[ET(end tyranny)]

Suggests that MK probably saw them the second time when she was near the stairs, and the other two were by the front door.

That's my guess, too. What doesn't make sense is the waiting for 2 + hours to tell the parents. Elizabeth may have sat on the stairs to put on her shoes. So, why not wait for the them to leave, then run to the parent's room. Scared or not. Get back behind a wall and just wait a few minutes then take another peek to see if the coast is clear. That's what I did when I was 8 and we had strange goings on at our house one night. This waiting 2 + hours just doesn't make sense.

[stlnative]

Yes... it does not make sense to adult person, but to a scared 9 year old it does. Of course this child will grow older and have more of an understanding of what she could have done. But let's get past what should have been done, the child did what she did because she was scared and did not know at the time what she could have done. What done is done.

[r9etb]

What doesn't make sense is the waiting for 2 + hours to tell the parents.

Yes it does. I remember lying petrified in my bed one night because there was a "murderer" in the corner of my room (shadows on the curtain).

In this case, MK heard an actual threat of murder, and decided that the best thing to do would be to pretend to be asleep until he was gone.

This part of the story is completely believable.

[Utah Girl]

Dinse said today that Mary Katherine was on her way to tell her parents right after the abductor and Elizabeth left the bedroom. When she got in the hall, she saw the abductor and Elizabeth yet again. And remembering the fact that the abductor had threatened Elizabeth's life, Mary Catherine went back to bed and waited for two hours before she told her parents. Remember, this is a nine year old little girl, she didn't know how much longer the perp would be in the house, and she was afraid because of the threats. She probably waited an eternity to go tell her parents (or so it felt like to her.) The information about Mary Katherine seeing the abductor again, and going back to bed came from the press conference today, and that info came from interviews with her.