Elizabeth Smart Kidnapping - Daily News/Chat Thread - Day 37

07/11/02 - Thursday - Day 37 | Elizabeth Smart Kidnapping - Daily News/Chat Thread - Day 37

[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.

Links

Elizabeth Smart Kidnapping - Daily News/Chat FreeRepublic Threads

	Day 31	Day 23
	Day 30	Day 22
Day 36	Day 29	Day 21
Day 35	Day 28	Day 20
Day 34	Day 26/27	Day 19
Day 33	Day 25	Day 18
Day 32	Day 24	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)


Help keep this thread ongoing & pleasant...
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.


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People on my Elizabeth Smart Ping List will only receive ONE ping
daily from me at the beginning of the thread each day.
This single ping will help you find the daily Elizabeth Smart thread faster
when you check your own "My Comment's" FR feature. If something large breaks in the case during
the day I will send out a new ping to everyone on my Ping List. Something breaking to me is if they find
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.

[IamHD]

"The family is simply doing all they can to keep Elizabeth in the news."

As well they should, but if this "letter" was bogus, (and I'm not saying that it is) they are losing credibility with the viewers and or the media. These news conferences need to stop, unless something credible becomes pertinent to the case. I'm not throwing anyone to the wolves, just yet, and that includes Ricci.

[Jolly Green]

As well they should, but if this "letter" was bogus, (and I'm not saying that it is) they are losing credibility with the viewers and or the media. These news conferences need to stop, unless something credible becomes pertinent to the case.

Ed said yesterday that he didn't think the letter was credible, but saw the necessity of trying to open communication with the perp just in case. You or I would have done the same thing.

He also said that the letter had been faxed to the PD, which the PD first denied and then later acknowledged they had received it. I don't see how that causes him to lose credibility, but you may be right if people and the media aren't paying attention.

He also runs the risk of people thinking they are hiding something if they go underground like the Ramseys. He can't really win. All the poor guy wants is his daughter back and I sure hope he gets his wish.

[landerwy]

Exactly, especially when they have stuffed animals all over the bed too.

[DreamWeaver]

What you're really arguing about is whether Mr. Smart should have expressed that second sentiment. Probably not -- it's better to coddle the SOB until he gives up the girl.

Yes, that is what I meant, and yes, I can certainly understand a parent wanting the perpetrator punished, & God only kows what state of mind the parents are in at this point, as you said, exhausted, ( to put it mildly). I just don't think it was wise thing to publicly say while she is in their hands.

[Lorraine]

Do we know for sure that MK was actually in the bed? If they saw the perp elsewhere in the house and went back to their room, Liz might have told MK to hide. If MK was hiding under the bed or in the closet, that might explain why she can't assist with a drawing. Seems like they would have run to their parents' room instead of their own room if they had indeed spied the perp during a burglery.

[IamHD]

Jolly, with all due respect, what I meant, (and I should have made it clearer) was that if the family made up this letter, (type-written) it would be completely possible to do this and keep this story going. I don't blame them if this is what happened, and I am only thinking of this as a possibility. I think that I would do anything if it were my daughter. That's what I meant by bogus. But, I'm not accusing anybody...this is merely an opinion. :)

[Rotan]

"Seems like they would have run to their parents' room instead of their own room if they had indeed spied the perp during a burglery."

I thought of that as well. But from the way the house is set up, their room is closer to the stairs. If they\she saw the perp actually coming up the steps or about to do that, he'd be at the top before they made it to the parent's room. In addition, it could be they\she thought by pretending to sleep, he'd pass them by.

[The people have spoken]

Ricci Charged (from KSL)

July 11, 2002--

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) _ Burglary and theft charges were filed Thursday against a handyman who once worked in the home of Elizabeth Smart.

Police said the charges against Richard Albert Ricci are not related to the kidnapping of 14-year-old Elizabeth. On June 5, the teen was taken from her bedroom at gunpoint as her younger sister watched.

Ricci faces one count of theft for allegedly stealing $3,500 worth of items from the Smarts' home in June 6, 2001. A search of Ricci's home on June 19, turned up jewelry, a perfume bottle and a wine glass filled with sea shells that belonged to the Smarts, according to charging documents.

In addition, he is charged with one count of burglary and another count of theft for allegedly taking items from a home in the Smarts' wealthy neighborhood in April 2001. Jewelry and about $300 in cash were taken during the night burglary from a bedroom as a resident slept in the same room, according to the charges.

Ricci, who worked as a handyman in both homes, admitted to the crimes, charging documents said.

He will be arraigned on Friday or Monday, said Salt Lake District Attorney David Yocom.

Because police consider him a career criminal, Ricci faces up to life in prison for these charges. Ricci will not be allowed bail, Yocom said.

Investigators have said Ricci, 48, is at the top of their list of potential suspects in Elizabeth's abduction.

"He has not been charged with that crime and is not the sole focus of the investigation," said Salt Lake City Police Chief Rick Dinse.

Ricci is in prison on unrelated parole violations.

Two weeks ago, Ricci said an exhaustive search of his home and belongings by police has turned up nothing.

"I have cooperated fully with the FBI, the police and probation officers," Ricci said in a statement distributed by attorney David K. Smith.

Smith was planning a Thursday afternoon news conference to respond to the charges, his assistant said.

Police, who have consistently refused to comment on forensic evidence, confiscated a golf hat from Ricci's father-in-law, who lives next door to Ricci's trailer home.

The sole witness to Elizabeth's abduction, her 9-year-old sister Mary Katherine Smart, told police the man who took Elizabeth was wearing a similar tan hat.

Police also have confiscated Ricci's 1990 Jeep Cherokee which he received from Ed Smart, Elizabeth's father, in exchange for his handyman work.

"We did not press the police in anyway to make these charges," said Angela Smart Dumke, Elizabeth's aunt.

On Wednesday, Ed Smart said he received a letter that he suspects may have come from someone with knowledge of his daughter's abduction.

But Smart also said he could not say whether the unsigned letter, which he received Tuesday, was credible.

Salt Lake City Police Capt. Scott Atkinson said police were talking to Ed Smart about the letter. Atkinson said Smart gave them a copy after telling reporters about it.

[Betti]

I read all of your post, thanks Bridgette for your leadership..I rarely post, but something is really bothering me: why is it that we can't seem to solve crimes quicker and easier? .. we can go to the moon, find great medical breaks, create incrediable weapons.. but we can't find a foster child in Florida (a ward of the state!), could'nt even locate Levy's remains, still don't know what happen in the Ramsey household.. and now can't find Elizabeth.. Are we truly dummed down? What actual training and outcome demands do our PDs and FBI really have... perhaps we ought to compensate them by results.. or is it that we have so many protection/"rights" laws that we prohibit our officers from doing a real job... I am truly getting exhausted with the SLC PD Chief.. I just want to scream.. stop talking, get out of the suit, go do some real work and get this child home!!!.. The only agency that can always find people is the IRS.. Sorry to be so crude.. but you all have more patience than I do... please keep posting and thinking.. I appreciate you all!!!
Betti from South Carolina

[Shermy]

Here's a sad story from Florida

Massive search for missing boy's body

Perps were caught in Utah, so I thought it may be of interest to you.

[Rotan]

I think everyone is feeling the effects of the length of the case at this point, Betti. The longer it drags on, the less hope I have for the investigation, to say nothing of Liz. Venting those frustrations here would be useless, but I still feel it.

Your points are very well put and appreciated. We're all just human here and throughout history, the predators among us have always preyed on the weak. It's disgusting, yes, but despite all our technology, it will always happen. There's no end to the evil the human mind is capable of.

Thank you for your post and input.

[GovernmentShrinker]

Aaarrghh! Those two should be locked in a cell full of dirty diapers and left there to starve. A quick execution would be far to good for them.

[Rotan]

"Here's a sad story from Florida"

Case in point.

Thanks for posting, Shermy.

[lsee]

Here's a sad story from Florida

Montez disappeared July 1. According to deputies, his babysitters have admitted punching the 2-year-old in the face because of a dirty diaper and dumping his body by the highway...

I can just hear their supporters now..."they are such NICE people!"....

[Neenah]

Tom Smart on King ....NOW

[Sherlock]

First news from police for some time:

Police held out a glimmer of hope that a grainy outdoor surveillance tape taken from the Shriners Hospital -- a few blocks from the Smarts' Federal Heights home -- in the hours before the abduction could help them crack the case.
Several weeks ago, the video was sent to FBI headquarters in Quantico, Va., where experts enhanced the images of two cars that darted in and out of the view of security cameras near the hospital parking lot just after 1 a.m.
Atkinson said the picture remained hard to decipher, but a portion or two might shed light on the model of at least one of the vehicles.

[Sherlock]

Family members interviewed by Hannity & Colmes say in spite of Ricci's release through his attorney that he is cooperating with police in the investigation, LE has told Elizabeth's parents that Ricci is not cooperating.

[Bob J]

TONIGHT (6pm pdt/9pm edt) on UNSPUN!

ANN COULTER and JESSE LEE PETERSON!

Click HERE and Listen LIVE while you FREEP!

ALSO! RadioFR's new CHAT SERVER IS UP! Come on in and CHAT!

[Sherlock]

Atkinson said the picture remained hard to decipher, but a portion or two might shed light on the model of at least one of the vehicles.The security guard at Shriners Fred Trujillo said the best footage was of the first car to arrive, the one that tried to hide behind the pine trees at the entrance and flashed it's lights off and on. If this is the case I should suspect the car identified will be that of the kidnapper, a silver Honda or Nissan as identified by the milkman. It is interesting that the police are hedging in what they are saying, I should think at this point if the two cars can be determined they now know.

[varina davis]

Sherlock signed up 2002-06-29.