Bringing Elizabeth Home: A Journey of Faith and Hope by Smart Ed & Smart Lois

Author:Smart, Ed & Smart, Lois [Smart, Ed]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Random House, Inc.
Published: 2003-10-27T16:00:00+00:00

After Bret Michael Edmunds was cleared of any involvement in Elizabeth’s kidnapping, all eyes focused on Richard Ricci as the primary suspect. When they brought him in for questioning, Ricci, faced with proof, finally admitted stealing Lois’s bracelet and to breaking into our neighbors’ home but emphatically denied any connection to the kidnapping. The police had checked pawnshops and found one that had a receipt with a detailed description of the bracelet. This allowed them to put on heated pressure to confess to abducting Elizabeth. By admitting his guilt in stealing the bracelet, Ricci had proved to us once again that he was not a man of integrity. He had lied to our faces and he was convincing. The evidence was mounting against Ricci, and investigators seemed to be building a good circumstantial case. Though the police brought him in to be interviewed about the kidnapping, there was no evidence concrete enough to warrant holding him.

Several people were called and questioned by the grand jury investigating Ricci, including his wife, Angela, who steadfastly testified that Ricci was home in bed with her on the night of Elizabeth’s abduction. She had given statements to the media on the morning of the kidnapping, expecting that her husband would be fingered. The police administered a polygraph test to Ricci about the kidnapping, which he passed. But he had lied so many times to us. How could we believe him about anything—especially about the disappearance of our daughter?

The biggest hole in Ricci’s story revolves around the Jeep we gave him. We were told that on May 30, Ricci picked up his Jeep from Neth’s Auto Repair. He returned the Jeep on the morning of June 8. According to Neth Moul, there were approximately 500 to 1,000 new miles on the odometer since he had picked it up. Ricci, who was usually very friendly, was uncharacteristically reserved. He loaded some things from the Jeep into two bags and also took a posthole digger. When he left, he met up with a friend across the street and then disappeared. In the wake of Elizabeth’s disappearance, all of this raised several questions in investigators’ minds about where Ricci was and what he was doing. It appeared extremely suspicious.

Moul said that on May 30, 2002, he received a phone call from a woman claiming to be Ricci’s wife, asking about the Jeep. The story given was that they needed the Jeep to get to work. Neth told them to come and get the car. The Jeep had been ours for two years and Elizabeth had ridden in it numerous times, so any evidence of her found inside would not be enough to implicate Ricci in her kidnapping. Ricci denied he’d taken the Jeep and refused to answer investigators’ questions about the added miles. He had several chances to vindicate himself with regard to the kidnapping, but he refused to say where he was, whom he was with, or what he’d been doing. What was he hiding, if anything?

Salt

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