Posted on 06/24/2002 10:02:21 PM PDT by stlnative
Please keep adding 6/25/02 dated Elizabeth Smart updates to this thread...
Remember to keep checking back to this thread today for today's
developing news on the Elizabeth Smart Kidnapping.
Some people may consider today to be actually day 20, I count 1 day for each
24 hours that have passed since Elizabeth was kidnapped.
Brigette's Ping List (How To Join & How It Works)
If you would like on my Elizabeth Smart Ping List,
Please send me a "Private Reply" with your request... Please do not post a "Public Thread
Request" as I may accidently overlook it. Also you can click here to visit
my profile page to view the list of people on my Ping List's.
People on my Elizabeth Smart Ping List will only receive ONE ping
daily from me at the beginning of the thread. This single ping will help you find the daily Elizabeth Smart Thread faster
when you check your own "My Comment's" FR feature. If something large breaks in the case during
the day I will send out a new ping to everyone on my Ping List. Something breaking... is if they find
Elizabeth or actually arrest someone for kidnapping her. It is up to you to visit the thread several times daily
as I and others will continue to add the latest breaking news reports as they are released throughout the day.
Links
Elizabeth Smart Kidnapping - Daily News/Chat Thread - Day 19
Elizabeth Smart Kidnapping - Daily News/Chat Thread - Day 18
Elizabeth Smart Kidnapping - Daily News/Chat Thread - Day 17
Elizabeth Smart Website
Smart Residence Real Estate Listing
Brigette's Scanned Copy of House Layout from Newsweek Magazine
(Please do not link to the picture on my server space, if you wish to use it...
copy and paste it to your own hard drive and move it to your own server space)
A note to the people who read this thread because they hope and pray that Elizabeth will be returned to her family and who wish to stay up to date with the facts in the case. Please do not let yourself get sucked into a heavy discussion or argument from someone who wishes to come in to this thread and makes a post that will disrupt this thread. The best thing to do it not to bring attention to these post or reply to them.
Cathrine Crier made arrangements with the parents to appear on her show to give the case national attention. The cameras were in place in front of the parents' home. Quess what? The parents refused to show up.
The logical suspect is the violent offender stepdad, and the case too garden-variety tragic to engage the public imagination.
Tuesday, June 25, 2002
SALT LAKE CITY Police investigating the abduction of 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart are asking the public for information regarding three vehicles that a handyman who used to work for the girl's parents may have been driving.
The cops told Fox News that Richard Albert Ricci, 48, who has failed a lie-detector test in the case and has confessed to burglarizing the missing girl's home last year, may have had access to the three cars.
The cars were described as:
an older, white Jeep Cherokee;
a champagne-colored Ford Taurus;
a white sedan, probably an older Oldsmobile.
"Mr. Ricci has risen to the top of our list to be looking at," Salt Lake City Police Chief Rick Dinse said Monday.
"At this point in time, he is not a charged suspect, but he is very interesting."
The handyman worked for six months in Elizabeth's home in an affluent neighborhood of Salt Lake City before he was fired by the girl's father, Ed Smart, who suspected Ricci had burglarized the home.
Police said Ricci, who has a 29-year criminal record, has an extensive knowledge of the home and has confessed to the burglary.
Ricci has been in custody since June 14, when he was arrested on an unrelated parole violation. Elizabeth was taken at gunpoint from her bedroom nine days earlier.
Despite having had Ricci in custody for 11 days, police haven't been able to pin down his whereabouts on the morning of Elizabeth's abduction, Dinse said.
"We have questions about his actions between May 31 and June 8," Dinse said.
Ricci has been living in the Salt Lake City suburb of Kearns. He has a long criminal history in Utah, beginning with a burglary conviction in 1973. He was been in and out of prison for the past three decades, and was most recently freed on parole in 2000.
Ricci's convictions also include aggravated robbery, attempted homicide and a prison escape.
Chris Thomas, who has been acting as a spokesman for the girl's family, said Ricci last worked in the Smarts' Federal Heights home more than a year ago, painting and doing handy work.
Dinse said he believed Ricci had contact with the Smart children while he was working on the house.
He said Ricci's house and car have been searched, and that he has voluntarily talked to police. Investigators have also spoken with Ricci's wife, Dinse said.
Police have not shown Ricci's photograph to the sole witness of the abduction, Elizabeth's 9-year-old sister Mary Katherine Smart, who told police the man who took her sister was between 30 to 40 years old, nicely dressed and soft spoken.
Authorities said there was no known relationship between Ricci and Bret Michael Edmunds, the 26-year-old drifter sought for two weeks for questioning in the abduction investigation.
FBI agents told Fox News on Monday that they had interviewed Edmunds and that he now has "nothing to do" with the case.
Fox News' Alicia Acuna and the Associated Press contributed to this report
I wish every missing child would receive the attention that Elizabeth is getting.
but its human nature to follow certain stories closer than others.
personally, I follow a lot of stories throughout the year.
but this story has captivated me because it is true, Elizabeth looks like an angel and she seems to be the perfect dtr...this in a time when Madonna, Brittany, and j-lo apparently are pop idols (ugh)...
Besides, finding one child, and punishing whoever harmed her is actually wonderful for all of our children...it removes someone dangerous off the streets....it shows the public that we mean business...
I actually wonder if we should have a special crimes unit of the FBI to deal with all child abductions and murders...seems to many cases go unsolved
They would be the target if the bad guys had some other animosity toward the Smarts, and a need for money on top of that.
But again, I think you're giving the bad guys more credit for brains than they deserve. They're probably not intelligent -- which, unfortunately, does not count as points in favor of Elizabeth's well-being.
That's where the speculation comes from (and I stress, speculation...nothing to back it up, just throwing out ideas for discussion)that there's more to this than meets the eye. I could be completely wrong.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.