Police on Saturday said they are looking for a man who had contact with 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart before she was reportedly kidnapped from her bedroom at gunpoint four days ago.
That man is described as white, in his late 30s to 40s, with a ruddy complexion and a lined face. He is missing a front tooth and was wearing a red beret, police said. He may have a gold earring.
The man is not considered a suspect, but is wanted for questioning, said Salt Lake City Police Capt. Scott Atkinson.
The man reportedly had contact with Elizabeth at a social function, but Atkinson wouldn't say where or when that was. The sketch was drawn based on descriptions from Smart family members.
Detectives want to talk to the red-hatted man to either eliminate him as a suspect or investigate him further, Atkinson said.
"It's important not to say 'this is the guy,"' said Tom Smart, Elizabeth's uncle.
While about 100 detectives follow up on the thousands of potential leads being called into the Salt Lake City Police Department, the Smart family asked volunteer pilots to coordinate an air search Saturday.
About a dozen pilots responded to the request and are expected to take to the air Saturday afternoon.
"We believe that Elizabeth is alive. We feel in our hearts that we know she is alive. That is a very strong thing," Tom Smart said on Saturday. "She's somewhere. Check your basements. Check your houses."
Elizabeth, described by friends and family as a quiet girl, was taken from her home between 1 am. and 2 a.m. Wednesday. She was wearing short red satin pajamas. Police said the kidnapper allowed her to put on white canvas tennis shoes before she was taken away from her wealthy Federal Heights neighborhood.
The younger girl has not been able to clearly describe the man, telling police only that the kidnapper carried a small black gun and was about 5-foot-8, white, with dark hair, and dressed in a tan denim-type jacket and white baseball cap.
Dinse said police have some evidence that confirms an intruder was in the house, though he wouldn't reveal it. He also refused to discuss the conversation the intruder had with the sister before taking Elizabeth.
The police chief also expressed frustration with the crime scene. He said at least 10 of the Smarts' neighbors were invited into the house before police could arrive at 4 a.m. Wednesday.
"Everyone is still a suspect," Capt. Atkinsosaid. But the family is not the focus of the investigation, police said.
The girl's father, Ed Smart, was released from a hospital in good condition Friday after collapsing from exhaustion. He had slept little in the hours since his daughter's disappearance. He and his wife, Lois, planned to meet with search volunteers Saturday afternoon to thank them.
Ed's brother, David Smart, said the man is doing well.
Thousands of volunteers have been searching the city and nearby foothills for any trace of the teen or her abductor. Police, however, are no longer searching locally for the girl.
Tracking dogs had indicated they smelled something in Red Butte Canyon, several miles from the Smart home, on Friday, but a grid search of the area turned up nothing, Atkinson said.
***Detectives want to talk to the red-hatted man to either eliminate him as a suspect or investigate him further, Atkinson said.
"It's important not to say 'this is the guy,"' said Tom Smart, Elizabeth's uncle. ***
I'm wondering if the sketch looks like the abductor or is the abductor a different person. So confusing..can't imagine what the Smart family is going through.
There but by the grace of God go I.
Check your basements. Check your houses. That's interesting. Sounds like they know something.