Suspect being held by FBI in Smart case in SLC

[Semper911]

Breaking on Fox: A construction worker is being held on unrelated charged in connection with the kidnapping case.

[Roxan]

Fox News just repeated the same report at 12:30 EST. They said Ricci was involved with breaking into a home in the Smart neighborhood last year.

[mickie]

That Ricci is one ugly person.
I'm up late and turned on Fox, they did report the story and post his picture.
Poor little lost Elizabeth, I pray God hears our prayers, and brings her safely home.

[TheBigB]

Considering that no ransom demand has been publicized, we're then working on a couple of possibilities:

1) There is no relevance because it is not true and no demand has been received.

2) A ransom demand has been received, but is being kept secret while being used as a clue?

3) A ransom demand has been received by Mr. Smart, but he is more afraid of his lifestyle (bearing in mind, that I have no confirmation of this) being publicized than his daughter being returned.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

I imagine that Smart didn't hire him directly, but instead hired contractors. In a place like SLC, where there's lots of building going on, contractors will often hire anybody who can can swing a hammer. We had some really interesting fellows working on our house (not in SLC) -- and our contractor was pretty careful, too.

Same here. The fact is, you really don't know anything about those who enter your home under the dircetion of a subcontractor. My subcon recently told me, as I was inquiring about a delay, that one of his workers just vanished without a word. Spooky.

When you're having big stuff done to your house it's common to let the construction guys have a key. If Ricci made a copy, and Smart hadn't changed the locks yet -- they could simply have strolled in the front door, locked or not. If Ricci is in on the disappearance, dollars to donuts this is how he got in.

Yep. Turned my key over to a conractor three weeks ago.

[Pistacio]

Thanks for the Ping :)

[Pravious]

I think the story is weird because people's behavior (in many cases) just doesn't seem right.

I mean, the kidnapper must have seen that there were two children in the bed. How did he expect to wake (and kidnap!) one of them without rousing the other?

Hell, if someone came in and was kidnapping someone sleeping next to me, I wouldn't have the self control to pretend to be asleep - I'd be too afraid of being thought of as a witness, or kidnapped myself. How a young child could have that kind of self control and not cry out is hard to imagine (not to mention the hours of silence!).

The police statements have been very confusing. "Did the little girl see the man's face?" has been asked about 1,000 times, with "no comment" as the answer. But WHY "no comment"? If she saw the kidnapper, you'd think they would immediately put out a description. If she didn't, why be secretive about it?

First reports had it that the little girl was threatened to remain quiet. Then this was retracted, with the police explaining that they 're not telling us everything they know. Good idea - but didn't that "threat" report come from the police to begin with? "Not telling us everything they know" is not the same as spreading disinformation. During the press conference, the SLC police chief even refused to comment if the sister had even been awake ... only to be confronted by a somewhat alert member of the media pointing out that they had already issued a partial description of the kidnapper, obviously based on the little girl's description.

[Tuscaloosa Goldfinch]

Just hearing about this arrest. Re: shady types working construction: when we built our house 7 years ago, we hired a builder. The builder hired subs for different things, plumbers, electricians, dry wall contractors. The drywall guys were the scariest. I came in one day to find really obscene drawings on some of the wood about to be covered. The builder himself had very little knowledge of who his subs hired.

[TheBigB]

I'm with you...lots of things about this case just don't add up. Maybe we're not being told everything, which I could see, but why any disinformation in the first place?

Something here doesn't seem right...

UtahGirl, what say you?

[joyce11111]

Edmunds may have told the cops about the construction worker, because Edmunds ran heavy equipment for the city.So he probably knows the construction workers in the area.

[Utah Girl]

I do know that police keep information and details back in investigations. If they released all they had, they would get all kinds of crank calls and tips, with that information. Plus a lot of times the information being held back is used against the perp when he knows a detail, but that detail was never made public.

As far as Mary Katherine goes, the abductor never spoke to her, just to Elizabeth. And he threatened Elizabeth's life. After he left the room with Elizabeth, Mary Katherine went to tell her parents, at that point, she saw the abductor with Elizabeth, got really scared, and went back to bed (there's the delay in telling her parents.) To me, we are like the blind men with the elephant, we all see a part of the elephant, but none of us sees the whole elephant. I do believe the picture is becoming clearer for the police. I will post notes tomorrow on the press conference.

[lady lawyer]

The original report about the threat to the girl was made before anyone but the original officer responding to the call had talked to the girl. It was based in part on a characterization of what the first officer on the scene and the parents heard from the little girl. If she had said something like: "A man took Elizabeth. He said if you and mom woke up he would kill her. I didn't know what to do." Both the parents and the police might assume that the threat was made directly to the little girl.

The police stopped saying she was directly threatened within a day or two of the original story, after they had had more in depth conversations with the little girl. There was a story printed here locally on June 11, stating that the police hadn't given that version of the story for several days. But the police didn't clarify what had happened for about a week after that, on June 18. They said then that the original information that had been published, almost as soon as the report came in (I heard it at 6:30 a.m. on my way to work on the morning of the kidnapping) wasn't well investigated, but they were interested in getting the Rachael alert out as soon as possible.

I don't think it is that material whether the threat to do harm was made directly to the little girl, or overheard by her when made to her sister. In either case, she was plenty scared. Then, the police also said that she got up to tell her parents after the perp left her room, and she saw him still in the house. She went back to her room and laid there too scared to move until she finally told her parents.

[Jolly Green]

3) A ransom demand has been received by Mr. Smart, but he is more afraid of his lifestyle (bearing in mind, that I have no confirmation of this) being publicized than his daughter being returned.

You mut not be a parent. This is really bogus. I don't think for a minute that there are any "lifestyle" issues, but as a parent, the protection of the child is paramount. Any real parent would give up their own life, future or aspirations for their child. PERIOD.

P.S. If you "have no confirmation", why are you propagating it?

[PoisedWoman]

Maybe a white slavery ring???

My mind won't go there. But the worst possible scenario is this pretty harp-playing angel sent to bin Ladenish Islamist who thinks he deserves his virgins early.

[JudyB1938]

Thank you, Palladin, for taking up for a poster who'd been flamed. I never have respect for people who do things like that. To me they are people of low self-esteem who get their jollies in putting others down.

Japedo, the best thing to do is to IGNORE THEM. They'll go away then. And quit apologizing for pete's sake. You didn't do anything wrong!

[TheBigB]

"Any real parent would give up their own life, future or aspirations for their child. PERIOD."

Two words: Susan. Smith.

And I simply stated what I was told. I was not "propagating" anything. It is certainly a possibility, as are other things. Your entire contribution to this thread seems to be misunderstanding things, either on purpose or by accident. Which in itself is "bogus"

At any rate, I was not addressing you. PERIOD.

[Carolina]

From KUTV.com

Police Question Convict Who Worked in Smart Home

Jun 23, 2002 10:34 pm US/Mountain


Detectives investigating the disappearance of 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart have been questioning a convict who worked in the Smart home more than a year ago -- and they haven't been able to rule him out as a suspect.

The man was arrested on an unrelated parole violation June 14th, nine days after Elizabeth Smart was reportedly taken at gunpoint from her bedroom in an affluent Salt Lake City neighborhood.

Police say that investigators haven't been able to pin down the man's whereabouts on the morning of the abduction. Detectives have been questioning the man for more than a week; he has not been charged in the kidnapping. .

Chris Thomas, who has been acting as a spokesman for the girl's family, says the man last worked in the Smart's Federal Heights home more than a year ago, painting and doing handyman work

[Jolly Green]

At any rate, I was not addressing you. PERIOD.

What part of real parent didn't you understand. Susan Smith doesn't qualify.

[cherry]

ut....i am not even sure what mk saw if anything...I am thinking that it probably took place a little differant than what we have been told.....

But the police should do everything in their power to bring justice, and if it means leading the public and the perps down a certain path, than more power to them..

[DCdawg]

The suspect's name is Richard Albert Ricci. 50ish, balding, thin.

[TheBigB]

Any "real" parent would not do anything like this. However, it could not be certified whether anyone is a "real" parent or not until after any involvement is ruled in or out. Using your own logic (such as it is), we have not yet ascertained whether or not Mr. Smart is a "real" parent until any complicity in her abduction is ruled in or out. I daresay Susan Smith would've qualified as a "real" parent to you in the first few days after her case came to light, when she genuinely seemed distraught for her children.

Now go away.