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

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

[stlnative]

Please keep adding Elizabeth Smart updates to this thread...
Remember to keep checking back to this thread today for today's developing news on the Elizabeth Smart Kidnapping.

Elizabeth was taken from her home at about 1:30am on the morning of June 5th, 2002.

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People on my Elizabeth Smart Ping List will only receive ONE ping
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when you check your own "My Comment's" FR feature. If something large breaks in the case during
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Elizabeth or actually arrest a person for kidnapping her. It is up to you to visit this thread several times daily
as others and I will continue to add the latest breaking news reports as they are released throughout the day.

Links

Elizabeth Smart Kidnapping - Daily News/Chat Thread - Day 30
Elizabeth Smart Kidnapping - Daily News/Chat Thread - Day 29
Elizabeth Smart Kidnapping - Daily News/Chat Thread - Day 28
Elizabeth Smart Kidnapping - Daily News/Chat Thread - Day 26/27
Elizabeth Smart Kidnapping - Daily News/Chat Thread - Day 25
Elizabeth Smart Kidnapping - Daily News/Chat Thread - Day 24
Elizabeth Smart Kidnapping - Daily News/Chat Thread - Day 23
Elizabeth Smart Kidnapping - Daily News/Chat Thread - Day 22
Elizabeth Smart Kidnapping - Daily News/Chat Thread - Day 21
Elizabeth Smart Kidnapping - Daily News/Chat Thread - Day 20
Elizabeth Smart Kidnapping - Daily News/Chat Thread - Day 19
Elizabeth Smart Kidnapping - Daily News/Chat Thread - Day 18
Elizabeth Smart Kidnapping - Daily News/Chat Thread - Day 17
Salt Lake City Police Department Website
FBI Kidnappings/Critical Missing Persons - Elizabeth Smart
FBI - Salt Lake City Branch
Elizabeth Smart Website
Smart Residence Real Estate Listing
Brigette's Scanned Copy of House Layout from Newsweek Magazine
(Please do not link to the picture on my server space, if you wish to use it...
copy and paste it to your own hard drive and move it to your own server space)

A note to the people who read this thread because they hope and pray that Elizabeth will be returned to her family and who wish to stay up to date with the facts in the case. Please do not let yourself get sucked into a heavy HEATED discussion or argument from someone who wishes to come on this thread and make posts that will disrupt this thread. The best thing to do it not to bring attention to these post or reply to them.

[TheDon]

I have a similar recollection.

[TheDon]

Considering that Dick has been planning this abduction for some time, it makes sense that the guy who helped to tow the jeep to the shop was involved. As the police know who he is, this could be the break in this case. This could also be a very dangerous time for Liz if they are still holding her.

[TheDon]

Excellent analysis. You have a very apt screen name. I think it unlikely Mohl is involved. He has to know that once the ship starts sinking, he's going down with it. In any case, once the police give Mr. Mohl, and his business, a most thorough anal exam, he will either be definitively cleared or implicated. He would need a motive to get involved in such a scheme.

[cherry]

The Chad Woodruff story was discredited and was reported so locally

you know what I say....indict this guy and after a short trial send him to jail for a year...obstruction of justice....a girl's life was at risk and he pulls this crap?

[TheDon]

Does anyone know how he was identified? Has Dick denied that someone helped him tow the jeep to the shop? Perhaps he gave the name to the police?

[Sherlock]

How strongly do you feel that these people are all the same man?

Considering these guys apparently did such stupid things as 1) pulling into the hospital parking lot right before the crime and trying to hide behind trees and flashing lights on & off, 2) accomplice being right across the street still wearing a white baseball cap making a pay phone call while Ricci turns in the Jeep and walks over with the seat covers and muddy post hole digger on Jun 8, and 3) accomplice follows and sneers at milkman two days before he does the kidnapping, I think this accomplice is another moron ex-con and he is the same person seen by the milkman, on the security video at the convenience store, by the security guard at the hospital, sister MK, and Moul on Jun 8. This is enough witness to put together a sketch with the zits on his behind.

[Shermy]

U.G. - More on the suspect about those missing girls in Portland:

Violence runs in family of suspect

[Sherlock]

IamHD broke the story on the person that helped Ricci tow the jeep to Moul's Repair shop in post 36, here's what he said:

Just came across this on another :) board. If there are any Utah people out there, did you hear this?

Perhaps this is old news. I apologize if you've already heard this, but KUTV is reporting that police have identified the man who helped tow Ricci's Jeep to the auto shop at the end of May. Apparently, it's someone who hired Ricci to help him do home building and renovation work. Police are looking for the guy. They want to question him concerning the whereabouts of the Jeep, and they also want to find out if he's the same guy who waited across the street for Ricci when he returned the Jeep. KUTV is also reporting that Pete Romero, the ex-con who had been in jail for molesting a 14 year old and who lives two houses down from Ricci, is now wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet so that police can keep up with his whereabouts. He has been interviewed several times and given a polygraph. KUTV counts four ex-convicts who have already been questioned, and a fifth that is either being questioned or being looked for.

[TheDon]

"Does anyone know how he was identified? Has Dick denied that someone helped him tow the jeep to the shop? Perhaps he gave the name to the police?"

Does anyone know the answers to the above questions?

[Utah Girl]

I haven't heard this. But I don't watch KUTV news either. I will try and remember to watch the late news tonight. I watched the other local news at 6 pm, and there wasn't any new information...

[Sherlock]

I don't know the answers to any of those questions but I hope someone does. I would guess Moul or someone else at his repair shop id'd him. Police may have known for a while and are seeing how he will react to this announcement. They probably have been following him and are pretty comfortable they can reach out and touch him any time.

As far as Dick, I haven't heard anything he's said since the original round of '26 hours of questioning'. Soon after I heard he would only talk to police with his lawyer present and I know the police got a warrant for the last search they did of his property. I think he's pretty much lawyered up and I definitely don't think he would give up his accomplice, it's bad enough he's going back to the pen as a child abductor, a stool pigeon as well and he won't have a prayer. Yesterday there was rumor they were going to arrest him for the earlier burglary of the Smart house, that was probably to motivate him to be more cooperative.

[Sherlock]

Here's an interesting tidbit from the kutv.com website:

Convict handyman Richard Ricci could face a burglary charge in connection with an alleged theft at the home of kidnap victim Elizabeth Smart.

A source close to the investigation tells 2-News that the charge could come as early as next week. The exact date of the alleged burglary is not known, but it is not likely that it occurred June 5th the same night Smart was abducted.

A source tells 2-News the charge may include "burglary and more". In addition the source said "It's a whole new ballgame."

http://kutv.com/related/StoryF older/story_711629785_html

[Sherlock]

Here's the article (note the last paragraph says they're questioning the guy that may have been with Ricci when he returned the Jeep to the repair shop Jun 8!!:

Meantime, a man has been identified who helped tow Richard Ricci's white jeep to a West Valley auto repair shop. 2-news has been told the man hired Ricci for building or renovating homes.

Detectives may be looking for him now. Police are very interested in tracking the whereabouts of Ricci’s Cherokee which was given to him by Elizabeth’s father, Ed Smart, for work at his home.

Police said the Cherokee was put in the shop at the end of May. A man reportedly help tow the Jeep to the shop at that time. The Cherokee reportedly was later removed and then returned three days after the Smart abduction. A mechanic said the jeep was brought back caked with mud and with about a thousand additional miles on the odometer.

The mechanic said he saw Ricci walk across the street and meet another man. The mechanic did not get a good look at the second man. Police want to know if it is the same man who helped Ricci tow the truck to the shop the first time in late May.

Police still have not named Ricci as a suspect, and his wife insists Ricci was at home the night Smart was kidnapped. Ricci’s wife has already testified before a federal grand jury looking into the Smart abduction.

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.

http://kutv.com/related/StoryF older/story_1102873425_html

[Ditter]

What is the significance of the hospital video?

[Jolly Green]

What is the significance of the hospital video?

The issue is timing and proximity. The security guard saw (and recorded) the drivers of two cars behaving strangely in the hospital parking lot. This happened within minutes of the abduction AND within two blocks of the Smart home. What's more, the guard said when the cars departed, one went in the direction of the Smart home. The FBI reportedly has enhanced the video and got at least a partial license plate number for one of the cars. There was discussion of releasing it last week, but it didn't happen.

The most interesting aspect of this IMHO, is that the security guard was a former guard at the prison AND new Ricci well. That has to be an astronomical "coincidence". He handles himself well in interviews, seeming intelligent and articulate. My first question of him would be "why isn't he still a prison guard any longer", which probably has better benefits, retirement, etc. He doesn't appear old enough to be on a second career.

[Ditter]

Thanks, I have been freeping as fast as I can but I have been falling behind. ;9}

[Tarheel]

In addition to Jolly Green's excellent post #75, the head of security reported neither car had the 'boxy' configuration of the Cherokee. Also, he got a good look at the driver of the first car and swears it was not Ricci.

The Tarheel

[Ditter]

Wait a minute, I was probably acting strange in a parking lot while talking to a friend today. Was it caught on tape? If neither car was a Cherokee & Ricci wasn't one of the drivers, what is the significance? I think people are trying too hard to invent something.

[eosuser]

Interesting comment from Larry King after interviewing the Smart Family tonight:

“I asked them today, did Mary Katherine (Elizabeth’s sister who witnessed the kidnapping) tell you she knew the abductor? They never answered. I said, did you ask? They said they've been told by the police not to ask. Well, that's significant. If she didn't yell and Elizabeth didn't yell the probability is they knew the abductor,” King said.

http://kutv.com/related/StoryFolder/story_1993272422_html

Told by the police not to ask? Why? Isn't Elizabeth's life at stake?

[Utah Girl]

The police and the child forensic psychologists have asked the Smarts not to ask questions of Mary Katherine. If she brings up what happened, that is fine. They want to keep her story and potential testimony untainted. Little kids are susceptible to wanting approval from adults, or agreeing with adults. The police have said that Mary Katherine has given them a lot of information, and Lois Smart, the mom, has been in on the interviews...