[The Energizer]

This story keeps getting stranger or stranger . . .

[lady lawyer]

The family didn't change the story. This was reported locally very soon after the abduction. The initial characterization in the media, in the first few hours, was that the threat was directed to the younger sister. That was publicly contradicted very quickly, and reported that she heard the threat to her older sister. She pretended to be asleep, and the kidnapper never spoke directly to her.

The national media have been slow to correct the original mischaracterization. That's all.

[mountaineer]

How did she see his arms if he was wearing a jacket? Were the lights on? Was it bright enough to see the backs of his hands and discern that he had hair on them? If she saw all that, I wonder how she missed a glimpse of his face.

[per loin]

Yes. The whole story of why the police were not called until 4:01 AM falls apart with today's news briefing. It's time for the Smart family to come clean with the facts.

[babylonian]

What does this family know that they're not telling the cops?

[mgstarr]

This really isn't adding up right. Why does it seem like the cops are throwing things out there in hopes of spooking the abductor?

Most likely is still that she knew the man she left with.

[stlnative]

Elizabeth's Kidnapper Didn't Know Sister Was Awake

Tuesday, June 18, 2002

SALT LAKE CITY  — The gunman who kidnapped 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart did not know that the girl's 9-year-old sister was awake at the time of the abduction, police said Tuesday.

Mary Katherine Smart saw the gunman twice, in different parts of the house, and witnessed the gunman warning Elizabeth not to speak, Police Sgt. Scott Atkinson said.

It had previously been reported that the kidnapper warned the younger girl to remain quiet.

Atkinson said Mary Katherine saw the suspect in two different locations in the home, and that both sightings were connected with the abduction.

He said there was no indication that the suspect may have been in the house for a reason other than to take Elizabeth.

"We believe this man may be a trusted person in the neighborhood or community," Atkinson said. The kidnapper was calm, he added. "He spoke nicely and dressed nicely."

Police reiterated their description of their suspect:

A white man, 5-foot-8 to 5-foot-10, 30 to 40 years old, with dark hair and hair on his arms and back of his hands. He was wearing a Polo brand shirt, tan pants, dark shoes, a lighter jacket and a golf hat. Atkinson said he held a small handgun.

Atkinson also held up a pair of white Ralph Lauren Polo brand canvas tennis shoes similar to those the kidnapper allowed Elizabeth to take with her.

He said investigators still want to talk to Bret Michael Edmunds, who continues to elude them. He stressed that Edmunds isn't a suspect, but he was spotted near the Smart's home two days before the kidnapping, leading police to think he may 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.

"Keep a watch. I think every person can be a searcher," Ed Smart, Elizabeth's father, said Tuesday. "I still feel so strongly inside that she is waiting for us to find her. And that she is alive and well."

"I would just plead with this captor to please make the right decision and let her go," Smart said.

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

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[The G Man]

The police are also now saying that the assailant was witnessed by the sister in TWO DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE HOUSE!! What the... ???

[Stingray51]

Where are the people from yesterday's threads who attacked those of us who suggested that the story didn't add up?

[MrNeutron1962]

Lets see, first we are told that the attacker threatened to come back and kill the 9 year old if she summoned help.

Then we are told that the kidnapper just threatened Elizabeth, not the sister.

Then we are told that the girl didn’t see his face.

Now we are told that the kidnapper never even saw the sister.

OK, as my earlier post shows, I was completely ready to believe the 9 year old was so frightened by the event that it took her 2 hours to tell her parents. I’m beginning to have serious second thoughts about this case. I wonder if there was any kidnapper at all, how about a new "Husband" taking his new wife. I know, I’ve seen the rants about how a Mormon father would never give up his daughter to a polygamist, blah, blah, blah. I’m even willing to admit that the parents angst is genuine. But I’m beginning to wonder if it is for the reasons that we have been led to suspect, or is it that she ran off to set up housekeeping with one of the 100 or so cousins.

So, if its not a polygamist thing, then would a "lonely" 14 year old girl deliberately run away with an older, and possibly in her eyes, more loving and considerate male relative. Does the family know, or suspect who it is, but some kind of "Mormon Code" prevents them from telling the police. Sort of like various Orthodox Jewish sects use Talmudic Law to justify not involving the civil authorities. Perhaps the family is hoping this person will "release " or convince her to return to her family without the whole thing coming out.

I pray I am correct and that she is safe and sound, but now just confused and scared. Does she reappear and come up with another cover story? Does she stay with her new husband and hope it all blows over? Did she underestimate the community and media response, and is now afraid to be charged with a crime? Does she genuinely not what to go home, for whatever reason? Can she leave of her own free will, or is she under house arrest, so to speak, or sadly, is she dead?

I expect some flaming for suggesting a "Mormon Code" (my term for it) is at work here. I’m sure I’ll be told no such thing exists, and maybe not in a codified form, after the Talmud took Thousands of years to reach its current form and interpretation. Perhaps, in response to the pressures of the world at large such a thing is developing in the Mormon community psyche, a silent line of reasoning that those outside the faith just don’t understand.

[baseballfanjm]

Wow. This changes a lot things, at least in my mind.

[syriacus]

The family sounds afraid. Much like a family might be afraid if the mob were involved. Any mobsters out there?

[nmh]

<p.If the abductor didn't know her sister was watching then WHY did she wait TOW HOURS to tell anyone? This doesn't make sense. The abductor must have seen her and told her to be quiet for TWO HOURS or maybe her sister was in on the abduction. Something smells here.

[crystalk]

Once again, even the most critical clues and facts are retracted and changed, even after being out there for weeks.

Now we are told that the man had "hair on his arms," even though we are also told that he was wearing a jacket. I no longer think there are any solid facts at all in this case.