[Arkinsaw]

Broken now. Link leads to nothing at the moment.

[Dog Gone]

Your links link to nothing.

[RecentConvert]

Nothing breaking.

Link is broken.

[Archangelsk]

Good link here.

[Consort]

The Smarts have new inlaws.

[Porterville]

Question: If married, what does that do to the kidnapping conviction??? I don't know what is going on.

[Revolting cat!]

Absolutely bizarre! I haven't been following this story and knew nothing about it until yesterday. One thought comes to mind after reading the linked article (and others) which all seem to suggest that the kidnapped teen and his abductors have been around in public the whole time, undisturbed by the authorities or by the citizenry. That thought is, political correctness and what I call extremist tolerance, that we have been seeing in this country, are much at fault here. It's a miracle indeed that she has been found and that the police officers who found her, and interviewed her didn't just walk away after the initial conversation! Back to the diversity re-education camp for them!

[Bella_Bru]

If the psycho was already married to the other woman (Wanda?), then wouldn't his "marriage" to Elizabeth Smart be null and void?

[glory]

Well well, what says those who said she ran away? Given the culture of the mormon church regarding marriage-it's forever and women are generally obedient to their husbands, it's not hard to understand why Elizabeth would have thought that now she had some kind of connection. Hell this dork may have even told her that her parents had "given" her in marriage to him. Elizabeth was too young yet to understand the obedience expected of a wife in the Bible and could probably be easily manipulated to believe it was something it was not.

This poor girl, so this likely means she was sexually assaulted--damn shame! I hope they can get her the help she needs and some day when she is much older, she finds a real husband of HER choice whom adores her and respects her. Let's hope her family and church are sensitive enough to let her know that this does not make her unclean in anyway.

[Mare]

Elizabeth was “married” in a bizarre religious ceremony to the drifter with whom she was found Wednesday.

I don't understand why so many folks are getting all worked up about Elizabeth "marrying" her abductor. The article clearly states that it was some kind of bizarre religious ceremony, not a legal marriage.

I sure hope this information is wrong, though. That poor girl.

[MadisonA]

From what I heard from one of the stepkids or wanda's kids was that this guy really really hated Mormons but he was a Mormon and he met wanda at a mormon church or something.

Anyway nobody is going to believe that she went willingly with this creep in the middle of the night and he had to use a gun or knife and literally break in and Mary Katherine heard him say that "I will kill you if you make a noise." That doesn't sound like a girl who is thrilled to runaway with her man.

His joke of a marriage defense will be laughed out of court. I sure some lawyer will claim this as some sorta sick defense. If it isn't then pedophiles around the country will be rejoicing. Some gay pedophile can say, "hey I kidnapped your little boy in the middle of the night out of his bedroom, held a guy to this boys head, threatened him with bodily injury and we were married in a religious ceremony in the mountains that night between the two of us and he agreed because I heard him. My religious beliefs allow for gay marriage and age is not a factor in my religions belief system."

Also as far as Eliz being pregnant I think that would depend on if she even got her first period or not which noone knows. I didn't get mine until I was older than she was.

I haven't heard souces say said she went willingly. The only statements I think the police said was that she denied being Elizabeth Smart which was probably rehearsed statement between her and her captors of what she would say if she was ever asked or face the consequences later. Who knows they may have tortured the girl.

[trussell]

Book Marker

[Libertina]

Why didn't you post the article? It is not even excerpted...
but anyway
"The sketch was not released until Feb. 3. A sister of Mitchell’s thought it was him and provided a photograph that was also released. Two couples in Sandy, Utah, saw the photo on TV reports and contacted police about seeing Mitchell with two veiled women who later turned out to be Elizabeth and Barzee.

“I’m accountable for that decision [not to release the sketch], and it wasn’t my best choice,” the former lead investigator, Capt. Cory Lyman, was quoted by the Salt Lake Tribune as saying. “If I had a crystal ball, I would have done it differently.” Lyman last month became police chief in Ketchum, Idaho."

This really angers me and I can't even imagine the families frustrations with this poor LEO. And the ONLY "responsibility" he has taken is to SAY "I take responsibility." For him, like most people who spout this tripe, there are no consequences, just talk.

[TEXOKIE]

I've had a thought which I havent seen anyone else address so far on these threads.

This young lady, by all appearances is a dedicated musician. I am a harpist myself, and I can tell from the little film clips of her playing that she has good technique and can find her way around on the harp. It takes discipline and time to accomplish that. It also usually takes quite a love for one's instrument as well to devote that kind of time to practice and drill.

In my experience, having been around MANY other musicians while growing up, it is HIGHLY unlikely that she would choose to remove herself voluntarily from access to her instrument. I'm not saying it's impossible, but imho the odds just dont seem to favor it. Most musicians,especially the young ones who are starting to see their mastery of the instrument progress, would rather have boils on their tongue than give up their instruments! I even knew a young lady who had been told by a doctor to give up playing her flute because her heart condition would not allow her to tolerate the stresses playing it would cause. Bless her, she passed away before we graduated. She could not feature life without making music.

For what it's worth, I just have to put myself strongly in the column of opinion that the child was taken involuntarily.