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Topic: Elizabeth Smart (Read 871 times)

Rhune
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Elizabeth Smart
« on: Mar 12^th, 2003, 5:32pm »

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Elizabeth Smart found alive
Wednesday, March 12, 2003 Posted: 6:11 PM EST (2311 GMT)

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (CNN) -- Salt Lake City police said Wednesday that missing teenager Elizabeth Smart was found alive in a Salt Lake City suburb earlier Wednesday, and her uncle told CNN she has been reunited with her family.

"We just believe in miracles and thank God she's alive," Tom Smart told CNN by telephone.

He said the reunion involved her immediate family.

Sandy City Police Sgt. Michelle Burnette said two people called police with a tip that led them to a certain address.

"Two separate women called in and said they thought they had spotted `Emmanuel,"' she said. Emmanuel's real name is Brian David Mitchell. He is a drifter who had once done work on the Smarts' home.

Elizabeth, now 15, was wearing a wig when she was found, The Associated Press reported.

Elizabeth was abducted at gunpoint from her family's 6,600-square-foot Salt Lake City home June 5, 2002, while her parents and four brothers slept. Her younger sister, Mary Katherine, 9, who was in the bedroom with Elizabeth, witnessed the abduction.

Emmanuel's real name is Brian David Mitchell
The younger sister said she pretended to be asleep and later said the kidnapper had threatened to hurt Elizabeth if she didn't keep quiet.

Last October, Mary Katherine told her parents that "Emmanuel" looked like the man who had taken Elizabeth.

Police earlier had focused on 48-year-old handyman, Richard Ricci, calling him "a possible suspect."

He was later imprisoned for a parole violation stemming from burglary charges related to the Smart family. Ricci died in the Utah State Prison August 30, 2002, when he was taken off life support following a brain hemorrhage three days earlier.

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chickmama
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Re: Elizabeth Smart
« Reply #1 on: Mar 13^th, 2003, 6:55am »

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Isn't this just amazing! Cool

That family must be on cloud nine right now. I really hope that little girl hasn't been subjected to any awful things. I just cannot imagine how this past 9 months have felt for her and her family, but WOW what a great ending! Grin

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MzWings
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Re: Elizabeth Smart
« Reply #2 on: Mar 13^th, 2003, 10:36am »

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No WONDER there was no response when I posted about Elizabeth Smart's recovery. I put the thing in The Grapevine. Geesh!

I can only (barely) imagine how the Smart family and friends must have been feeling lo these past 9 months. The horror of losing a child, literally from under one's nose must be devastating. I would imagine they've felt more than their share of guilt too, for not hearing something or that their parental intuition wasn't working.

I thank God for that husband and wife who spotted the trio - one of whom was Elizabeth - and for not jumping the gun to spook them into running.

And I pray for Elizabeth's sanity. We can only hope that this ordeal will not have scarred her for life. They're Mormons and that particular faith is quite strong. Maybe that's what held her together. Time will tell.

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Re: Elizabeth Smart
« Reply #3 on: Mar 13^th, 2003, 11:15am »

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SANDY, Utah (CNN) -- Rudy and Nancy Montoya were at a Kinko's copying a resume. Anita and Alvin Dickerson were close to Kinko's, driving down State Street, a main road in Sandy, Utah, a Salt Lake City suburb.

They all realized the same thing within a minute of each other: An oddly dressed man walking with two women looked like "Emmanuel," someone they'd seen featured on TV reports in connection with Elizabeth Smart's disappearance.

The Montoyas phoned police first. Sixty seconds later, the Dickersons called.

"We were going north on State Street," Anita Dickerson said Wednesday, during a news conference. "And we saw three people walking off on the side of the road.

"I made a remark to my husband because of the way they were dressed -- you know with the flowers in the hair. And my husband said, 'Well, that may be the person they're looking for in the Elizabeth Smart case.'

"And when he said that, I leaned over and actually looked at the man in the face and I said, 'I believe that it is him.'"

She said she asked her husband to stop the car and pull over. She then got out and walked toward the trunk, pretending she needed to get something out of it.

"As they were walking up the sidewalk, I looked him in the face and he looked at me -- I turned around and went back to my husband and said, 'That's him. Let me have your cell phone.'"

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An article about the possible abductor
« Reply #4 on: Mar 13^th, 2003, 11:17am »

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Brian David Mitchell, described by police as a suspect in the abduction of Elizabeth Smart, was a panhandling transient who considered himself a prophet, according to press reports.

"He'd dress up like Moses or like Jesus, and he felt it was his calling in life to collect money from people and give them a chance to serve," local newspaper columnist Lee Benson told CNN.

Mitchell, 49, was "a fairly famous transient down in Salt Lake, said Tom Smart, Elizabeth's uncle, and often referred to himself as "Emmanuel."

"He walked around in white robes. He called himself a prophet. ... Wanda, who was with him, they would beg down there. A lot of people knew who he was," Tom Smart said.

In interviews with local television stations, Louree Gayler, identified herself as Mitchell's stepdaughter. She said she was the daughter of Wanda Eileen Barzee, who was traveling with Mitchell and taken into custody with him when police found Elizabeth.

Gayler described Mitchell as a "bizarre" man who would often camp in the mountains. "He thinks he's higher than God," Gayler said.

She suggested Mitchell could have maintained control of Elizabeth with brainwashing, fear or drugs. "He was in a drug rehab center when he met my mom," Gayler said.

Gayler said she ran away from the couple when she was 14. The woman claimed Mitchell had made unwanted advances to her, including kissing and rubbing her.

New image, new lead
After the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Mitchell changed his look, Tom Smart said. He shucked the robes, shaved his beard and appeared as a "clean-cut" panhandler in the fall of 2001 when Lois Smart, Elizabeth's mother, encountered him.

"Lois gave him $5 and asked him if he wanted to come up and do some work. She was impressed by him," the uncle said.

"He came up and did some work on the house for five hours. And then we never heard about it again, until Mary Katherine walked in months after the disappearance and said, 'Dad, I think I might know who it is.'"

Elizabeth's younger sister, Mary Katherine, was in the same bedroom the night of June 5, 2002, when her sister was taken, and got a glimpse of the intruder.

In a statement released February 3, the Smart family said Mary Katherine told her parents last October she thought the man was "Emmanuel."

The family quickly notified Salt Lake City Police about the possible update to the case, but some critics said they were slow to track down Mitchell.

"The police department's interest in Emmanuel, or lack thereof, became an issue for several reasons," Benson of the Deseret News wrote in a column Monday.

"First, the department did not participate in the early February press conference when Ed Smart and his wife, Lois, revealed Emmanuel's description to the public. Second, the police had failed to find the homeless man, or identify his true identity, during October, November, December and January when they privately knew of his existence," Benson wrote.

"And third, after the family's press conference resulted in a positive ID of Emmanuel as 49-year-old Utah native Brian David Mitchell, Sgt. Don Bell of SLPD downplayed Mitchell's potential as a suspect and the department again left it to the Smart family to take the lead in publicizing Mitchell's identity and photographs," his column said.

But, Benson wrote, Lt. Jim Jensen, who headed the department's task force for the Smart abduction, said law enforcement agencies across the country were aware of the search for Mitchell.

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Addams
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Re: Elizabeth Smart
« Reply #5 on: Mar 13^th, 2003, 11:25am »

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the ElizabethSmart.com website has been updated to say that miracles do happen.

It provides some background information on the events of the past 9 months.

I am so grateful that this family will have Elizabeth in their home and in their lives when the anniversary of her kidnapping comes to past.

Also Elizabeth's sister Katherine must be very very brave girl - I am so grateful that this story has had a happy ending for Katherine's sake and for Elizabeth's sake. The whole family has done so much to get this information out to the community and that has resulted in this positive development.

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Rhune
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Re: Elizabeth Smart
« Reply #6 on: Mar 13^th, 2003, 6:08pm »

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Little sister's memory led to Elizabeth's discovery
Police arrest two in the girl's disappearance
Thursday, March 13, 2003 Posted: 6:30 PM EST (2330 GMT)

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (CNN) -- Initially, Salt Lake City police didn't want to act on the vague memory of 10 year-old Mary Katherine Smart. But the little girl was vindicated when her missing sister Elizabeth was found with the drifter known by her as "Emmanuel."

Elizabeth was abducted at knife point in June from the room she shared with her younger sister and was found Wednesday walking the streets of Sandy, Utah, with the drifter and another woman.

"Mary Katherine -- she's my hero," her beaming father, Ed Smart, said Thursday. "I cannot get over that she was inspired to come forward on Emmanuel."

Mary Katherine Smart told her parents that Elizabeth had been abducted in the middle of the night. In October, she made the connection between the man she saw in shadow in her bedroom and a man who had been hired to work on the family's roof for one day a year earlier.

She told her parents, "I think I know who it might be."

It took police four months to act on the little girl's information. Police had been reluctant to follow the lead of the young girl but released a description of the man February 3.

That description led to a sketch that was recognized by Mitchell's family members, who then gave photographs of him to police.

It was those photographs that led two couples in the Salt Lake City suburb of Sandy to recognize Mitchell as he walked down a street Wednesday in the company of two females. One of them was Wanda Eileen Barzee, a drifter who may be Mitchell's wife, and the other turned out to be 15-year-old Elizabeth Smart.

Mitchell and Barzee were held by police and Elizabeth was reunited with her family.

It was the end of an intense hunt for the missing girl that first began in the hills surrounding her home.

At one point, searchers were so close Elizabeth could hear them calling her name, Ed Smart said. Even her grieving family was not so far away, he said.

Smart said his daughter told him that through August she was in the nearby foothills and canyons of the Wasatch Range that rise from just behind his Federal Heights home on the northeastern edge of Salt Lake City.

"I can't believe it," Smart said. "She heard people calling out for her."

Police said they were investigating reports that since Elizabeth's abduction, Mitchell had traveled to San Diego, California; Atlanta, Georgia; and Florida.

San Diego County law enforcement officers said Mitchell was arrested and held in San Diego for six days in February. Chris Saunders, a public affairs officer for the San Diego County Sheriff's Department, said Salt Lake City police confirmed Thursday afternoon that Mitchell's prints matched those of the man they had held.

It's not clear how and where Elizabeth may have traveled.

"My understanding is that she camped a fair amount of that time," said Smart family spokesman Chris Thomas. "She also traveled around the country to different places."

Utah's former U.S. Sen. Jake Garn, a close family friend, said it was his understanding that Elizabeth only recently returned to the Salt Lake City area.

Two face charges of aggravated kidnapping
Elizabeth was found walking down a street in the suburban enclave of Sandy -- just 15 miles from her home -- passing a missing child poster with her picture on it.

Police identified the two people -- Mitchell and Barzee -- as suspects in the case. Mitchell, 49, is described as a drifter and self-described prophet named Emmanuel who performed small jobs at the Smart home once in November 2001. With him, police said, was Barzee, whose relationship to Mitchell was not clear. The television program "America's Most Wanted" described Barzee as Mitchell's wife.

Records indicated that the woman was known as Wanda E. Thompson before late 1986 and Wanda E. Mitchell after that time. Her current Utah driver's license identifies her as Wanda Mitchell. CNN has not found a record including the name Barzee.

The records show that the woman had shared an address with Brian D. Mitchell since June 1986, but no addresses have been found for either of them since June 2001.

Both face charges of aggravated kidnapping, police spokeswoman Peggy Faulkner said.

A Utah law enforcement official said Mitchell's criminal record is scant: a DUI charge, driving without a license and possession of a controlled dangerous substance. All charges date to 1973. Mitchell also has a previous warrant for retail theft, Faulkner said.

Around the Smarts' neighborhood, tattered ribbons in blue -- Elizabeth's favorite color -- were replaced with fresh new ones as word spread of the teen's return.

President Bush called Ed Smart Thursday afternoon to say he and the first lady were "heartened by the news," that their daughter was found.

In a telephone conversation that lasted just a few minutes, the president told Smart that "millions of Americans were praying for them," according to White House spokesman Scott McClellan.

"It feels like we've been tied up into a little cage and that door finally flung open," a jubilant David Smart, Elizabeth's uncle, said on CNN's "American Morning with Paula Zahn."

Suspect had worked at Smart home
Ed Smart said Elizabeth described being taken from her home last June at knife point. Smart said he hasn't asked his daughter for details of the ordeal because he didn't want to traumatize her any more.

Elizabeth was abducted from her family's 6,600-square-foot Salt Lake City home while her parents and four brothers slept. Her younger sister, Mary Katherine, said she witnessed Elizabeth's disappearance from their bedroom.

Mary Katherine, who was 9 at the time, said she pretended to be asleep, later saying the intruder told Elizabeth to keep quiet.

She identified the man as a person the family knew as Emmanuel, who worked at the family home after he asked Elizabeth's mother for spare change while she was downtown. The family said he had worked at the home for five hours, helping with roof repairs and raking leaves.

A 'bizarre' man
Local television stations interviewed a woman named Louree Gayler, who said she was Barzee's daughter and Mitchell's stepdaughter.

Gayler said her stepfather was a "bizarre" man who would often camp in the mountains.

"He was in a drug rehab center when he met my mom," Gayler said, adding that she had run away from the couple when she was 14. (Full story)

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Rhune
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Re: Elizabeth Smart
« Reply #7 on: Mar 17^th, 2003, 10:08am »

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Relatives defend suspect in Smart disappearance
Father: 'Brian is the one who got that girl back safely'
Sunday, March 16, 2003 Posted: 7:06 PM EST (0006 GMT)

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (CNN) -- Relatives are defending Brian David Mitchell, the homeless man suspected of abducting Utah teenager Elizabeth Smart nine months ago.

Shirl Mitchell, the suspect's father, says there is no justification for the alleged abduction but that his son's actions should be put in perspective.

"Brian is the one who got that girl back safely ... Now, that's quite an accomplishment," the senior Mitchell told CNN on Saturday.

"How many of these fiends, degenerates, take little kids and dismember their bodies or kill them outright and bury them. Now when they're getting to be overcritical of Brian, they should remember that," he said, urging that Mitchell not be "dumped out as garbage."

On Wednesday, police arrested Mitchell, 49, and his wife, Wanda Ilene Barzee, 57, in Sandy, Utah, after residents recognized the bearded and robe-clad Mitchell as the man police had named as a suspect in the case. Mitchell was walking with two veiled women -- Barzee and Elizabeth, who had been missing for nine months and turned 15 during that time.

Police say Elizabeth was abducted at knifepoint from her bedroom during the night of June 5, 2002. As details about the case emerge, Mitchell's father is taking to task those who would condemn his son.

"Of course, they're continuing to say he's a monster for taking away a minor. But they have to back up a little and realize that ... [Brian's] a saint because he took care of that girl and helped her for all those months," he said.

Authorities in Utah have said Brian Mitchell, a self-proclaimed prophet who called himself "Emmanuel," and companion Barzee could face charges of aggravated kidnapping.

Mitchell's father, 83, who described himself as a voyeur and the author of two volumes about his personal theology that include explicit sexual content, also acknowledged showing his son pictures of genitalia at the age of seven or eight. The father said he believes his erotic literature contributed to an after-school episode of indecent exposure when Mitchell was a teenager.

A few weeks in juvenile detention, bouts with alcohol and drugs -- including an LSD trip that put him in the hospital -- were other contributing factors, the elder Mitchell said. He added that the family suspected Brian Mitchell was abused in daycare.

Calling himself "too impulsive" as a parent, the father also catalogued early incidents in his own troubled relationship with Mitchell.

"He slapped one of the neighbor kids with a hose, hurting the kid, making the kid cry. So I went out and slapped him with [the hose] and probably said 'how do you think that feels.' That was too harsh," he said.

Mitchell's father also told CNN about an incident when he drove his son to a park and told him "you are on your own." He said he wanted his son to "appreciate having a home just by being loose in the world for a little while."

"That might have set his mind in that pattern. Now he is wandering around the whole country that way," the father said, referring to Mitchell's life as a panhandling drifter who preached to the homeless and passers-by.

Although they have rarely talked in the past 15 years, the father says he now feels "equally responsible" for what has happened to Mitchell, adding that he'll do whatever he can to help reduce any sentence his son might face.

He also said Mitchell's sister, Lisa, should receive the reward offered for Elizabeth's return.

"She's the one that turned Brian in," he said, referring to information that his daughter had provided authorities. The father told CNN that he has suggested his daughter use the reward money to hire a high-powered attorney to defend Mitchell "so that he'll get off with as little a sentence as possible."

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chickmama
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Re: Elizabeth Smart
« Reply #8 on: Mar 17^th, 2003, 2:02pm »

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Good Grief, it sounds like to me it's "like father like son"
Only a parent could see someone who's abducted a child and kept her from her family for 9 months, as a saint! Give me a Break!

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Rhune
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Re: Elizabeth Smart
« Reply #9 on: Mar 17^th, 2003, 3:48pm »

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I so agree...Mitchell has also been issuing statements from his lawyer about how Elizabeth is his "wife" and he loves her very much. The whole thing just makes me sick.

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luci
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Re: Elizabeth Smart
« Reply #10 on: Mar 17^th, 2003, 5:05pm »

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Well

No wonder Brain Mitchell is a nut case, with a Dad like that!
How horrible, God help them for no one else can!

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Re: Elizabeth Smart
« Reply #11 on: Mar 18^th, 2003, 2:18pm »

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Smart's accused abductors charged with 6 felony counts
Tuesday, March 18, 2003 Posted: 2:52 PM EST (1952 GMT)

SALT LAKE CITY (CNN) -- Prosecutors Tuesday filed four first-degree felony counts against Brian David Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Ilene Barzee, in the June 5 abduction of Elizabeth Smart.

The counts include aggravated burglary, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated sexual assault on June 5, and aggravated sexual assault on dates between June 5 and August 2.

They also filed two felony charges of aggravated burglary and attempted aggravated kidnapping against the pair for allegedly trying to break into the home of Smart's cousin, Jessica Wright, on July 24.

Each count carries a life sentence.

Mitchell, 49, and Barzee, 57, are scheduled to make their initial court appearance at 9 a.m. (11 a.m. EST) Wednesday in Salt Lake City's 3rd District Court.

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luci
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Re: Elizabeth Smart
« Reply #12 on: Mar 18^th, 2003, 6:14pm »

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So glad to hear each of the counts carry a life sentence. The other inmates will take care of him and he'll see god alright!
That is unless some attorney gets him into a mental hospital and hopefully in the State of Utah that just won't happen!
To think that young girl had to endure that monster!

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Re: Elizabeth Smart
« Reply #13 on: Mar 19^th, 2003, 3:50pm »

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Just a question has anyone else noticed the reunion pics takenof Elizabeth? Her smile seems forced or faked sure sign if you ask me that she may indeed been brainwashed! I pray for this little girl as we all so. Her smile really worried me!

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MzWings
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Re: Elizabeth Smart
« Reply #14 on: Mar 19^th, 2003, 5:27pm »

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David - have you checked out the website set up when Elizabeth was abducted? It's more than a little inspirational. There are some nice new pictures too.

www.elizabethsmart.com

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