FBI Source: Elizabeth Smart Was Married to Drifter

MSNBC ^ | March 13, 2003 | Ashley Banfield

[Devil_Anse]

You make a good point. Let me assure you, the harp was not overlooked--on here, or on some other sites!

People would ask, "Where is Elizabeth's harp RIGHT NOW?" This question would usually be asked by people while they were suspecting the Smarts. They would be assuming that if the Smarts were hiding her somewhere, they would have hidden the harp with her. The maddening thing is that we had no way of knowing WHERE the harp was.

Others thought that some psycho "collector" had her hidden in some big rich house not far from her own (big, rich) house. These people figured said psycho would buy her a harp to play, since her angelic appearance while playing the harp, and the heavenly music, would surely appeal to him.

The people with the "psycho collector" theory were the ones who were closest to the truth, in all the discussions that went on. Those--and also the ones who said she'd been stolen as some sort of child bride, or "pure breeding stock" for some psycho polygamist group. They were right, too.

Both of the above fit Mitchell. A few minor points do not fit, such as the fact that Mitchell was not rich, and was not powerful (except, perhaps, as a hypnotist), and Mitchell appears to have been unable to keep enough followers for him to really have a "cult" of any size.

I have no doubt but that, if Mitchell could have stolen and hidden the harp, he would have. Hey, look--it appears he tried to steal her one of her cousins to keep her company! Amazing, his concern for her--at the same time that he was presumably raping her. Mitchell certainly is every bit as weird as any psycho people ever imagined to have done this.

[Devil_Anse]

Really?? Now there's an interesting bit of news!!

[Devil_Anse]

Considering that driver's license places are now being forced to let muslim women get photographed with most of their faces covered, I think you're right.

I mean, why bother to take a photo at all? Why bother to require them to even HAVE a driver's license? I look forward to seeing traffic cops wave them through, rather than write out a ticket. "Oh, okay. Your religious beliefs mandate that you run red lights. Freedom of Religion. Yeah. Okay, go on, honey!"

I mean, we wouldn't want them to feel UNWANTED in our country, would we?? The way Americans feel, um, somewhat unwanted in Saudi Arabia?

[janette]

Hi varina, it's me janette! I was always janette, had never another name :-)

[varina davis]

Hi Janette! LOL. Happy to meet you.

[Peter Libra]

I do agree with your post #434. There is one point that needs to be addressed possibly. I do note that the redoubtable "Have Gun Will Travel" man who is on side, is bought to task. One poster uses the idea of Free Republic and what a telling point it is, that we should not be "sheeple" and toe any line.

I find it hard to disagree. What bothers me though, as a father of two girls, now happily on the right road at 27 years and 40 years, is my outrage. While I certainly am grateful for this absolutely healthy opportunity to vent my views, it is a risk I am taking when I do so.

One wonders is there an excuse for what seems opposite views? Absolutely true we all should protect the rights of those, to these views. (Choke).

I can only say that outrage and a little group ad hominem, on my part is justified. On the lighter side, a 150 years ago, a Palladin and his helpers(me) would have strung up Mitchell, minus certain parts of his body.

[iconoclast]

There's something about him that has creeped me out since day one.....something that's difficult to define.

He's off-puttingly effeminate IMO.

[iconoclast]

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

I, for one, couldn't be happier that she's well and back home.

That being said, it doesn't alter my opinion that the whole family is weird ... and she may very well be the weirdest.

[Mr. Mojo]

Yeah, that's definitely part of it.

[ewing]

I think the might change your opinion of the Smart women, (especially the ones married to the Uncles) after the trial.

[Mr. Mojo]

No doubt....the Smart's are weird squared. And I suspect we've only scratched the surface of the weirdness.

Btw, it looks like Liz put on about 20 lbs since her....uh...abduction. She looks very healthy.

[iconoclast]

One more opinion and I'm out of here to get ready for the best Jigg's dinner in the area.

We live in a a country that has closed its mental health hospitals and erased its vagrancy laws from the books .... and we're shocked when things like this happen?

[Iwo Jima]

I think the might change your opinion of the Smart women, (especially the ones married to the Uncles) after the trial.

Well, that's a cryptic remark if ever there was one. I guess that I am just going to have to wait and see what you mean by that, just like I'm going to have to wait to find out about many other things.

[Lauratealeaf]

there was no marriage...it was some lunatic who said he was marrying her and that is all it was...it was rape if he "consumated" the so-called "marriage"...

I agree. This has to be a nightmare for Elizabeth if true. Being away from home for nine months basically on the street had to be tough too. But, I find it hard that they were hiding in plain sight and so many people could have turned them in but didn't. That is weird.

[RecentConvert]

I'd say he already had at least a little of it as of the morning she disappeared.

I believe he did shave his beard prior to the kidnap.

Brian David Mitchell, aka Emmanuel, walks in front of ZCMI Mall on Main Street in Salt Lake City in the spring of 2002. Mitchell is being held in connection with the kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart last June. Mitchell, 49, who eventually roamed the streets as an itinerant preacher, grew up in Salt Lake City, the third child in a family of six.(AP Photo/Brian Johnson)

Brian Mitchell -- "Emmanuel", and Elizabeth may have been at a party in Salt Lake City. (My Note: I believe this is the photo taken at China Blue in late August/early September 2002.)

Notice in the first photo (spring 2002) the beard is much longer than in the second photo (late August/early September 2002). I believe he shaved his beard prior to abducting Elizabeth. He then retreated to the hills, allowed for his beard to grow back, and then descended from the hills in early August, 2002.

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.

True. BTW, I believe you're talking about Angela Dumke, Elizabeth's aunt.

[Devil_Anse]

Good thoughts. The beard, as seen in the two different pictures, seems to bear out your theory of his having shaved it around the time of the abduction.

However, remember Angela saw him at the Kinko's just hours after Elizabeth disappeared. On TV, she didn't say one way or the other, whether the man she saw had a beard.

He may have had the beard at the time he entered the house, then have shaved it immediately upon getting to his hiding place (with Elizabeth.) That would fit in with what a lot of criminals do, anyway--change their appearance directly after the crime.

In spite of our many assumptions about what Mary C. said, we don't really KNOW exactly what she said. There is nothing to definitively tell us that Mary C. described the man as clean-shaven--or that she described him as bearded, for that matter. We've never heard it straight from her--only distorted, 2nd and 3rd and probably 4th hand reports.

[RecentConvert]

There is nothing to definitively tell us that Mary C. described the man as clean-shaven--or that she described him as bearded, for that matter.

True. Except when reporting a man's features one reports the unusuals not the usuals or non-existing features. So, if MK had seen a beard she would have reported it by default. Not that it makes any difference now that the perp is in jail.

Also, Elizabeth's aunt at the Kinko store I just read it on CNN and gives her name as Angela Smart. However, yesterday, she was reported as Angela Dumke. I guess she's married to Dumke. So many names to keep track of.

[jandji]

Do you grow whiskers on your face? If the 2nd photo is Mitchell after 2 1/2 months of beard growth from a clean shave, then he probably is supernatural.