Bizarre Tom Smart Statement On Larry King Show

Larry King Show ^ | June 12, 2002

[PJ-Comix]

GRACE: Well Tom, I would have to agree with you. If police are searching the area with helicopters looking for this guy, that leads me to think that he's got some very important information that they want.

Tom Smart, message to the kidnapper tonight, what do you have to say?

[Utah Girl]

From a CNN article (Fred Louis is an SLC police spokesman):

Fred Louis expressed some anger with news coverage of the case. The Salt Lake Tribune reported Thursday that investigators are theorizing that a member of Elizabeth's extended family may have abducted her, staging it to look like the work of an intruder.

"I'm shocked and surprised about that article," Louis said. "I have no idea where that came from."

[Grig]

What is the local thinking on why the little 9 year old is staying with relatives?

My 10 year old daughter saw a huge bug in her bedroom two nights ago and STILL won't sleep in her own bed. I see nothing odd with this 9 year old not wanting to be in the place where she felt such terror.

[GovernmentShrinker]

I suppose that's a possibility. Also, various realtors might have keys, and anyone who had access to their offices could have had a copy made. Presumably all the older children had keys, and a stalker of some sort could have gotten hold of one and either kept it ("Mom, I lost my key" is no big deal) or had a copy made quickly and returned it before it was noticed missing. But I'd think the greatest source of keys would be the people working on the house, and their bevy of assistants. And of course, a number of members of the "extended family" may have had keys, and some of their friends, gardeners, housepainters, etc. could all conceivably have gotten hold of a key and had a copy made.

[Howlin]

I saw Marc Klaas on TV tonight; HE was in a snit because they wouldn't let the artist come into the house, but he was MOST upset because HE couldn't get in there.

I feel sorry for that man and what happened to his daughter, but he doesn't have a "right" to intrude on every single kidnapping in the world.

And that goes for the Most Wanted guy, too. They both give me the creeps.

[Utah Girl]

At least John Walsh got out of town after his show on Saturday night. Klaas just kind of won't go away...

[duvausa]

Interesting how many people on this thread reference films rather than real life experience--and I'm going to do it, too. In cases like this, I always remember that Meryl Streep "The dingo ate my baby" movie where the public - and the media-decided she'd killed her own child because her reactions just didn't seem right to them. It's just not fair to judge people on so little.

And on another note--what's the deal with the Mormon bashing? I'm not LDS, but we have a lot of them in my town and they are among the very best citizens. I think some people have a very strange idea of what the Mormon church is really like.

[jamaly]

I saw Marc Klaas on TV tonight; HE was in a snit because they wouldn't let the artist come into the house, but he was MOST upset because HE couldn't get in there.

I feel sorry for that man and what happened to his daughter, but he doesn't have a "right" to intrude on every single kidnapping in the world.

And that goes for the Most Wanted guy, too. They both give me the creeps.

I agree, Marc Klaas and John Walsh both have gone way past their fifteen minutes of fame. Of course, I felt sorry for them both when then children were brutally murdered. But, making a CAREER out of it is getting to be offensive to watch. Admittedly, John Walsh and his TV show have done a lot of good. I just wish he would stay in the background more instead of trying to be the "star" of the show. Marc Klass is far more obnoxious. If he had a TV show it would be called "All About Marc".

[Grig]

No, the only reason polygamy has been mentioned is because these are Mormons in Utah and old prejudices die hard. There is nothing whatsoever to suggest any link to any individual or group involved in polygamy. The Smart family are very much active, regular Mormons.

[GovernmentShrinker]

Your comment belies a pretty thorough ignorance of the term "Mormon". There is one large church, formally called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Days Saints, whose members are commonly referred to as "Mormons", and which has a membership of over 10 million people. A small percentage of the members of this church practiced polygamy in the 1800s, but they have been strictly prohibited from doing so for over a century. Excommunication is swift and permanent for any member caught involved in polygamy or even advocating it.

There are several tiny splinter groups, each headed by a self-appointed "prophet", but more properly called a "dirty old man", which claim to be following the Book of Mormon as the word of God. Their total numbers are probably only a few hundred, or maybe a few thousand tops. They live out in the boonies, have little money beyond what they scrape up through welfare fraud, and have a habit of forcibly "marrying" their adolescent nieces, each others daughters, etc., and living in polygamous families. Like all wacko splinter groups, they claim to be the "real" Mormons or whatever they're a splinter of. David Koresh's "Branch Davidian" group was a splinter version of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, and also claimed to be the "real" church, while Koresh kept his followers isolated from the rest of society and helped himself to sex with their little girls.

I don't know about you, but I'm a lot more inclined to take J.W. Marriott's (Mormon and Chairman/CEO of the Marriott Corp.) and Senator Orrin Hatch's word for which church is the "real" Mormon Church. Maybe you prefer to take the dirty old men's word. It's a free country -- you get to choose.

[PJ-Comix]

I always remember that Meryl Streep "The dingo ate my baby" movie where the public - and the media-decided she'd killed her own child because her reactions just didn't seem right to them. It's just not fair to judge people on so little.

Meryl Streep passed judgement on apple farmers years ago and claimed that the Alar pesticide they were using was dangerous. It almost killed off the apple industry. Oh, and it turned out that Alar wasn't dangerous at all.

[GovernmentShrinker]

In the real estate listing for the home, the 7 bedrooms were described as being : one in the basement, one on the first floor, and 5 on the 2nd floor. It may be that the girls preferred to share a room rather than have a room somewhat removed from most of the family, or that the family didn't use all those rooms as bedrooms. The house has an unusual configuration, as it's built into a steep hillside, so it's hard to say why people were arranged the way they were.

[GovernmentShrinker]

The family may already have been told by investigators at that point that a sketch was not advisable. The investigators interviewed Mary Katherine very early on, and probably would have decided at that point whether they wanted to try to have a sketch done with her assistance. Again, no official source has even hinted that investigators want a sketch to be done, much less that the family has interfered with their efforts to get one.

[CARepubGal]

The dirty old men are a nasty subculture in Utah though. Friends in Idaho told stories of Polygs recruiting girls in normal LDS meetings. It is a horrible possibility that may be reality.

[duvausa]

"Meryl Streep passed judgement on apple farmers years ago and claimed that the Alar pesticide they were using was dangerous. It almost killed off the apple industry. Oh, and it turned out that Alar wasn't dangerous at all."

I know. What I don't know is what this has to do with a film she starred in.

[Utah Girl]

I try to ignore the Mormon bashers for the most part. They creep out whenever there is a "Mormon" or a Utah post and try to rile us up with their comments. To be honest, I hate to see threads like the Elizabeth Smart threads be thrown off course with those kinds of comments.

[JudyB1938]

In Australia, do dingoes really eat babies?

The movie was based on a true story. Details at the above website.

[Howlin]

Well, I'm glad it's not just me.

Quite frankly, I've had about enough of ALL these experts, political and otherwise. Day in and day out. It's CREEPY.

[TJFLSTRAT]

My guess is the Girl is pregnant, and by a family member. {poligamy} She therefor had to be put away until she gives birth. Lets face it these people are MORMONS.

[GovernmentShrinker]

My boss (whose day job is banking) has made a boatload of money buying and reselling houses in the Greenwich, CT area where he lives. He made about $250,000 on one that he bought, spent two weekends with some hired help cleaning up the overgrown yard, had the interior painted, and then rented for a year. He'd been planning to do a lot more to it, but the people who were renting it decided they wanted to buy it "as is" for $250,000 more than my boss had paid for it. He's never lived in the houses he's fixing up to sell, though.

[duvausa]

thanks for that link--interesting.