Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Today

Authorities Call Witnesses Before Grand Jury

Aired June 27, 2002 - 11:24   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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Authorities looking into the abduction of Utah teen Elizabeth Smart are now calling witnesses in front of a federal grand jury today. Now, that is an unusual step this early in an investigation, and it is apparently aimed at former Smart handyman Richard Ricci, who has made the news for the last couple of days.

CNN's Ed Lavandera, watching developments for us in Salt Lake City. Let's go to him now live -- good morning, Ed.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Leon.

Well, what investigators here in Utah are trying to do is trying to get everybody's stories on record, so that if anyone starts changing their stories, they can come back to what they've told the grand jury here in Salt Lake City, and hold them accountable for what they've said. So that's kind of the reason why all of this is going on with the federal grand jury.

Now, this morning, at the federal courthouse here in Salt Lake City, Richard Ricci's neighbor, Andy Thurber, showed up at the court house. He is expected to testify before the grand jury sometime today, although exactly the details of what he is supposed to say aren't exactly clear, but he told a newspaper here in town what Ricci's attorney has confirmed to CNN that Ricci -- the morning after Elizabeth Smart was abducted, that Ricci came out into the mobile home park community where he lives by his house and he was trying to fix a hole in the siding along the wall of the mobile home. He was trying to fix a hole out there so that some cats wouldn't get in underneath the home. So that's what he was doing out there. Apparently, Thurber thought this behavior was a little suspicious.

His -- Ricci's in-laws also have told CNN that the FBI agents and investigators have come out to the home. They have dug up in the tomato garden in the backyard, looking for more evidence. So all of these issues playing out here as authorities try to focus on Richard Ricci.

They are trying to figure out his time line, what he was doing in and around the days that Elizabeth Smart was abducted on June 5. His attorney says he has got a strong alibi, that he was at home with his wife the night that Elizabeth Smart was abducted, but he understands, he says, that why police are looking at him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DAVID K. SMITH, RICCI'S ATTORNEY: He was fixing -- it was kind of like a little wall or a siding to the mobile home there, to keep the cats from going under the mobile home. It had become in disrepair, and so he was fixing that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: Now, Richard Ricci's wife testified before the federal grand jury yesterday, and her attorney says that she remembers Richard Ricci going to bed about 10:30 the night before Elizabeth Smart was abducted. She stayed up until about 1:30, and she remembers him getting up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. That was around 3:00 in the morning, she says.

And the family maintains that Richard Ricci's alibi as to what he was doing is very strong for what -- the night that Elizabeth Smart was abducted, yet police continue, based on the evidence they've been able to gather at this point, they are not completely convinced that his alibi is as strong as his family and friends are saying at this point.

So, the focus continues to remain on him as the family and the friends of Richard Ricci and neighbors, I should say, testify before this federal grand jury -- Leon.

HARRIS: Very good. Ed Lavandera reporting live for us this morning from Salt Lake City. Take care, Ed.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com