Lie Detector for Elizabeth's Uncle 'Inconclusive'

Newsmax ^ | 06.16.02 | PRNewswire

[callisto]

Edward Smart, the father of missing Salt Lake City teen Elizabeth Smart, submitted to a polygraph test and came out clean, a well-placed law-enforcement source tells Newsweek.

But polygraph results for other members of the prominent Mormon family -- including Elizabeth's uncle, Tom Smart -- were "inconclusive," Newsweek reports in the current issue.

In an interview with Newsweek, Tom Smart pledged full cooperation with investigators probing the disappearance of his 14-year-old niece who was snatched from her bed in the middle of the night June 5.

It's all right, "tear me apart," if you have to, as long as it will help solve the mystery, he tells Newsweek.

Officials say they have no plans to give a second polygraph to Tom Smart, whose wife, Heidi says "he was in bed with me all night" the evening Elizabeth disappeared, report Los Angeles Correspondent Andrew Murr and Chicago Correspondent Kevin Peraino in the June 24 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands Monday, June 17).

Police were increasingly scrutinizing the family last week. "We decided to take a hard look at the family," the law-enforcement source tells Newsweek.

Salt Lake City police have repeatedly said they have no suspects yet, and that looking at the Smart clan is just "one among many theories," according to Capt. Scott Atkinson, the lead police spokesman.

"The family has been very cooperative," Atkinson says.

Troubling questions remain about how a stranger could have broken into the Smarts' million-dollar home. Some investigators think the screen on the kitchen window where the kidnapper was alleged to have entered was cut from the inside, a sign that the break-in may have been staged. But law-enforcement sources close to the investigation tell Newsweek that they "have no evidence of that."

Nonetheless, investigators are puzzled by how someone could have squeezed through the window, which is tall but not very wide and opens with a crank. "We're not so confident about how he got in," a source tells Newsweek.

--PRNewswire

[OldEagle]

You can only apply logic to this after the fact. Whoever did this might not be logical. I agree that it stinks and I can see a number of likely possibilities, but at this point, I don't think we can do much more than guess.

[txrangerette]

Yes, I heard FNC's on-scene reporter say that! First time it was ever mentioned, to my knowledge. Ed Smart apparently had offered the open garage door in early evening as one way a kidnapper could've gained entrance. He later closed it, but now thinks Mr. X maybe hid in there, bided time, then entered an apparently unlocked door & did the crime. So by inference, maybe the second floor screen was cut to get them out quickly & not disturb the family at that time. NOT TO FOOL ANYONE AS SOME HAVE SAID. I'm only giving you my account of the report & its implications. Some food for thought, anyway.....

[Semper911]

I got flamed the other day for "daring" to post Tom Smart's bizarre statements on the Larry King show.

Well they can flame me too. Here is the link for those who haven't read what the uncle said.

Bizarre Tom Smart Statement On Larry King Show

And I say again, as I have said on many threads: It is weird as hell!

!!!!

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

But why would someone, once inside, exit through a window when they can just unlock the front door and walk out? It would be much faster and easier that way. Less noise too than cutting a screen, which, they could have just lifted out from the inside without needing to cut it.

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

Even if the perp was hiding in the garage all night, it doesn't explain how he could find one girl, in one bed, in a seven bedroom house in the black of night without waking another soul, and having a witness see the color and brim of his hat and not his face.

[hergus]

Anybody know if Uncle Tom has children?

I know he has at least two teenage daughters. They were on the O'Reilly Factor and got the big guns thrown at them by O'Reilly.

I wonder how old his wife is, she looks young in one of the recently posted articles.

[freedox]

This link was posted on another thread......I found the article to be quite interesting.

Elizabeth's friends wait, hope

[Bonaparte]

"Some are cursed with sleeping light."

Even if every time he got out of bed and every time he got into bed, she sensed it in her "light" sleep, could she keep count of how many times he got out and in? Could she say what time it was each time he got out and got in? Could she say with any accuracy what the intervals were when he was out of bed? 2 minutes? 15 minutes? Could she, with closed eyes, tell the difference between a position shift and getting out of bed?

If she were tested experimentally, could she pass such tests the following morning?

[txrangerette]

I am not yet advocating this scenario, just reporting what I heard. Nor have I dismissed it out of hand. To back up a bit, IF TRUE about the garage door, it would solve a huge mystery of how a perp could ENTER. Now who can successfully deny that? I wouldn't bother trying, myself. Next, nobody to my knowledge has changed the conclusion that this had to be a guy who knew what to do in that house to get Elizabeth which fits with the police profile of targeting, careful planning, knowledge etc. As to his exit strategy, we are into conjecture aren't we? The window was close to her room & BTW where were other family in relation to "just walking downstairs & opening the front door"? Trying that might let Elizabeth get away at some point or trip & make a racket to wake the dead. My front door is dead-bolt locked inside & I, not any intruder, have the key. Big mistake to assume that in MY house--how about theirs? IF this occurred, the perp knew why he did every step as he did. We don't! And if the REAL story is a very different one, then all of this theorizing around "an open garage door" scenario is moot.

[gg188]

This sounds like a case for Fuhrman, but I hope he doesn't get distracted and pulled away from his current job-one, the Vince Foster affair. Admittedly, his life-expectancy would improve considerably if he'd switch cases, so I'm sure his insurance company would prefer he'd change...

[txrangerette]

My window screens are painted shut from the inside. The latches are old & rusty. We can't know exactly their setup. I don't mean to be argumentative. Cutting a screen or not must depend on picky details like that it would seem to me. Again, I don't push this but I don't know enough to deny it either. I'm waiting to hear more.

[txrangerette]

I agree with you about Detective Fuhrman. The man needs to be CLONED and put on a bunch of cases, especially this one.

[homeschool mama]

Thank you for that link.

[ladyinred]

Makes sense since one has to have a reaction to questions to register on the polygraph. Most serial killers feel no guilt or remorse so they wouldn't likely register negatively on the graph.
This is a strange story, but I am confident the police know more than they are telling. Please God, let that be so.

[cherry]

I am going to throw in the usual "let's keep praying" , and please, please, may the cops know more than what they are saying, because it sure looks like a botched case so far\ maybe they have the guy they suspect under surveillance,,,lets hope so... PLease, lets find Elizabeth.. lets' find one child alive

[Dinsdale]

It's very simple.

You put a thumbtack taped down inside your shoe where your big toe can find it.

When you tell the truth you cause stress buy pushing down on the tack.

When you lie you don't.

False negative or if a very sceptical testor inconclusive. You appear generally jumpy and totally convinced by the psycodrama the testing center runs for you. Which of course you have to be prepaired for as well. Expect to feel like a prisoner for a few minutes before the test. Routine stress raiser.

[RANGERAIRBORNE]

"Don't you think the SLC police seem to know much more than they are saying?"

Yes, I certainly do. And I don't see this winding up like the incredibly inept "investigation" of the Jon Benet Ramsey case.

I predict that a confession will be forthcoming in 7 to 10 days. Just a hunch.

[PJ-Comix]

This sounds like a case for Fuhrman, but I hope he doesn't get distracted and pulled away from his current job-one, the Vince Foster affair.

I'm not so sure that he is working on the Foster case. So far all I've seen is SPECULATION that he might work on the Foster case. Nothing firm yet as far as I can see.

[fydelia]

Does it occur to anyone, (given the statements I heard to the effect of "someone who cares for her took her") that perhaps she has been bundled off to marry a polygamist?

Given what is known about this family - they are prosperous mainstream Mormons - I doubt it. The LDS church forbids it, and most polygamists are white trash. Even the polygamists who have money keep it all in the men's business interests, and force the women and children to live like white trash on welfare anyway. They don't keep them in million-dollar houses. Even when an orthodox Mormon is converted to polygamy, it's usually that he takes a new wife for himself, not that he starts giving his daughters away to others (that comes later). Anyway, if they were doing this, why on earth would they be stupid enough to make a big hullaballoo about it?

Of course there still could be a possible angle along these lines. Like maybe she was in love with an uncle or cousin and they snuck away together. Or maybe she was destined for polygamy, and an older boyfriend was rescuing her from it. Or maybe just from garden-variety abuse within the family. Even if it really was out of fear that the 9 year old sister refrained from waking her parents, that in itself could possibly show that the girls in this family are stoic and inured to trauma for some reason.

[TheDon]

In a June 17th, Monday, news conference, Elizabeth's father confirmed that he had left his garage door open the day of Elizabeth's abduction, and closed it in the evening. He mentioned that the police had okayed him clarifying this due to reports in the media about it. He also stated that the police did not know if this had anything to do with the abductor gaining access to the interior of the house.