Police thought they wouldn’t be able to find Elizabeth wisely after the suspect died in custody
Richard Rich, a contractor who did some work on smart homes, was arrested on June 14, 2002, on an unrelated parole violation.
After police discovered that some of Lois’ jewelry belonged to Rich, he was charged with robbery and became the prime suspect in Elizabeth’s kidnapping.
As seen in police interview footage, Ricci denied knowing anything about the kidnapping. But he also refused to explain how he drove hundreds of miles in the Jeep within a day of her being taken.
Meanwhile, Mary Catherine, who had seen him on the news, insisted that the man in her bedroom that night was not Rich.
Then, on July 24, 2002, an attempted break-in was reported at the home of Elizabeth’s uncle and aunt. Police found a hole in the window screen and two chairs outside the 18-year-old’s room.
Still, police believed they were close to solving the case. “Desperate” for answers, Lyman recalled in the document, they offered Ricci immunity if he could help find Elizabeth, provided he was not guilty of kidnapping or murder. However, Rich suffered a brain aneurysm in prison and died on August 27, 2002.
“I felt sick to my stomach,” Lyman said. “Our most likely suspect died. Everything he knew was gone with him. And that left us at a very difficult dead end. As law enforcement, you certainly put up emotional walls, but those walls started to erode for me.”
