Posted on 06/07/2002 2:01:21 PM PDT by let freedom sing
Volunteers searching Pinecrest Canyon for signs of Elizabeth Smart or her abductor Thursday evening spotted a man who scurried into the heavy brush on a steep hillside. The searchers then heard at least two gunshots, but the man had vanished.
Volunteers searching Pinecrest Canyon for signs of Elizabeth Smart or her abductor Thursday evening spotted a man who scurried into the heavy brush on a steep hillside. The searchers then heard at least two gunshots, but the man had vanished.
The sighting came about 40 hours after Elizabeth, 14, was taken at gunpoint from a bedroom in her Salt Lake City home. The girl's whereabouts remained unknown late Thursday, and it was not known if the man spotted in the canyon was connected to her disappearance.
A party of 22 searchers were spread out on the side of the canyon east of Salt Lake City when some of them spotted a man in a white T-shirt and white baseball cap between 7 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. One of the searchers called to the man, who ran and hid in the underbrush, then several searchers heard at least two gunshots.
Searcher Matt Duvem said late Thursday that he watched the man from a ridge about a mile away, and the "guy just paced back and forth . . . I assumed he was waiting for night." Duvem said he heard two shots in rapid succession, then another seven sporadic shots.
Volunteers search the foothills below the Salt Lake City home of 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart who disappeared from her home Wednesday. Hundreds of people showed up to help in the search effort. (Steve Griffin/The Salt Lake Tribune)
22 volunteers??? 22?? Why not 222 ???
SALT LAKE CITY- More than 48 hours after she disappeared, police on Friday morning said they are no closer to finding out what happened to 14-year-old girl who was reportedly taken at gunpoint from her home.
"I don't believe we've gotten any leads that we could call really solid, any at all," said Police Capt. Scott Atkinson said. He said police were still optimistic but "the longer we go without finding her, it becomes problematic."
The mere report of a man acting suspiciously was enough for authorities searching for Elizabeth Smart to block off a heavily wooded canyon and search through the night.
One of 1,200 volunteers searching for the girl reported seeing a man acting suspiciously at the top of Emigration Canyon on Thursday evening.
An all-night search yielded nothing, and Atkinson said of that report, "I think it's the quality of any other lead we've had."
The searchers may have seen a transient who lives in the rugged area of forest and sagebrush, sheriff's spokeswoman Peggy Faulkner said. Police hope to question the transient to see if he fits the description of the abductor, but he's not considered a suspect, she said.
Police on Friday also were asking for information about a man that was seen in the neighborhood a day or two before Elizabeth disappeared. A milkman said he saw the man in an older gray Nissan or Honda, but the license plate number he recalled didn't match any number in the state's database.
Police said that on Wednesday between 1 and 2 a.m., an intruder forced open a window at Elizabeth's home and went into the bedroom where the teen-ager and her 9-year-old sister slept. Police said the gunman warned the younger girl her sister would be harmed if she told anyone.
Because of the gunman's threat, the frightened younger girl waited two hours before alerting her parents, police said.
The kidnapper did not call Elizabeth by name and he did not appear to know his way around the house, the sister told police. No neighbors reported anything suspicious.
Pictures of the missing girl were posted throughout the city and people started wearing light-blue ribbons - Elizabeth's favorite color.
Meanwhile, the girl's father, Ed Smart, was hospitalized Friday morning after collapsing from exhaustion. He had slept little in the hours since his daughter's disappearance. The family did not say which hospital he was in.
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And there are thousands of volunteers out looking for Elizabeth. When the tip was received in the middle of the night about the suspicious guy, it was up Emigration canyon, which is treacherous terrain. They sent 20 deputies up to search, with dogs, and a helicopter, but had to wait until daylight before sending up volunteers.
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