There is no way that media could have kept reporting the attendance of the Smarts and Elizabeth at that awards ceremony, and not have been called on it if Elizabeth had actually not have been seen there. The biggest conspiracy in the world could not have kept such an obvious lie from being found out. I think Ricci was heavily involved in Elizabeth's disappearance. None of us has access to photos from the awards assembly or people who actually were there, so we could take their "eyewitness testimony." If we DID have among us an eyewitness to her appearance at the ceremony, Jandji, I really think you would be talking about the unreliability of eyewitness testimony.
Touche, or i might claim they used a double, or payed everyone to keep quiet. it only makes sense to me, that a photo from the assembly would be the very latest picture available, a look the most like what she would appear like to a possible witness on the look-out for a missing girl.