FBI Source: Elizabeth Smart Was Married to Drifter

MSNBC ^ | March 13, 2003 | Ashley Banfield

[ewing]

breaking now..

[Jrabbit]

Your welcome! I wish I had a transcript of the press conference. The explaination made sense to me.

[The_Media_never_lie]

There used to be a law that people could not appear in public with a mask concealing their identity. Maybe this law was repealed because it was "insensitive".

[cherry]

I am afraid that we will find that LE was not very productive in this investigation.....

Smith, the attorney for Ricci , said one of his clients saw Elizabeth just two weeks after the abduction in Sandy, and that it was reported to LE but no follow up....geesh...

Granted, the cops had a difficult time eliminating the huge Smart clan, and they got really stuck on Ricci, who was a viable suspect for sure....but they ignored stuff right under their nose....

and I still maintain that there were clues that Elizabeth was taken by a polygamist.....

the Smart family lucked out with this one...the odds of being returned to the family after being abducted are very poor....

I am trying to keep my faith in the Modesto police...

some time, after things calm down....( and snotty scott behind bars)_ Freepers should have a long discussion here on FR on what needs to be done to decrease the danger our kids face, and what the proper police response should be, as well as the media and the public...

with all these cases, we have got to have learned some lessons....

[Krodg]

Would you please add me?

[cherry]

iirc, Ricci was in jail as of June 9th....

[Devil_Anse]

Wow, you're right!! I had forgotten that!! I remember hearing that the guy had GREY hair, though. And that he was big. Other than that, though, the description does sound the way Mitchell looks and acts!

If that was him, then I have to second Angela Smart's comment tonight. Connie: What do you find to be the most amazing thing about this amazing story? Angela: That we JUST DIDN'T GET IT.

I think this Mitchell was so crazy that he barely feared capture.

I read that he was able to pose as a person named "Jenson" and the police say he got away with it b/c his fingerprints were not on file. Wow, that might well mean that he has no felony record! Unbelievable! Especially since we have heard that he committed at least one type of felony: molesting his little step-daughter.

Another poster, Sarah W, noted that Mitchell worked for a time making jewelry for a company called O.C. Tanner. Sarah said that jewelry-makers can be harmed by the toxicity of the chemicals they work with daily. This might explain some of his mental illness, but perhaps not all, since according to his father, Mitchell has always been somewhat strange.

[Devil_Anse]

Here's your answer, krodg--Ricci was arrested on June 9.

[TEXOKIE]

I've had a thought which I havent seen anyone else address so far on these threads.

This young lady, by all appearances is a dedicated musician. I am a harpist myself, and I can tell from the little film clips of her playing that she has good technique and can find her way around on the harp. It takes discipline and time to accomplish that. It also usually takes quite a love for one's instrument as well to devote that kind of time to practice and drill.

In my experience, having been around MANY other musicians while growing up, it is HIGHLY unlikely that she would choose to remove herself voluntarily from access to her instrument. I'm not saying it's impossible, but imho the odds just dont seem to favor it. Most musicians,especially the young ones who are starting to see their mastery of the instrument progress, would rather have boils on their tongue than give up their instruments! I even knew a young lady who had been told by a doctor to give up playing her flute because her heart condition would not allow her to tolerate the stresses playing it would cause. Bless her, she passed away before we graduated. She could not feature life without making music.

For what it's worth, I just have to put myself strongly in the column of opinion that the child was taken involuntarily.

[Krodg]

Thanks for the help.

[RecentConvert]

We've all seen the long beard of David Mitchell.

I wonder how long it may take to grow such a beard? Anyone has any idea? A year? Maybe less? Maybe more?

[RecentConvert]

Speaking of hair...

Please read post 430 above.

Welcome back.

[TEXOKIE]

Good question. No idea. At least a year for that kind of growth, I would imagine, but I truly dont know.

[Erasmus]

I hope that Elizabeth practices and plays as much as possible.

Harps are from Heaven.

And Harpists are too.

Did I really type that? <]B^)

[trussell]

Well, I don't think she's going to get it here. Not if Alberta's child gets close enough to get a few licks in!

I agree Calce, there are alot of insensitive people on this thread.

This poor girl was put through hell, and these posters can only think of ways to blame her for the acts of a deranged maniac.

[trussell]

The composit sketch was done by the parents based on what he looked like when he worked on the house. After MK said she believed it was him who took ES.

[trussell]

So stop it with the double posts, already!

Looks like a nasty case of hiccups, I have heard that a teaspoon of sugar will take care of that.

[Iwo Jima]

Do you just sprinkle it directly on the keyboard? Maybe where is says "enter"? LOL!

[Hildy]

Interesting because by all accounts, Mitchell's wife, Wanda, was an accomplished concert pianist. Actually played for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir for a time. So, makes the case for Mitchell's powers even more believable.

[Devil_Anse]

Thanks, RC!!

All I know is that I've always heard that the hair on your head grows approximately a half inch per month--a little more in the warm weather. I assume any other hair would grow at the same rate. Let's see... it's been about 9 calendar months. So if his beard is much more than 4 1/2 inches long, I'd say he already had at least a little of it as of the morning she disappeared.

I read every article I could find, many with the help of freepers who would post them faithfully on whatever current thread there was, and I never heard that Mary C. was ever said to have negated the possibility that the intruder had facial hair. I guess the very best source of info as to whether "Emmanuel" had a beard at the time of the abduction would be Angela Smart, who saw him at Kinko's on that very day, as she was picking up flyers she'd had printed showing Elizabeth's picture.

I do have some memory that at one point it seemed that the Smarts, in an interview, hinted that she might have said the abductor had a beard or wore a mask. This oblique comment fired up some extended "discussions" on the threads.

Our problem is that we have been told very, very little about what Mary C. really said.

If this matter does come to trial, Mary Catherine's statements to police, which I am sure were recorded, will be revealed in the trial--IF she testifies. I'm sure they will be starting up the grand jury proceedings, also, and she will testify there. There might be a transcript of that, which I'm sure media people will try to get. Then again, there might not be one. Amazingly, in some places, grand jury testimony is not recorded! I believe that in those places, it is not recorded b/c the prosecution wants to hamstring a defense as much as possible. See, suppose Mary C. testifies in the grand jury. Since Emmanuel will obviously be the grand jury's target, his lawyer will want to get her testimony. But the defense lawyer is not allowed in the grand jury. He will move to get a transcript of her testimony. Under federal rules (on which many states' rules are modeled), the defense lawyer couldn't get a copy of the witness' grand jury testimony until AFTER the witness has testified at the defendant's trial. They take a break between direct examination and cross examination to give the defense lawyer time to read the grand jury testimony.

[RecentConvert]

I agree Calce, there are alot of insensitive people on this thread.

I'm afraid some folks here are disappointed that Elizabeth has been found alive.

I can't fathom the physical, mental and psychological abuse this 14 year-old girl must have endured at the hands of those beasts. She clearly was coerced and influenced by those scoundrels who plundered her innocence and robbed her of her identity.

The physical abuse may now be over, but the psychological trauma will linger far longer than the physical abuse.