Posted on 06/11/2002 6:33:20 AM PDT by 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
I think so too, and I bet they have someone specific in mind that they are watching for signs of sweat on to use for a warrent.
Probably a forensic psychologist.
“You’re now deceased. How does that make you feel?”
I can, and I'm sick of saying why. It is simply that nine year-olds don't use reason when they panic. She said earlier that the intruder told her that if she told anyone about this that her sister would be killed. Believe me, as someone closer to her age (14), that a nine year-old will think that the person will follow their every move and will find out if they told. They'd try to find their own solution to the problem. I've already used this example, but when I was nine and still at public school (I'm homeschooled now), my dad was late picking me up. After a few minutes I panicked and started to wander, thinking he'd forgotten me. He ended up parking the car and started looking for me. I found the car and, rather than wait there for him, I panicked even more and left to look some more. Obviously, I should have known better. My dad would never leave me there alone. But I was nine and I didn't reason and instead panicked, and tried to find my own solution rather than do the reasonable thing and wait. And that was hardly as traumatic a situation as seeing your sister being taken at gunpoint. This is the third time I've stated my position on this case. I just wish you guys would try and look at this from a nine year old's point of view. Nine year old's DON'T use reason when they panic and that would explain why she waited so long.
As for the screaming, if a guy comes in brandishing a gun, while screaming is probably the best thing to do, if he tells you to shut up, again, from a kid's and even a teen's point of view, reason will fail you and you'll shut up. I'd bet a lot of adults would be quiet if told by a gunman.
I have posted before about the reported 11 minute time span between the time the police were called and their arrival at the Smart home. At the time of their arrival, police say there were 10 neighbors already in the home. While several posters have tried to argue that neighbors can respond quickly in a time of emergency, I still find it incredible that all of those people could have been assembled within the 11 minute time span AFTER the police were called. (As I have said before, wouldn't these people have first checked their own houses and families before taking off for the Smart's house?)
What I am saying is there appears to have been a significant delay in contacting the police, and it appears to me that other people were consulted first. This behavior suggests to me that the parents either knew or suspected that the "unknown, armed abductor" story was not entirely true.
I think its very normal for a parent to refuse to consider such a horrible story to be true for a while, it's the last thing they want to belive.
Yeah that's what some folks tried to drum up (very misguidedly) for the Klaas case. That sounds so bogus. Is there any meat behind this idea in general, y'all?
She is still in the general N/NE SLC metro area.
I think police are right, that it is someone who has been working in the area as houses are built and renovated, electricians and plumbers helpers, other building trades. Or lives there, or did live there, or visits relatives there and stays over, or lives nearby and rides his bike in the area, sure.
Thus he would have been on a list for police to question.
If this was some put-up deal where Elizabeth was going to sneak off, and the 9 year old was sworn to secrecy, the police and parents would have busted the little girl out of THAT foolishness in about 15 minutes.
What scares me is that if she was finally killed last night, what would be about 11:43 pm in Utah, that NOW and only NOW, last night and today, this perp may be confronted with the question of body disposal. I am terribly afraid he is under a house under const, digging back into ground that seems so light-brown in color and loose, gravelly (by Eastern standards at least, am I crazy?) so not too hard to dig and will put it back in there behind what just looks like a framing 2x4s of wall, wouldn't that rot out under ground? Or is Utah that dry?
This new house under const does not look like a large or fancy home, throw em up by the hundreds, build em cheap and dirty it looks like to me. Must not be in Federal Heights!
I agree. I backed by car over my front wall, had to call the fire department. I had the entire street looking over my mistake within about 10 min. after the fire dept arrived.
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