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CNN Live Today

Wife of Ricci Appears Before Grand Jury

Aired June 26, 2002 - 14:06   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: OK. We've learned more today about the case of the missing Utah girl, 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart.

And CNN's Ed Lavandera has been bringing us all the latest developments from Salt Lake City. We're going to go back to him and find out what's happening from there right now -- Ed.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, one of the major developments we're trying to follow-up on today is that there is a grand jury here in Salt Lake City that is convened, and we understand that Richard Ricci's wife, Angela Ricci, is before the grand jury answering questions.

Now we're told that this is just part of the investigative process, and they're using this to firm up several people's stories and alibis as to exactly what's been happening here in Salt Lake City the last couple of weeks.

Now, Angela Ricci, of course, is the wife of Richard Ricci, who was arrested on June 14 on a parole violation. Police described him not as a suspect at this point, but they say that he's at the top of the list of several theories they're looking at at this point.

He had access to the Smart family's home, because he was a handyman there, doing several jobs for the Smart family last year, and because of that he popped up on the list. When they checked his criminal background, it turned out to be an extensive criminal background here in Utah, which includes aggravated assault, burglary, and attempted murder of a police officer.

Now, police now say that they're trying to get the public's help in looking at the three cars that Ricci might have had access to. Those cars were a Cherokee, a Taurus and a Cutlass Oldsmobile, and what they're trying to do is put together their own timeline of what Richard Ricci might have been doing between May 31 and June 8 of this year.

What they're hoping to do is to gather their own information, compare it to what Ricci has been telling police. Police say that they're not totally convinced by what Ricci has been telling them thus far.

So, if you remember, a couple of weeks ago, though -- I think it was last week -- the Shriner's Hospital, which is just across the street here from the church where the Smart's attend, and the Smart's family home is just on the other side of the hospital here. There was a security guard who had said that they had -- on the morning of June 5, the early morning hours, about the time the abduction happened, that a surveillance camera here at the hospital had seen two cars pull into the parking lot.

So we went back, after this information about the cars came out, we went back and spoke with the security guard here at the Shriner's Hospital, showed him the picture of the cars, to ask him if he recognized any of them.

He said that two of the cars that police are looking at might resemble, have a very strong possibility of resembling, one of the cars he saw on the morning of June 5.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRED TRUJILLO, SHRINER'S HOSPITAL SECURITY: Just several coincidences, with what I saw initially, the vehicle, the description of the individual, the clothes that he was wearing, of course, were in close proximity to Federal Heights, and the timeframe was about 1:05 when they left the hospital grounds, and we believe that she was abducted between 1:00 and 2:00.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: Authorities are still analyzing those tapes. We understand they've returned to the hospital this morning to look at them some more.

And to this point, authorities aren't confirming whether or not the cars that they're looking at, Ricci's cars, were on that tape. So still, that's one of the issues that's still floating out there.

Meanwhile, the family is still coming out, saying that they're continuing in the search effort for Elizabeth Smart. They say they're not giving up hope, but at this point that they're praying for a miracle, so that they understand that this is their best way of then being able to focus on this investigation, and their most effective way of helping out in this case.

But, again, the major development of the day, Richard Ricci's wife, Angela Ricci, answering questions before a federal grand jury here in Salt Lake City -- Kyra, back to you.

PHILLIPS: All right, Ed Lavandera, thank you so much.

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