Running shoes are specially made to have thick soles. Men's black dress shoes have thin soles.
How do you really know if Mary K. was asked about height in that way--"how much taller was he than Elizabeth?" That is just speculation by us. How do you know Mary K. said "he was about 2 inches taller?"
How do you know Elizabeth "has no breasts?" All I've heard around here is how "the pictures we have of Elizabeth aren't up-to-date!!!!!!!!"
The person who suggested to me that she might have been slumping said if she was, she was doing it b/c she didn't have a bra on at the time, perhaps had her hands crossed in front of her. All speculation, but certainly in the pictures of Elizabeth, she would be wearing a bra if she needed one--those pictures were taken in public, not in her bedroom at night. So she wouldn't be slumping in those pictures.
The e-mailer added TWO inches to Elizabeth from the running shoes' thick soles--not 4 inches. No way should we add FOUR inches to the height of the man, if he was wearing black dress-style shoes. Maybe an inch.
So if we add 2 inches to Elizabeth's height, we pretend she was 5'8". Then we add an inch to Ricci's height, so we pretend he was 6'1". That gives a 5 inch difference. So if they had taken Elizabeth's true height, 5'6", and added 5 inches, that would make the hypothetical man 5'11". That's at least close to what they estimated his height to be.
Where you there that night? I wasn't either but I've done some thinking on the subject and have a possible scenario. The way I've always felt it happened was that MK saw the back of the perps hand as he was pulling Elizabeth out of bed. The perp at this point probably said something to Elizabeth to make her believe that she wasn't going to be gone long and she wouldn't be hurt. MK feigned sleep at that point and waited until they were out of the room before she got up. As she was leaving her room to sound the alarm she saw the perp roughly helping Elizabeth down the stairs. This is the point were MK saw them together for the first time. Elizabeth had her shoes on and they were going down stairs. Even if Elizabeth was standing erect going down the stairs the perp might have been slumped over a bit.
I think that Elizabeth may have hesitated at the top of the stairs which caused the abductor to issue a very strong threat. MK heard that threat and believed it would have gotten her sister killed if she told her parents. There were two conflicting messages that MK had to deal with. The one stating that Elizabeth wouldn't be gone long and the second message that was a clear threat. I've always wondered why they haven't released the text of what the perp said that night. What clue would there be in that wording that would cause the police to withhold that information?
Perhaps I'm a die hard but I'm not ready to give up on the idea of Richard Ricci being the man who entered the Smarts home that night. I certainly don't think MK's eyewitness account of the perps height clears him. It's not like Elizabeth and the abductor were standing for a photo so that MK could tell exactly. Things were happening fast and Liz was being moved quickly down the stairs.
We also have been told that the voice of the perp was at least familiar to MK. I'm sure that LE has put all of the people that MK knew through the hopper. For sure Ricci's name would pop out of that process and perhaps others we are not aware of. It has been reported that Richard did not have dark hair on the backs of his hands. The one picture (wedding) that we have seen is inconclusive. He certainly had dark hair on his arms but it is not obvious as to his hands. It is also important to remember that the lighting may have not been good, the back of the perps hands may have been right in MK's face as he reached into the bed, and this is a 9 year old girl who was waking from a sleeping state.