put there by this perp? Please, for you parents here on this board...do you belive this?

And so we just feel a tremendous need not to put any pressure on Mary Catherine.It is one thing to keep MK sheltered from the press, and out of the public view, that I agree with. But to imply that by them, the parents to not ask her ANYTHING because it would put pressure on her, is to me a calculated story in front of a national audience of people who sincerely care about what happened to this beautiful girl.

Why is it all your posts are trashing the families, Neenah? Didn't you learn your lesson from the Van Dam case? Please realize that this drive to trash the parents is unrelated to the facts of the case, it's just something within you. You were wrong on Westerfield, do you thing you're right this time?

[Neenah]

I hope you can make it up tonight. That is not fun! Good luck! Have a good night.

[Sherlock]

I believe Westerfield was set up by a swingers group and that he is not just "not guilty" but that he is INNOCENT of this horrible crime.

Sorry, I forgot to BOLD this part.

[varina davis]

Since you're taking JG's place tonight, please stay on topic. Thanks.

[Sherlock]

Since you're taking JG's place tonight, please stay on topic. Thanks.

For Neenah the topic is always 'trash the parents'. I can start reading one of her posts that is destined to be multiple pages and within the first couple of lines I will know it is a Neenah trash the parents post.

[varina davis]

For Neenah the topic is always 'trash the parents'

Neenah is NOT trashing the parents. She is posing the same thoughtful questions that many of us wonder about.