Elizabeth Smart Found!

Johnv · Mar 12, 2003

This just in!

Missing Utah teen found alive
Elizabeth Smart found in car with drifter

March 12 — Missing Utah teenager Elizabeth Smart, whose disappearance last June grabbed national headlines for weeks, was found alive Wednesday in the car of a drifter during a traffic stop in suburban Salt Lake City, police said. NBC reported that the man once worked as a handyman in the Smart home.
THE TEEN’S disappearance from her home June 5 in Salt Lake City sparked a massive search and nationwide media attention.
Elizabeth, who was 14 at the time of her disappearance, was with a middle-aged man named Emmanuel Mitchell and an unidentified woman, police in suburban Sandy said, NBC reported.
Mitchell was a handyman in the Smart home for one day about nine months before Elizabeth’s disappearance.
A citizen called police to report a suspicious group of people at a Burger King in Sandy, NBC reported.
Sandy police pulled over Mitchell, another woman and a girl who looked like Elizabeth. They later confirmed her identity, police said.
Salt Lake City police detectives arrived to take over the investigation. Smart was transferred to the Salt Lake city police station. Mitchell was in custody at the Sandy police station.
Last month, Elizabeth’s parents announced a new reward for information and asked for help in their search for the handyman known only as “Emanuel.” They released a sketch of the man.
At the time, they said Elizabeth’s sister, Mary Katharine, had come to them recently to say “Emanuel” bore some resemblance to the man who took Elizabeth from their room at gunpoint.
Elizabeth’s kidnapping was part of a frightening string of child abductions that included the slayings of 7-year-old Danielle van Dam of San Diego and 5-year-old Samantha Runnion of Orange County, Calif.
Elizabeth was 14 when she was seized early on the morning of June 5 in front of her 9-year-old sister by a gunman who may have gotten into the house by cutting a window screen near the back door. As the younger sister pretended to be asleep, the gunman threatened to hurt Elizabeth if she didn’t keep quiet.
The top potential suspect in the kidnapping, Richard Albert Ricci, a handyman who once worked in the Smart household, died Aug. 30 after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage while in prison on a parole violation. He said he had nothing to do with the kidnapping.
Investigators have said they believe he was involved but may not have acted alone.
Over the summer, the Smarts held twice-daily news briefings and helped coordinate huge volunteer searches. Ed Smart, a real estate broker, vowed to keep the case in the spotlight.
The family often got calls from the police, but it was never the information they wanted to hear. Often, police were calling to alert them to grisly discoveries that might be linked to their missing daughter; they wanted the Smarts to know before the story hit the news.
Sometimes, the news beat the police. Hands and feet had been found in a canyon, or bones had been discovered in the desert, according to the news. The Smarts would call police to ask if it was Elizabeth. Every time, the answer was no.
Police said they followed up more than 16,000 leads from the public in addition to those they have come up with themselves.
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CLick here to see the story on MSNBC.com

Molly · Mar 12, 2003

Unbelievable! I just heard from Fox news. That's great!

Sherrie · Mar 12, 2003

My local TV sent me an email on it. Oh I just Thanked God she was allive.

Sherrie

Serving Him · Mar 13, 2003

My immediate reaction was "Praise the Lord!"

Barnabas H. · Mar 13, 2003

There are too many questions remain unanswered here, and I for one will look forward to the explanation given by Elizaabeth of her captors...

By James Nelson
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (Reuters) - Elizabeth Smart, who survived nine months of captivity and was never out of sight of her captors, was back in the arms of her family on Thursday after what some are calling a "miracle."

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=578&e=2&cid=578&u=/nm/20030313/ts_nm/crime_smart_dc

P.S. Although I fail to see how this subject will affect Baptists worldwide, since if I am not mistaken the Smart family were not Baptists.

Helen · Mar 13, 2003

The Smart family is LDS -- Mormon. There seems to be a concerted drive within the first 24 hours of her return to attribute it to God honoring the Mormon faith. One of the newscasters here didn't say anything about that part, but pointed out a number of cases in the past few years where kidnap victims had been found unharmed, at least physically unharmed.

Nevertheless, I do thank God for preserving her life, whatever the circumstances. I am nervous for her and her family, however, about whatever might have happened psychologically to her during the last nine months.

rufus · Mar 13, 2003

I'm glad the Smart girl is safe. Wednesday p.m. 48 Hours aired an hour long segment on this story. I feel something is missing in this story. I hope the whole truth comes out soon.

rufus

TheOliveBranch · Mar 13, 2003

I find it odd that the abductors were both blond.

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