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Authorities initially faced bleak prospects in the search for Elizabeth Smart, especially after a key suspect, Richard Ricci, passed away while in custody.
Richard Ricci, a handyman who had previously worked at the Smart residence, was apprehended on June 14, 2002, due to an unrelated parole breach.
The discovery of some of Lois Smart’s jewelry among Ricci’s belongings led to burglary charges against him, making him the primary suspect in the mysterious disappearance of Elizabeth.
In recorded police interviews, Ricci consistently denied any involvement in the kidnapping. However, he could not account for the extensive mileage added to his Jeep shortly after Elizabeth vanished.
Complicating matters, Mary Katherine Smart, Elizabeth’s sister, insisted that the intruder they encountered that night was not Ricci, despite his presence in the news.
Then, Â on July 24, 2002, an attempted break-in was reported at the home of Elizabeth’s aunt and uncle. Police found a hole in the window screen and two chairs outside their 18-year-old daughter’s room.
Still, police thought they were close to cracking the case. “Desperate” for answers, Lyman recalled in the doc, they offered Ricci immunity if he could help find Elizabeth—on condition that he wasn’t guilty of kidnapping or homicide. But Ricci suffered a brain aneurysm in jail and died on Aug. 27, 2002.
“I was sick to my stomach,” Lyman said. “Our most likely suspect died. Everything he knew was gone with him. And it left us at a dead end that was very difficult. As law enforcement, you do set an emotional wall, and that wall started to erode for me.”