Smart Case, Tuesday, July 16

Deseret News ^ | 7/16/2002 | Derek Jensen

[Palladin]

Police still seeking van seen in Nebraska

Officers there have made no connection to the Smart case

By Derek Jensen
Deseret News staff writer

Police were still looking Tuesday for a van spotted Thursday at a Lincoln, Neb., gas station with a girl inside matching Elizabeth Smart's description.

No additional sightings of the van have been reported since it was spotted last week, Lincoln Police Sgt. Larry Barksdale said Tuesday morning.

The 14-year-old blond teen has been missing almost six weeks since she was taken by gunpoint from her bedroom early June 5.

"We haven't made a connection with Elizabeth Smart at all," Barksdale said Tuesday morning. "This was a check-welfare call for us. We get a dozen of those a week or more. I think it's got enhanced to connect it to Elizabeth Smart."

As the Deseret News reported Saturday, a convenience store clerk, her manager and a customer inside the Texaco Food Mart in Lincoln spotted a 12- to 14-year-old girl with blond hair. Three men, who appeared to be in their 20s, were in the van with her.

Cashier Andrea Kolarik told the Deseret News Friday the girl was crying and looked "scared and exhausted."

Lincoln police responded to the incident as a check-welfare call and have faxed their case file to Salt Lake police, Barksdale said. The van appears to have been spotted in Colorado before it was in Lincoln, but police say they have no information the vehicle was ever in Utah, Barksdale said.

The vehicle is described as light blue and gray Chevy Astro van with Pennsylvania license plate ECJ1368. Police have learned the identity of the van's registered owner in Pennsylvania but still aren't sure if that person was one of the three men seen driving the van, Barksdale said.

Meanwhile, police in Utah continue to scrutinize former Smart handyman Richard Ricci, interviewing his associates and trying to determine where the 48-year-old's Jeep Cherokee was between May 30 and June 8 and why it logged 500 to 1,000 extra miles during that time.

"We're making a lot of progress on that," FBI special agent Kevin Eaton said, declining to elaborate or say if the Jeep left Utah during that time. "I'd just say we're getting more information on where the Jeep was."

Ricci remains at the Utah State Prison and was charged last week with stealing items from the Smart residence and burglarizing another home in the Federal Heights area.

[Palladin]

Please continue discussion of the case here, if you wish.

The van mentioned is registered in Cambridge Springs, PA. No indication that it is case-related.

Also, note that special agent Eaton states they have more information on where the Ricci jeep was during the time it was missing from Moul's lot.

[DoughtyOne]

A little girl in California was abducted yesterday afternoon. There is already a composit photo of the perp in the media. Where is the one of Elizabeth Smart's perp? I hate to say it, but this case wreaks of mishandling more every day. I can't help but compare it to the Ramsey girl who's death will never be solved.

[Palladin]

All viewpoints welcome here.

[Bella]

I heard the authorities state this beautiful little girl's 5yr old friend gave an excellent description of this actor...

[Palladin]

This is becoming a major problem. What is wrong with this society when we cannot protect our kids by keeping these predators under lock and key?

[Palladin]

...and little Samantha was fighting tooth and nail. I pray to God that this one ends well.

BTW, this is a censorship-free zone.

[Palladin]

Your input is invited here.

[DoughtyOne]

The Klauss father was on FoxNews earlier. He stated that California has 90,000 registered sex-offenders on the streets. He further stated that 4,600 children wind up like Elizabeth Smart each year. If this is accurate every 1:54:00 minutes another child goes missing.

As far as I am concerned it's one time and you're out. These people should be behind bars.

[GovernmentShrinker]

Seems to me that police should be paying more urgent attention to multiple witness reports of a 12-14 year old girl, crying and apparently being restrained in a vehicle by men far too young to be her father or responsible adult relatives. It's probably not Elizabeth, but it's almost certainly a minor who's in serious danger. If the owner of the vehicle has been identified, have Pennsylvania police been to his home address to see if he still lives there? It's illegal to have a vehicle registered in a state where one no longer resides, and the insurance would be invalid. Do they have a photo of him? Previous reports said Boulder police knew who the two men were -- so what are they doing to track them down? If neither is the owner of the vehicle, have police attempted to contact the owner and ask him if knows how to reach them, since they're driving his van around the country? Shouldn't their photos be posted? Everybody seems awfully relaxed about this "check welfare" case.

[freedox]

freedox reporting for duty.......LOL!! Thanks, Palladin.......

[Palladin]

Good questions, for which I have no answers. This van sighting seems to have dropped off the radar. Let us know if you hear anything further.

I am darn sick and tired of the way children are being treated nowadays. To me, childhood and its innocence should be sacrosanct.

No wonder Marc Klaas looks like he's ready to tear someone apart every time he has to speak about yet another defilement of yet another child!

[Bella]

I concur..

[freedox]

The article states that "Lincoln police responded to the incident as a check-welfare call and have faxed their case file to Salt Lake police." It would appear to me that they do know who owns the van, and are checking the facts on this incident. In all fairness, would you want your picture posted just because someone happened to see a crying child in your car? I have to wonder if the media isn't making more of this than is really there.

[varina davis]

Your input is invited here.

Thank you. I appreciate it.

[IamHD]

Thanks!

[IamHD]

90,000 sexual predators, just in California, and those are only the one's that they know about! Time to throw away the keys! When will they ever learn that these people cannot be changed/rehabilitated/healed?

[Bella]

Where is the one of Elizabeth Smart's perp? I hate to say it, but this case wreaks of mishandling more every day.

Most definitely..If a 5yr girl CAN give a description of the perp, a 9yr old certainly can..Wonder what's going on here & who's calling the shots..

[IamHD]

I saw a very short press conference this afternoon, and one of Ed's sisters was giving the information out on the van. Why aren't the police doing this?

[Neenah]

Thanks so much for the ping. Appreciate it.

[Republicus2001]

Child kidnap USED to be a capital crime...ala Lindberg case - sadly no more, consequently children are snuffed everyday...