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Police now say abductor of 14-year-old Utah girl didn't know he was watched by her sister
AP | June 18, 2002 | RICH VOSEPKA

Posted on 06/18/2002 10:50:57 AM PDT by The Energizer

Police now say abductor of 14-year-old Utah girl didn't know he was watched by her sister

By RICH VOSEPKA=

Associated Press Writer=

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) Police investigating the disappearance of 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart said Tuesday the man was not aware that the girl's little sister witnessed the apparent abduction.

Two weeks ago, Elizabeth was taken by gunpoint from the queen-sized bed shared by the two girls in the Federal Heights home.

He told Elizabeth to grab some shoes and as he left with her.

Although it was earlier reported that 9-year-old Mary Katherine Smart had been warned to remain quiet, police who interviewed the youngster several times now say the man did not speak to the child. The little sister waited two hours before alerting her parents.

``We believe this man may be a trusted person in the neighborhood or community,'' said Salt Lake City Police Capt. Scott Atkinson. The kidnapper was calm, he added.

Police reiterated their description of their suspect: A white man, 30 to 40 years old, with dark hair and hair on his arms and back of his hands. He was wearing tan pants, dark shoes, lighter jacket and a golf hat. He held a small handgun.

``He spoke nicely and dressed nicely,'' Atkinson said.

On Tuesday, Atkinson held up a similar pair of tennis shoes that the kidnapper allowed Elizabeth to take with her. They were white Ralph Lauren athletic shoes with dark stripes and thick soles.

Investigators still want to talk to Bret Michael Edmunds, who continues to elude them. Edmunds isn't a suspect, but he was spotted near the Smart's home two days before the kidnapping, leading police to think he might have information in the case.

``I believe Edmunds is a witness to something, we don't know what,'' Atkinson said.

Edmunds is wanted for parole violation and spraying pepper spray at a West Valley policeman who stopped him.

The community is offering a $250,000 reward for the girl's safe return. Neighborhoods are organizing searches for the teen after a centralized search effort was disbanded Friday.

A Web site to help find Elizabeth has had more than 8 million hits, which overloaded the system, said Ted Wilson, former Salt Lake City mayor.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Utah
KEYWORDS: abduction; elizabethsmart; kidnapping; missing; utah
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To: baseballfanjm
baseballfanjm wrote:
Maybe if she tried to alert someone.

This is a key lesson of this and other child snatchings. I recommend instructing children to scream loudly if a stranger comes into the house. I see a greater probablility of a safe outcome in that instance than in hoping for the child's safe return once abducted.

41 posted on 06/18/2002 11:37:43 AM PDT by ER_in_OC,CA
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To: per loin; babylonian
And what are the "facts" that the Smart family members aren't coming up with? What do YOU know?

Or does innuendo and baseless speculation devoid of any rational purpose sum up all you can contribute to this effort?

42 posted on 06/18/2002 11:37:47 AM PDT by Illbay
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To: brigette
"Atkinson said Mary Katherine saw the suspect in two different locations in the home, and that both sightings were connected with the abduction I thought the 9 year old stayed in bed for a couple of hours before she alerted her parents.
43 posted on 06/18/2002 11:39:35 AM PDT by Millie
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To: Illbay
Leave babylonion alone, he just said he's only a fruit inspector. You are about to be inspected.
44 posted on 06/18/2002 11:40:32 AM PDT by Fred Mertz
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To: Stingray51
I was the first poster to speak out that the sisters story didnt add up way back on the original 'breaking' thread of this girls 'kidnapping'.

I have taken many a flame for this. I still stand by my contention that the sisters story is a fabrication by either herself, or feed to her by her missing sister.

45 posted on 06/18/2002 11:41:31 AM PDT by Phantom Lord
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To: Illbay
Who peed in your cornflakes? I didn't accuse the little girl of lying. I'm only asking reasonable follow-up questions. If it's light enough in a bedroom at 1 or 2 a.m. to see hair on the back of a person's hand, it follows that it might be light enough too see his face, and I wonder why she didn't. If the guy was wearing a jacket - presumably covering his arms - I wonder how she saw hair on his arms. My guess is that whatever she told the police is losing something in the translation by the time it hits the press and gets to us.
46 posted on 06/18/2002 11:43:13 AM PDT by mountaineer
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To: Millie
I thought the 9 year old stayed in bed for a couple of hours before she alerted her parents.

If we make allowances for media misreporting, then perhaps it went along these lines:

She saw the guy while she was in bed, and then later tiptoed to the bedroom door and watched them leave. She could have heard him telling Elizabeth to be quiet or he'd kill her (Elizabeth), and mistaken it to be a comment directed to her. Fear of being seen (and killed) could have sent her back to her bed, where she remained quiet and still. After a long period of terrified silence, she finally crept to her parents' room, and spilled the beans.

The story is still plausible.

47 posted on 06/18/2002 11:45:08 AM PDT by r9etb
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To: Fred Mertz
I inspected that fruit a long time ago. :)
48 posted on 06/18/2002 11:45:33 AM PDT by babylonian
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To: lady lawyer
And such often is a result of what the media are fed by the police, who are doing their best to solve a tragic case.

Investigators often use the media as an unwitting (or cooperative) tool in psyching/flushing out suspects and even witnesses, as you no doubt know.

BTW, why would anyone think or even imagine that, with all of their current heartache and fear, that the Smart family would enlist you to sway the opinions of people who frequent the FR??

And why would anyone suspect this visibly shaken family of complicity in this horrible crime?? I can say with certainty that if I were a member of a family that was involved in a cover-up that could lead to the harming of a child, the next Thanksgiving dinner would not be pleasant, if it were held at all (please excuse my hyperbole). Indeed, I likely would be a witness, informant, and or misdemeanor defendant who no longer acknowledged being a member of such a family.

As Mark Twain once said, the only way that a secret can exist between two people is if one of them is dead...

49 posted on 06/18/2002 11:47:45 AM PDT by tracer
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To: MrNeutron1962
I’ve seen the rants about how a Mormon father would never give up his daughter to a polygamist, blah, blah, blah.

Actually, the rants you've seen are against pissants like yourself who have NO, ABSOLUTELY ZERO, information about this case other than what they vaunted news media--you know, the ones you love to revile when they report on the Clintons?--have put out, much of which has been erroneous, and yet you still come up with this wild speculations that don't even have a corrollary in history.

In other words, typical FReeper cretins: The less they know about something, the more extravagant their opinions.

So, you need to understand you're going to be rebuked by those of us who know a little bit more about "the Mormon code" than you do.

50 posted on 06/18/2002 11:49:43 AM PDT by Illbay
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To: Illbay
Good question. Atkinson has told us that the crime occurred between 1 and 2 AM, yet the call to the police was not made until 4:01 AM, and by the time police arrived at the scene many other people were there. This time lapse has been generally attributed to Mary Catherine being terrified by the threats made to her. But now we find that no such threats were made to her, and the reason for her not telling her parents disappears. Why then the long delay until the police are called. The Smarts, who have daily called on the public to aid them, owe the public an explanation. What time did the parents find out that their daughter had been "kidnapped at gun point"? Did they know at 3:00AM? At 2:00AM?
51 posted on 06/18/2002 11:51:15 AM PDT by per loin
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To: Phantom Lord
Except that child forensic interviewers say that Mary Catherine's story has remained consistent. New details emerge, but the overall story remains and has remained the same. I read in the SL Tribune one psychologist who said that there wasn't enough time to drill that kind of a story into a nine year old's head. Usually if the story is a lie, it falls apart rather quickly, and Mary Catherine's has not.
52 posted on 06/18/2002 11:51:38 AM PDT by Utah Girl
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To: mountaineer
You are right about this losing something in the translation. Below is an article that appeared a week ago, on June 11, in the Deseret News. It is important because it contains this supposedly "new" information about the abductor not knowing the sister was awake and watching. It is also important because it says the little sister's story has been consistent from the beginning.

The url for this story is http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,405010970,00.html (I don't remember how to do links)

**********************

'We are going to get you'

By Derek Jensen

Deseret News staff writer

In a major development in the 7-day-old Elizabeth Smart kidnapping case, police say they may have already talked to the man who abducted the 14-year-old from her Federal Heights home last week.

Salt Lake Police Chief Rick Dinse said Tuesday that investigators believe the unidentified suspect is in the area of the Smart home.

"My caution to this suspect is we are going to get you," Dinse told reporters at a late morning news briefing. " And if he's got Elizabeth he'd better release her now."

Forensic evidence, crime scene analysis and "promising leads" led investigators Tuesday to announce they had narrowed their search for Elizabeth's abductor to family, friends and individuals who may have had contact with the family at the time of her abduction, Dinse said.

"It is possible we have already talked to or will soon talk to the suspect responsible for this crime," Dinse said. "We believe that we have an understanding of this suspect . . . I think it is someone who had access to that area, who would have access to that residence."

Despite the narrowing of the search, Dinse said police have not zeroed in on any specific person. Police are also not ruling out the possibility that more than one person was involved in Elizabeth's kidnapping, Dinse said.

To date, police have received 6,000 leads, 600 of which merited follow-up, Dinse said. As of Tuesday morning, detectives had already followed up on about half of these 600.

Police won't say what tools investigators used or what, if any, evidence they discovered inside the Smart home after a search Monday night.

"They wanted to be in the house at the same time the events all occurred," Salt Lake Police Sgt. Fred Louis said. "They went to check lighting and that sort of thing."

Police were in the home between 1:15 a.m. and 2:15 a.m. when it appears Elizabeth was taken by gunpoint from her room, and investigators left the home about 3 a.m., police said.

The search of the Smarts' million-dollar home near 1500 E. Kristianna Circle (420 North) was the latest in a series of developments in a case that has continued to baffle investigators.

Police say a man took Elizabeth by gunpoint from her bedroom between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. last Wednesday as her 9-year-old sister watched. Police originally said the kidnapper threatened to harm Elizabeth if the 9-year-old told anyone what had happened, but in recent days they've remained vague about what exactly the girl saw or heard.

Police interviewed Elizabeth's sister Monday but wouldn't say exactly what she told detectives.

"Her story has been consistent throughout," Salt Lake Police Capt. Scott Atkinson said.

Elizabeth Smart's father also submitted to a polygraph test Sunday, but authorities won't say what questions were asked, whether he had an attorney present or what the results showed.

"When asked by law enforcement I fully cooperated because I have nothing to hide. We are doing everything in our power to bring back Elizabeth," Edward Smart said in a statement released Monday evening.

Edward Smart's brother, Deseret News photographer Tom Smart, said his brother described the polygraph test as "four hours of hell."

Police said the lie detector test is a common tool used by investigators.

As of Tuesday morning, Elizabeth's father was the only family member who'd taken a polygraph test, police said.

"I think that's a normal thing," Elizabeth's grandmother Dorotha Smart told NBC's "Today Show" Tuesday morning. "It's all right. Any one of us would be happy to go through with that."

As investigators narrowed their search for Elizabeth's kidnapper Tuesday, volunteers once again poured into the Federal Heights Ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to take part in the search for the missing 14-year-old.

Air and ground searches were planned for the day, with more ATV searches planned for Wednesday, said cousin Rob Sanders, one of several family members who are helping coordinate the search for Elizabeth.

Volunteers on ATVs searched the West Desert near Tooele on Monday. Searchers on horseback also looked for clues in Utah County, and people on mountain bikes have been searching in various wilderness areas, Sanders said.

"The ATVs and the horses have been extremely critical for us because we're able to cover larger areas we can't cover on foot," Sanders said.

While volunteer numbers have dwindled since the weekend, almost 1,000 people helped look for Elizabeth on Monday, Sanders said. Searchers continued to arrive Tuesday morning at the Federal Heights Ward building from which the search is being coordinated.

While the search for Elizabeth entered its seventh day Tuesday, family members still believe the girl is alive somewhere.

"I would say this," Elizabeth's grandfather told "Today" on NBC, "whoever took her, there isn't a more wonderful girl that's more pure and innocent than Elizabeth. And the greatest thing they could possibly do is just to release her and let her come home. We have great faith as a family that the perpetrator of this will soften his heart and let her come home."

53 posted on 06/18/2002 11:54:00 AM PDT by lady lawyer
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To: mountaineer
I did see an interview with Tom and Lois Smart last night on the local Fox News, and they wouldn't comment on whether or not the little girl saw the perp's face. They said they couldn't comment because of the ongoing investigation, and police had asked them not to. I've seen in the media where she didn't see his face, she just saw him in profile, etc, so... This can get very frustrating to have reporters reporting stuff that the police have no comment on officially, and the reporters are reporting clues from their 'inside' sources, and some of the stuff has turned out to be wrong already (the screen cut from the inside.)
54 posted on 06/18/2002 11:54:28 AM PDT by Utah Girl
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To: Utah Girl
(re: the Mormon code, tell the others not to breathe a word of it. Mum's the word, sister)..

(the secret phrase for today is "a joy and a delight." Don't tell any outsiders, though, or you know what will happen) 8~)

55 posted on 06/18/2002 11:55:21 AM PDT by tracer
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To: MrNeutron1962
I don't know about any "Mormon Code" but there may be some "Family Code." I would bet that a high percentage of the police working on this case are also Mormon, probably over 50%. This case makes little sence.

The only explanation that make sence to me are that the cops, or the family, or both know who the kidnapper is. Or, more likely, the kidnapper has contacted the cops or family and has kept his identity hidden. Either way, we aren't being told everything they know. That may be a good thing. But, if they really had no idea what was going on, it seems that they would be telling the public as much as possible so that they could help in the search.

I think that decentralizing the search has effectively killed the search and volunteer effort even though it is being reported as having been expanded by making it decentralized. They could have done the same thing by keeping the centralized command center that directs all of the neighborhood command centers. To me, that would be more effective. Let me know that I am wrong if you have seen an increase in the search effort. I haven't seen it. To me, that suggests that they know who has her or have been contacted by the kidnapper.

I don't buy the polygamy angle. I have met Tom Green a few times. I am freinds with some of his children. He is in jail right now so it wasn't him. There are tons of different Polygamy groups out there and some are plain nuts if you ask me. But, I have never heard of poligamist groups that kidnap their wives. That type of story has been made up by non-polygamists before. There is even an old black and white movie about it. I am a Mormon, not a polygamist. My polygamist friends were always taught that the Mormon church was led by the devil.

56 posted on 06/18/2002 11:56:18 AM PDT by Rad_J
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To: lady lawyer
I'm sorry, I misspoke. The story I posted doesn't contain the information about the little girl pretending she was asleep, but it does show the police changing their initial characterization of what the little sister said, and stating that the little girl hasn't changed her story. But information about her pretending to be asleep and overhearing what was said to her sister came out on the broadcast media locally before this printed story.
57 posted on 06/18/2002 11:56:22 AM PDT by lady lawyer
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To: Utah Girl
Oh, my heck!! I thought that my last message was via "Private Reply".... 8~)
58 posted on 06/18/2002 11:57:13 AM PDT by tracer
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To: mountaineer
I'm only asking reasonable follow-up questions.

No, you're concocting silly fables based on zero information, just like most of the people on these threads.

59 posted on 06/18/2002 11:57:52 AM PDT by Illbay
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To: per loin
As per the press conference with police just a bit ago, Mary Catherine, the 9 year old sister is still feeling threatened. No the abductor didn't talk to her, and she did overhear the conversation between the abductor and Elizabeth, he was threatening Elizabeth. Nine year kids (and younger, and probably a bit older) scare quite easily over a lot of things. I can't even imagine what it would be like to be threatened with a gun. And if Elizabeth is never found, imagine what the sister will live with the rest of her life.
60 posted on 06/18/2002 11:58:02 AM PDT by Utah Girl
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