***Smart Case Stumps Police***

THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE ^ | 6/12/02 | KEVIN CANTERA

[MVV]

BY KEVIN CANTERA
THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE

    Six days after a teen-age girl reportedly was kidnapped from her Salt Lake City home by an unknown gunman, police said Monday they have ruled out the possibility Elizabeth Smart staged her own abduction and was a runaway.
    With no credible leads and almost no physical evidence, baffled investigators have re-examined the family's Federal Heights home, reinterviewed members of the family and administered a polygraph test to the 14-year-old girl's father, said Salt Lake City police Capt. Scott Atkinson. He emphasized Edward Smart is not a suspect in his daughter's disappearance.
    Edward Smart took the lie detector test willingly Sunday and the results were being scrutinized by FBI agents Monday, said Atkinson.
    "We are looking at every possible angle. [The polygraph] is just one of the tools we've been using," Atkinson said.
    Investigators refused to say what questions Smart had been asked during the interview. He is the only family member to be tested, but Atkinson said other relatives could be asked to take a similar test.
    "We are no closer to solving the case," Atkinson said, noting that 100 detectives, including about 40 federal agents, were sifting through "hundreds" of leads pouring in to police dispatchers from around the country.
    In a brief statement Monday, Edward Smart said he took the test because he had "nothing to hide. . . . It's not uncommon in a case like this for a polygraph to be administered. When asked by law enforcement, I fully cooperated."
    Elizabeth was taken by an armed intruder inside her family's Federal Heights home between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. Wednesday, according to police. The man, who reportedly carried a small black handgun, entered the bedroom shared by Elizabeth and her 9-year-old sister. He forced Elizabeth to go with him and threatened the younger girl that if she told anyone, her sister would be hurt, the child told police.
    The girl -- the only witness to the abduction -- waited two hours or more, then woke her parents, police said. The abductor "didn't leave any clues," Atkinson said. Police planned to question the 9-year-old girl, but would probably not issue a more detailed description of the suspect, he said.
    Dozens of off-road enthusiasts were asked Monday to bring their all-terrain vehicles to a wide expanse of barren desert west of Salt Lake City to hunt for clues.
    "Every day we want a place where we can do one search," said Tom Smart, Elizabeth's uncle, in making the plea for the off-road quest. No specific information prompted the plan to search the desert, said Smart, who suggested "horse posses" might be used to hunt for the girl in the future.
    Between 400 and 500 volunteers took part in other search efforts, going through neighborhoods, city parks and surrounding foothills, calling Elizabeth's name and posting fliers.
    Residents throughout Utah have been asked to search their own property -- under boat covers and inside vacation cabins, for instance -- and the Utah Farm Bureau Federation encouraged the state's farmers to comb their farms, fields and outbuildings.
    As the hunt continues, Elizabeth's loved ones remain hopeful.
    "The whole family believes she is alive," said Elizabeth's cousin, Sierra Smart, who said she is as perplexed as police investigators by the girl's disappearance. "It is exactly as confusing as it appears. There's no secret."
   kcantera@sltrib.com

[VRWC_minion]

Second thought. I don't know there wasn't screaming and whether the the layout of the house would make it difficult for parents to hear. I understand it is a large house.

[Iwo Jima]

My sentiment is that you should focus on the market these are values.

[Neenah]

Hannity and Colmes is talking with Uncle and Dective now on FOX. Mary Kathryn has been re-interviewed. And they are consentrating on family and people who knew her

Hannity asked ..." If she didn't scream..could it be that she knew the person? " Dective: "yes". Whoa !!

"We know what kind of person the abductor is" " How did you know that?" " We brought in Behavioral Scientists". " We know she will come home"........

Huh ?

[Vinomori]

The dig against the church was completely out of line.

Understanding the behavior of members of that church is objective inquiry, and hardly a dig. The observation was not out of line.

[VRWC_minion]

"We know what kind of person the abductor is"

A friend attempting to protect her ? From what, the father ? I have a feeling this might get a little perverse.

[Eva]

What I have noticed is that they are keeping the nine year old cloistered away at a grandpart's house. It sounded like the police had only spoken to her over the phone. I can't see how that could be possible, but that was the reason they said they didn't want a composite done at that time. It seemed like they were afraid that the police would badger the little girl and make her feel guilty.

[bonfire]

the police have only spoken to the ONE witness by phone?? That is unbelievable!!

[GovernmentShrinker]

Every article I've seen has made it clear that the Smarts were members of the Salt Lake City based Church, were respected in the community, etc. Several articles have even named the ward they attend. The polygamist sects are puny little groups run by self-appointed prophets, whose members aren't respected by anyone but themselves, and none of them are living in million dollar homes in Salt Lake CIty. They live largely on welfare, in shabby conditions, and in remote areas. When someone is referred to as "a Mormon", it's safe to assume that what's meant is the main Salt Lake City based Church, unless some splinter group is specified. Just the way that if someone is referred to as "a Catholic", it's safe to assume that they are members of the Vatican based Roman Catholic Church, even though various little splinter groups calling themselves "Catholic" do exist.

[Neenah]

It seemed like they were afraid that the police would badger the little girl and make her feel guilty.

I don't see it like that. I see , first, that it makes NO SENSE that they would not talk FIRST AND FORMOST TO HER. She is the ONLY ONE to talk to ! And her description was the ONLY LEAD to get an artist to draw.

I think they KNOW that something fishy went on. They know that it is a family matter, and therefore, THAT IS THE REASON why they didn't rush to talk to the girl. After all, Mary Kathryn is the only one to give detail. Who knows, maybe she already has told them WHO it is. THERE HAS TO BE A REASON WHY A PICTURE WAS NOT GIVEN !and I am sure it is not because she is 9, and they didn't want to badger her. Without her, they don't have a lead. And no 9 year old child is mature enough to not slip up if they are cornered. They, in a very short time will tell the truth. Now...if the parent's or strong Uncle protecting the Dad, do not co-operate..welllllllllll........

[GovernmentShrinker]

Good point which I haven't seen raised before. My guess is that he was as surprised as anyone else to find that the girls shared a room. In a house that size, and with 7 bedrooms, 2 parents, and 6 kids, he may well have assumed that each child had his/her own bedroom, and that once he found the right bedroom (or he might have had some way of knowing in advance which room was Elizabeth's, without knowing that it was also Mary Katherine's) he would find Elizabeth asleep and be able to gag her before she really woke up and made any noise.

[Neenah]

In a post a way back..I stated that I heard on The Today Show this morning, that ALL family members, yesterday had been interviewed.

The Grandfather and Grandmother (Mrs. Smart's parents) were interviewed by Anne Currey. When the Grandfather said that..I KNEW that he was NOT suppose to say that on t.v.

Ann, then, had her eyebrows raised, like an exclusive..and had him repeat it. I thought the Grandmother was going to choke !! But they said...yep, everyone was interviewed, and I believe it was yesterday.

[Neenah]

Could be....they KNEW him. No need to scream.

[OldEagle]

I have to agree with Iwo Jima. I think she went out to do whatever teenage girls do when they sneak out through a window. The nine-year-old's story doesn't feel right. Has anyone heard anything else on the uncle? I doubt he is a suspect, but it sounds like he knows something!

[crystalk]

No, those were the paternal grandparents. The maternal grandfather was buried a week ago and more.

[Neenah]

People would be amazed if they did a search on what the church of Morman is...what they practice.

Most people think they are christians. Most people think they are the Morman Tabernacle Choir. Not so. It is alot more than that.There is alot of secrecy there. People just don't know it.

[GovernmentShrinker]

I didn't see the interview, but Mormon men do run things -- it's part of the Church's culture, in which they are trained from an early age. An active Mormon man in the company I work for has managed to make enemies of practically all his peers and superiors, largely through incidents in which he took charge of situations that others didn't think he had a right to take charge of, or made decisions without consulting others. Personally, I like him, and don't think he was intentionally trampling on other people's turf, but his mostly male and all non-Mormon peers and superiors seem to have had instinctively negative reactions to his ways of dealing with things.

[Neenah]

Thank you...you are right. What did you take from the intervaiew?

[spectre]

Good post. He let her put her tennis shoes on, and didn't harm the little sister, so maybe he has some semblence of a conscience? I hope.

I think they went off on foot, and he is holding her. Don't get the feeling she is dead...and I'm no psychic. Just perceptive.

sw

[CARepubGal]

Sorry to say, that was my question. She is prime Polyg breeding age.

[OldEagle]

As long as everybody is speculating...and the family appears to know something...and could be hiding something...WHAT IF... Something happened...and the child had to leave town for a while...and the family didn't want anybody to know about it?...You know, the kind of thing that happens unexpectedly to teen-aged girls and the family doesn't want to consider an alternative?