Interesting...I don't think Ricci is the person in the drawing. I think Ricci is an accomplice. I think LE has known since early who the kidnapper is and they haven't told Ed Smart. I think Ed probably knows now because I would guess a lot of PI types in the area have been giving him information and he probably knew who to expect. I think someone similarly tipped him off on Newhouse, about her story and ongoing discussions with Ricci's attorney, and Ed smoked her out with the lost email story. I don't think Ed will be patient to sit back and wait for Elizabeth to show up like the first article on your site from yesterday indicated was the SLCPD/FBI plan.
The Smart girl goes missing from her home. Her parents naturally want her back at any cost, no matter what the circumstances. The police look into the matter and say: "Of course! If it's an abduction we will spare no effort, we will mobilize every resource and work around the clock". But she is 14 yrs old and at first glance it seems she left the house quietly after a conversation with someone. Not a small child snatched from the roadside. So they proceed as if it is an abduction, but as they keep coming up empty for clues indicating an abduction, the impression grows on them that the girl is a runaway - in which case they will do what they can to locate her and put out the alert to other agencies, but frankly they're not in the business of hunting down rebellious teens and dragging them back to their parents. If no crime has been committed, they can't justify spending too much time on it.
The parents, however, want her back regardless of whether it's an abduction or a runaway. There are both emotional and social reasons for this. This might explain why the mother has dropped out of the public eye and the father pursues the matter: if they are now convinced the daughter has run off then perhaps the mother feels nothing more can be done, but the father feels it will be the kiss of death for them socially to have their daughter run off with some trailer park boy.
Ricci: They seem to have spent enough time examining this man and his activities to be able to say what his involvement is; it seems to be nothing. But maybe they think he knows something useful, or knows of somebody who might know something, like the bare identity of the man who has disappeared with ES: "Yeah, there was a young guy like that hanging around here, but I haven't seen him since", etc. Naturally the police keep buzzing around him. That's all they've got.
Sketches, description: If any of this matched Ricci, and if MK could identify him, then he would be charged. So why not flash the sketch everywhere? This could be explained by the uncertainty over abduction/runaway. Maybe the police are pretty sure she left voluntarily; they're not sure how she feels about it now, and they're certainly not sure how the man would react to being the object of a nationwide manhunt.
So I think they're quietly digging and digging, holding their cards to their chest, letting Smart do all the talking (and keeping him in the dark too, for now).
Does this account for what we've seen?