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At this point, with the national attention given to her search, I doubt that Eliz. is a runaway, and I never did really think so. But at first, I thought she that might have been "sneaking out" for a lark and something went terribly wrong.

It has crossed my mind that if it were a runaway or a sneak-out situation, the Smarts would get no or very little police help, nothing like what they have gotten, and so they would have had to coach MaryK to lie about an armed gunman, etc. In fact, just think about how many things which don't add up which would suddenly become understandable if it were the case that one lie necessarily led to another lie (as lies are wont to do).

No, I don't think that Eliz. is a runaway, but I hardly see how it can be said to have been definitively ruled out.

You make an excellent point, as always. If MK was indeed coached to tell a story that would qualify for the Rachel Alert, I'm sure the police have learned the truth by now. I still recall the press conference where Chief Dinse sang MK's praises as a witness, saying something to the effect that they had gotten "a tremendous amount of information" from her and that the eventual solving of the case would be to her credit. Obviously, what has been shared with the public in no way adds up to "a tremendous amount of information." I think it's likely that the police gained a great deal of information from MK (bless her heart!) but have chosen to keep this private. In short, I think that the public claims that MK's story has remained unchanged throughout this ordeal is disinformation, intended to keep the suspect(s) guessing about what the police really know about that night.

FWIW, I have serious doubts about the validity of the "armed gunman" story, as it has been presented to the public. However, I do believe that the family (and apparently the police) have reason to believe that whoever Elizabeth left with represents a genuine danger to her wellbeing.

The only way LE would rule running away out is if they had some conclusive evidence that positively showed that someone had been there and taken her. There must of been something that ruled that out quickly.