Ed Smart Holds Out Hope for Elizabeth

July 5 -- One month since Elizabeth Smart was reported kidnapped from her own bedroom, her family is holding out hope that the 14-year-old will be found alive.

"I feel that Elizabeth is alive, that she is still out there," Ed Smart said this morning on ABCNEWS' Good Morning America. "I'm very hopeful that one tip will come in that will help us."

Salt Lake City police have not named any suspects in the case, although they have been looking very intently at the Smart family's former handyman, Richard Ricci. The 48-year-old ex-convict has been held on an unrelated parole violation since June 14, and has been interrogated by investigators about the Smart case.

Ricci has said that he had nothing to do with Elizabeth's disappearance, and that he was at home with his wife when a gunman took the girl from her bedroom in the early hours of June 5. The account of the kidnapping came from Elizabeth's 9-year-old sister, Mary Katherine, who was also in the room but pretended to be asleep.

Ricci's wife, Angela, has backed his alibi, and sources tell ABCNEWS that, despite forensic work, there is no physical evidence connecting Ricci to the abduction.

Elizabeth's father said today the family is not focusing solely on Ricci.

"You know, we don't know that it's Richard," Smart said on Good Morning America. "We are just hoping that information will come in that will help find the perpetrator. If that's Richard, then it's Richard."

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Investigators interviewed Douglas Rex Young, 51, on Tuesday. Young, described as an associate of Ricci's, is being held for an alleged federal parole violation unconnected to the Smart case.

On Wednesday, investigators announced they would talk to John Russell Remington. Police said Remington, 44, did repair work last year on a house about two blocks from the Smarts' residence with Ricci and Young. Remington, a convicted bank robber, has been behind bars since Nov. 3.

A $25,000 reward is being offered for information that leads investigators to the girl's location or to an arrest in the case, Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson announced Wednesday.