[Eva]

I agree with everything that you said, except that I don't attribute any nefarious motive to the parents' failure to mention Mitchell as a suspect before the sister named him. I think that the Smarts are very simply, not too smart.

[irish_links]

"..I think that the Smarts are very simply, not too smart..."

Well deduced, Eva. What is that axiom called? Oznam's Razor? The simplest solution to a problem is usually the correct one. The Smarts' absolute lack of guile is the answer to this question that makes most sense.

Still, if your daughter had been going to a homeless center alone recently, wouldn't you tell police that? Wouldn't you want the police to investigage that connection closely? If the police knew about this activity, wouldn't it have been easy to triangulate between the people who lived at the shelter who also had some knowledge of the Smart household? The numbers couldn't have been large (at least I hope not) and Mitchell's name would have floated to the top big time.

Either the Salt Lake City police are as dumb as a box of rocks or the Smarts weren't telling all.