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American Morning

Ricci Hospitalized, Surgery Helpful

Aired August 28, 2002 - 09:17   ET

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

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Elizabeth Smart, you remember this very prominent case from early June. The one man named in that investigation, Richard Ricci has been hospitalized, now in critical condition. He collapsed, literally in front of prison guards in his cell last night. Ricci had worked as a handyman inside the Smart home, and Salt Lake City police have been looking for a link between Ricci and the disappearance of the 14-year-old girl from her bedroom back in the first part of June.
Karen Scullin of our affiliate KSL in Salt Lake now joins us with an update on his condition, and what investigators and police are saying today. Good morning to you.

KAREN SCULLIN, KSL CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning everyone. Last night, the prognosis for Richard Ricci was not good at all. It was very, very bad. However, this morning, after he underwent some surgery, things have now improved. Doctors are now hopeful that he will, in fact, survive. However, he is still on life support, he is still unconscious, and he has been that way since about 7:15 last night.

Now, here is what happened. He was inside his prison cell at the Point of a Mountain (ph), the prison here in Utah, and he called for help. He pressed a button, called for help, and said he was having trouble breathing. Security arrived, found him on the floor, he was not breathing at all, and immediately they started CPR. A short time later, he was flown by medical helicopter here to University Medical Center where, overnight, he did undergo some surgery to relieve bleeding on the brain. It is unclear exactly what kind of medical problem he has, possibly a stroke. At this point, we just don't know for sure.

No signs though, of any kind of a drug overdose, anybody would have slipped him anything or any kind of obvious wounds, so they are pretty much betting that it is some kind of very serious medical problem.

Now yesterday, Ricci was in court to face burglary and theft charges, but as many of you know, that he is the focus of the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping investigation. The police believe that he is lying about his involvement when he said he had nothing do with the kidnapping, and they need him alert, they need him talking to progress with this investigation because they believe he knows something about the kidnapping, and they obviously need him to crack sooner or later. We hope to learn more information later on this morning.

Reporting live, I am Karen Scullin -- now back to you. HEMMER: Thank you, Karen, very much for that report in Salt Lake City.

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