As a result of focusing the investigation on those who had access to the Smarts' home, they talked again to the man and are checking out his alibi, said Salt Lake City Police Chief Rick Dinse.
"At this point in time, he is not a charged suspect, but he is very interesting," he said.
Police have been questioning Richard Albert Ricci, a man who worked in the Smart home more than a year ago.
He was arrested on an unrelated parole violation June 14, police spokesman Fred Louis said. That was nine days after Elizabeth Smart was reportedly taken at gunpoint from her bedroom in an affluent Salt Lake City neighborhood.
Despite having had Ricci in custody for 11 days, police haven't been able to pin down the man's whereabouts on the morning of the abduction, Dinse said. Ricci has not been charged in the kidnapping.
"We have questions about his actions between May 31 and June 8," Dinse said.
AP-ES-06-24-02 1320EDT
The man, Richard Albert Ricci, was arrested on an unrelated parole violation June 14, police spokesman Fred Louis said. That was nine days after Elizabeth Smart was reportedly taken at gunpoint from her bedroom in an affluent Salt Lake City neighborhood.
Police Chief Rick Dinse told KSTU television on Sunday 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.
"He is potentially a big piece of the puzzle," Dinse told KSTU. "Just how big, we're not sure at this point.
"We haven't been able to satisfy ourselves that he was not involved."
Ricci, 48, had been living in the Salt Lake City suburb of Kearns. He has a long criminal history in Utah, beginning with a burglary conviction in 1973. He was been in and out of prison for the past three decades, and was most recently freed on parole in 2000.
Ricci's convictions also include aggravated robbery, attempted homicide and a prison escape.
Chris Thomas, who has been acting as a spokesman for the girl's family, said Ricci last worked in the Smart's Federal Heights home more than a year ago, painting and doing handyman work.
Authorities scheduled a news conference for Monday in Salt Lake City about their interview of Bret Michael Edmunds, whom they had sought for two weeks for questioning in the abduction investigation.
Edmunds was interviewed at a West Virginia hospital by FBI agents and Salt Lake City police detectives.
Investigators were analyzing the interviews, Louis said.
FBI spokesman Kevin Eaton didn't return messages left by The Associated Press. He said Saturday that questioning Edmunds, 26, likely would not substantially change the Smart case because he was a possible witness and not a suspect.
A milkman helped police trace a car owned by Edmunds that was spotted in the family's neighborhood two mornings before her June 5 abduction.
The car was seen in a suburban Salt Lake subdivision in the days following the girl's disappearance, but searchers recovered nothing after dogs picked up a possible scent in the area on Friday.
Edmunds checked himself into a hospital in Martinsburg, W.Va., on Thursday for treatment of drug-related liver damage. He was listed in serious but stable condition Monday, hospital officials said.
Authorities said Edmunds was cooperative with investigators and allowed a search of his vehicle.
AP-ES-06-24-02 1253EDT