Elizabeth Smart Kidnapping - Daily News/Chat Thread - Day 31

07/05/02 - Friday - Day 31 | Elizabeth Smart Kidnapping - Daily News/Chat Thread - Day 31

[Sherlock]

HD - Great post. I had wondered if Ricci had to tow the Jeep into the repair shop on May 30. I assumed either the Jeep wasn't running at all or not running reliably with the faulty fuel pump and Ricci had to get it repaired for his role in the caper, probably the getaway driver, or he just used the fuel pump as an excuse to take it into the shop (he may have damaged the fuel pump himself).

He towed it into Mohl Auto Repair and gave him a list of things that needed done. Naturally Mohl would repair the fuel pump first to get it running. Ricci's wife called Mohl and verified the fuel pump was repaired and told him her husband needed to pick it up and sweet talked him into letting him have it for a while without having to pay & sign for work done. Ricci came in and told Mohl he needed the Jeep for an 'emergency'. After Ricci picked up the Jeep on May 30 it was not seen by any neighbors at his trailer from that date through Jun 8 when he returned it to Mohl.

Ricci denies taking the Jeep from Mohl and returning it on Jun 8. Mrs. Ricci says someone happened to steal a set of keys to the Jeep from them in mid-April implying the thief might have taken the Jeep from Mohl, despite the fact Ricci was a regular customer and Mohl knew him and kept records. Mrs. Ricci also said she had happened to run out of her muscle relaxers just before Jun 5 making her unable to sleep, although her neighbor friend says she was taking them then.

Ricci wanted the Jeep to appear to be at the shop during the kidnapping so his vehicle wouldn't be suspected. As I said before he may have done damage to the fuel pump just to have reason to take it into Moul's. Alternatively, as someone has said FBI profiler Clint Van Zandt has implied (though he doesn't seem to have the best facts in this case)Mohl may have originally been involved and paniced when the police showed up and gave Ricci up. In this case Mrs. Ricci may be correct that she never called him. The original plan may have been for Moul to say the Jeep was at the shop all the time or say it disappeared and he assumed Ricci had picked it up. The 'Jeep at the repair shop diversion' shows Ricci was involved in planning for the kidnapping from before May 30.

[hergus]

While I was on KUTV's website I saw a link to a site where you can email a missing person's poster of Elizabeth:

http://www.findelizabeth.com/e mailthis.asp

This site also has a printable poster and graphics for blue ribbons for Elizabeth.

[Jolly Green]

They have his car on videotape at the hospital.

I suspect that they may also have a video tape from the Phillips 66 station across from the mechanic's shop. It was fairly modern and probably has a taping system for inside and out.

[Sherlock]

Good point, Jolly. Hard to believe police are just now figuring out who this guy is.

[Bella]

Is anyone familiar with this site?
http://www.crimenews2000.com/c gi-bin/wwwthread/postlist.pl?Cat= &Board=smart
CrimeNews2000
Advocate for the Victims. Demand justice from our Communities

[hergus]

I'm well acquainted with CN2000 and the owners of the site. What ya want to know?

[Bella]

For some reason the link above isn't working to the E Smart case..you might have to get to it via the main site..If anyone knows how to link the E Smart board, please do so because for some reason, it's not working properly, I must be doing something wrong.

http://www.crimenews2000.com/

[Bella]

Are you the owner?

[Sherlock]

Another interesting twist in this case is the matter of the man with the missing tooth. Early on in the case a composite was released of a man with a turbine and missing front tooth. Police later said they found the man, he was someone who had been seen talking to Elizabeth at a concert and they just wanted to ask him what he was talking to her about, and they had now cleared him.

Then, voila, a few days labor a neighbor shows up, friend of Mrs. Ricci, that's missing a front tooth. In 3 interviews I've seen of this fellow he's had 3 personalities:

1) First interview he gave testimony very damning to the Riccis, about Mrs. Ricci going Somatose on her medication where noone can wake her and that he knew she was using them the night of Jun 4, that Ricci was banging on the neighbor's trailor on the morning of Jun 5 and he was drinking beer at 8:30 am repairing a hole with a 2x4 when there were other big holes under his trailer, that Ricci gave a weird reportoire about how cute Elizabeth was and would follow him around and help him at the home, that Mrs Ricci had gone around the neighborhood and made sure none of the neighbors had seen Ricci leave at night and that she did this to make sure no one would be saying anything to contradict her testimony Ricci was there with her, that at first he thought Ricci could not do this because he's such a nice guy but he's seen such a different side since Jun 5 and now he thinks he was involved.

2) He hardly said anything, a blond was interviewing him at the side of his trailer and he looked extremely scared and guilty I thought.

3)On LKL he really didn't gave any information, some of the info from interview 1) but in a much less accusatory manner.

My question is how many people missing a front tooth can be involved in a case, and is the fellow next door really just a helpful witness for the police. It seems a little bizarre to me that Ricci would have been banging on the neighbor's trailer at 8:30 in the morning without telling the neighbor he was going to do it.

[whenigettime]

The Chad Woodruff story was discredited and was reported so locally, at least. Apparently, Mr. Woodruff wanted his few minutes of fame. It wasn't reported what exactly discredited him, but suffice it to say, the cops said he's not believeable.

[whenigettime]

believable = believeable

[hergus]

No I'm not the one of the owners. Just have known them for years and admire them.

Let's try this link:

http://www.crimenews2000.com/c gi-bin/wwwthread/postlist.pl?Cat= &Board=smart&page=0&am p;view=collapsed&sb=5

[Sherlock]

I don't know but it might be the police didn't want to let the public know they let him get away. A lot of times things come back that were discredited early in the investigation, part of police strategy, to make the crooks feel comfortable, etc. I'm not saying this guy wasn't someone after a few minutes of fame, just that you can't be sure by what police say. Same thing with the guy with the baseball cap supposedly seen around 1:00 am on Jun 5 on the convenience store video also later discredited by police.

[hergus]

Wouldn't it make more sense to leave these purported players out of prison, out of the ankle bracelet and surveil them 24/7?

Especially if they thought Elizabeth was still alive and these goofs knew where she was? Or even if they watched them to see who they met up with, etc.

Locking them down doesn't help Elizabeth as I see it. It helps LE keep the media and us off their backs, as it makes 'us' think they have something. I've seen it too many times in other cases.

Obfuscation....

[Bella]

THANKS! It works! :-)

[Sherlock]

Wouldn't it make more sense to leave these purported players out of prison, out of the ankle bracelet and surveil them 24/7?

Exactly, Hergus, and monitor their phone calls. I think they know who the accomplice is and they're watching him since he is he only link to the people that wanted Elizabeth. One theory I have is they kidnapped her for South Americans. South Americans do have American girls kidnapped and almost always blonds. Elizabeth was quite a celebrity, having performed at the Olympics, with the SLC Orchestra, and at the Temple, so there's a pretty wide net of people that had seen her.

[Rad_J]

Concerning the guy in the canyon that they searched for, the news report I saw said that it was a father and son that were part of the search crew and both were carrying fake police badges. So, the cops said the reported sightings were not reliable.

[TheDon]

You are way ahead of me! Interesting tie ins. You could be right though. How strongly do you feel that these people are all the same man?