Richard Albert Ricci issued a statement to the public Friday, adamantly denying any knowledge of Elizabeth Smart's whereabouts and saying he prays for her safe return.
The 30-year-career criminal -- who once worked as a handyman in the Smart family's home -- said he has been implicated in the abduction of the 14-year-old because of his past as a burglar.
Ricci said he knows what the Smart family is going through because he lost his 9-year-old son years ago in an accident, and that he has cooperated fully with investigators.
"I would not -- could not -- hurt a child in any way," Ricci insisted in the statement, which was released through his attorney.
Meanwhile, in the continuing hunt for clues in the disappearance of Elizabeth Smart, detectives have uncovered more circumstantial evidence against Ricci, the man police say is at the top of their list of potential suspects.
But investigators so far have found no forensic evidence linking Ricci, 48, and the missing teen, although much of their physical evidence has not yet been fully tested.
Elizabeth was snatched from her family's Federal Heights home early June 5 by an armed intruder who was seen only by the girl's 9-year-old sister. Police have released only sparse details about what that sole witness has told them, and have refused to reveal any physical evidence relating to the crime.
Investigators have scoured every inch of Ricci's cars, his Kearns mobile home and adjoining tomato garden, as well as residences of his neighbors and relatives. So far, police have detailed only circumstantial evidence connected to Ricci, such as an alibi they question and an account by a mechanic who claims Ricci acted suspiciously when he returned his mud-spattered vehicle to a shop for repairs days after the apparent kidnapping.
Ricci's attorney, David K. Smith, who saw Ricci earlier this week, said Friday the Utah State Prison inmate is innocent and his outlook is good.
"He's locked down 23 hours a day, with no access to media. No TV or newspapers. So he's kind of out of the loop," Smith said. "When I saw him, he said, 'What day is this?'
"He's telling me he had nothing to do with this, that they can look at anything, search anything."
Ricci has taken two polygraph tests, Smith said. In the first test, the result was inconclusive, but on the second, Ricci said "he did well," Smith said.
While police continue to investigate Ricci, the state crime lab is charged with testing all manner of potential physical evidence from the 25-day-old case, including a tan golf cap similar to the one worn by the kidnapper and a machete taken from the mobile home of Ricci's father-in-law. Smith dismisses the cap and knife as "red herrings."
Police have also taken undisclosed physical evidence from the Smarts' Federal Heights home and the car of drifter Bret Michael Edmunds, who for two weeks was sought by police for questioning.
"Clearly, we've done several cars and several houses," said Rich Townsend, director of the Utah Crime Lab. "To go through all that [potential evidence] can take a lot of long hours -- even days."
In fact, Townsend said 10 of 18 full-time criminalists at the lab "have spent significant time on this case." Those same employees have been asked to work many hours of overtime, Townsend said.
Salt Lake City Police Chief Rick Dinse said police, FBI agents and crime-lab personnel have worked seven days a week since the disappearance. City detectives, running down more than 10,000 leads, have alone logged more than $93,000 in overtime pay, said police Capt. Scott Atkinson.
Edmunds, 26, was released from City Hospital in Martinsburg, W.Va., on Friday afternoon and transferred to a nearby jail. He appeared before a Berkeley County magistrate, was arraigned on a West Virginia state charge of being a fugitive from justice and ordered held in lieu of $100,000 bail.
Authorities had been searching for Edmunds, seen in the past in the Smarts' neighborhood, for two weeks when he showed up at the hospital June 20 suffering from an apparent drug overdose.
Edmunds has never been called a suspect, and authorities said earlier this week that the questioning did not change his status.
Ricci is in Utah State Prison on a parole violation.
Cynthia Smart Owens, Elizabeth's aunt, said Friday that Ricci's behavior "clearly sounds suspicious," adding, "our bottom line is we don't have Elizabeth."
At the family's daily news conference, they also announced that hundreds of volunteers will spend the weekend searching in Bountiful, Centerville and Draper for any trace of the girl.
Richard Ricci's father-in-law, Dave Morse, 68, has allowed investigators to search his Kearns property, from which they took a knife and a golf cap. The cap is similar to the one worn by the alleged kidnapper. Ricci's lawyer, David K. Smith, calls the items "red herrings."