I only meant in my earlier Freeper post.
I knew Ed wouldn't hire Mark Furhman. I said he "should" hire Mark Furhman, if he really wanted to find out what happened.
Mark dogs a case and makes enemies aloing the way, but this case would have a chance of being solved. We would have the answers to some of the nagging problems and inconsistencies of this case.
The only thing Sherlock and I agree on is that Ed should call in Mark Furhman. I never thought he would and so far Ed has been true to form. The Levy's called in a detective when they realized that the police in DC were not going to solve their daughter's disappearance.
I think where the Levys went wrong was in hiring an insider (Billy Martin) for their attorney. I think they should have hired an outsider who didn't have to worry about creating enemies and being considered to be a local team player for future business in the area. Nothing against Billy Martin but he has done nothing for the Levy family. That case is over.
Friday, June 14, 2002
BY KEVIN CANTERA
and MICHAEL VIGH
(c) 2002, THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
The only known witness to the abduction of Elizabeth Smart -- her 9-year-old sister -- did not see the face of the man who took her because the bedroom the girls shared was in darkness, The Salt Lake Tribune has learned.
Among other avenues of investigation, police are looking at whether an extended family member may have participated in the kidnapping of the 14-year-old girl.
Law enforcement sources say the younger sister's inability to see the man's face means investigators cannot rule out the possibility the crime was committed by someone she knew.
On Thursday, police continued to say they had not ruled out any suspects, including members of Elizabeth's family. The girl's June 5 disappearance sparked a large-scale search and has made headlines around the globe.
David Smart, Elizabeth's uncle, told reporters Thursday the family understood that its members were a necessary focus of the probe and they were willing to sit for lie-detector tests. "If they did not investigate us, they would be negligent," he said.
The Tribune has confirmed an NBC report Thursday that the responses given by one member of Elizabeth's extended family during a polygraph test raised investigators' suspicions about his alibi.
Police have refused to comment on lie-detector tests they have administered in the case, except to say that Elizabeth's father, Edward Smart, was tested Sunday.
His brother, Tom Smart, appeared on CNN's "Larry King Live" on Wednesday night and said he, too, had been tested.
Tom Smart characterized the polygraph test administered to Edward as "four hours of hell." "We've been ripped apart by our polygraph[s]," Tom Smart told CNN. "We've been ripped apart to the core."
Police have requested television footage of the Smart family's numerous appearances on camera since the abduction.Does anyone remember this? POLICE HAVE REQUESTED TELEVISION FOOTAGE OF THE SMART FAMILY'S NUMEROUS APPEARANCES ON CAMERA SINCE THE ABDUCTION ? I don't remember that. Why do you think they wanted that? This seems very odd, don't it? Remember, I didn't dream this up..and I don't hate this family..but it is time to stop playing games !! Edward and Tom Smart declined to answer news-media inquiries Thursday, citing exhaustion.
Because the 9-year-old has provided few details about Elizabeth's abductor, police have been unable to create a composite sketch or provide a more detailed description of the suspect.I guess they got more later?
Police say the girl described the suspect as soft-spoken, with dark hair, about 5-foot-8 and wearing a white hat and white pants. He also carried a small handgun.
Fearing her sister would be harmed, the 9-year-old waited two hours before telling her parents that Elizabeth had been snatched, according to a police report, which also noted that their father called neighbors before the police were summoned.
Also Thursday, Elizabeth's family reacted sharply to a story in The Tribune, which described physical evidence suggesting the break-in at the family's Federal Heights home may have been staged by someone inside. The information was attributed to unnamed law enforcement sources.
"We put no credibility in the story," said Dave Francom, Elizabeth's uncle, during an afternoon news briefing.
NBC News, however, said it had "largely confirmed" The Tribune's story. As reported by the newspaper, the network also revealed a window screen had been cut from inside the house, apparently to make it look like the break-in had occurred there.
The window is in the first-floor kitchen of the $1.1 million home, while the bedroom from which Elizabeth disappeared is on the second floor. Police believe whoever took the girl exited the home through a door in the kitchen, The Tribune has learned.
The NBC report included additional details, stating there were no telltale scuff marks on the wall outside the window or threads that would indicate that someone squeezed through the narrow opening.
The search continued Thursday for Bret Michael Edmunds, 26, a man wanted for questioning by police, who insist he is not a suspect in Elizabeth's disappearance. A milk deliverer doing rounds in the neighborhood two days before Elizabeth's disappearance wrote down a partial license plate number of what he thought was a suspicious vehicle, which police traced to Edmunds's 1997 green Saturn.
License plates bearing the number 266 XJH, as publicized by police, were found about 8:30 p.m. Thursday by a resident on a Centerville frontage road, authorities said.
Edmunds was spotted at Sunday night's candlelight vigil for Elizabeth, held at Liberty Park, said Salt Lake police Detective Dwayne Baird.
Police received information that Edmunds was drinking beer in the park. Officers looked for him, Baird said Thursday, but "didn't pursue it aggressively because it was such a minor infraction." Edmunds, who was not sought by police at the time, eluded authorities, Baird said.
kcantera@sltrib.com,
mvigh@sltrib.com