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.

[Iwo Jima]

Trials are where facts are best estblished, I wholeheartedly agree. I frankly wonder though if there will ever be a trial. For myself, I hope that there is a trial, but it really depends on what Elizabeth is prepared to testify to.

[Illbay]

See if you can find a transcript to his news conference today.

I watched the whole thing on Fox News and at one point, in answering a question he stopped, raised his arms and said "Guess what! The screen was cut from the OUTSIDE!" and he then explained that Elizabeth told him how that part of it went down.

More details will be forthcoming, and as I predicted months ago--though I scarcely thought we'd have a GOOD ending as we have--all the various, high-flown theories about how this happened will be thrown in a cocked hat.

[landerwy]

http://www.sltrib.com/2003/Mar/03132003/utah/37846.asp

Here is a link to an article that disagrees with your premise.

[Utah Girl]

You can bet there will be a trial. The FBI is involved, and if Elizabeth was transported across state lines, then yes, there will be a trial. The police and the DA will be sure there is a trial.

[homeschool mama]

Beautiful photo, UG. How very happy she must be. :o)

[GovernmentShrinker]

Yes, but that doesn't always work either. Lindsey Ryan's parents had warned their 6 homeschooled children to steer clear of the weird guy at church that Lindsey eventually ran off with. I hope that story can still have a happy ending, but that guy had previously killed a young woman he abducted, so it doesn't look good :(

[Illbay]

I disagree. I think they are doing exactly what I would be doing in their case. They are not badgering her. They are letting HER come to THEM with information.

Ed Smart said in the news conference today, that they made the conscious decision NOT to force Mary Katherine with questions. They just let her come up with her memories of the events without prompting, knowing that they would be more accurate that way.

And guess what? She came up with Mitchell as the man she'd seen in the bedroom! Smart then said "we're doing the same with Elizabeth. I think over time the details will come out naturally."

They're just glad to have her back and at this point the details are not important.

That's EXACTLY the way I'd feel.

[MinorityRepublican]

Both of you made very good points. This is a story with a happy ending. We are not getting enough of that these days. I guess we still do have "miracles".

Let's just hope that after the war with Iraq, the times will finally start to change for the better, and enjoy true peace at last.

But peace through strength.

[Lael]

One look at that Picture...

That girl is a WOMAN now!!!

What a way to lose one's virginity...on International TV!!!

[Iwo Jima]

No, I have not been "hawking" this theory from the get-go. I only came to believe that Elizabeth was a runaway or at least stayed voluntarily away after she left home since she has been found. You must have me confused with someone else.

I am frankly astonished that anyone would PREFER to believe that a teenager was kidnapped as opposed to running away (or, if something about the word "runaway" just rubs you the wrong way, just leaving home after a family fight). It has happened in my family and many others who post on these threads. Sometimes it's a temporary situation that gets quickly resolved but sometimes it goes on for years and the parents are worried to death, dreading every phone call or knock at the door.

[Utah Girl]

I'm still just so happy Elizabeth is finally home with her family.

[homeschool mama]

Thank you for all these pictures. The one of Elizabeth with her parents is a keeper!

Many prayers heavenward for this family...and especially Elizabeth. <><

[landerwy]

Yes and even the stock market is up!! Maybe an Elizabeth Smart bounce?

[homeschool mama]

**I am becoming more and more convinced that Elizabeth walked out the door and then hooked up with this pair, maybe by chance, maybe by plan.**

You have absolutely NOTHING to base that on.

[homeschool mama]

Facts don't matter to some...

[Illbay]

It should be fairly evident by now that Mary Katherine cannot be considered a credible witness, based on the multiple conflicting versions of what we have been told that she has said over time.

This is where I think people like you make your mistake. You take all this stuff that we've been told as if it is genuine.

I never do. I know how rumors work.

Remember the stupid thing about her having body-piercings?

Read the SL Trib article that landerwy referred you to. It says EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE of what you believe: Mary Katherine was ALWAYS consistent in her testimony, but the police, like you, didn't fully believe her.

And had the police kept on as they had, Elizabeth would still be missing.

I'd think long and hard on that, were I you.

[Iwo Jima]

if Elizabeth was transported across state lines, then yes, there will be a trial.

That's a good point. Kidnapping is definitely a crime, and transporting a kidnapped child across state lines is a federal crime. But let's assume that Elizabeth refuses to say that she was kidnapped. Is transporting a minor across state lines without their parents' consent a crime? Maybe so. I would hope that it is.

[AppyPappy]

I still say it was space aliens. Mitchell had just rescued her from the Greys. He's a hero.

[LWalk18]

She has already told her parents and the police that she was kidnapped. And transporting a minor across state lines for illicit purposes w/o parental permission is a violation of the Mann Act.

[GovernmentShrinker]

I don't agree with IJ's theory, but unless there's been a recent update, police maintained all along that they didn't know if the cut screen had anything to do with the intruder, and IIRC indicated that the cut appeared too small for anyone to have entered that way.