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OMG! Elizabeth Smart Found ALIVE!!!
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rd



Joined: 13 Sep 2002
Posts: 9273
Location: Jacksonville, FL

PostPosted: Sat Mar 29, 2003 5:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Case after case, Emma. Even the DC snipers couldn't get through. Yet these cops are out there asking for information over and over. Apparently only information that confirms what they already believe.

rd
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laskipper



Joined: 17 Sep 2002
Posts: 1232
Location: Northern Ohio

PostPosted: Sun Apr 20, 2003 7:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm sure that everyone has read that Elizabeth Smart will have her own attorney- but did you know that her parents have found an entertainment attorney for her? Seems to me like this is becoming a joke. It's about the movie now, not Liz.

Also, the sister was "nominated" to receive a portion of the $300,000 reward money for "finding" Liz. They are doing a nomination process for the reward monies.

I've read that there are others nominated and 3 finalists will be chosen. What do you want to bet that MK will be a finalist?

It should be cut and dried. The women that called the police and tipped them off as to where they spotted Liz (or suspected that they did), should get the reward money. Now, MK the sister, is in the running for the money. What a joke. The whole thing is a joke.

ls
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rd



Joined: 13 Sep 2002
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 20, 2003 11:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

where is this information coming from, skipper? If in an article, please post it.

if a rumor, please cite the source of the rumor. thanks!

Do we have any information that any reward will be paid out at all and
where it came from for Elizabeth Smart? An article that jane posted says
that rewards are seldom paid. I found that to be eye opening.

Also, just want to remind those that trash people for getting entertainment
industry lawyers, if you were in their position you would likely do the same
thing. The number of people approaching you to sign a deal for a movie,
etc. must be mind boggling, especially when the focus is so photogenic.
In addition, Elizabeth is not a criminal and doesn't need a criminal lawyer.
Of course, I hope that never again is anybody in the position of their
daughter disappearing and that no one makes a movie of it as
"entertainment".

The argument will go that one should be above such things, but then
others will make a movie anyway and make a bunch of money off your
name and tragedy without any opportunuity for you to at least influence
the details. The argument then goes to step up and preempt the
unauthorized movies, which will still be made but will have to compete
against the story from the horse's mouth. For the story to be respected
at all and watched will probably require some unkind things about you to
be included, but surely not as unkind as anomynous internet posters
would have it.

rd
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EmmaPeel



Joined: 20 Sep 2002
Posts: 472
Location: Texas

PostPosted: Sun Apr 20, 2003 3:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here's an article that mentions about the sister and the reward, RD:

Elizabeth Smart readjusting to home life

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Elizabeth Smart is spending a lot of time with her family and friends these days. She's going to church and making trips to the mall, though she's not back at school. Not yet.

While the 15-year-old slowly reclaims her life, her family has hired a lawyer to handle book and movie offers that have poured in ever since Elizabeth was found with a self-proclaimed prophet nine months after she vanished from her bedroom.

Family spokeswoman Missy Larsen said the Smarts expect to choose within the next two weeks who they want to tell the story of the teen's ordeal.

Last June, Elizabeth, then 14, was taken at knifepoint from her bedroom. She returned to her family March 12 after she was spotted in a Salt Lake City suburb with Brian Mitchell and Wanda Barzee, the transients who have been charged with her kidnapping.

Mitchell, 49, and Barzee, 57, have been charged with burglary, kidnapping and sexual assault. They are each being held on $10 million bond and will soon undergo mental health evaluations.

Details of Elizabeth's ordeal have dribbled out slowly — she was kept prisoner in the hills above her family's home, for example, and she and the two suspects were spotted in the San Diego area. But many details have been kept secret and the family has toned down its public profile.

When Elizabeth does venture out, she is recognized but not bothered.

"People are being very respectful," Larsen said. "She's definitely not going out alone anywhere."

Elizabeth would have been a high school freshman this year. She will be tutored at home through the summer and likely will attend East High School in Salt Lake City in the fall, Larsen said. She's also taking online courses.

"She'll catch up for next year," Larsen said.

The family has said they will not press Elizabeth to talk about her ordeal. As for a trial, Larsen said she has no idea what Elizabeth thinks of facing her two alleged captors in court.

"I do know that (parents) Ed and Lois want to protect her from any court proceedings," she said.

The Smarts recently hired Los Angeles entertainment attorney Kelly Crabb to help them screen more than 100 movie and book proposals about Elizabeth's abduction and remarkable return. Crabb attended nearby Brigham Young University.

"It comes down to an opportunity to tell the story or watch someone do an unauthorized version," said Chris Thomas, another family spokesperson.

Reward money for information leading to Elizabeth's whereabouts and safe return has reached $295,000. A spokeswoman for the mayor said 29 people have filed claims or been nominated for shares of the money pledged by private donors and the FBI.

At least two people outside the family have nominated Elizabeth's sister, Mary Katherine, for the reward money. If that happens, the family is expected to donate it to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.


Mary Katherine was in the same room with Elizabeth the night she disappeared. Several months later, she told her family and police that the man who took her sister sounded somewhat like Mitchell, who had helped repair the Smarts' roof in November 2001.
--end--

It's nice that they plan to donate it, but I agree the couple who called in the tip as to where she was at should get the reward. Family members should be excluded from getting any. After all their reward should be the fact that they got Elizabeth back.
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rd



Joined: 13 Sep 2002
Posts: 9273
Location: Jacksonville, FL

PostPosted: Sun Apr 20, 2003 3:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

EmmaPeel wrote:

It's nice that they plan to donate it, but I agree the couple who called in the tip as to where she was at should get the reward. Family members should be excluded from getting any. After all their reward should be the fact that they got Elizabeth back.



I agree with that, Emma. Thanks for the article!

rd
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laskipper



Joined: 17 Sep 2002
Posts: 1232
Location: Northern Ohio

PostPosted: Sun Apr 20, 2003 4:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks, Emma! You beat me to it. I'm busy making dinner between attempts at finding info.

The aspect of the entertainment attorney being retained for Liz is irritating because the concept of an attorney for Liz was supposed to be for her protection. While I would suppose you could say that it would be in Lizzies' best interest to have such an attorney and that would be true- since they are planning to produce a book and a movie, I just feel that it's another area where the Smart family sort of mislead the public.

Hopefully they will also bring in someone with trial knowledge as well.

As to the reward going to MK, I think it's unfair to those who were instrumental in helping LE to find Liz.

It was also mentioned that you may be seeing Ed Smart as the new spokesperson for the group that they will be donating the money to. Interesting. We will have to wait and see.

BTW, the Smarts have started a campaign against Marc Klaas:


Smart Uncle Tells of Betrayal

By Vince Horiuchi
The Salt Lake Tribune
LAS VEGAS -- At a convention of radio and television news directors, David Smart, uncle of kidnap victim Elizabeth Smart, was asked Monday for an example of how the family was betrayed by news media during the reporting of her 9-month kidnapping.

His answer involved the most unlikely of people: Marc Klaas, the father of kidnap and murder victim Polly Klaas.

David Smart claims Klaas, who has been an advocate for missing children after the death of his 12-year-old daughter in 1993, arrived in Salt Lake City for the Fox News network and tried to make friends with the Smart family just days after Elizabeth's kidnapping last June.

Klaas "came in and acted as an advocate," David Smart said during a panel discussion on how the news media treats families of crime victims. But "he came in here and was brought in by a network. What we found out is he was being paid by the network. He went against the grain, saying he was there for the family."

Smart made the comments during the annual convention for the Radio and Television News Directors Association at the Las Vegas Hilton Hotel. The conference ends Wednesday.

After Monday's panel discussion, Smart family spokesman Chris Thomas said Klaas "was sympathetic, but he had an agenda" when he initially tried to get close to the family last June.

"When he was rejected, he went on the offensive," added Thomas, who claims Klaas then started criticizing the family on national television talk shows.

Klaas said Monday he was hired by the Fox News network as a consultant for the first week after Elizabeth's kidnapping, but he never went to the Smart home, never tried to sweet talk the family into a television interview, and he never misrepresented himself.

"I most definitely was there working for Fox, and I never hid that from anybody," said an incensed Klaas.

"I wish these people who won everything would stop saying these things," he said. "They won the f------ kidnap lotto. Neither myself or anyone else who came to Salt Lake City wanted to do anything else but bring Elizabeth Smart home."

Despite the one criticism, David Smart and spokesman Thomas said the news media was generally sensitive.

And Smart had this advice for news reporters who must cover the families of victims: "If it was your mother or father, how would you want to handle the situation?"

Also on the panel were Carie Lemack, president of Families of September 11, who lost her mother to the terrorist attacks; Sandy Sharp, executive director of Families of Murder Victims, whose 15-year-old son was beaten to death; and Dale Russell, an investigative reporter for WAGA-TV in Atlanta, who lost a family member in a ValuJet airliner crash.

Lemack said reporters should step back and understand the pain and confusion that surrounds a family that first day of a tragedy.

"When it's a reporter who shoves a microphone in your face and asks, 'How do you feel,' at that point, you just know it's exploitation," she said. "At that time [the first day of the terrorist attacks], we were just trying to make sense of what happened."

Russell, who has been on both sides of tragedy as a family member of a victim and as a reporter who has covered such stories, said reporters must remain sensitive and apply the same rules they always use on any story: "Be fair, be thorough, be accurate."

***

The Chris Thomas mentioned above:

"The Intrepid Group is a team of highly creative people dedicated to getting your company the exposure you need. Click the links below, and get to know us better."

Chris Thomas
Partner
email Chris

As a partner with The Intrepid Group, Chris is responsible for the creative direction for the agency. He has worked with a diversity of companies representing several industries. Prior to joining The Intrepid Group, he managed marchFIRST's corporate account and was responsible for the company's client communications program. In this capacity, he developed joint PR initiatives with such companies as Saks Fifth Avenue, Williams-Sonoma, FAO Schwarz and JetBlue Airways. Chris also headed public relations efforts for marchFIRST's $100 million alliance with 3Com and was a key player in publicity surrounding the launch of a new wireless network with the San Francisco 49ers. Chris has consumer and sports public relations experience and has worked on accounts for: Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the Olympic Winter Games of 2002(SLOC), Nestle, Utah Showdown, Benihana and Deseret News. He is a former reporter and sports editor with the Park Record in Park City, Utah; and a reporter with the Davis County Clipper in Bountiful, Utah.

http://www.intrepidpr.com/staff.html

****

About the book coming up:

Smart Book Due in Months
Avon Books has won the scramble to publish the first book about Elizabeth Smart. Held Captive: The Kidnapping and Rescue of Elizabeth Smart arrives this summer. It will be co-written by investigative reporters Maggie Haberman and Jeane MacIntosh, who covered the Smart case for New York papers. Smart family spokesman Chris Thomas said the book is an unauthorized version and the family is not cooperating.
-- USA Today
****

There are about 10 claims to the 300k reward money to include:



Rudy and Nancy Montoya of West Jordan were the first to call police after recognizing Mitchell walking in Sandy with Barzee and Elizabeth on March 12.

Alvin and Anita Dickerson of Sandy also spotted Mitchell and called police about a minute later. The Montoyas and Dickersons have told The Salt Lake Tribune that they have each filed for a share of the money."


The others would probably be relatives of Barzee and Mitchell as well as the man that spotted Mitchell in front of the Smart house several days prior to the "kidnapping" and reported it to LE BEFORE Liz was taken as well as after. Corey, I think his name is.

Then, of course, there is MK Smart.
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rd



Joined: 13 Sep 2002
Posts: 9273
Location: Jacksonville, FL

PostPosted: Sun Apr 20, 2003 4:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

laskipper wrote: " As to the reward going to MK, I think it's unfair to those who were instrumental in helping LE to find Liz."


I agree with that, skipper. This is so very true. I think there is some emotional sentiment to the little girl sticking to her guns and saying who she believed she saw despite the police ignoring her and refusing to release her sketch because it didn't match their belief.

Also, it might be technically true to say that the Smarts are producing a movie and book if they sign a contract, but I wouldn't characterize choosing from hundreds of offers of people who will make a movie with or without you as deciding to produce a movie. I'd characterize it as protecting your interests.

Thanks for the great background info on the witnesses who alertly notified police and to whom any reward money should go.

rd
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rd



Joined: 13 Sep 2002
Posts: 9273
Location: Jacksonville, FL

PostPosted: Wed Apr 30, 2003 1:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

from CNN (fair use)

Paper fires reporters who sold Elizabeth Smart info
Tuesday, April 29, 2003 Posted: 10:15 PM EDT (0215 GMT)


SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (AP) -- The Salt Lake Tribune said Tuesday that it fired two reporters who were paid $20,000 for collaborating with the National Enquirer on an Elizabeth Smart story because they misled their employer about the level of their involvement with the tabloid.

Michael Vigh and Kevin Cantera were fired less than a week after Tribune editor James E. Shelledy refused their resignations.

While the reporters told Shelledy they had given the tabloid a "roadmap" of the investigation, Shelledy said he had since learned they provided a much larger part of the story.

"I feel saddened and angry that these two reporters damaged themselves, their colleagues and the reputation of the Tribune with their conduct," he said.

"The reporters told us a different story than we found out later to be true so they were terminated," said Tribune publisher Dean Singleton, who also is vice chairman and chief executive officer of the newspaper's owner, MediaNews Group Inc.

A message left by The Associated Press at Cantera's home was not immediately returned. Vigh's home telephone had been disconnected when the AP called.

Shelledy had said Monday that Vigh and Cantera split $20,000 for their help on a July 2 Enquirer story headlined "Utah Cops: Secret Diary Exposes Family Sex Ring." The story has been retracted as part of a settlement between the Smart family and the tabloid.

Vigh and Cantera, the lead reporters on the Smart kidnapping, didn't tell Shelledy of their dealings with the Enquirer until last week, when they offered to resign. He refused their resignations, but put them on a year's probation and forbade them from doing any freelance work. The two also were pulled off coverage of the Smart case.

The tabloid article was published about a month after Elizabeth, then 14, was abducted at knifepoint from her bedroom. She was found March 12 in a Salt Lake suburb with two people now charged with kidnapping her.

Shelledy wrote about his reporters' involvement with the Florida-based Enquirer in his weekly column Sunday. In the column, he said Vigh and Cantera relayed rumors and "assumed the Enquirer played by mainstream rules and would consider as hearsay that which could not be confirmed, on or off the record, through police sources."

On Monday, the Enquirer sent a letter to the Tribune demanding a retraction for the column, saying Shelledy misrepresented how the tabloid got the story and wrongly implied the Tribune reporters had merely provided unsubstantiated rumors.

Alan Butterfield, the Enquirer reporter who brokered the deal with the Vigh and Cantera, played the AP two very brief portions of a telephone conversation with Cantera taped without the reporter's knowledge the day after the three agreed to work together.

In one of the snippets, Butterfield is heard asking Cantera to make sure the Tribune did not scoop the Enquirer on the Smart details. Cantera responded by saying he would push for the Tribune to publish the story, but that the newspaper probably would reject it. "My editors are a different story. They're real lightweights sometimes," he said.

In the other taped snippet, Butterfield asked, "Everything you told me last night, you're solid on?"

"Oh yeah," Cantera answered.

Shelledy said he decided to fire the reporters after he was told about the tape by the Enquirer and confronted Cantera. "He said that he probably hadn't come clean on everything," Shelledy said.

Vigh was fired "because he could not guarantee us that his recollection of what transpired with the Enquirer reporter is the same as he said was true last week," the editor said.

Vigh, 32, has been a police and courts reporter for the Tribune since 1998; Cantera, 34, had been a police reporter at the paper since 2000.

Cantera and Vigh were quoted Tuesday by the Tribune as saying they planned to give the $20,000 payment to charity, even though they no longer have it in hand.

"At some point, I would like to give it to the Center for Missing (and Exploited) Children," Cantera told the newspaper. "But I haven't done that yet, so I guess it sounds pretty lame to say it."

Ed Smart, Elizabeth's father, told the AP that the family had no intention of getting the reporters fired, but rather just wanted to protect Elizabeth.

"We just feel that it's important for the people to act responsibly," he said.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Copyright 2003 The Associated Press.

end quote

rd
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rd



Joined: 13 Sep 2002
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 30, 2003 6:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

from CNN (fair use)

Bush signs child protection bill
Measure includes Amber Alert provision
Wednesday, April 30, 2003 Posted: 3:49 PM EDT (1949 GMT)




WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush signed a broad child protection bill Wednesday encouraging states to establish Amber Alert systems to quickly post information about child abductions.

He said the measure "marks important progress in the protection of America's children."

"When a child is reported missing, that case becomes a matter of the most intense and focused effort by law enforcement," Bush said as Elizabeth Smart and families of other kidnapped children looked on in the White House Rose Garden. "Entire communities join in the search and, through unrelenting efforts, many children have been saved."

The measure, dubbed the "Protect Act of 2003," also enhances penalties for youth abductions and child sex crimes, boosts funding for missing and exploited children programs and cracks down on child pornography, including images created digitally.

Amber Alerts use radio, television, roadside electronic billboards and emergency broadcast systems to disseminate information about kidnapping suspects and victims soon after the abduction of a child under 18 is reported. In such cases, authorities say, the child could be killed or seriously injured a short time after being kidnapped.

The alerts -- named after a 9-year-old Texas girl, Amber Hagerman, who was kidnapped and killed in 1996 -- are currently in effect in 41 states. Bush said they "have become an increasingly important tool in rescuing kidnapped children."

"Every person who would think of abducting a child can know that a wide net will be cast," he said. "They may be found by a police cruiser or by the car right next to them on a highway. These criminals can know that any driver they pass could be the one that spots them and brings them to justice."

Amber's mother, Donna Norris, attended the ceremony along with the survivors of two high-profile kidnapping cases -- Jacqueline Marris and Tamara Brooks, two California teenagers rescued in the first use of the system in that state; and Utah teen Elizabeth Smart, whose father, Ed Smart, called for a national Amber alert system after her recovery in March.

He initially assailed lawmakers -- specifically Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wisconsin, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee -- for wanting to include the Amber Alert measure as part of a broader child protection bill. But Bush singled out Sensenbrenner for praise Wednesday, saluting his "fine work."

The new law encourages states to develop Amber Alert systems. Attorney General John Ashcroft said the bill aims to create a "seamless" system across the country.

The Bush administration has designated an Amber Alert coordinator at the Justice Department to assist states and has designated $10 million for that effort.

"It's very important, because in most cases where children are seriously hurt or killed, they are killed during the early hours of the abduction," Ashcroft told CNN. "And so we want to have the alert not only be a substantial and broad alert, but it has to happen early and quickly. That's why it's important we have this additional funding and this coordination at the national level."

end quote

rd
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jane



Joined: 22 Sep 2002
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PostPosted: Fri May 02, 2003 12:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

quote

Struggling With Hindsight
Former Investigator Believes Elizabeth Smart Could Have Been Found Sooner


May 2
— As Elizabeth Smart tries to return to a normal life after nine months in captivity, the former lead investigator on her case says she might have been recovered six months sooner if not for a typo and a decision that haunts him still.

"I struggle with that," Cory Lyman, the former lead investigator in the Smart case, told ABCNEWS' Primetime Thursday.

"I go over that in my head, as does everybody else in the task force [in the investigation]," he said. "What could we have picked up on? What did we miss? What did we do wrong? What should we have thought out better? Those kind of questions."

Residents of Utah — and the entire nation — rejoiced March 12 when Elizabeth, 15, was found alive with a homeless self-styled street preacher named Brian David Mitchell — who liked to refer to himself as "Emmanuel" — and his wife, Wanda Barzee.

But Elizabeth's rescue also raised eyebrows because she was found in Sandy City, Utah, just 15 minutes away from her home in Salt Lake City. Investigators later found that her alleged captors held her at a camp site in the mountains behind the Smart home in the first two months after her abduction.

Though the Smart family has said they harbor no ill will toward police for the way they conducted the investigation, media reports speculated the case was mishandled.

In February, the Smart family, with the police's blessing, released sketches of "Emmanuel" and appealed for the public's help in finding him.

They did not know the suspect's full name at the time but said Mary Katherine Smart, Elizabeth's 10-year-old sister and the sole eyewitness to her abduction, told them the kidnapper resembled the former one-time handyman for the Smarts. That public showing of the sketch led to Mitchell's sister calling authorities with his identity and the man's stepson providing investigators with photos that ultimately led to Elizabeth's rescue.

However, Mary Katherine had told her family and Salt Lake City police about Emmanuel back in October. Salt Lake City police said the family first told them about Emmanuel on Oct. 13 and that they interviewed Mary Katherine two days later. The Smart family wanted to release a composite sketch immediately but police chose not to do so. Today, Lyman, who resigned as the lead investigator in the case in January to become the chief of police in Ketchum, Idaho, says he has second thoughts about his decision and believes they may have been able to find Elizabeth almost six months before her rescue.

"I wish we had chosen to go public earlier," Lyman said. "We didn't think it would be so difficult to find this guy."

‘I’ Before ‘E’

Lyman said he decided not to release the sketch and publicize Emmanuel's name because he suspected that if Mitchell was the kidnapper, then Elizabeth was probably already dead, and putting his name out might force him underground, making him impossible to find.

"Logically, this guy has no resources," Lyman said. "He had no car, no home, no nothing. Logically, he doesn't have the means to carry this out as a kidnap. If he did it, then we likely had a homicide."

A clerical error also may have prevented police from finding Elizabeth, Mitchell and Barzee earlier. On Sept. 27, Mitchell was arrested in Salt Lake City on shoplifting charges. Citing court records, The Salt Lake City Tribune reported that he allegedly told police his name was Emmanuel and Lueal, but police spelled the name incorrectly. Emmanuel was spelled "Immanuel."

Mitchell skipped his court appearance, and when law enforcement later learned about Emmanuel, his name did not pop up in the police database.

"Putting 'I' on the front instead of 'E'… it didn't show up," said Lyman. "Detectives would have picked him up on probably that first or second day [after first learning about him]."

Another Missed Opportunity

In addition, after Lyman left his post in January — and a month before the rescue — authorities may have missed another opportunity to find Elizabeth. Officials at the San Diego Sheriff's Department say they arrested Mitchell on Feb. 12 for vandalizing a church and that he was in custody for six days. He pleaded guilty to the charge and was released.

At the time, officials said, Mitchell was not using the Emmanuel alias and was using another name. The San Diego authorities were unaware that Salt Lake police wanted him for questioning at the time. Salt Lake City Police Chief Rick Dinse said officials did not issue a multi-state bulletin for Mitchell because he did not have a violent criminal background and they did not have enough evidence to consider him a suspect.

Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson has created an independent panel to examine the investigation in the Elizabeth Smart case. Lyman concedes, in hindsight, that mistakes were made in the search. But he does not believe that the Smart family thinks police were not dedicated to finding Elizabeth.

"Bungled? I guess to some extent that's certainly true. We didn't solve it earlier," Lyman said. "I don't think [Elizabeth's parents] Ed and Lois ever thought we didn't try. They may have thought we were wrong, but I don?t think they ever thought we didn't try or weren't committed."

In Search of Multiple Wives?

Elizabeth, then 14, was kidnapped early June 5, 2002, at knifepoint, allegedly by Mitchell, who police say entered the Smart house by cutting a window screen near the back door. She was taken from the bedroom she shared with Mary Katherine, then 9, who pretended to be asleep.

After two months of living in the campsite in the mountains behind the Smart house — within earshot of volunteers helping to search for the girl — Elizabeth, Mitchell and Barzee, police believe, then lived in a Salt Lake City apartment that is only two blocks away from a police station.

In October, they traveled to California, where police believe they moved from campsite to campsite in San Diego and Southern California. Between October and Elizabeth's recovery, police believe the trio may have traveled through California and Nevada before returning to Utah in March.

It is not clear why the trio traveled to California. But clues may be found in Mitchell's 27-page manifesto of alleged prophesy. In what he called "The Book of Emmanuel David Isaiah," he outlines his beliefs — which include polygamy. Primetime has learned that investigators believe that while in the San Diego area, Mitchell planned to abduct at least one more fair-haired girl from a religious family.

San Diego resident Virl Kemp told Primetime that he met Mitchell — who allegedly identified himself as "Pete" — at a Mormon Church. Kemp invited Mitchell to his home for lunch, gave him a Bible, and showed him a picture of his 12-year-old daughter.

"I think he had an idea that there was a young lady in the house that would be of interest to him," Kemp said. "And then to finally find out from the investigation … that he may have come back to my home and tried to break in and tried to kidnap my daughter. … Looking back on it, it seems totally plausible that this is what he was up to."

Mitchell also may have targeted Elizabeth's cousin, Jessica Wright, who bears a close resemblance to the 15-year-old. According to a report from the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Department, on July 24, Wright was awakened at 3 a.m. by the sound of pictures on her desk falling to the floor and observed a thin object sticking through the closed metal blinds of her window. The object then disappeared and she fled the room.

The screen on Wright's bedroom window was cut horizontally and vertically during the night and a chair was left beneath the window, two similarities to Elizabeth's disappearance. Ed Smart has said he believes the kidnapper entered his home by cutting a window screen near the back door from the outside and climbing up on a chair.

‘What a Pleasure It Will Be’

Mitchell and Barzee have been charged with aggravated burglary and attempted aggravated kidnapping in the incident involving Wright.

They have been charged with burglary, aggravated kidnapping, and sexual assault in Elizabeth Smart's case.

With the help of Barzee, Mitchell, prosecutors say, tied Elizabeth to a tree at the campsite behind the Smart home and sexually assaulted her. If convicted on all counts, Mitchell and Barzee could face life in prison.

Far away from Salt Lake City, Lyman is overjoyed to see the Smart family reunited and says there two real heroes in this case: Elizabeth, for enduring her ordeal, and her sister Mary Katherine.

"She [Mary Katherine] is a champion," he said. "She really came through. … She very much wanted her sister back, and she did the best she could, and she ended up the hero in this deal."

And despite his second thoughts about the decisions he made during the search, Lyman said he would like to meet Elizabeth Smart someday.

"I don't think she'll have any idea what I mean when I say what a pleasure it is to meet her," Lyman said. "What a pleasure it will be."

Reported by ABCNEWS' Cynthia McFadden, Harry Phillips and LaNeice Collins.
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