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.
I've noticed a LOT of such delusion of grandeur on these threads. ON an earlier one, for example, someone defended the cockamamie "theories" being thrown around--most of which cast the Smart family as evil villains--by saying "we're trying to help the authorities."
Doesn't that strike you as very strange?
That must have been what brought Illbay running over here........
So when I heard the news last Friday that the search was going in a different direction, my heart sank, but actually, if the communities do get involved and urge their people to search their own property, it has broadened.
I wrote (sports) for my college paper, and I was (and remain) completely unimpressed by the sort of lazy airheads who go into "Journalism". For one thing, I was the only Science major on the paper- but these hippie losers felt no constraints against writing utter crap about scientific subjects. As for mathematics (and especially any understanding of statistics) FORGET IT!!
My problems with this case, though, emanate not so much from the media reports (second or third-hand as they are), but from the passing strange and often unfathomable comments that have been repeatedly made by the father and the uncle. It is like a puzzle that suddenly makes sense if looked at with the ASSUMPTION that the identity of the abductor is known to them. Otherwise, they seem bizarre.
By the way, I am NOT one of the "Mormon-bashers" on these threads. I served with several Mormons in the Army (Special Forces and other fairly demanding assignments) and I admired their faith, and resistance to the temptations incident to miltary life. They tended to be more trusting and much less cynical about people than I am- but almost everyone is!
I also think both the father and other family members have been overwhelmed by the support and compassion that has been showered on them. They believe in prayer, and I have heard them say that they have felt spiritual comfort. I think they are, sometimes clumsily, trying to tell people that the impact of all the prayers offered in their behalf has been felt by them.
What does this family know that they're not telling the public? I'm sure they've told the police everything they know.
Why not stop with the "you have no first-hand knowledge of this case" red herring and the personal attacks on posters who spout fairly "creative" theories and who even make fantastical conclusions about this case?
For the most part, posts on Free Republic are by people who have no first-hand knowledge of various subjects and rely on media reports, books, etc. for their information. But that's the nature of the forum.
Would it make sense to you to limit posting on say, California Gun Control Permit Laws only to FR posters who have applied for California Gun Permits? Of course not.
Perhaps if you prefer a moderated "SLC-Mormons-only-discuss-Smart-case" forum, you should start one of your own with Yahoo Groups?
Of course, you're violating your own dictum here since on this and many other threads you make conclusions on posters' level of "first-hand knowledge" without having any of such "first-hand knowledge" of your own about the poster's experience or locale.
Just as you find the bizarre theories bandied about here to be distracting, I find your defensive and short-tempered posts to be more distracting and even less topical. You've stated your case already on many threads.
And furthermore, you calling posters "cretins" and "pissants" is a crude way to convince people of the decency of your "cause."
Expecting a name-calling response any minute now...
Now there is Code. BTW, "the association" should be capitalized if its name is to be spoken at all. You are forgiven, but only if you swear by Fplkjrfpj to be more careful in the future.... <~+]\/@*.^
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