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