Smart Case, July 31, 2002

07/31/02 | Jolly Green

[Jolly Green]

Time Line
04/01/01	Sunday	Ricci burglarizes a Smart neighbor's home taking various items.
06/05/01	Tuesday	Ricci steals items from the Smart home while he is employed there as a handyman. Ricci is charged in July of 2002 of 1 count of theft related to the Smart incident.
05/30/02	Thursday	~ Ricci returns to pick up his Jeep at the auto repair shop before the shop has a chance to fully fix it He tells the repairman that it needed for an emergency.
06/04/02	Tuesday	~ Ricci is at work from about 9am to 5:30pm ~ Ricci claims he spends the evening with friends
06/05/02	Wednesday	~ 1:05am - 2 cars are spotted on the SLC Shriner's Hospital Parking Lot by a hospital security guard, two blocks from the Smart residence ~ 1:30am (approx) - Elizabeth is kidnapped from her home ~ 1:30am - Ricci claims to be in bed asleep with his with wife. ~ Ricci is scheduled to be off work all day today. ~ 7:21am - Rachel/Amber alert is issued and national media is involved. ~ 8:30am - Ricci and his neighbor talk about the kidnapping of Elizabeth, Ricci seems to know too much information about it. ~ Sometime during this day Ricci is visited by police in regards to Elizabeth's kidnapping as reported by Angela Ricci (Richard A. Ricci's Wife which is an ex-convict herself) ~ Ricci is seen by his neighbor digging a hole by his (Ricci's) trailer early in the morning. (heard the neighbor say this on TV)
06/06/02	Thursday	~ Ricci is scheduled to work from 9am to 5:30pm today, but instead works from 10:30am to 7:00pm ~ Police talk to Ricci this day about the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping. (The media is reporting this, so it could be wrong)
06/08/02	Saturday	~ Ricci returns the Jeep to the repair shop to get it fixed. The Jeep is muddy and the repair shop owner sees Ricci remove seat covers from the back of the jeep and place them into a plastic garbage bag that already contains other stuff in it. Also the repair shop owner said a muddy post hole digger was in the back of the Jeep, Ricci removes this also. Ricci has a man waiting across the street to give him a ride. Ricci takes the plastic bag and contents along with the post hole digger with him. Also there is 500 to 1000 extra miles on the Jeep since Ricci picked it up on May 30th, 2002.
06/14/02	Friday	~ Ricci is taken into custody for a parole violation, this being drinking while on parole and association with other ex-cons.
07/11/02	Thursday	Formal charges are filed against Ricci (2 counts of theft & 1 count of burglary) on the theft & burglary of the Smart neighbors home which occurred in April 2001, and 1 more count of theft for stealing from the Smart home on June 6th, 2001.
Special thanks to Brigette for starting this timeline.

[varina davis]

To: Sherlock That's the date you signed onto the FReeRepublic, numb-numb.

Elizabeth Smart was allegedly kidnapped June 5, 2002.

[Bella]

You just won't admit it!!

[lakey]

Have you figured it out yet? Click on our names.

[Bella]

They should have just come out and said it - they had to wait for the family to call in Boylan to get the sketch to suit their needs.

Don't forget TOM was the guy who was calling the shots at that time, care to comment on that?

[Sherlock]

What about it, lakey? I don't get it.

[sandude]

As I recall, Thurber came across as being one brick short of a load when he appeared on TV. Can't imagine why you think his utterances are credible.

Even though Thurber may not be the sharpest nail in the box, he does know Angela and Rick better than anyone on this thread. I think that's worth something, don't you?

[Sherlock]

Sherlock signed up 2002-06-29.

What's the big deal about the day I signed up?

[lakey]

See my underlined name - click it. You'll see my state is Arizona & all of my bookmarks of interest.

[cookiedough]

I just watched the rerun of Ed Smart on LKL. I think Ed's between a rock and a hard place. He can't criticize the police, because he is depending on them to find his daughter. If the police have told him not to discuss something, or have not given him information I think I would insist upon having (like seeing the sketch) if I were in his place, it may be that he doesn't want them to dislike him, he doesn't want to cause trouble, he doesn't want to make them mad.

I understand that completely. My daughter spent 3 months in neonatal intensive care because she was born 13 weeks premature. I bent over backward to make sure the nurses and staff liked me -- friendly, cooperative, helpful, no trouble at all. Inside, I was absolutely terrified. I was afraid my daughter would die, and I was afraid that if the hospital staff didn't like me, they perhaps would not be as attentive to my daughter as they were.

In retrospect, I don't think I was correct. But at the time, I was so scared of anything jeopardizing my daughter's life, that my emotions took over. For three months, all I felt was terror -- I was frozen with it, literally.

I imagine I'd feel the terror if I were in Ed's situation, now that I think about it.

[Sherlock]

So?

[lakey]

Some Sherlock YOU are!

What brought you to the FR? Any interests other than this case? Inquiring minds want to know.

[sandude]

What's the big deal about the day I signed up?

It seems to me that some people feel that the longer they are a member of the FreeRepublic the smarter they become. Makes no sense to me. Your posts are interesting and enjoyable. Please keep contributing.

[Sherlock]

>Inside, I was absolutely terrified. I was afraid my daughter would die, and I was afraid that if the hospital staff didn't like me, they perhaps would not be as attentive to my daughter as they were.

I think you're absolutely right. And did you notice Ed thinks a whole lot of detectives are still working on the case, half pursuing Ricci & half pursuing other possibilities. That was really sad because I doubt more than a few detectives are spending more than a few hours a week on the case other than to pay lip service to the Smart family. Several weeks ago LE said they had no plans to reinterview Ricci unless he decided to talk to them about the Jeep trip on Jun 8 and last week they said they will not be arresting anyone unless Elizabeth or her body are found. For whatever reason I think this is basically case closed for LE and this reminds me very much of the Chandra Levy case.

[varina davis]

Even though Thurber may not be the sharpest nail in the box, he does know Angela and Rick better than anyone on this thread. I think that's worth something, don't you?

Not necessarily. A lot of people (like Thurber and Moul?) often say what they think other people want to hear. Much like a child who is anxious to say things that put him/her in a favorable light.

[cherry]

just stating that there was one confirmed scream that night heard by Lizzie's brother ...the scream by his mom...don't know if there was another scream and I did not say that...

however, the doctor also said that he drifted off and was not precise in just what he heard...

there may have been two screams that night....one for sure is confirmed...the other I am not so sure of...either is the doctor who reported it...

[cookiedough]

Why are "bookmarks of interest" important? I've read more threads than just the Smart case ones, and participated in a few of them -- as time allows -- but I don't have any "bookmarks of interest" either. I do bookmark the threads I am interested in reading on Netscape ... or sometimes I just hunt them down.

I joined FR after Sherlock did, and knew about this site only because I searched for message boards about the Smart case. This is a very interesting place, all around. I like it a lot.

[Sherlock]

Give me a break, lakey, you had to start somewhere too! There aren't too many cases that interest me, I followed the Chandra Levy case on other websites. There's not too much else I want to get into. I like the detective stuff. Thinks like politics I feel like I get enough opinions from cable and reading but solving a crime is different and you learn a lot from others.

[lakey]

No, we don't think we are smarter, or you'd be one of 'em. But it's obvious when someone is following the leader, blind-siding with unproved, prejudiced information.

Some of us want to see the real culprit apprehended, not a stooge just because he's an easy mark. Ricci is being used as a distraction on this thread.

We want Elizabeth returned to her parents alive.

[sandude]

Not necessarily. A lot of people (like Thurber and Moul?) often say what they think other people want to hear. Much like a child who is anxious to say things that put him/her in a favorable light.

Varina, surely you don't think that you can make that kind of assessment about these gentlemen based on a few sound bites on the news? Especially in the case of Moul. He has found his way from another country and started a business here. That certainly takes a certain level of intelligence and hard work.

[Bella]

It sounded like there was a sketch, but the police hadn't shown it to Ed yet. Another weird event.
Normally, you would show the sketch to the family to see if it was someone they recognized.

Of course, since they've said they receive DAILY updates!