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CNN Live Today

Grand Jury Investigates Elizabeth Smart Disappearance

Aired June 27, 2002 - 12:44   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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: More now on the investigation into the disappearance -- another troubling story -- of 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart.

CNN's Ed Lavandera joins us from Salt Lake City with the very latest from there -- hi there, Ed.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka.

Well, what investigators here in Salt Lake City continue to do is call in witnesses before the federal grand jury here. And what they are trying to do is, they're trying to firm up people's stories and the testimony that they are giving to police at this point. What they want to do is use it, get it on the record. And, at some point, if anyone tries to change their story at a later point, they will be able to hold them accountable for what they've said so far.

And the person who is the focus of today is the neighborhood of Richard Ricci. His name is Andy Thurber. Andy Thurber apparently is going to talk about what he saw Richard Ricci doing the morning after Elizabeth Smart was abducted. Now, we have learned from Ricci's attorney and Ricci's in-laws that, after that morning, he had gotten up and walked outside and was trying to fix a hole on the side of his mobile home, because cats were getting in and out from underneath. He was trying to fix that hole.

Apparently, that looked suspicious enough to Andy Thurber that he was telling the investigators about it. And investigators also followed up. The in-laws, Ricci's in-laws, told us that the investigators came out. They dug holes in the backyard looking for evidence. We are not exactly sure -- police aren't saying if they turned up anything at all, but his in-laws saying that he has an alibi, Richard Ricci has an alibi for where he was that night, and that they shouldn't look at him anymore, that his actions aren't that suspicious.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He come over about 8:00, it was, when he said, "Have you seen the news?"

I said, "Well, yes."

And he says, "Well, I used to work for that guy." "That's who I bought my jeep from," he said. So, that's all that was said. And then he went back home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And he sure would have had to hurry fast and come out here and bury her in our backyard, dig up my tomatoes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: Now, Richard Ricci's attorney and his wife also say that he has got a strong alibi, that Richard Ricci had gone to bed about at 10:30 the night before the Elizabeth Smart was abducted. His wife says she was up until about 1:30 and that he was home all night long.

Police say that -- actually, Richard Ricci's attorneys say this is a solid alibi, even though police aren't buying it at this point.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID SMITH, ATTORNEY FOR RICHARD RICCI: Everybody has their spin on what is happening. And I'm sure the police, some in the police department feel that his alibi isn't as firm as they think it might be. We, on the other hand, feel it's a pretty good alibi. It's pretty hard to overcome his wife's statement that he was -- she was with him that evening, the night, and into the next morning when she went to work.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: One final note: Court documents that we have uncovered show that there were stolen items from the Smart home found in Richard Ricci's home. He has told police, apparently, that those items were taken last year while he was doing work on the family's house -- Fredricka, back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks very much, Ed Lavandera, from Salt Lake City.

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