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CNN Live Today
After One Month, Police Looking for Answers in Smart Case
Aired July 05, 2002 - 13:23 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 (voice-over): Now to the search for Elizabeth Smart, the teenage girl apparently snatched from her home in Salt Lake City. Her loved ones say they believe she is still alive, but now it has been a month. CNN's Mark Potter brings us the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARK POTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A month after the abduction, police and FBI investigators are still searching for that critical piece of evidence, that one big break that will solve the case and help find 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart.
A law enforcement source tells CNN the case is frustrating and disappointing but not hopeless. The focus of the investigation continues to be 48-year-old Richard Ricci, the handyman who once worked for Elizabeth Smart's parents. Ricci is in the Utah state prison for alleged parole violations.
His 29-year police record includes jail time for burglary, and the attempted murder of a police officer. He denies any involvement in the abduction of the young girl, a claim supported by his wife.
Much of the investigation centers now on the reported activities at this auto repair shop near Salt Lake City. The owner, Neth Moul, has told authorities Ricci picked up his jeep here before the June 5 abduction and then returned it afterward.
Roul said the vehicle was dirty and had 500 to 1,000 more miles on the odometer. He says he wrote much of it in his logbook.
(on camera): You finished the work on the fuel pump on May 28?
NETH MOUL, MECHANIC: Yes.
POTTER: And he picked it up, it says here, on May 30?
MOUL: Yes. And he -- the car returned.
POTTER: Returned on June 8.
MOUL: Yes.
POTTER (voice-over): Moul says upon returning the jeep, Ricci removed two Indian-style seat covers, a bag of unidentified items, and a post hole digger. He then carried them across the street, where he joined another man.
(on camera): So, you saw Ricci looking at that man?
MOUL: Yes.
POTTER: And then the man came over and waved to Ricci?
MOUL: Yes.
POTTER: And then Ricci joined him?
MOUL: Yes.
POTTER: And then walked away?
MOUL: Yes.
POTTER: And you didn't see the car they got in?
MOUL: No, I did not. I did not.
POTTER (voice-over): Moul says the second man used this payphone at the convenience store across the street. Investigators believe identifying and finding that man, along with the materials taken from Ricci's jeep, are critically important.
Law enforcement sources say Ricci denies ever taking the jeep from the shop. Investigators consider that discrepancy disturbing and say it has helped sharpen their focus on Ricci. His home has been searched and his neighbors questioned.
One of the officers talked to Miriam Hester.
MIRIAM HESTER, NEIGHBOR: Well, he asked me if I'd ever -- if I'd seen that day anybody carrying a body out of a car, and I said no, because I would question that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
POTTER: Now investigators are also talking to people who knew Ricci in and out of prison, and authorities say they are considering filing burglary charges against Ricci, who reportedly has admitted taking items from the Smart home last year.
Again, no charges in connection with that have been filed. Also, no arrests have been made in connection with the disappearance of Elizabeth Smart one month ago today.
Now just a few moments ago there was the daily briefing from the family here. It has become rather sad daily ritual here in Salt Lake City. The father of Elizabeth, Ed Smart, and his brother, asked people over this holiday weekend, who are going out into the mountains, to keep their eyes open for sheds, for shacks, for cabins and basements where they believe that Elizabeth may still be held. They argue that their belief is that she is still alive, and short while ago her father Ed asked the perpetrator to please let her go. He said it is time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ED SMART, MISSING GIRL'S FATHER: It's been about 30 days now. And I just want to make a plea to this perpetrator. I would ask him that he would see that for whatever reason he's kept Elizabeth, that it's time for her to come home. And I would ask him to please find it in his heart, find it in his mind, that it is time to let her go and to please let her come home to where she is loved and where she feels comfortable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
POTTER: The bottom line as to the investigation is that no arrest has been made yet, and there is no credible information that has been developed so far as to the whereabouts or the condition of 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart. Fredricka, back to you.
WHITFIELD: All right. Mark Potter from Salt Lake City. Thank you very much.
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