Posted on 08/13/2002 9:57:40 PM PDT by IamHD
I have a cousin, whose daughter majored in psychology & works with underprivileged children. She's a goofy, immature, dingbat. I told her she needed to grow up herself before embarking on such a career. I am no longer her favorite relative, but at least she isn't hitting me up for money anymore.
Having children of my own, I have had some experience, including answering adolescent attempts at justification & rationalizations.
This is likely to upset those who enjoy blaming the SLCPD for each and every inconsistency.
JG
Bottom line, if MK didn't wait the full two hours, then the abduction probably occured much later i.e. 3:30am. QUIZ: If you were the perp, would you enter a home at 1:30am or 3:30am and why?
www.sltrib.com/06302002/utah/749682.htm
'Definitely Something': They say that when a coyote kills a rabbit, the yelp resembles a child's cry. What Steve Voss heard in the early hours of June 5 sounded much more human.
Voss, a gynecologist, was on call so he was sleeping in the back bedroom of his Federal Heights home. He was awakened by his wife who was in the bathroom. They heard a car racing down the street. It was 2:30.
"I drifted and then I heard what I thought was a yell or a scream. It sounded female," Voss says. "I've never heard anything like it before."
Dogs started barking and Voss went downstairs to check on theirs. He looked at the hills behind Tomahawk Drive and saw nothing unusual. He went back to bed.
At 6 a.m., a neighbor dropped by and said, "Go check your kids.'' The Smarts' 14-year-old daughter has been kidnapped from their home on Kristianna Circle, the street below Tomahawk.
An hour later, a police officer knocked on the door and Voss recounted what he had heard.
"I suppose it could have been a coyote. I was half asleep," he says. "But it was definitely something."
Exactly what happened at the Smarts' home that night remains a mystery. But police say that sometime between 1 and 2 a.m., an intruder entered the seven-bedroom home and left with Elizabeth as her 9-year-old sister watched in horror.
Mary Katherine Smart, who shares a bed with her sister, saw a soft-spoken man in a white shirt, tan pants and tan golf hat. He had a gun and he threatened to hurt Elizabeth if she made any noise. He told her to grab a pair of shoes.
Mary Katherine, who pretended to be asleep until the two left, got out of bed to tell her parents. But she spied the kidnapper and Elizabeth still in the house and, frightened, sneaked back to bed. Approximately two hours later, she woke her parents.
The day after Elizabeth's disappearance, Ed Smart recounted for CNN what happened next.
"When my daughter initially came in, all I heard was, you know, a man took her. And I rushed in there, and I thought, you know, she is just having a bad dream. And she -- we have six children -- and I went from room to room, because occasionally one of the kids will sleep with the other. And you know, and I couldn't find her, and I just -- I heard then at that point that, you know, it was at gunpoint, and it just, you know, it just seemed unreal. I mean, it just . . . I still can't believe that it has happened."
asia.cnn.com/2002/US/06/06/smart.cnna/
I do, simply because it has changed numerous times, despite what has been said about her being consistent. I think she is consistent for a 9 year old girl, maybe. Ed Smart, early on, remarked about MK. Something to the effect of he was proud that she was telling LE the same story, or was consistent. Seemed an odd thing to be remarking about when your 14 year old daughter had just been kidnapped.,
Unfortunately, we'll probably never know what went on the bedroom from Elizabeth's standpoint.
and the reason they were late the nite before when Liz was to play her harp.
Unless it wasn't a stranger.
From her brief encounter and with the help of police examiners, the soon-to-be fourth-grader gave a description of the kidnapper: a white male, possibly in his 30s, about 5 feet 8 inches, with dark hair and a medium build.
This is the description from the initial flyer that went out in the days following Elizabeth's abduction:
The abductor is described as a White male, with dark hair and wearing a white jacket and a white baseball cap.
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Here is the revised description:
Police now describe the kidnapper as a white man, 30 to 40 years old, with dark hair and a medium build.
The man is between 5 feet 8 inches and 5 feet 10 inches tall. He has dark hair on his arms and the back of his hands, Atkinson said. The man was dressed nicely with a Polo brand shirt, tan pants, dark shoes, a light-colored jacket and a golf or English driving-style hat which was similar in color to the jacket, he said.
Here is the revised description from Elizabethsmart.com and the new flyers:
* caucasian man
* 30 to 40 years old
* 5' 8" to 5'10"
* dark hair
* hair on arms and back of hands
* tan pants
* dark shoes
* light jacket
* light golf hat
****************************
Here is more information from the same article:
A few days later, authorities brought a child forensic specialist to Salt Lake City to re-interview Mary Katherine, but the description didn't change, and any new information found in the interview, if there was any, was not reported to the media. To date, authorities say Mary Katherine has been interviewed four times, all along insisting her testimony remains consistent.... But Koocher said a child's testimony of the event should be considered as credible as an adult's.
"Any person, a child or adult, in a situation like this is subject to a lot of stress, but the facts of what took place will be accurate," Koocher said.
But the details might be a little distorted, he said. "A child laying down is going to have a hard time telling just how tall a man is who is standing over her."
But Koocher said in the disappearance of Elizabeth, her sister could not have been coached by an adult to produce the testimony.
"Kids are not good secret keepers unless they feel threatened, and in this case it doesn't appear there would have been a lot of time for coaching. If there were, after four separate interviews there would be some level of inconsistency," he said.
Here is the URL for the story: Sister reported the abduction relatively quickly
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As far as whether or not the abductor talked directly to Mary Katherine, the first details out were that he threated not only Elizabeth directly, but also Mary Katherine. After the four interviews, the added detail was that MK played possum, observing the perp, and didn't believe that he was watching her. She did hear him threaten Elizabeth. Here is the article:
Police have released a new description of Elizabeth Smart's kidnapper based on information from her 9-year-old sister, who stealthily observed the abductor unnoticed.... Mary Katherine Smart told investigators she did not believe the man knew she was watching him, Atkinson said.... The man appeared calm and concerned about not making any loud noises to wake up anyone, including Mary Katherine, who he assumed was asleep, Atkinson said. Earlier in the investigation, police said the man directly addressed the sister, threatening to harm her if she told anyone what had happened.... Atkinson said the new information released Tuesday is based on interviews with Mary Katherine, which needed to take place over a period of days for best results. The interviews also produced other details that detectives are investigating, but Atkinson could not elaborate about those details Tuesday.
Police add details to data on abductor
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I'm too tired to remember other details. Oh, there is one I just noticed. In some descriptions, Elizabeth is described as weighing 100 lbs, in others, she is described as weighing 105 lbs.
Ricci is 48yr old.
http://www.msnbc.com/local/SLT/b750572.asp
Police Lack Evidence to Tie In Ricci
07/03/2002 - Salt Lake City police investigators seeking to connect career criminal Richard Ricci to the disappearance of Elizabeth Smart remain stymied by a lack of forensic evidence.
"We are in the canvassing stage at this point," said Assistant Salt Lake County District Attorney Kent Morgan. "We have no forensic evidence at this time [to tie Ricci to the apparent abduction]. We are looking for that evidence."
Morgan, who met with police for a second consecutive day Tuesday, refused to comment on specific evidence police have gathered.
Also Tuesday, investigators interviewed Douglas Rex Young, 51, of Sunset, "an associate of Ricci's," said Fred Louis, Salt Lake City police spokesman.
Young was picked up on a federal parole violation Saturday while trying to visit an inmate at the state prison in Gunnison, Louis said. His con- nection to Ricci has drawn the attention of detectives working the Smart case, said Louis, who could not say if Young had taken a polygraph test.
Young -- who briefly escaped from prison in 1993 while serving time for bank robbery -- pleaded guilty to a previous parole violation in 1997 in U.S. District Court for Utah, court records show.
Young's father, Rex Young, said that before his arrest his son had been living with his wife and "working to provide for his family." He refused further comment.
Douglas Young is being held at the Salt Lake County Jail.
At the same time, Ricci's Kearns trailer home was searched for a second time by FBI agents. Investigators took several bags of possible evidence, said Ricci's father-in-law and next-door neighbor, David Morse Sr. He said he unlocked the door for agents who arrived with a sealed search warrant shortly after 9 a.m.
Morse also maintains that Richard Ricci -- whom police have called a "potential suspect" -- had nothing to do with the 14-year-old's June 5 disappearance. "I still think they're pulling at straws -- I sure hope they are," Morse said. "I'm starting to wonder just what the hell is going on."
Police first questioned Ricci, a former handyman in the Smarts' home, a day after Elizabeth disappeared, and later searched his home and yard, digging up a tomato garden.
After administering an inconclusive polygraph to Ricci, investigators remain unconvinced by his alibi for the night of the kidnapping -- that he was home asleep with his wife. An account given by Ricci's mechanic has also raised red flags with investigators.
Still, it remains unclear whether Ricci, who has an extensive criminal record and is in Utah State Prison on a parole violation, will be charged in connection with Elizabeth's apparent abduction. Ricci maintains he is innocent.
Meanwhile, drifter Bret Michael Edmunds, 26, wanted for questioning in the disappearance for two weeks before he checked himself into a West Virginia hospital with symptoms of a drug overdose, signed paperwork allowing author- ities to send him back to Utah.
Though police won't call him a suspect, he is wanted for violating his parole in Utah. He also is accused of fleeing police and assaulting a police officer. Berkeley County Prosecutor Pamela Games-Neely told The Associated Press that Edmunds would probably be extradited within a week.
Salt Lake City Police Chief Rick Dinse said Edmunds remains only a potential witness and not a suspect .
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