Police: Sister's Story Solid
Elizabeth Smart's little sister, the sole witness to the teen's apparent abduction, waited two hours to tell her parents about the kidnapping because she feared the kidnapper was still in the house, authorities said Wednesday.
Police Chief Rick Dinse said the girl, Mary Katherine, got out of bed soon after the abduction and headed toward her parents' bedroom. But she saw the man still in the house, so she went back to her room and waited for two hours.
He gave no detail on what the man was doing during the second sighting.
On Tuesday, police changed a key detail in the case. Their initial report, which they say was based on secondhand accounts, stated that Mary Katherine had been threatened by the kidnapper to keep quiet about the abduction.
They now say that Mary Katherine, who was in the same bed as Elizabeth, feigned sleep during the abduction and overheard the threat addressed to Elizabeth.
"She hasn't wavered one bit from her original statement that she gave investigators," Dinse said.
Dinse rejected any idea that his department was deliberately deceiving the media.
"There is no conspiracy afoot here," Dinse said. "We are not telling you everything ... and we probably are not going to until we're further along."
Wednesday was the 15th day of the investigation into Elizabeth's abduction. She was reportedly taken from her bedroom at gunpoint in the early hours of June 5, police said.
Police still have no suspect in the case. They have received a total of 8,000 to 10,000 leads, of which 1,300 warranted follow up, Dinse said. Up to 900 of those leads have been cleared and about 400 remain to be looked at, he said.
Police who interviewed Mary Katherine four times now say the man did not speak to the younger child or apparently realize she saw him.
Working from Mary Katherine's description, police are looking for a white man, 30 to 40 years old, with dark hair and hair on his arms and back of his hands. He was wearing tan pants, dark shoes, lighter jacket and a Scottish-style golf hat. He held a small handgun.
"This investigation would be very, very difficult without Mary Katherine. She has provided us with a tremendous amount of information, and we're very appreciative of her," Dinse said. "I'm saying again, I believe we will resolve this case eventually, and Mary Katherine is a big part of doing that."
The community is offering a $250,000 reward for Elizabeth's safe return and every known detail about her, including photos of Elizabeth in various poses and outfits, has been posted at the Web site set up to aid in the search: http://www.elizabethsmart.com.
As for the search for the kidnapper, "we believe this man may be a trusted person in the neighborhood or community," the police captain said. The kidnapper was calm and "spoke nicely and dressed nicely."
Asked about this latest development in the investigation, Tom Smart, Elizabeth's uncle, told CBS News Radio Station KSL that "the fact that we don't believe it's a psychotic killer gives us great hope."
Investigators still want to talk to Bret Michael Edmunds, a drifter who continues to elude them. Edmunds was spotted near the Smart home two days before Elizabeth's disappearance.
"I believe Edmunds is a witness to something. We don't know what," Atkinson said.
According to the Salt Lake Tribune, about 9,000 volunteers across Utah have joined search parties to try to find Elizabeth - scouring fields, canyons, streets and highways.
Volunteers are advised to get in touch with local police and community leaders, and warned not to search private property other than their own. At the same time, they are directed to pay special attention to unattended spots such as waterways, underpasses, fields, lonely parking lots, abandoned buildings and wooded areas.
With a flood of tips still coming in to the Elizabeth Smart search hotline at 1-800-932-0190, Ted Wilson, former mayor of Salt Lake, is heading up what's being called an "encouragement center" for coordinating volunteer efforts with what's being done officially.
Mayors from a third of the counties in Utah are in touch with the center, and more mayors are expected to get on board, for networking on where to search and what's been learned so far.
The Tribune quotes Wilson as saying it's his hope that the database being created by the center will help volunteers to be react more quickly in the future to similar cases.
But he's not giving up on Elizabeth Smart.
Neighborhood searches, Wilson told the paper, will not stop "until we find Elizabeth."