Posted on 07/15/2002 8:55:28 PM PDT by varina davis
Monday, July 15, 2002
SALT LAKE CITY — Police are investigating a report that a distraught girl who could match Elizabeth Smart's description was seen last week in Nebraska under suspicious circumstances.
Police in Lincoln, Neb., on Thursday issued a nationwide alert of a possible abduction after witnesses at a gas station convenience store reported seeing a crying girl between 12 and 14 who was possibly being held against her will in a minivan.
Elizabeth Smart's uncle David Smart on Monday said the family considered the alert about the van, which bore Pennsylvania license plate ECJ1368, a possible tip in the girl's June 5 disappearance.
Lincoln police haven't made that connection yet, said Sgt. Larry Barksdale. Neither have Salt Lake City police, who were contacted by Lincoln police last week.
"We don't have a whole lot of information," said Salt Lake City police Sgt. Fred Louis. "It's not clear what they have."
AP Richard Ricci Smart family spokesman Chris Thomas said the Monday announcement was a way to get people to call in the van's whereabouts.
"We're not necessarily holding out hope that it is Elizabeth," he said. "If it is Elizabeth we'd be elated."
Barksdale said the 1986 two-tone blue and gray Chevrolet Astro or GMC Safari was spotted twice in Lincoln on Thursday.
Witnesses at the convenience store told the Lincoln Journal Star that the girl stared at the store window with reddened, tearful eyes until she was pulled over a seat and out of sight.
"They said they saw a pair of arms come from the back and pull her into the back, but nobody got a look at that person," Barksdale said.
Barksdale said police know who owns the van. The van's driver and another passenger were white men age 20 and 21 who took their time while buying gas and cigarettes and cleaning up in the restroom. They were not acting suspiciously, he said.
The van had been stopped by police in Colorado recently, Barksdale said, but there was no indication it had ever been in Salt Lake City.
Nebraska news reporters suggested the girl in the van could have been Elizabeth, Barksdale said.
"There's no doubt Elizabeth Smart has been in the national media for quite a while," he said. "All we had was a white female, about 14, lighter hair. Very basic."
Lincoln police have sent their case file to Salt Lake City, Barksdale said.
Elizabeth was taken by a gunman from her bed in the middle of the night June 5. Elizabeth's 9-year-old sister, Mary Katherine Smart, the sole witness, told police the abductor was a white man with a medium build who wore light-colored clothes and a tan golf hat.
Police have arrested Richard Albert Ricci, 48, on theft from the Smart home where he worked as a handyman last year. Ricci also is charged with the night burglary of a neighbor's home in the night while the home's residents slept.
Police consider Ricci a possible suspect. No one has been arrested or charged in connection with the kidnapping.
Ricci denies he had any role in Elizabeth's abduction.
Nebraska police investigate possible sighting of missing Utah girl
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Police are investigating a report that a distraught girl who could match Elizabeth Smart's description was seen last week in Nebraska under suspicious circumstances.Police in Lincoln, Neb., on Thursday issued a nationwide alert of a possible abduction after witnesses at a gas station convenience store reported seeing a crying girl between 12 and 14 who was possibly being held against her will in a minivan.
Elizabeth Smart's uncle David Smart on Monday said the family considered the alert about the van, which bore Pennsylvania license plate ECJ1368, a possible tip in the girl's June 5 disappearance.
Lincoln police haven't made that connection yet, Sgt. Larry Barksdale said. Neither have Salt Lake City police, who were contacted by Lincoln police last week.
"We don't have a whole lot of information," said Salt Lake City police Sgt. Fred Louis. "It's not clear what they have."
Smart family spokesman Chris Thomas said the Monday announcement was a way to get people to call in the van's whereabouts.
"We're not necessarily holding out hope that it is Elizabeth," he said. "If it is Elizabeth we'd be elated."
Barksdale said the 1986 two-tone blue and gray Chevrolet Astro or GMC Safari was spotted twice in Lincoln on Thursday.
Witnesses at the convenience store told the Lincoln Journal Star that the girl stared at the store window with reddened, tearful eyes until she was pulled over a seat and out of sight.
"They said they saw a pair of arms come from the back and pull her into the back, but nobody got a look at that person," Barksdale said.
Barksdale said police know who owns the van. The van's driver and another passenger were white men age 20 and 21 who took their time while buying gas and cigarettes and cleaning up in the restroom. They were not acting suspiciously, he said.
The van had been stopped by police in Colorado recently, Barksdale said, but there was no indication it had ever been in Salt Lake City....
.....(snip)
I wonder why they aren't giving us more information on the van owner. Then we could keep an eye out for the owner too or was it stolen?
The so-called SMART kid was worm food a month ago. Cops KNOW this is a false report. They have their sources...
Strange things happen to families on the wrong side of the INTEL game.
So...what about that 'drifter' they tried to pin it on???
As do you, it seems. Where'd you bury her?
Strange things happen to families on the wrong side of the INTEL game.
Even stranger things happen to people who act like they know what they're talking about with respect to "the INTEL game." What makes you so sure that "the INTEL game" is somehow relevant? Are you in it?
MY question had to do with the so-called 'DRIFTER' the Cops tried to pin it on.
What is left of the 'Smart' girl will, IMHO, be found this Fall when hunters and their dogs take to the field on the opening of bird season.
Was it the Cops who found Chandra Levy, or someone walking their dog??
Poohbah, GET A CLUE!!
Your question followed two apparently irrelevant and unsupportable assertions...unless you're the guilty party.
So, what, exactly, is the relevance of those two remarks? Please, enlighten me. Like H. Ross Perot, I'm all ears.
Poohbah, GET A CLUE!!
I am eagerly awaiting you providing same. However, I ain't holding my breath; dying of asphyxiation holds no special cachet for me.
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