Posted on 06/20/2002 4:20:48 AM PDT by MichaelP
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Sister saw suspect on way to parents' room
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (CNN) -- The sister of missing 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart tried to reach her parents right after the abduction, but turned back when she saw the kidnapper again, police said.
Police said Smart's 9-year-old sister, Mary Catherine, witnessed the older girl's abduction at gunpoint from her family's Federal Heights home early in the morning of June 5.
They revealed Tuesday that the initial report that the younger girl delayed reporting the abduction to her parents because the suspect had threatened her was inaccurate.
"The reason she waited is that she originally heard the threat [to harm] her sister," Salt Lake City Police Chief Rick Dinse said.
"When they left, she got up to go tell her parents and she saw the suspect again. Not knowing how long they would be in the house, she went back to bed in fear and it turned out to be a lengthy time."
Dinse said the original statement had been based on "printouts from dispatchers and not on investigators' discussions" and that "it wasn't a big issue for us."
Clues to the disappearance two weeks ago of Smart have "grown in the last week," according to Dinse.
"We think we are in the right place doing the right thing ... concentrating on the central area around the house and the people associated with that house," Dinse said without further details.
The chief said police had interviewed Mary Catherine four times, and the little girl "hasn't wavered one bit from her original statement to us." But Dinse made it clear that police are withholding information.
"We are not telling you everything," he said. "We probably aren't going to until we are further along and have identified some people."
"[Mary Catherine] saw the individual, but how good a look she got at his face we are not clarifying," Dinse said.
"She heard the voice and whether she recognizes it or not I'm not going to clarify. We are not putting out a composite [drawing] and we are not clarifying why we are not putting out a composite."
Asked why police were keeping so much information close to their chests, Dinse said it is only "for reason of the investigation."
Tuesday, police released a more detailed description of the suspect, which Dinse said resulted from the interview with Mary Catherine.
Capt. Scott Atkinson described the suspect as a white male, 30 to 40 years old, 5 feet 8 inches to 5 feet 10, with a medium build and dark hair. He had dark hair on his arms and the back of his hands, Atkinson said.
In addition, he was wearing a polo-brand shirt, tan pants, a tan cap, dark shoes and a light-colored jacket. He was carrying a small handgun, and was calm but concerned that the victim not make any noise that would awaken her family, he said.
"We believe that this person may be a trusted person in the neighborhood or in the community. [It] might be someone ... that had reason to be here, that had reason to come across the family, all those kind of things we still believe," Atkinson said.
Dinse said Wednesday that police still wanted to question Bret Michael Edmunds, a 26-year-old drifter who was reportedly seen in the area days before the abduction. Police say Edmunds is not a suspect, however.
Law enforcement officials told CNN Tuesday a surveillance tape from Shriners Hospital, not far from the Smart's neighborhood, has been sent to an FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia, for enhancement.
A surveillance camera in the parking lot of the hospital can pick up some activity on Virginia Avenue, which is the main road in and out of Federal Heights.
Fred Trujillo, the security director at the hospital, told CNN he saw a car being driven in a suspicious way and trained a camera on it for several minutes.
A second car arrived and there appeared to be some interaction for a few moments before both cars drove away, Trujillo said. Police said the tape is of poor quality because of low light conditions.
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RELATED STORIES: • Police: Kidnapper may be 'trusted' person
June 19, 2002 • Girl's uncle pleads: 'Just let Elizabeth go' June 17, 2002 • Lead quashed in case of missing Utah girl June 14, 2002 • Police dogs search missing girl's home June 13, 2002 • Police want to quiz man in teen's abduction June 12, 2002 • Police have profile of kidnap suspect June 11, 2002 • Utah teen's father takes polygraph test June 10, 2002 • Lead goes 'nowhere' in search for Utah girl June 8, 2002 • Police frustrated in search for Utah teen June 7, 2002 • Missing girl's father: 'It just seemed unreal' June 6, 2002 • Utah kidnapper possibly spotted June 6, 2002 • Father pleads for kidnapped Utah girl June 5, 2002
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Mike
I think so,too. They just don't have enough to prove it yet, and are holding back what they do have to try to spook him into making a mistake.
I suspect there has been a ransom demand.
You know, I never even considered that! That's very possible. It says something about our times that we would think of sexual deviancy first...
Mike
The other day, when asked whether there had been a ransom demand made to the parents, the police spokesman replied, "Not to my knowledge."
Yesterday, the same question was asked, and there was a long pause, deep breath, then the police spokesman said, "No."
Oh my heck! Not that again!
Sincerly,
The G Man
Official FR honorary Mormon
The headline implies that the suspect was on the way to the parents' room. You read the story and it was the daughter on the way to her parents' bedroom.
Mike
| Boy nearly kidnapped in Provo DEBRA JANDREAU The Daily Herald on Thursday, June 20 |
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I'm so thankful this little boy escaped.
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