Smart Case, July 27, 2002

07/27/02 | Jolly Green

[Jolly Green]

Time Line
06/05/01	Tuesday	Ricci steals items from the Smart home while he is employed there as a handyman. Ricci is charged in July of 2002 of 1 count of theft related to the Smart incident.
05/30/02	Thursday	~ Ricci returns to pick up his Jeep at the auto repair shop before the shop has a chance to fully fix it He tells the repairman that it needed for an emergency.
06/04/02	Tuesday	~ Ricci is at work from about 9am to 5:30pm ~ Ricci claims he spends the evening with friends
06/05/02	Wednesday	~ 1:05am - 2 cars are spotted on the SLC Shriner's Hospital Parking Lot by a hospital security guard, two blocks from the Smart residence ~ 1:30am (approx) - Elizabeth is kidnapped from her home ~ 1:30am - Ricci claims to be in bed asleep with his with wife. ~ Ricci is scheduled to be off work all day today. ~ 7:21am - Rachel/Amber alert is issued and national media is involved. ~ 8:30am - Ricci and his neighbor talk about the kidnapping of Elizabeth, Ricci seems to know too much information about it. ~ Sometime during this day Ricci is visited by police in regards to Elizabeth's kidnapping as reported by Angela Ricci (Richard A. Ricci's Wife which is an ex-convict herself) ~ Ricci is seen by his neighbor digging a hole by his (Ricci's) trailer early in the morning. (heard the neighbor say this on TV)
06/06/02	Thursday	~ Ricci is scheduled to work from 9am to 5:30pm today, but instead works from 10:30am to 7:00pm ~ Police talk to Ricci this day about the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping. (The media is reporting this, so it could be wrong)
06/08/02	Saturday	~ Ricci returns the Jeep to the repair shop to get it fixed. The Jeep is muddy and the repair shop owner sees Ricci remove seat covers from the back of the jeep and place them into a plastic garbage bag that already contains other stuff in it. Also the repair shop owner said a muddy post hole digger was in the back of the Jeep, Ricci removes this also. Ricci has a man waiting across the street to give him a ride. Ricci takes the plastic bag and contents along with the post hole digger with him. Also there is 500 to 1000 extra miles on the Jeep since Ricci picked it up on May 30th, 2002.
06/14/02	Friday	~ Ricci is taken into custody for a parole violation, this being drinking while on parole and association with other ex-cons.
07/11/02	Thursday	Formal charges are filed against Ricci (2 counts of theft & 1 count of burglary) on the theft & burglary of the Smart neighbors home which occurred in April 2001, and 1 more count of theft for stealing from the Smart home on June 6th, 2001.
Special thanks to Brigette for starting this timeline.

[Vinomori]

We coddle incompetents, and nurture fools. Maybe you would like to soft soap it, but I will not.

It is not manly or tough to trash people personally, to call them names, to impugn their integrity and character. In the words of William Buckley, "There are occasions when it is appropriate to pronounce the death sentence and take a man's life. There are never occasions when it is appropriate to hurt his feelings."

[Sherlock]

Jolly, where would Ricci have taken his Jeep with the machetti and post hole digger that he would have known he was going to get into a lot of white mud and would need newspaper to put on the floor to keep it clean from the mud. Could this be some kind of a swampy area?

[sandude]

A perp wearing light colored clothing gains access to a 6000 s.f. home that has an alarm system that just happens not to be activated. It's 1 a.m. There are six kids and two adults in the home. He walks through the house, not knowing who will get up for a "midnight snack" or "bathroom run." He walks past the parents bedroom, finds the one bedroom where his prey is sleeping, wakes her, possibly reveals his identity to her when they go to the bathroom then tells her to get some shoes.

Let's assume for a moment that Ricci is the perp.

1.) LE has told us that he is a cat burgler

2.) He possibly had a key to the smart home.

3.) He was very confident going in for the 'job'.

If he had a fixation on Elizabeth and was going to snatch her, a good cat burgler would case the situation. If I were such a perp, I would make at least a couple of dry run's first. I might open the front door on several differant nights to insure that they were not in the habit of turning the alarm on. I would make sure I knew where she slept. On all of these practice runs I would be wearing my "ninja outfit". On the night of the abduction the dark outfit could be a liability once the house had been cleared.

Then again, maybe this thing wasn't that well planned. Maybe Rick just decided on the spur of the moment to go to Federal Heights and grab the object of his fantasies. I hope that is not the case because if so then Elizabeth is surely not with us anymore.

[freedox]

"More to the point - what difference does it make?"

The difference that the jeep deal makes is that it implies a closer and/or more longterm relationship between Ricci and Ed Smart than has been described. Richard Ricci was apparently given full possession of a vehicle owned by Ed Smart several months before an official transfer of ownership was completed, and apparently several months before full payment was made. This is something that I wouldn't do for a close friend, much less an ex-con handyman. I sure wouldn't continue to pay insurance costs after the car had left my possession. The fact that Ricci was fired from the job that was supposed to have been done in payment for the jeep raises the question of how and when Ricci paid for the vehicle.......and also raises questions as to why Ed Smart allowed him to keep the vehicle in the interim. The only explanation that seems to make any sense is the one given by David Smart......that the jeep was a GIFT to Ricci. Of course, this completely contradicts Ed Smart's story.

[Sherlock]

>William Buckley, "There are occasions when it is appropriate to pronounce the death sentence and take a man's life. There are never occasions when it is appropriate to hurt his feelings."

The Bible, "If a wise man contends with a foolish man, whether he rage or laugh, there is no rest."

[sandude]

Unless Angela Ricci is extremely short, Ricci is quite a bit taller than 5'8".

We really don't know how tall Rick is. We need to remember that the description of the perp is from a young girl looking at what transpired in a darkened home.

[Sherlock]

>I feel like Ed Smart has been on his own through all this because SLCPD/FBI is hiding something they shouldn't be hiding.

>>Care to speculate what that might be?

How about, the identity of the kidnapper? I'm sure they know who it is. And it's not Richard Ricci.

[sandude]

I'm sure they know who it is. And it's not Richard Ricci.

How can you be so sure?

[Sherlock]

Because they had him on videotape in the convenience story and 5 other witnesses that saw him, the milkman, security guard at Shriners Hospital, MK, searcher, and Moul.

[freedox]

From the Salt Lake Tribune, June 7:

The search may have been complicated from the outset, however, as worried neighbors summoned by the girl's parents walked through the house and grounds before police arrived, according to law enforcement sources. After Elizabeth's 9-year-old sister told her parents that Elizabeth had been taken away by a gunman, they "contacted several neighbors and then contacted the police," according to the initial Salt Lake City police report. Those anxious neighbors may have arrived at the home up to 45 minutes before police were called, and their efforts may have compromised the evidence, authorities said.

[sandude]

Because they had him on videotape in the convenience story and 5 other witnesses that saw him, the milkman, security guard at Shriners Hospital, MK, searcher, and Moul.

I agree that the man that Moul saw is almost certainly involved in some way. I'm not certain that the other sightings you list are of the same man. As far as who went into the home, who knows. Ricci would have known the layout better but perhaps he had took the perp in on a 'dry run' so that the abductor would be familiar with the layout.

[Sherlock]

>Those anxious neighbors may have arrived at the home up to 45 minutes before police were called, and their efforts may have compromised the evidence, authorities said.

I don't believe this.

[Sherlock]

I don't think it's that complicated and the kidnapper is one of the small group of usual suspects associated with Ricci and his criminal activity. Think police will ever show us a picture of Remington?

[sandude]

Think police will ever show us a picture of Remington?

From your earlier posts I think you have a feeling that LE is covering up something about Remington. I'm in agreement with Jolly that there are simply too many people involved in the investigation for any kind of coverup to be occuring. The reason they haven't given us a picture of Remington is because he was safely behind bars and it is not possible that he could have been the abductor.

[freedox]

From the Salt Lake Tribune: "Those anxious neighbors may have arrived at the home up to 45 minutes before police were called, and their efforts may have compromised the evidence, authorities said."

Sherlock says: "I don't believe this."

Ok