[Iwo Jima]

My first impression of Ed was negative because, after his wife had just buried her father after a long illness and then days later Eliz. was kidnapped and his other daughter threatened (this was what the story was at the time), he checked himself into a hospital for several days for "exhaustion." I thought then that he had let down his wife and left his family defenseless against a predator who might come back.

I now have a slightly different take on those events, but I still think that Ed is self-centered and not very dependable.

[Utah Girl]

Whatever his faults, Ed Smart, along with the other Smart family members, kept the story going in the media. And eventually that led to Elizabeth being found.