Elizabeth Smart Reuninted with Her Mother**picture***

THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE ^ | March 13, 2003 | Elizabeth Neff

[Kentucky]

Police found Elizabeth Smart alive and in the company of a transient panhandler Wednesday, some nine months after she disappeared from her Salt Lake City home. Sandy police located Elizabeth in the suburb with Brian David Mitchell, who had worked odd jobs for the Smarts for five hours in November 2001 and was wanted for questioning. Salt Lake City Police Chief Rick Dinse said investigators are convinced Elizabeth was kidnapped, and released the name of Wanda Eileen Barzee as a second suspect in the crime.

[Catspaw]

There was already some legal punditry last night about which order the kidnappers would be tried: Utah first, then the feds or vice versa.

The legal maximum for the state charges and the federal charges are the same: life in prison. I don't know if that's life without parole.

[GovernmentShrinker]

In my amateur cogitations, I'm increasingly leaning toward the theory that she was drugged into compliance, at least whenever they were someplace that she could have made a break for it. Some of the powerful anti-psychotic and anti-schizophenia medications could have this effect, and this guy would have had NO trouble getting some public health psychiatrist to give him a prescription for same, since he so obviously needed them. And as demonstrated by the often tragic cases of mentally ill people who have been taking such medication and suddenly stop and turn violent, the effects wear off very fast.

[GovernmentShrinker]

I would assume that she was kept away from TV and radio by her captors, so she may have had little awareness of how widely her case had been publicized, and that just yelling "Help, I'm Elizabeth Smart!" would have brought instant comprehension and assistance from anyone in earshot.

[Mamzelle]

re: This guy wasn't "brought into their home," he was hired to do about five hours' worth of work around the house. I don't even know that it was "inside work." )))

The situation certainly made me more careful about hiring help. Another reason to do it yourself, or to keep a very close eye on things.

[OldFriend]

This girl comes from a family with a strong faith and I assume that faith was something instilled in their children. This will help Elizabeth recover.

As for the media giving the family any space to heal in private.....not a chance!

The Smart family may feel they owe the media for all the coverage and will do some appearances.

[Illbay]

There are almost certainly going to be Federal charges.

[Maigrey]

I wonder then if they could find some other mitigating circumstance to give the "man" a more harsh sentence?

I know that he won't do well in prison... too much structure.

[GovernmentShrinker]

Yes, it's odd. But last year ro teh year before (might have been just prior to the SL Olympics), their President and Prophet, Gordon Hinckley, did issue a formal call to members and to the press to stop using the term. He simultaneously instructed the press to use the Church's full name the first time it appeared in an article and to use the shortened "Church of Jesus Christ" in subsequent references (thought a bit presumptuous by some other Christian denominations).

[GovernmentShrinker]

sorry about the dyslexic typing in #108 :)

[Mamzelle]

re: We had a local preacher who was a polygamist and that was certainly true. And his victim was 14. They like them young because they are more easily brainwashed. )))

They like them young because their faces are round, and their bodies are developing, but not fully adult. I think our culture is long overdue for a frank examination of the "wiring" in a man's (usually a man's) sexual response that brings this about, the pursuit of the pubescent youth. Hetero or homo, this is far, far out of control. Our society gives permission to indulge so many impulses that this last taboo is being abandoned.

[Beowulf]

Ed Smart, if you're out there I'm talking to you.

While I'm thankful that your daughter Elizabeth has been found alive I am more than a little perturbed at your subsequent attack on Representative Sensenbrenner regarding what you claim to be his obstruction to passage of a national Amber Alert bill. How dare you? It is your family's penchant for bringing into your home homeless derelicts and ex-cons to do cheap labor that is directly responsible for your daughter's abduction. You, Sir, need to consider apologizing for your unfortunate outburst by reimbursing the taxpayers for the cost of the investigation to find your daughter. A verbal apology to the nation in general for the effect on the national psyche is also needed. Do not try to pass the buck. Take responsibility for your own actions.

By the way, Mr. Smart, I hope you were listening to Representative Sensenbrenner on the morning news show when he explained the process involved in trying to pass the Amber Alert bill.

[Lunatic Fringe]

I never said any of that... your debate skills are poor. Never put words into someone's mouth.

And dont rip me over this... All of these questions are being asked, and not just by me. I am sure the police are asking her the same questions, and the truth will come out.

If you remember correctly, these same questions were asked of Patty Hearst.

Now... let's see if you can put any more words into my mouth.

[AppyPappy]

14 year-olds look more older than they did when I was a kid. I teach teens and I have to get on them about their mode of dress because they either vastly underestimate or vastly overestimate their body shape. Some of them show too much skin and some show too much baby fat. Some men see this as alluring. I think most just have an "any old port in a storm" attitude.

[OldFriend]

Some news station reported last night that he took her to the woods behind their home and she did hear the searchers calling for her.

This is quite similar to Polly Klass who's killer was being questioned by the police while she cowered in the car.

Please G-D, allow this girl to heal in the loving arms of her family.

[Sloth]

Now I ask you, would you bring a bum off the street that you knew nothing about into your family's home?

They need to change their last name.

[Spiff]

Since the LDS Church has formally disavowed the term "Mormon" for its members, your post makes little sense.

The LDS Church has not "formally disavowed the term "Mormon" for its members". They have simply emphasized the correct title for the Church and its members. Go to an official LDS Church website - www.mormons.org - to see for yourself.

But many members of self-serving cults actually believe in their group's teachings, and these particular groups share a belief with the main LDS Church that the "Book of Mormon" is scripture inspired by God.

Members of these cults may have some beliefs in common with the LDS Church, the Baptists, or whatever. That does not make them Mormon or Baptist. Members of some cults believe that the Holy Bible is scripture from God, but that does not make them Christian. Was Charles Manson and his bunch Christian just because they had beliefs in common with Christian beliefs and they quoted the Bible?

[Mamzelle]

re: Some of them show too much skin and some show too much baby fat. Some men see this as alluring. )))

And I'm saying that this is probably a normal response to an overt (or unknowing) seductiveness...but what now? There is no longer much of a societal/cultural taboo against the fulfillment of that response, short of punishing those who get caught, and so many don't get caught.

[Hildy]

Look how happy she is! Clutching to her Mom's hand. I have tears in my eyes!

[muggs]

Hildy, I was watching this on TV at the gym this morning and it was all I could do not to cry.

[AppyPappy]

That's because we expect kids to have sex and it is very hard to say "A 15 year-old can give consent to another 15 year-old but not a 21 year-old". Consent is consent and a minor CANNOT give consent. Period.