Friday, June 21, 2002
BY ASHLEY BROUGHTON THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
Three computers belonging to the family of Elizabeth Smart were among 12 examined and analyzed by authorities investigating the 14-year-old's disappearance, police said Thursday.
In addition, polygraph tests have been given to those "inside and outside" Elizabeth's family and other investigative tactics are being used, Salt Lake City Police Chief Rick Dinse said at a news conference.
However, police have been unable to identify a suspect in Elizabeth's June 5 disappearance from her Federal Heights home, and no one, including her family members, has been ruled out, he said.
Dinse sought to explain contradictory information about the sequence of telephone calls made to police, family members and neighbors the night Elizabeth vanished.So we have contradictory information....from who?
He also said that contrary to a police watch log that said a member of the Smart family had called neighbors before alerting police, authorities now believe the first call was to the Salt Lake Police Department. Dinse did not explain how the discrepancy had been resolved. what????The Police watch log said a member of the Smart family had called neighbors BEFORE alerting police...and then..."authorities NOW believe ...must have been a misunderstanding..who was the discrepancy caused by?
"We believe the first call was to the police at 4:01," he said. "We believe we have satisfied our questions regarding that."
A gunman allegedly abducted Elizabeth between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. that morning from the room where she was sleeping with her 9-year-old sister, Mary Katherine. Police said earlier this week the younger girl pretended to be asleep while her sister was taken, then went to alert her parents. She retreated after seeing the man in a hallway, and emerged two hours later when she felt it was safe, police said.
The Deseret News also has reported that Elizabeth's father, Ed Smart, called his brother Tom Smart at 3:30 a.m. But the men's sister, Cynthia Smart-Owens, said after the news conference that Tom Smart must have been mistaken about the time. Even if the family did call others first, it doesn't particularly bother authorities, said Dan Roberts, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI's Salt Lake office. "This is such an unusual type of crime . . . for them to naturally turn to friends and neighbors for guidance and assistance in the middle of the night, I don't think that is unusual."
As for the computers, Dinse said authorities were searching for indications Elizabeth had been talking to anyone online or receiving e-mails from anyone.
He would not say what was found on the hard drives, but emphasized that "we have found nothing on the computers that creates a nexus to this crime. There certainly were questions, and those questions have been asked and responded to."
Two personal computers and one with business material on it were among those turned over by the Smart family at police request, Dinse said, and all three now have been returned. He did not say who owned the other nine computers, but said "we are mostly done with [them]."
The National Enquirer tabloid newspaper is expected to publish a story today about the contents of the computer, said Det. Dwayne Baird. So the police KNEW that the NE was going to publish the contents of the computer? I didn't rememember this!
Police have described the purported kidnapper as a white man, 30 to 40 years old, with dark hair and hair on his arms and backs of his hands. He was wearing tan pants, dark shoes, lighter jacket and a Scottish-style golf hat and carried a handgun.
Police also still are looking for Bret Michael Edmunds, 26, who they say may have seen something in the neighborhood that could help the investigation. Edmunds is not considered a suspect, police stressed.
Other aspects of the investigation have involved driving Mary Katherine around the Smart neighborhood in hopes of finding a route the two sisters took when they went jogging the night before the abduction, Dinse said. Forensic evidence is being analyzed in state and federal labs, including some items belonging to family members and Elizabeth, and others taken for purposes of elimination in case material is found for comparisons.
Roberts said investigators have looked at other kidnapping cases in Idaho Falls and Oregon, but no link between those cases and Elizabeth's abduction has been found.
Dinse told The Associated Press that only one ransom request had been received -- an e-mail forwarded to police from "America's Most Wanted." The e-mail demanded that $50,000 be dropped off at the "Morman" temple by June 17. Police received the e-mail after that date, Dinse said, and the writer did not follow up. "We're not taking that seriously. We haven't heard anything else on it."
He said authorities are still following up on leads, some of them "very promising." But, said Baird, daily news briefings will be discontinued until there is a major development in the case.
"The investigation is a critical part of what we're doing to solve this case, and get her home and safe, we hope," Dinse said. "We're not telling you a lot of things we're doing . . . we're doing that purposefully, to protect that investigation."
_________ Tribune reporter Linda Fantin contributed to this report.
Thanks for finding this, Neenah. Since the original reports of approximately 10 neighbors being present when police arrived have been allowed to stand, I guess that means those 10 people all got there within 11 minutes. Even with a "phone tree" that's still mighty impressive.