[Partisan Hack]

...But she continued to lie about who she was when she was in the police car.

[Tennessee_Bob]

...But she continued to lie about who she was when she was in the police car.

And she was safe when? In other words, until she knew she was safe, that she knew she'd be reunited with her true family, she'd maintain the cover. I don't assign any blame to her.

[SarahW]

I though you might be interested in this tidbit - according to a family member (an aunt IIRC) interviews on Connie Chung's friday broadcast, there is information that on at least one occassion she told someone who she way.

While moving from San Diego back to the Salt Lake area,
the trio went into an audio store. They stood out like sore thumbs, of course, because of their unusual dress.

Elizabeth was for a time separated from the other two were otherwise engaged with their "shopping". She was engaged in a bried conversation of pleasantries with the clerk...
when she sidled up closer to the counter, and very quietly said "I'm Elizabeth Smart".

The clerk was taken aback, and didn't believe his ears for a minute. "What did you say?!!" he asked, in a suprised (and unhushed) voice.

Elizabeth then quickly retracte, "Oh, that was nothing, I was just joking" and disengaged herself from him.

The clerk was a bit unsettled, but brushed off the encounter.. he mentioned it to some other people but just let it drop.

He did, however, contact police after she was found, and felt extremely badly that he had brushed off her remarks and not taken them seriously.

The aunt who shared this information readily acknowleged Elixabeth had at first denied her identity when they were last stopped by police. SHe seemed a very straighforward person. (and a good bit brighter than Ed Smart.)

I believe police had requested she not share specific details, like the name of the clerk and the location of the shop. It will be used to build a case angainst the kidnappers.

I wonder if there had been any unpleasant consequences fromt the incident in the shop, if she had been noticed talking to the clerk...


I'm interested in her remark "thou sayest" - isn't that a way of tacitly acknowleging a truth you think could be misconstrued?

[RecentConvert]

...But she continued to lie about who she was when she was in the police car.

Any sources?

Officer Troy Rasmussen, a barrel-chested patrol veteran, told her he thought she was the missing teenager. Still, she insisted she wasn't. But he could see her heart pounding through her T-shirt.

The officers held up a picture next to her face and asked her again if she was Elizabeth.

``Thou sayest,'' answered the girl, just as Jesus said in the Bible when asked by Pontius Pilate if he was the king of the Jews. She burst into tears.

AP-NY-03-15-03 1923EST

The above quote is an indication to me that she had admitted who she was and was repentant for having initially lied.