Still no clues in Elizabeth Smart case

Elizabeth Smart

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (CNN) -- Seven weeks after the abduction of 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart, authorities said Wednesday they still have no credible information on her whereabouts or her condition.

A senior law enforcement source told CNN the primary goal of the police and FBI investigation is still to find Elizabeth -- or her remains -- and any charges against an alleged abductor will most likely not be leveled until the girl is found.

The focus of the investigation remains on 48-year-old Richard Ricci, the former handyman who worked in the Smart home the year before the abduction, law enforcement officials said. Ricci denies any involvement in the apparent kidnapping.

Ricci, who has a long arrest record, was imprisoned in June, after Elizabeth Smart's abduction, for alleged parole violations. Since then, local officials have charged him with home burglary and theft.

Last week, he was indicted by a federal grand jury for alleged bank robbery. He has not been arrested in connection with the girl's disappearance.

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The source told CNN that while Salt Lake City Police detectives and FBI agents have looked at many people in connection with the case, Ricci is still is the one generating the most interest for investigators.

Of continuing concern is the Jeep Cherokee a witness claimed Ricci returned to an auto repair shop on June 8, three days after the abduction. Neth Moul, the shop owner, said Ricci took seat covers, a bag of unidentified material and a posthole digger out of the jeep, and then walked across the street to join another man.

The law enforcement source said no positive information has been developed yet on the location of those items, or the whereabouts of the unidentified man. Investigators consider finding them critical to their case.

The source also confirmed local news reports that a forensic sketch artist was brought in to help identify the abductor, but said none of the artists' pieces are being released to the public for "tactical" reasons.