TV’s ‘Most Wanted’ to Aid in Smart Kidnap Case

John Walsh, host of the high-profile “America’s Most Wanted” television program, says he is helping Elizabeth Smart’s family look for a man who once worked for them who they believe had something to do with Elizabeth’s abduction.

On CNN’s “Larry King Live” show Monday night, Walsh said that a future “America’s Most Wanted” will profile a roofer he said was “a young homeless guy who lived at a homeless shelter” who may have used an alias when he worked for the Smarts.

Walsh also said Mary Katherine, Elizabeth’s younger sister, says it wasn’t former handyman and career criminal Richard Albert Ricci who came into the girls’ bedroom in the middle of the night and took Elizabeth away at gunpoint. She remains missing.

Ricci, 48, on Aug. 27 suffered a cerebral hemorrhage in his Utah State Prison cell, where he was being held on a parole violation. His family took him off life support three days later.

He had been under scrutiny for possible involvement in the 14-year-old girl’s disappearance on June 5. He always maintained his innocence.

Walsh made his “America’s Most Wanted” plans with Elizabeth’s parents, Ed and Lois Smart, in New York last week, after taping a segment for “The John Walsh Show,” a daytime talk show on NBC.

Ed Smart said Monday night he wasn’t ready to go public with information on the roofer. “I didn’t know [Walsh] was going to do that,” Smart said. “I’m surprised he said what he said. We’re working with the police.”

Smart said investigators have long known about the roofer and are looking for him but don’t know where he is. And though he confirmed Walsh’s claims about the upcoming episode, he was cautious about what the television host said.

“That room was very dark at night,” Smart said. “What Mary Katherine saw and what she didn’t see is really hard to know. She’s told her story and I hope at some point soon to basically say exactly what she said.”

Mary Katherine, then 9, was the sole witness to her sister’s abduction. At investigators’ request, her parents haven’t questioned their younger daughter on what she told police.In a November interview, the Smarts told Associated Press that their understanding was that while Mary Katherine feigned sleep, Elizabeth stubbed her toe, and her kidnapper said either “if you don’t scream, I won’t hurt you,” or “be quiet or I’ll hurt you.”

Mary Katherine got out of bed to follow them.

But when she stood in her doorway and saw them looking into her brothers’ room, she went back to bed, her parents said.