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?

[NormsRevenge]

Thanks for the info. How many Smarts are there anyway? I have heard there are 70 1st cousins to Elizabeth which seems like an awful big number or a darn big family ..

[PJ-Comix]

What's with this "issues" bit? He kept repeating something about how they had issues as if there was some secret "issue" thing going on?

[Jhoffa_]

Yeah, I know..

It's almost like he's making excuses or an apology or something but doesn't come all the way out with it.

It's definately weird and if I were the cops I would definately look into this much more closely.

[PJ-Comix]

Right now on Hannity & Holmes there is a well known police detective named Timoney from the Philly Police Dept. who said a lot of the facts in the Smart abduction case don't add up. Timoney is a real pro. I remember reading about him in a book by a former NY Police Chief (Bratton).

[GovernmentShrinker]

There's also been a lot of discussion of that issue on other threads. From what I've read, the only person recommending the sketch be done was Marc Klaas, who has previously worked with the artist in question. It is entirely possible that the police, FBI, etc. were advising against it. We're talking about a 9 year old who saw the perp in the dark, probably from a lying down perspective, in profile only, and while absolutely terrified. If interviews with the girl led the professionals to believe she wouldn't be able to guide an artist to a meaningful sketch, the process could easily do more harm than good to the investigation and subsequent prosecution, and would almost certainly cause additional stress to the child as well, as she'd be forced to re-live the terror yet again. The last thing investigators need is a sketch floating around out there that looks absolutely nothing like the actual perpetrator, and a defense attorney would have a field day with such a sketch in court.

If the authorities make any statement to the effect that THEY want an artist of THEIR choice to try to produce a sketch with the little girl's help, and the family tries to interfere with that process, I'll be convinced there's something the family's hiding. But the fact that the self-appointed and rather pushy Marc Klaas got rebuffed by the family in HIS efforts to get HIS chosen artist to work with the girl to produce a sketch just doesn't strike me as anything we ought to be concerned about.

[PJ-Comix]

If I were with the SL police dept., I would override Tom's veto and have the sketch artist interview Elizabeth's sister to get a sketch of the perp. Why is Tom blocking the interview by the sketch artist?

[GovernmentShrinker]

It's not unusual for Mormons. One of the parents is one of 8 siblings, the other one of 6, and assuming the siblings have an average of 6 children apiece, just as Mr. and Mrs. Smart do, that gets us to 72 first cousins.

[Yup!!]

We don't know -- we have issues. We've been ripped apart by our polygraph. I don't know who has done what with my brothers.

Did he really say this?? How incredibly odd!!! What a weirdo!

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

Perhaps he has "issues" that have nothing to do with this case, but everything to do with other aspects of his family life. Perhaps he is in fear of those issues seeing the light of day (or at least the light of his family). It is tempting to jump in and accuse, but I always believed in the innocence of the Ramseys (not too many of us out there) and I will give him the same presumption of innocence until more evidence comes to light.

[GovernmentShrinker]

I'm sure both the SL police and the FBI have the authority to do that. The fact that they haven't should tell us something, i.e. that they probably don't think it should be done.

[Mr. K]

possibility: The FBI (or whoever) has tolf them not to bad mouth the kidnapper, so he thinks he doesn't have to kill her ...

another possibility- freind or relative took off with her, and the girl was in on it, and now they dont know how to get themselves out of the situation...

[kcordell]

What I would like to see is someone like Glen Ford (Original "Ransom") or Mel Gibson (Remake) stand up and say If you don't bring my daughter back or if you hurt her, I will spend the rest of my life hunting you down like a dog. By the time I'm through with you death will be a relief.

Sounds like "Uncle Tom" is the one with issues.

[PJ-Comix]

FLASH!!! Nancy Grace hosting Larry King Show right now and interviewing Henry Lee who says that the screen door in the Smart house was cut from the INSIDE, possibly as a way to make it APPEAR to be a break-in. This case is getting curiouser and curiouser. And apparently the perp didn't know that there are ways to tell if a screen door cut was made from the inside or outside.

[valkyrieanne]

This is not a "bizarre statement." Last summer I read a few books by John E. Douglas, the former FBI profiler who was a consultant on the film "Silence of the Lambs" and who essentially *defined* the science. One point he made is that the FBI works very closely with the families of victims, including "scripting" their public remarks.

Douglas points out that many serial killers are lone, asocial men who feel "misunderstood" and have many grudges. They want to believe that they're "not really bad guys;" that they're just "misunderstood;" that the victims really "led them on" etc. Playing into their sick psychology is sometimes judged necessary as part of the investigation/manhunt process.

This *may* be what's going on. Perhaps we shouldn't judge the family so hastily. Their public remarks might not be for our benefit but for other purposes entirely.

[GovernmentShrinker]

Yes, I think that's a very real possibility. When all the related families are being investigated, it's quite likely that some of them have unrelated personal matters that they'd prefer not to have come to light. This would be especially true for an active, respected Mormon family in Salt Lake City -- Mormon standards are very high, and personal and family reputations are very important to people. As long as they were sure that withholding the information in question couldn't hamper the search for Elizabeth, they might well go through some contortions to keep it under wraps.

[Jhoffa_]

Because he's guilty?

(works for me, he was acting like a flake.. )

[Jim Scott]

I really think we need to be careful about jumping on everything these people do or say that strikes us as strange or out of place.

I agree with that.

I've seen this before, as we all have. Everyone acts a bit strange in these situations as would most of the hyper-critical and ultra-suspicious folks who comment here. These parents and relatives aren't on a job interview or a TV game show. This is life and death in front of a hundred cameras, microphones and milling police, FBI agents and the simply curious. They are sleep-deprived and often scared and confused as anyone would be.

I see so many nasty posts making wild accusations and inferring all kinds of horrific plots and schemes by the frazzled families of lost or abducted children. It's sad that we leap to the worst conclusions in these tragic cases. Maybe there is something to be 'suspicious' about in the Smart case but probably not.

I'm also wondering about the odd statement the uncle made and it does sound like a possible runaway explanation but who really knows at this point? I'm willing to withold judgement for awhile until we know more. If this were my child gone missing for this long, I would probably be incoherent by now and thus, accused of 'not acting right' by many that post on these threads, all full of suspicion and instant judgements about someone they don't know, based on a 30 second edited TV clip. Let's give these folks a break, they have enough to deal with.

[Utah Girl]

Thanks for the info. How many Smarts are there anyway? I have heard there are 70 1st cousins to Elizabeth which seems like an awful big number or a darn big family ..

Lois Smart (the mom) comes from a family of eight children, Ed Smart comes from a family of six children. The Smarts themselves have six children. Pretty average size family in Utah. I come from a family of 10 children (gasp), there are 44 people in my immediate family (spouses, nieces, nephews, brothers, sisters, and parents.) Jump to my dad's family and it is over 225 people. Again, not unusual here.

[PJ-Comix]

It is starting to look like an inside job with the perp cutting the screen door (from the inside) to make it look like a break-in when it wasn't.

[Utah Girl]

Your comments are spot on. Thanks.