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1 posted on 06/05/2002 12:27:46 PM PDT by let freedom sing
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To: let freedom sing
I dont know which way to go with this one. But something is telling me she was not kidnapped, but rather ran off with a boyfriend.

Flame me if you want, but who thinks that is not a possibility?

2 posted on 06/05/2002 12:33:18 PM PDT by Phantom Lord
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To: let freedom sing
NON FAMILY ABDUCTION
5 posted on 06/05/2002 12:35:57 PM PDT by let freedom sing
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To: let freedom sing
Talk about bizarre.

The nine year old sister waited two hours before wking her parents? Two hours? For crying out loud, I have a five year old who's sharper than that.

The abductor is described as a white male, with dark hair and wearing a white jacket and a white baseball cap. Elizabeth was wearing red pajamas

Everytime I've considered sneaking around a neighborhood at 2 AM, I've put on my WHITE jacket and WHITE baseball cap.

Police say there's no sign the man knew Elizabeth or his way around the house

The police can say anything they want, but this story just isn't passing the initial sniff test in my book.

13 posted on 06/05/2002 12:43:14 PM PDT by Slainte
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To: let freedom sing
The exact same scenario as the Polly Klass kidnapping and murder. Pray for this child to be found alive and safe.
28 posted on 06/05/2002 12:56:32 PM PDT by OldFriend
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To: let freedom sing
Call me what you want, but if the parents were asleep, how did they know that the kidnapper took the girl at gunpoint!!!???
30 posted on 06/05/2002 12:57:26 PM PDT by mhking
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To: let freedom sing
Where are the affluent alarm systems in these homes.....
43 posted on 06/05/2002 1:06:55 PM PDT by geege
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To: let freedom sing
To bad the family didnt have a well trained protection dog sleeping in the girls bedroom..
50 posted on 06/05/2002 1:09:14 PM PDT by joesnuffy
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To: let freedom sing
Interestingly, Elizabeth Smart's disappearance is not yet listed on the Salt Lake City FBI office's website. But Kristin Denise Smart is.

-archy-/-

56 posted on 06/05/2002 1:13:24 PM PDT by archy
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To: let freedom sing
From KSL

Search For Missing Girl

Page with Real Video: Eyewitness News at Noon

View Real Video - Click On Desired Bandwidth
11 am: Stacey Butler reports
10 am: Stacey Butler reports

Update:

  • Law agents are still in "rescue mode," not "recovery mode," as they hold out hope of finding Elizabeth Smart alive. They admit, however, that in kidnap cases, the first few hours are the most critical.

  • Reports of red clothing found in a canyon are unfounded. Police say they found red banners used to catch mosquitos.

  • Volunteers-- Police do NOT need any more volunteers to help search the Federal Heights area. They suggest residents look around their own neighborhoods, because the girl could be anywhere.

  • The victim's 9-year-old sister told police the intruder turned on the lights in the bedroom. The girl did not hear a vehicle as the kidnapper left with Elizabeth.


Police have issued a statewide alert to find a 14-year-old girl apparently kidnapped at gunpoint from her home in an affluent neighborhood early Wednesday.

Elizabeth Smart was taken about 2 a.m. when a man, apparently a stranger, forced his way through a window in her Federal Heights home, police said. Her parents were asleep in their bedroom at the time.

Victim Description
  • 14 yrs. old
  • blonde hair
  • red pajamas
  • 5' 6"
  • 105 lbs.
Suspect Description
  • white man
  • 5' 8"
  • dark hair
  • light jacket
  • light baseball hat
Related Story

Police also were searching nearby foothills Wednesday morning. Tracking dogs also are being used, said Duane Baird, a Salt Lake City Police Department spokesman.

Police say the man threatened Smart's 9-year-old sister and said he would harm Elizabeth if her sister said anything. The two girls share a bedroom.

The man let the girl take a pair of shoes with her, police said.

The sister waited several hours before alerting her parents because of the threat, Baird said.

Searchers were scouring the area east of downtown Wednesday morning, looking for clues. Neighbors began the search in the pre-dawn darkness. Police were called at about 4 a.m.

The man is described as white, with dark hair and wearing a tan denim-type jacket, a white baseball cap. He is about 5 foot 8 inches tall and was soft-spoken, the sister told police.

He gained access to the house by forcing open a window, Baird said. Police say there is no indication that the man knew the girl.

Among the leads police are investigating are:

_ The family's home is for sale and police are looking at a list of people who toured the house, Baird said.

_ They also are looking at the family's computer to see if the girl had contacted strangers online.

Meanwhile, at the girl's home, Wes Galloway, victims' advocate for the Salt Lake Police Department said, "This was not a purely random act. He'd have to know that she lived there."

He cited U.S. Department of Justice Statistics that in child abductions, acquaintances are responsible for 27 percent of the kidnapping, strangers account for 24 percent and family members are most frequently suspects at 49 percent.

There is nothing to indicate a family member had anything to do with the case, Galloway said.

The 5-foot, 6-inch girl has blonde hair and was wearing red pajamas. She weighs about 105 pounds.

The suspect didn't call the victim by name, nor did he appear to know his way around the house, the sister told police. He had a small black handgun.

"A two-hour window gives anyone the opportunity to be away from this area," Baird said. "That does pose a problem."

Baird said no other neighbors reported anything suspicious Tuesday night or early Wednesday.

Police were at Bryant Intermediate School Wednesday morning interviewing Smart's friends. She is an eighth-grader at the school. Summer break is to start Friday.

She was a quiet student who received good grades, said Jason Olsen, a Salt Lake School District spokesman.

Her classmates were told of her kidnapping at the beginning of the school day when the principal, Frances Battle, announced at a talent assembly that a member of the school was missing, Olsen said.

Smart is a very sweet girl, calm and grounded, said John Anderson, whose daughter Amanda is a close friend of Smart's.

"Her parents were very protective of her," he said. The girl was not allowed to attend sleepovers at Amanda's house two blocks away. "They doted on her, loved her."

Anderson left work early to check on his daughter. Amanda had been pulled out of the school assembly to be interviewed by police detectives.

"I feel very vulnerable," he said.

Richmond Tyrrell, one of the Smarts' neighbors, was going into the foothills to help with the search.

"I just thought about their family and how terrible it was," he said about hearing the news at 8 a.m.

Sissy Galbraith, a teen-ager who plays basketball with Smart on a Mormon church league team, described her friend as athletic and an avid basketball player. She was also heading to the foothills to search.

"Everybody loves her. She loves her friends," Galbraith said.

(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)


58 posted on 06/05/2002 1:13:42 PM PDT by BJClinton
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To: let freedom sing
Are these copy cat crimes? Daniell was taken from her home, wasn't Paula Claus taken from her home? There was a baby stolen here in Texas right out of her crib. These creeps are coming right into people's homes and stealing children.

He took her out of the house in her pj's, so he didn't intend that she would live very long. All pedophiles should face the death penalty, all of them, from priests to ditch diggers.

104 posted on 06/05/2002 1:44:53 PM PDT by MissAmericanPie
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To: let freedom sing
I dunno... there have been quite a few younger girls disappearing out west. Serial killer maybe?
119 posted on 06/05/2002 2:09:28 PM PDT by rintense
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To: let freedom sing
Prayers that she is safe and can escape.
143 posted on 06/05/2002 2:37:54 PM PDT by Salvation
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To: let freedom sing
If it were my sister, I wouldn't be able to wait two hours. When the guy left, I'd run right to my parents screaming.
The story may be right, but I know that's what I'd do. Two hours?
149 posted on 06/05/2002 2:49:03 PM PDT by concerned about politics
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To: let freedom sing
Stories like this make excellent cases for German Shepherds, Rottweilers, boxers, chow chows, etc. (Chihuahuas need not apply).
151 posted on 06/05/2002 2:53:52 PM PDT by Pharmboy
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To: let freedom sing
Polly Klaas.
163 posted on 06/05/2002 3:12:04 PM PDT by Carry_Okie
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To: let freedom sing
This is why people with children should if at all possible keep a dog in the house, preferably a Rottweiller. Tends to foil the plans of those who wish to do this sort of thing...

I pray that this little girl is ok and is able to escape or call for help.

169 posted on 06/05/2002 3:37:36 PM PDT by FormerLurker
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To: let freedom sing
Did her family have a security alarm system and if so, why didn't it go off when the kidnapper broke in?
187 posted on 06/05/2002 4:09:57 PM PDT by Barbie Doll
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To: let freedom sing
At first I thought FReeper "Utah Girl" had been kidnapped!!! I hope your theory is right - that this girl ran off with a boyfriend or something.
188 posted on 06/05/2002 4:11:37 PM PDT by Saundra Duffy
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To: let freedom sing
bump
196 posted on 06/05/2002 4:16:06 PM PDT by drq
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To: let freedom sing
I'm confused... Didn't Utah Girl just post Ari Fleischer's daily briefing just now to FR?
208 posted on 06/05/2002 6:45:50 PM PDT by marajade
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