Compare this to the help from Elizabeth Smart's 9 yr old sister who witnessed a much longer abduction episode of her own sister and supposedly didn't report it for two hours.
at this point I don't think any fact is truely a fact...the public has been told things or lead to believe things and we have no idea of their credibility...
like for instance...what the little girl saw...maybe she saw nothing at all...maybe she heard nothing...maybe the whole thing was just to set up the perp to make him think the cops were on to him....
well, it didn't work
The cops in the Smart case would have to have acted as if the parents or someone in the family was a prime suspect - because that's the way it usually is. They wouldn't have tried such a stupid ruse using the little sister ... maybe they would - they are stupid and lazy and probably have a corrupt officer or seven among them.