Convict quizzed in Utah kidnap case - Police "haven't ruled him out as a suspect"

SALT LAKE CITY - Detectives investigating the disappearance of 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart have been questioning a convict who worked in the Smart home more than a year ago and say they haven't ruled him out as a suspect.

The man, Richard Albert Ricci, was arrested on an unrelated parole violation June 14, police spokesman Fred Louis said. That was nine days after Elizabeth Smart was reportedly taken at gunpoint from her bedroom in an affluent Salt Lake City neighborhood.

Police Chief Rick Dinse told KSTU television on Sunday that investigators haven't been able to pin down the man's whereabouts on the morning of the abduction. Detectives have been questioning the man for more than a week; he has not been charged in the kidnapping.

"He is potentially a big piece of the puzzle," Dinse told KSTU. "Just how big, we're not sure at this point.

Chris Thomas, who has been acting as a spokesman for the girl's family, said Ricci last worked in the Smart's Federal Heights home more than a year ago, painting and doing handyman work.

Authorities scheduled a news conference for Monday in Salt Lake City about their interview of Bret Michael Edmunds, whom they had sought for two weeks for questioning in the abduction investigation.

Edmunds was interviewed at a West Virginia hospital by FBI agents and Salt Lake City police detectives.

"I can confirm they have spoken to him. I don't have any details about the context of questioning or the conversations," police spokesman Fred Louis said.

Investigators were analyzing the interviews and continued to follow leads in the case Sunday, but Louis said there were no developments.

FBI spokesman Kevin Eaton didn't return messages left by The Associated Press. He said Saturday that questioning Edmunds, 26, likely would not substantially change the Smart case because he was a possible witness and not a suspect.

A milkman helped police trace a car owned by Edmunds that was spotted in the family's neighborhood two mornings before her June 5 abduction.

The car was seen in a suburban Salt Lake subdivision in the days following the girl's disappearance, but search teams recovered nothing Saturday after dogs had picked up a possible scent in the same area one day earlier.

Edmunds checked himself into a hospital in Martinsburg, W.Va., on Thursday for treatment of drug-related liver damage. A nursing supervisor said he remained in serious condition Sunday in the critical care unit.

Authorities said Edmunds was cooperative with investigators and allowed a search of his vehicle.

Fred, I posted this at the end of another thread, so if this is a repetition for anyone, my apologies. Also, I'm not sure how to link.

I'm troubled by the hint that this could be a larger story. A former SLC mayor was caught in a FNC interview saying something about a girl kidnapped from her basement, changing his statement to her house. There have been some ties to the Smart's basement on other threads, so this statement bothered several freepers. If this story is larger than one suspect, I wonder if this story could run deep into the SLC establishment, which would explain several things. I do not suspect this family at all. They have cooperated fully with the police and seem genuinely concentrated on getting their beloved daughter back. But the story in the NE is troubling. I cannot believe that they would run with it without any foundation. So these two hints, that this is a larger story and that the Smart brothers could have actions from their past that they do not wish made public (and who has a perfect past?), concerns me that these could be related. The implications for either is not good for Elizabeth.

If the former SLC mayor knows something, could he be involved? He said he had known the Smart family for 25 years. Is he talking to the media now because of this story in the NE? What if he is part of such a business, an escort service? What if Ed Smart had been and wanted out? They were selling their house to move to a smaller house at a resort, or something like that. Concerned about his children getting caught up in activities that he does not wish for them, could he be moving them away? And someone takes Elizabeth as a shot across his bow? I am concerned that this beautiful young girl could have been sold into white slavery. If there is any truth about an escort service, even if homosexual, participants would probably have the type of contacts that could send this young one to anywhere in the world. Is that why there are so many FBI agents on this, or is that SOP for a kidnapping case?

Or could Elizabeth have found out about it? I don't think this father would ever consider harming his children. But what of others? Respected people in the community who have a lot to lose? Could that be why the police have not wanted to publish a composite sketch? Because he IS known in the community, and they have to prove his complicity before they can nab him? My guess would be that someone known to Elizabeth was the one who got her out of the house. Such a person would not want to be the one to harm her, so they hire someone like Ricci for that. (I hope that I'm completely wrong!) Could that be the reason why he is not talking? He's in jail and knows that the real perps have access to him there? All sheer speculation, of course.

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