Smart Case, July 24, 2002

07/24/02 | Jolly Green

[Jolly Green]

Wild-Eyed Speculation, Half-baked Theories and Myths
Theory(?)	Facts
Richard Ricci has been identified as the prime suspect in the case, though several of his "theme park" pals are under suspicion.	- Ricci is a 5-time loser, having been convicted of burglarizing a food bank and shooting a police officer. He has recently been indicted on three additional state charges including theft at the Smart residence and burglary of a Smart neighbor. Additionally, he has been recently indicted on three federal charges related to two bank robberies. - Ricci worked for the Smarts last year for several months and was paid with a white Jeep in lieu of cash. He had full access to the house and may very well have had a key to the Smart residence. Ricci and two others were fired when some items were stolen from the home. Ricci later approached Ed Smart and said he wasn't involved and wanted his job back. Ed Smart declined to rehire him. - Ricci lives in a trailer park in West Jordan that is now referred to as a "theme park" because of the large number of Ricci convicted felon friends living there. - Ricci has no credible alibi for the period during and shortly after the abduction. He is believed to have put an additional 1000 miles on the Jeep during a period when he claimed the Jeep was in Moul's shop. Moul also reported that Ricci removed several trash bags, the seat covers and a post hole digger and carried them across the street. - Ricci had both opportunity and motive.
Ed Smart and Richard Ricci were gay lovers. This is based upon Ed Smart's pleading before the media for Ricci to come clean, where he used phrases like "Help me, Richard".	This theory was eloquently refuted by Jengaio and it hasn't reared its ugly head recently.
Elizabeth Smart had a nose ring, must have been rebellious and ran away. Later, proponents shifted emphasis to "piercings".	Numerous photographs of Elizabeth Smart show no indication of a nose ring and the existence of a nose ring has never been reported by any credible news source.
Moul, the mechanic, lied to the grand jury and in TV interviews. Some of the scenarios: He knows more than he is telling; his eyesight is bad; he made it up; he is in cahoots with Ricci; he used Ricci's Jeep without Ricci's permission.	Moul has no criminal record and no motive. What's more his vehicle logs corroborate his testimony. If Moul had "borrowed" the Jeep, he certainly would have washed it to remove the bugs, mud and pine needles.
Elizabeth Smart's aunt, in a televised interview said the police "are working with us". Implications: This surely must mean that the Smarts and their influential friends and church must be controlling/thwarting the 100-man SLCPD/FBI task force	We will ask Jengaio to analyze the phrazing.

Motive	Possible Suspect	Details
Kidnapping	All	- The SLCPD has said there has not been any credible ransom demands. This may be due to the massive search and media blitz within 5 hours of the abduction i.e. the perps may have realized that their chances of getting caught were very high and they decided to get rid of the evidence.
	Ricci & cronies	- Ricci and his colleagues have recently been indicted for several Utah bank robberies, each producing only a modest amount of cash i.e. $1800 split 3 ways. It is likely that they were looking for a bigger "score".
	Unknown	N/A
Burglary	Ricci	- Ricci has five previous convictions for theft, burglary, and assault (shooting a police officer). He has recently been indicted on three additional state charges including burglary of a Smart neigbor while they were sleeping (a M.O. similar to the Smart kidnapping) and theft of the Smart home. He has also been indicted on three federal charges including two bank robberies. - The Smarts, like most people, wouldn't keep large amounts of cash around. It seems likely that a simple burglary would not produce much in the way of cash or jewelery. - The SLCPD has said some things were taken but haven't identified those items.
	Unknown	N/A
Burglary Gone Wrong	Ricci	- The Smart perpetrator may have been surprised by Elizabeth Smart and decided to remove the only witness.
	Unknown	Same as above
Sexual Predator	Ricci	- Fox News reported Ricci had attempted an "inappropriate relationship" with one of his old girlfriends 16 yr old daughters.
	Unknown	N/A
Revenge	Ricci	- Ed Smart wouldn't rehire Ricci even though Ricci claimed he had no involvement in the theft of the Smart house.
	Unknown	N/A
Runaway	Elizabeth Smart	Unknown possible motive
	Unknown	N/A

[Neenah]

With all due respect Jolly...I am sure on that first day that the PD announced that they believe it was "A trusted member of the community" he was not talking about a career criminal.

Even a smart guy like you must not have had one like Recci in your mind when he said that.

[MadisonA]

I think the exact quote by Atkinson on June 19th is "We believe that this person may be a trusted person in the neighborhood or in the community. [It] might be someone ... that had reason to be here, that had reason to come across the family, all those kind of things we still believe,"

Look what Dinse had to say about the kidnapper the same day (June 19th) Police Chief Rick Dinse told reporters that detectives and FBI agents still believed the intruder, who reportedly abducted the teenager in the early morning hours of June 5, had ties to the community and may not have taken the girl out of the area.

"We believe that this abductor is still reachable and very well could still be in the state of Utah," Dinse declared during a news conference.

"Because of what we know about the case, which has grown in the last week, we believe we need to focus on the areas we have talked about before -- (people) around the house, people who had access to the house," Dinse said. "We have gotten more information and we are even more convinced that we are doing the right thing and will eventually locate this person."

Keywords the police used here are he(the kidnapper) may and might. I think the police were stressing to not exclude anyone at that point(even people like trusted teachers etc). I'm not even sure they knew about Moul and the Jeep at that point. I believe they said that to get the community looking at anyone, even trusted people who may have had an interest in Elizabeth to send in tips to the police. The police were by no means excluding non trusted strangers or cons in the community or outside the community or were they saying they knew the kidnapper was definately a trusted person in the community (evidence the Dinse quotes).

[dalebert]

Boylan might have been called in to staunch criticism of the investigation since Cali police got their man so fast or criticism of the family for not having sketches done early on. It seemed she was deliberately trying to make the investigation sound good.

[FR_addict]

Thanks for your transcript.

The've done exceptionally well at protecting and preserving Mary Katherine's recall.

This lady may be a good sketch artist, but she would have no idea whether Mary Katherine's recall was preserved or not.

The fact that it took the parents all this time to bring her in to do the sketch wasn't even mentioned in the Today Show interview.

Now we find out that Smart is the one stopping her from talking to the press, not the police. Who is running the show here, the parents or the police?

[Neenah]

thank YOU, cherry.

[dalebert]

One thing Klass said was not sour grapes. This shouldn't be about the family or anything else but finding Elizabeth. She deserves to be found.

[freedox]

"I got the impression he was talking to a juvenile. The tone was scolding."

FWIW, I've gotten the impression of a scolding tone many times.....even with statements that the Smarts have made when speaking directly to Elizabeth through the media. (As I recall, I got flamed the first time I brought it up.....I may be in for more of the same.......)

[Neenah]

Thanks, Jolly.

[Jolly Green]

The fact that it took the parents all this time to bring her in to do the sketch wasn't even mentioned in the Today Show interview.

You might want to re-read the Boylan interview that Neenah posted. Boylan made it quite clear there was a valid reason why a sketch wasn't done earlier.

[dalebert]

the investigators may have told him the case is cold and he called in the sketch artist to keep the abduction in the news.

[Jolly Green]

I think the exact quote by Atkinson on June 19th is "We believe that this person may be a trusted person in the neighborhood or in the community. [It] might be someone ... that had reason to be here, that had reason to come across the family, all those kind of things we still believe,"

That is certainly more complete than any I found. Thanks.

[Jolly Green]

It's there and I was (partially) incorrect. But it still doesn't imply Ricci in any way, shape or form.

It certainly doesn't exclude Ricci. The following quote provided by MadisonA does a far better job of explaining it than any of the quotes I found:

I think the exact quote by Atkinson on June 19th is "We believe that this person may be a trusted person in the neighborhood or in the community. [It] might be someone ... that had reason to be here, that had reason to come across the family, all those kind of things we still believe,"

[hergus]

Thanks so much for transcribing this interview. It's hard work and I commend you for sharing this with us.

[varina davis]

Whatever Mary Katherine brings to this investigation must be EXTREMELY SENSITIVE information......but sensitive for WHOM???

Exactly! If the alleged kidnapper or runaway accomplice is known to the family, they may have wanted to wait until he and Elizabeth decided to come back on their own. Since that isn't (apparently) happening, maybe they've decided to go ahead with a sketch and reveal the identity of the alleged abductor.

[Neenah]

Rather than referring to "solving the case" or "finding out who took Elizabeth," Boylan refers to "FINDING ELIZABETH."

freedox, you can believe this or not...but when I heard it, and then when I transcribed it..I had the same feeling !

I chose to not comment on it, and was just waiting for someone to say this, cause I felt the same "HOPE" when I heard and typed it.

I think we should all take joy of this statement, even tho we can't prove anything by it. We may disagree with each other on points we are only guessing at, but all of us are spending this time together because we care what happens to this little girl.

Thanks for posting this.

[varina davis]

At any rate, I don't think the police would have referred to a man with Ricci's record as a "trusted" member of anything.

Of course not.

[freedox]

"freedox, you can believe this or not...but when I heard it, and then when I transcribed it..I had the same feeling!"

LOL!!! How could I possibly doubt it......

[varina davis]

Yesterday, we had a poster who believed that Ricci had been cleared, probably based upon an erroneous post by Varina Davis weeks ago.

I really wish you'd get over your obsession with a post I made based on a Fox TV scroll that said Ricci is not considered a suspect. That's exactly what the scroll said -- time and again. I imagine it was based on the fact that he has NOT been arrested in the Elizabeth Smart alleged kidnapping.

[dalebert]

Boylans reason for not doing a sketch earlier? I have never heard the excuse that waiting would help get a clearer picture. I thought it was the reverse.