Editing Kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart (section)

==Search and investigation==
On June 6, 2002, Ed and Lois went on television and pleaded for the kidnapper to return their daughter.<ref>[http://edition.cnn.com/2002/US/06/05/utah.teenager/index.html Father pleads for kidnapped Utah girl] CNN, June 6, 2002</ref>

A massive regional search effort, organized by the [[Laura Recovery Center]], involved up to 2,000 volunteers each day, as well as dogs and planes.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://a.abcnews.com/GMA/wanda-barzee-pleads-guilty-elizabeth-smart-kidnapping/story?id=9111531|title=Wanda Barzee Pleads Guilty in Smart Kidnapping|author=Lisa Fletcher, Lindsay Goldwert|work=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]]|date=November 19, 2009|access-date=May 23, 2011|archive-date=September 29, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120929211447/http://a.abcnews.com/GMA/wanda-barzee-pleads-guilty-elizabeth-smart-kidnapping/story?id=9111531|url-status=dead}}</ref> Various websites carried flyers that could be printed or circulated via the internet. After many days of intensive searching, the community-led search was ended and efforts were directed to other means of finding Elizabeth.

Mary Katherine's observations were of little use, and there was little usable evidence found at the scene such as [[fingerprint]]s or [[DNA]]. A search using [[bloodhound]]s was unsuccessful. Police questioned and interviewed hundreds of potential suspects including a 26-year-old who was cleared after being located in a West Virginia hospital. The investigation had the side effect of returning several at-large criminals to prison, but Elizabeth was not found.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Kidnap suspect in hospital|url = http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/06/22/1023864517169.html|website = smh.com.au|access-date =August 5, 2015|date = June 23, 2002|last = Nelson|first = James|publisher = The Sun-Herald}}</ref>{{Failed verification|reason=the article mentions that a single suspect was taken into custody and had outstanding warrants, not that "several" at-large "criminals" (i.e., already convicted) were "returned to prison"; it specifically mentions this person NOT having been a "suspect", contrary to this paragraph; it also does not speak to Elizabeth not having been going, especially as of June 2002 ... nor does it really address the other statements in this paragraph|date=May 2025}}

The Salt Lake City police considered Richard Ricci a person of interest early in the investigation.{{sfn|Haberman|MacIntosh|2003|p=158}} Ricci was a handyman with a history of drug abuse who had worked for the Smarts; he had been jailed on an unrelated parole violation prior.{{sfn|Haberman|MacIntosh|2003|pages=158–60}} Ricci died of a [[brain hemorrhage]] in August 2002.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.foxnews.com/story/doctors-say-richard-ricci-is-unlikely-to-regain-consciousness|title=Doctors Say Richard Ricci Is Unlikely to Regain Consciousness|agency=Associated Press|publisher=[[Fox News]]|date=August 30, 2002|access-date=May 23, 2011}}</ref>{{sfn|Haberman|MacIntosh|2003|p=219}}

To keep Elizabeth's name in the press, her family used a variety of strategies, including making a website about her abduction and providing home videos.{{sfn|Haberman|MacIntosh|2003|p=7}}