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.

[FR_addict]

I've been asking the same thing. It would help to hear the tape.

I also want to know if there was a phone in the girl's bedroom and if there was why didn't MK use it to call the police after her sister was taken at gunpint. Nowadays most teenagers have their own phone, especially in a wealthy family like the Smart's.

[dalebert]

thanks for the ping

[Doc Savage]

First, demonstrate any evidence that Moul and Ricci were ever seen together apart from the service garage area. Provide witness testimony that they were seen together in a restaurant, bar, diner, anywhere. Or provide telephone records that they spoke frequently which might inidcate planning. You can't. Your supposition that Moul is crooked or lying is foundless.

Second, exactly how and why does Moul decide to frame Ricci by using his Jeep. Moul doesn't have access to other cars? His own car? His accomplice(s) don't have cars? Ricci is such an easy target that they decide to frame him although there isn't even a hint that the Jeep "actually" played a role in the abduction or transfer of the girl.

Third, perhaps the posthole digger etc had nothing to do with the actual abduction. Maybe that's why Ricci had no fear of taking them out of the Jeep on Moul's lot. Logic suggests they might have been, but you don't know that for sure.

Moul has no police record, he runs a legitimate business, and your suggesting that unknown to Ricci, Moul and has devilish accomplices decide to what...kidnap a kid from her sleep in a dark house and use Ricci's Jeep????....just "borrow" Ricci's Jeep to commit a different crime???? Like they couldn't rent a car, steal car, buy a car,....no they have to use Ricci's so as to frame him,...for what??????????

Moul's life is changing a sparkplug. Ricci's life is theft. Your speculation that Moul is somehow involved is unwarranted and unsupported by the evidence.

Doc Savage

[Jolly Green]

Nowadays most teenagers have their own phone, especially in a wealthy family like the Smart's.

Not in the Mormon culture.

[freedox]

The ONLY thing that struck me as being odd about the Moul/Ricci relationship had to do with payment for services. I had understood originally that when Ricci took the jeep in for these repairs, Moul was still owed for past repairs. It was then reported that Ricci had been allowed to take the jeep back out without paying for the additional work that Moul had done. As I recall, Angela Ricci said that she and her husband would not have taken the jeep back out of the shop without paying for the work that had been done......I was surprised that Moul had RELEASED the jeep without payment. Since Ricci has only been out of prison for a couple of years, it's not as if he has had a lot of time to establish a good credit history or anything.

Car repairs are a bit outside my area of expertise......does anybody else recall these statements about money being owed to Moul, and would you find this odd? (And if I have the details wrong, feel free to correct me......)

[Kentucky]

Ricci most likely had not finished working to pay for the jeep. When Ed Smart told him he could no longer work at his house he had to pay the remaining balance. When it was paid in full then the title transfer took place. Smart was probably kind enough to let Ricci drive it so he could work.
Makes sense to me.

[freedox]

That whole portion of the Larry King interview regarding the possibility of Elizabeth having run away struck me as odd. Both parents adamantly denied the possibility without giving any indication that they had even checked it out. They both seemed totally convinced that they knew everything there was to know about Elizabeth, and that this was the ONE possibility that did not even merit examination. Ed Smart's initial response to the suggestion of a possible runaway was, "You know, there's no chance that she's a runaway. She loved her family." This statement, and others, seemed very simplistic and short sighted to me.

[L84AD8]

Great Time-line, Jolly Green! I'm new to this board and have been following the Smart 'kidnapping' on another board as well as doing some of my own research.

One question about the Jeep. I read in a Tabloid that Angela Ricci had received a settlement from a car accident, some 50k, and had paid off Richard Ricci's bills, to include a pay-off of the Jeep, to Ed Smart.

Evidently, the Jeep had not been paid off when Ricci was let go by Smart and they needed clear title. Makes sense.


Also, like others here, I can't shake the idea that Tom Smart is not being upfront with what he knows about the 'kidnapping'. Strange doesn't cover that man's actions!

I read here this morning, that Tom Smart's house is on the market while Ed Smart pulled his off. I wonder how it is, that a Photo Editor on the Deseret News can afford not only a house worth over 1 million, but also is able to go into the development of Winterton Farms, with a relative, Zeke Demke.

Then, I also wonder how it is that Ed Smart is not only a Realtor, a Mortgage Broker but the New York Times article yesterday, has him as a Developer. I see potential conflicts of interest there. Wonder if he conflicted someone enough to seek revenge? I also question the integrity of someone that would be involved in both (or all three) of those areas, at the same time. Ed's brother , Dave Smart, in an article, had given the name of Ed's real estate company as Smart & Company. He had his own house listed (now, off the market) and his mortgage company is First National Mortgage.

Lots more on all of this later, just want to say hello and express my views on this brain twisting case!

[Jolly Green]

Thanks for the kind words. We create a new thread every day. The current one is at http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/724426/posts . Unfortunately the FR management has removed us from "News" to "Chat" and we are a lot harder to find. Normally I put a link near the bottom of each thread pointing to the new days thread.

Welcome aboard.

[hsmomx3]

What is happening with this case? I was in the store a week ago, and noticed on the front of a tabloid a headline that read something to the effect of how the cops solved the E. Smart case. Do you know anything about this?

[Utah Girl]

Not much is going on with this case at all. Elizabeth is still missing, the main suspect Richard Ricci died of a brain hemmorhage last month. Very sad.