Posted on 06/24/2002 12:26:23 PM PDT by Types_with_Fist
Investigators are scrutinizing a former handyman and convicted felon who worked at Elizabeth Smart's home prior to her June 5 kidnapping.
Richard Albert Ricci, 48, a parolee with convictions dating back to 1973 in Utah, has been in the Salt Lake County Jail since June 14. Ricci has not been named as a suspect or charged with Elizabeth's kidnapping, but police say they're having a hard time pinning down exactly where Ricci was the morning of June 5 when Elizabeth was taken at gunpoint from her family's million-dollar home in Federal Heights.
"Right now we haven't had anybody else that has required as much focusing as Mr. Ricci," Salt Lake City Police Chief Rick Dinse told the Deseret News.
Police have interviewed Ricci several times and even given him multiple polygraph tests, Dinse said, declining to release the results.
Dinse is concerned about his movements from May 31 to June 8.
"We just haven't been able to satisfy ourselves that he may not have more knowledge regarding this case," Dinse said. "It's a fairly narrow alibi. He has one, but we haven't been able to solidify it. We certainly have a lot of questions that just seem to lead to other questions."
Elizabeth, 14, has now been missing for 20 days.
Police have searched Ricci's house in Kearns, and his car remained in the custody of Salt Lake City police Monday morning.
Dinse declined to discuss what, if any, evidence they've discovered in Ricci's house or car.
"Not all the forensics are complete on it," Dinse said. "We're still going through and looking at it."
Ricci's wife has also taken a polygraph test, but Dinse declined to reveal those results as well. Police have also interviewed Ricci's 11-year-old stepson, Dinse said. The family has retained an attorney, Dinse said.
Ricci, who was referred by a contractor, worked in the Smart home about March 2001 in exchange for a car, family spokesman Chris Thomas said. Police have found the vehicle but won't reveal the make. Dinse said Ricci had contact with the family as recently as last September.
Ricci was booked into jail June 14 on a parole violation. During his interviews with police, Ricci admitted to stealing items while working at the Smart home, Utah Board of Pardons and Parole Chairman Michael Sibbett said.
Based on that information, the Board of Pardons issued a warrant June 17 charging Ricci with burglary of a dwelling, possession of alcohol and failure to complete therapy, Sibbett said. A parole revocation hearing has not been set on those charges.
Investigators originally spoke with Ricci June 6 while checking out individuals who had been in the Smart home. After June 11, when police began "narrowing" their search, investigators re-interviewed Ricci and began focusing more attention on him.
Dinse has not shown Ricci's photo to Elizabeth's 9-year-old sister Mary Katherine. Mary Katherine had told police she saw a 5-foot-8 to 5-foot-10 man enter the bedroom she shared with Elizabeth the morning of the kidnapping. The man was armed with a small handgun, spoke softly and wore a Scottish-style tan hat, jacket and pants as well as a Polo shirt. Ricci is listed as 6 feet tall, but Dinse said his description is "in the ballpark."
"He generally fits the description, let's put it that way," Dinse said.
Whether or not Elizabeth or Mary Katherine would have recognized Ricci is unclear. "We don't know," Dinse said. "He was in the house. He certainly had access to the house and that meant access to the people in the house. He knew the people in the house. It is certainly possible that she could recognize him, but we don't know."
Ricci's criminal history dates back to 1973 when he was convicted of second-degree felony burglary, Utah Department of Corrections spokesman Jack Ford said. Another burglary conviction came in 1981, Ford said. Ricci's most serious offense came in 1983 when he was sent to prison for aggravated robbery and attempted murder after exchanging gunfire with police during a drugstore robbery, Sibbett said. No officers were hit in the exchange, Sibbett said.
Ricci was convicted of theft in 1996 for stealing about $2,500 worth of food from a food pantry in Richfield, Sibbett said.
Corrections records show Ricci was paroled in September 2000.
"Then he seemed to have cleaned himself up and was doing fairly well," Sibbett said. "He has supported himself for quite a while as a construction/remodeling specialist."
Sibbett said Ricci has struggled for several years with a heroin addiction. He has no history of sexual offenses, Ford said.
"We're very interested in Mr. Ricci, but it's important to note that he is not the only individual that we are looking at," Dinse said. "We are still following up on everything that we have. However, he certainly has risen to the top, and we are looking at him very closely."
Meanwhile, police interviews with Bret Michael Edmunds, the fugitive recovering from an apparent drug overdose in a West Virginia hospital, had not given them reason to move him to the top of their list of potential suspects, Dinse said.
Police had been searching for Edmunds since June 12 when they released his photo to the media and said he was wanted only for questioning. Police had said Edmunds may have been spotted in the neighborhood near the Smart home before Elizabeth's kidnapping.
Despite Edmunds' photo and the description of his 1997 green Saturn being broadcast across the country, Edmunds made it all the way to Martinsburg, W.V., before checking himself into a hospital.
The two investigators who interviewed Edmunds Saturday left Sunday morning to return to Utah. U.S. marshals remain at the hospital guarding Edmunds, who is isolated from the other patients.
"We don't have anything at this point that is connecting him to the crime," Dinse said. Edmunds told investigators he ran because was scared of going back to jail, Salt Lake Police Capt. Scott Atkinson said.
During his interview with detectives, Edmunds said he left Utah, traveled to the Northwest, then back down through Montana, the Dakotas, Michigan and Chicago before ending up in West Virginia.
Edmunds told investigators that he hadn't been near the Smarts' neighborhood since an April 20 incident in which University of Utah police chased him from a nearby neighborhood, Atkinson said.
After that incident, Edmunds told police he lived out of his car in the Draper area, Atkinson said.
With Edmunds' permission, police searched his car and examined it for trace evidence. Dinse declined to say what was removed from the car.
"At this point in time what we've seen in the car does not necessarily indicate a connection," Dinse said.
Edmunds remains in serious but stable condition at the Martinsburg City Hospital intensive care unit. He's expected to be transferred back to Utah sometime this week, Atkinson said.
"He remains conscious and alert," hospital spokeswoman Christy Polak said. The FBI team from Pittsburgh that searched Edmunds' Saturn Saturday had also wrapped up its work and left by Sunday morning.
News trucks and reporters, who scurried to the small West Virginia town on Friday when it was discovered Edmunds was there, packed Sunday and returned home as the focus of the story shifted again back to Salt Lake City.
Caught my eye too. These two guys seem tied together in this, by knowledge or action.
As memory has it, the milkman described the car he saw as an older small grey vehicle, and said that its occupant did not fit Edmunds' description. Has anyone heard where those 299xxx license plates came from?
Looks more like Cheech
FMCDH
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