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.

[freedox]

After reading the quotes from Ed Smart in #136, I still can't figure out why the title to the jeep wasn't transfered until several months later.

[Sherlock]

July 15, 2002

A mechanic told police Ricci picked up his white Jeep Cherokee on May 30, returned it June 8, three days after the kidnapping. Police want to know who picked Ricci up at the mechanic's when he dropped off the car.

"We're still looking for the guy who was across the street," Atkinson said.

[sandude]

I told you, find something where LE says he was in jail at the time of the kidnapping. You won't find it.

Sherlock, I agree with you that you wont find any statement from law enforcement about Remington's location on the night of the abduction. They have no reason to make a statement at this point because I don't think anyone except yourself and a few other freepers is doubting his whereabouts. Perhaps you could get someone in the media interested in your cause and they could then pressure the SLPD/FBI to make a definitive statement on the matter. As for me, I'll state it one more time that if someone associated in the investigation was covering up something about Remington then there would be another person in the know who would expose them. There are literally hundreds of law enforcement personel who have spent time on this case and anyone of them who broke it open would have their career made for life.

[Sherlock]

July 18, 2002

If that person working in Wyoming was Ricci, it may explain why his Jeep Cherokee logged an extra 500 to 1,000 miles on the odometer between May 30, when he picked up the vehicle at an auto shop, and June 8, when he dropped the vehicle off again for repairs.
The shop's owner Neth Moul told the Deseret News the outside of Ricci's Jeep was covered in mud and the inside was very dirty'. Moul also said he saw Ricci remove a posthole digger as well as two seat covers from the Jeep when he dropped the car off June 8.
Ricci, however, has denied dropping the Jeep off that day.
Police say they're not sure if the e-mail was credible or if Ricci was in Wyoming following the kidnapping.
"Between the 5th and the 14th you've got nine days of trying to account for him," detective Dwayne Baird said. "It's hard to say where he was, what he was doing."

[Neenah]

LOL..hey Sher, did you ever think of this?

If all of us who are working on this were in a "Special Sleuth Solvers Agency"..and we were paid big $$$ by the hour......

and we spent as much time as we do on one topic per day.......

Think of how rich we would be !!

[lakey]

Is it possible that Moul may have transposed the numbers of the odometer into his log?

[Soccer-Dad777]

Re: Message #35--Thank you very much--I appreciate it!

[Sherlock]

Some reasons I don't exclude Remington:

1) >In all police are now questioning four ex-convicts in the case and a fifth man who may have been with Ricci when he returned the SUV to the repair shop.

OK, that's Ricci, Young, Remington, Romero, and whoever this 5th guy is. There are no other new people related to Ricci.

2) >Remington's lawyer, Steve Killpack, told The Salt Lake Tribune that "a witch hunt is certainly understandable given the seriousness of this case... But we should take precautions to avoid burning anyone at the stake merely to satisfy community frustration."

If his client isn't a suspect this is a curious statement.

3) None of us have ever seen a photograph of Remington.

4) The getaway driver in the bank robbery drove a white Honda. Remington is arrested within a half hour of the robbery and other text in the article implies Remington was the driver of the getaway car. The milkman saw what he called a gray Honda or Nissan and the security man at Shriners Hospital saw a white or silver Honda.

5) Police said Ricci was one of the first people they interviewed after Jun 5 and he wasn't arrested until Jun 17. Who were they concentrating on between Jun 5 & 17 while Ricci was getting rid of the evidence? I would assume the kidnapper seen by the milkman, live footage on security video at the convenience store near the Smart home minutes before the kidnapping, by the security guard at Shriners Hospital, by MK, by the searcher, and by Moul on Jun 8. 5'8", athletic, short dark hair, tan denim jacket, white baseball hat, driving a Honda/Nissan.

6. About the time Ricci is taken into custody and at some point has a tan golf hat, a polo shirt, and other items of clothing confiscated from the trailer park, the description of the kidnapper changes to match these items of clothing. By changing the description and not saying they think Ricci is the kidnapper it appears to me they may be trying to take the public eye off the actual kidnapper.
7. Not only was the description of the kidnapper changed, but a sketch has never been given to the public, despite the fact police may have seen the suspect on the convenience store video in his white baseball cap minutes before the kidnapping.

[Sherlock]

Is it possible that Moul may have transposed the numbers of the odometer into his log?

It doesn't matter how far he drove, just that he denies taking the Jeep and bringing it back all muddy.

[Sherlock]

If all of us who are working on this were in a "Special Sleuth Solvers Agency"..and we were paid big $$$ by the hour......

As long as you don't call us "Agency of Special Sleuth Solvers" A.S.S.S.

[lakey]

How far the Jeep was driven is not what I was referring to. You're saying that Ricci had the Jeep, but nobody has proved it.

Now, don't be evasive. Neenah wants to hire us out as detectives, so we'll all be rich!

[Bella]

As I said, that was based upon my own recall. However, as I recall, police were denying that it was a runaway in the very first reports that were put out. I remember it struck me as odd, because it did not seem to me that there had been enough time to check out the runaway possibility (i.e., limited collection of physical evidence, little detailed knowledge of Elizabeth's personal habits, only the testimony of a 9 y/o child, etc.)

Yes, remember Ed running to the neighbors saying "they" have Elizabeth.

If everyone there that night was in agreement that an armed abduction had taken place, perhaps the police were pressured into accepting that story and moving ahead with it.

Indeed!

I realize that just because the police were saying this publicly does not necessarily mean they were not checking out other possibilities privately.....and perhaps still are.

Of course, and are watching the daily news conferences and actions of everyone waiting for a screwup.

Wonder how many people are working on their books and/or movies about this strange abduction.

[stlnative]

As far as I know, that part about Elizabeth and the abductor going into a bathroom prior to getting her shoes and leaving has only been reported by the tabloids.......but it has been repeated in a number of articles. To me, that is something that does NOT fit with an abduction scenario, particularly since there were other family members sleeping in bedrooms off of that same hallway. I wonder about that piece of information.......


Is it possible that large bedroom the girls slept in had a bathroom in it? Maybe they build a bathroom for just the girls to use. A privacy thing you know... I would think that it is very possible as there is 5 boys or 4 boys in the house also and the need for the girls to have their own bathroom would be important to keep peace in the house, the had the room to build one. The bedroom the Girls shared looks huge and may even be the master bedroom of the house square foot wise.

[Sherlock]

On the Jeep, it's Ricci's word verses Moul and Newhouse, Angela's friend. Who do you bet on?

[Bella]

Was anything ever said before/after about the trip with the friend?

I've never seen that mentioned before.

[lakey]

You are saying that nobody else but the Riccis could be a liar. What's more, by ignoring my question, you are saying that Moul could not have made a mistake on the odometer. A common mistake at that.

Sherlock, there have been so many erroneous posts, I doubt half of what I've read. First, the Jeep was dirty. Then, Moul washed it. Now, it's dirty again.

What happened to "white mud" was all LE found on the tires?

Forensics has had a tan-colored golf cap, & a machette to investigate. No Ricci hairs or dandruff on the cap, evidently. No encrusted Elizabeth blood on the machete - or Ricci would have been indicted. Right?

[Sherlock]

"If you torture the evidence long enough it'll confess to anything." ......... lakey

[lakey]

You've sure been "torturing" it long enough.

[Jolly Green]

Elizabeth Smart Case - July 28th, 2002