FBI Source: Elizabeth Smart Was Married to Drifter

MSNBC ^ | March 13, 2003 | Ashley Banfield

[ewing]

breaking now..

[Palladin]

Thank you for sharing your personal story of kidnapping with us. Most of Elizabeth's critics have never been in a life-or-death situation in their own lives. I pray they never will be. And I hope they learn the virtue of compassion.

[pollyg107]

I have to confess that I haven't read enough of the comments to know what the tally is on FR. I find it hard to believe that anyone could blame a 14-year-old child, though. She is a victim and she needs love and prayers.

[Iwo Jima]

No need to apologize for being wordy. You have an important story to tell. I am sorry that you had to endure such an ordeal and at such a young age. This story must bring back a flood of unpleasant memories for you.

I hope that your mother's health improves. You are lucky to have a sister to share the burden of looking after her. Aren't families wonderful?

[Utah Girl]

And as I read further in the thread, I see you've posted a picture of Mitchell just a few days before the abduction. This is strange...he could have shoved his hair under the cap he wore, but the beard. Unless he cut the beard and wore normal clothes to make the abduction. I think he really would have stood out in the neighborhood dressed in robes and the hair and the beard. I'm really looking forward to the trial, at least to get these discrepancies solved.

[Libertina]

Why didn't you post the article? It is not even excerpted...
but anyway
"The sketch was not released until Feb. 3. A sister of Mitchell’s thought it was him and provided a photograph that was also released. Two couples in Sandy, Utah, saw the photo on TV reports and contacted police about seeing Mitchell with two veiled women who later turned out to be Elizabeth and Barzee.

“I’m accountable for that decision [not to release the sketch], and it wasn’t my best choice,” the former lead investigator, Capt. Cory Lyman, was quoted by the Salt Lake Tribune as saying. “If I had a crystal ball, I would have done it differently.” Lyman last month became police chief in Ketchum, Idaho."

This really angers me and I can't even imagine the families frustrations with this poor LEO. And the ONLY "responsibility" he has taken is to SAY "I take responsibility." For him, like most people who spout this tripe, there are no consequences, just talk.

[pollyg107]

Thanks for your kind words. The Elizabeth Smart story does indeed bring back some unpleasant memories for me, but the circumstances were so different for me. I don't know what I would have done if the bank robber hadn't let me go. I can only say that I was fully prepared to take him all the way to Chicago if that's what he wanted me to do. There's no way for me to know, but Elizabeth's kidnapper could have threatened her or her family in any number of ways. For example, he could have strapped a few batteries to her back and told her that he would blow her up if she told anyone her true identity. Or he could have threatened to return to her home and kill her family. The guy who kidnapped me was so savvy that he told me that if he was caught, he wouldn't serve more than a few years and then he would come back and kill me. Can you imagine what a 14-year-old child would have thought if he had told her something like that?

[Pan_Yans Wife]

what is "delta age difference"?

[Utah Girl]

It gets even worse. Listen to what another SLPD detective had to say two days before Elizabeth was found. ********

Both Salt Lake City police and FBI officials said they are interested in finding Mitchell and questioning him. But they maintain he is no more a suspect than anyone else who has already been questioned.

"My personal opinion is (Richard) Ricci is No. 1 (potential suspect), and there isn't even a close second," Salt Lake City Police Sgt. Don Bell said. "There have been hundreds of these (potential suspects). They just haven't reached this level to reach the press. I don't know of anything that would elevate him above the many, many others."

An FBI spokesman agreed that Mitchell was being sought only to help answer some questions.

"When you get a lead, you run it till it's complete, and you always hope for the best," FBI spokesman George Dougherty said.

[Spirited]

"Unfortunately the Supreme Court held in Coker v. Georgia (1977) that the death penalty for rape violated the Eighth Amendment (cruel and punishment)."

I would be interested in knowing what a panel of women would have ruled in this case. To me rape is more violent than murder and long-term consequences can often be worse than murder for woman and her family.

In the case of a child who has been violated in this way the long term consequences are, to my mind, more horrifying.

Too bad the jury can't be all female.

[jeremiah]

Yes things about this case seem strange, I will not speculate, but I will be interested as this story unfolds.

[Iwo Jima]

I've said some harsh things about the police in the past and recently had decided that some of my criticisms might have been misplaced (for reasons which I won't go into here). But when I read stuff like this, it makes me want to put my retractions on hold until I see just how bad their incompetence in this instance was.

[LPStar]

The problem is that if both rape and murder have the death penalty, the rapist has a great incentive to kill his victim. Most women (or male victims for that matter) still want to stay alive afterwards, despite the suffering.

[FITZ]

But what use is there in keeping child rapists alive? If Emmanual used this girl, he should be executed ---apparently he had raped other young girls in the past.

[LPStar]

I can't think of a single reason he deserves to live. But one good reason not to have a legal death penalty for rape is because of the incentive to kill the victim. But, unsupervised prison terms are ok with me here.

[John Jamieson]

Some of the Utah laws use a 3 year difference between the two partners and another uses 10 years to determine penalty or legality.

[FITZ]

there are a lot of parents in Utah who are now teaching their children to make a lot of noise in these situations,

Whatever the details of this case are, it could help parents teach their kids to possibly not become a victim. I'd rather see my kids look for any possible escape ---there were a couple stories recently with kids who managed to get away from their abductors.

[Utah Girl]

Yes, there are lot of things that we can teach kids. The hard part is not scaring them so much that they can't live a normal life. A very fine line that has to be walked. I do resent that today's children have to have their innocence taken away to a certain extent to keep them safe.

[Krodg]

In no way shape or form was this a marriage.

I agree

The girl was abducted at knifepoint by an evil pervert

That has yet to be proven.

Have FReepers gone absolutely mad to want to give this evil criminal some kind of a defense for his immoral illegal brutal criminal acts against Elizabeth Smart?

While I have seen some FReepers question the 'abduction' part of this story (myself included), I haven't seen any that want to give the guy a free pass. Instead I have seen people like yourself losing your FReeping skills and going off the deep end.

I must have missed the message telling us we had to all follow the same doctrine. Have you ever heard the term sheeple?

[FITZ]

Too much innocence isn't good in the society we live in where pedophiles and the mentally ill are free to do as they please. I forget where they happened but recently a couple little girls have escaped their kidnappers by taking the first opportunity they had. I'd like to know the difference in their upbringing to make sure my own kids are more likely to escape than stay. I don't blame these parents for what happened but it's also not too bright to bring filthy bums home to be near your small children.

[Spirited]

" I've known several young women who were date-raped and then spent years trying to establish a relationship with the perp. Sad, but true."

Thank you for this insight which reveals how pervasive the psychological damage can be.

Pollyg...

Thank you for the word-wise account of your kidnapping. It was vital proof that to withhold judgement is far more astute than to foolishly rush to irresponsible conclusions. Whether one has "walked in those shoes" or not it is wiser to afford another compassion than denegration.

Somewhere is is put this way, "Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy."

Deep, deep appreciation from this quarter (and I am certain that a legion of others here feel the same way). My hopeful prayer is that your own wounds from such an experience will be healed and that Elizabeth's trial will not bring any pause in that healing. Our fervent wish is that your Mother will also find the pathway for her healing.

Blessings...