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jules
03-12-2003, 10:15 PM
http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/West/03/12/smart.kidnapping/index.html


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.


...
amazing.

Barbie
03-12-2003, 10:36 PM
That's good news for Elizabeth...

and might I add.

wow

PB
03-12-2003, 11:59 PM
it's nice to hear something good on the news for a change.

Cruise Director
03-13-2003, 04:52 AM
Keep watching the news. There is a lot more to this story that we haven't seen yet. Since this is a Utah story, the coverage has been non-stop all day. There are quite a few really "out there" theories and rumors going around.

I had dinner with my neices tonight. One of them is Elizabeth's age. Don't think I didn't hug her just a lttle tighter and a little longer.

Koliedrus
03-13-2003, 11:27 AM
Lest we forget, someone falsly accused died in prison, it would seem. I'm sure that will become a large part of this story.

Cruise, can you relay some of those local theories? They might not make it into the mainstream.

This is indeed good news. Much needed, I might add.

Cruise Director
03-13-2003, 06:46 PM
Ricci was being held for theft when he died. He agreed to answer questions regarding the Smart case but was still held for theft. He was never charged with any crimes related to the kidnapping.

Mr. Smart seems to think the daughter was brainwashed. Questions are coming up about how she could have been in such visible places with her captors and not get away. She pointed out that she was camping in the mountains directly behind the house until August. The girl says she did hear people calling her name during the initial searches but was afraid to call out. I think the guy threatened her family.

On a side note, in October Elizabeth's cousin's house was attacked. Someone cut the screen on the girl's window from the outside with a knife. Officials say it wasn't Ricci because he was in jail at that time. They are questioning Elizabeth about it.