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Do you think it possible that Ricci had taken out a loan on his jeep, and maybe the jeep was removed from Moul's shop by a repo man? I know this wouldn't explain Ricci's bringing it back on the 8th, but if the part about someone surreptitiously removing the jeep on May 30th is true, that would sure fit in with the sort of things repo men are capable of. Even the call from "Mrs. Ricci" would fit in with a repo scenario, since it is a fact that repo people have at times used such deceptions to help them in their work.

maybe but doubtful... On your thoughts, Ricci may have made good on the "loan" after the repo and returned the Jeep to the shop after he paid off his late car loan debt.

We have to think about who had a KEY to that Jeep while it was at the shop, Ricci probably had a spare... there was a set keys stolen and floating around... maybe someone in the Smart family had a spare key... and the Repair Shop had a key. (Jeeps only have one key... one key does everything)

How about this?

There might be any number of shady people ("loan sharks" or whatever) from whom Ricci may have borrowed money. Or he may have bought heroin on credit and failed to pay. Suppose Ricci borrowed/bought heroin in this way, and some sleazy character demanded the title and a set of keys to the jeep as collateral? Suppose Ricci never paid what he owed Mr. Sleaze, and Mr. Sleaze called in the loan by having someone "repossess" Ricci's jeep?

Might this explain Ricci's flat refusal to explain the jeep's absence? You wouldn't want to tell the police, "hey, I bought drugs from this guy and didn't pay him, he had kept my jeep title as security for my payment for the drugs, and I never paid him, so he repossessed my jeep." Of course the police would not rest till they got the name of the drug dealer from Ricci, so they could check out whether this story was true.

You wouldn't want to tell the police the above, b/c then you would be naming the name of a DRUG TRAFFICKER to police. The crime of narcotics trafficking can really draw a bad sentence--life in some places, even life without parole. Ricci might VERY EASILY be killed for divulging such a thing to police.

My scenario would include this: that after Mr. Sleaze, the narcotics trafficker, had "repossessed" Ricci's jeep by surreptitiously taking it off Moul's lot on May 30, Ricci somehow got the money to pay off his debt to Mr. Sleaze, and paid it, and was given his jeep back. He would then use it for whatever he used it for, and would have been able to take the jeep back to Moul's on June 8.

After thinking a few minutes longer on your question. I think someone would have came forward in the media spot light if they made a car title loan to Ricci... especially if Ricci was late on paying off that title loan. I believe when you do this type of loan on a car title you just leave your clean and open car title with them and then sign a contract. The contract & open title just helps them advance faster on getting ownership of your car if you do not payoff your loan. If you just signed a contract and did not turn over your title to them, I think it would take the loaner longer to get the vehicle.