48 hours investigates is ON about Elizabeth Smart!

[Poohbear123]

CBS 10:00pm EST.

 

[JasonLyons]

good, I will start a thread about my opion of them

 

[Disney Doll]

You know, there's something about that story that just doesn't quite hit me right. I'm not sure what it is, but last night I was reading our local paper and they had a short article about Elizabeth which said that she had never been to far from her hometown, had actually heard the searchers calling her name early on after her disappearance etc. She stayed at a motel just a few miles from her home etc.

There's just a lot of things that don't seem to "fit".

 

[grinningghost]

I would agree that something doesn't sound right, but from all the descriptions of Elizabeth, she doesn't seem like the type of girl that would ever run away. I think it was a very young, naive girl who was threatened and brainwashed severely. It's obvious these kidnappers were serious kooks, so I would hesitate to put any blame on Elizabeth until we know more.

 

[Disney Doll]

I didn't mean to imply that I thought the child was at fault for anything. She's just a kid, grabbed out of her rom in the middle of the night, terrified, threatened, and God knows what else.

I would just think that with all the media attention that the case had when it first started, and with the fact that she was never really very far from where she actually lived, you'd think that someone would have noticed her sooner than 8 months later.

I mean, from what I read in our local paper, she was walking around with head coverings on, dressed in robes etc. I don't live in that part of the country, but in smallish-town Utah, I would think that someone walking around dressed in heavy head coverings and robes might attract attention. I live about an hour north of New York City, and not very far from some areas that would be considered "avant garde", and someone walking around dressed the way Elizabeth has indicated she was dressed would be very obvious here, and would be especially suspicious in light of a local kidnapping.

 

[Tiiiigergirl]

Salt Lake City isn't THAT small! but yes they did stand out. Remember that they camped in the Mountains and did not come down for the first three months. THen they immediately left the state. THen when they came back I don't think anyone would associate them with Elizabeth. THat is why the police here are taking some heat and in all honesty they admit they should take some heat. The younger Smart daughter gave a sketch of Immanual to the police last October. The police refused to bring it forward to the media. The family decided to approach the media on their own and that is who was recognized. Immanual was recognized. Elizabeth never was.

Salt Lake has its share of interesting characters like any other city of any size. Most are harmless. You don't get to think they are criminals just because they look odd.

 

[Disney Doll]

Oh, I know you don't get to think people are criminals because they look odd(dear God, many people I've met would be in jail, if that were the case!.

I guess I am suspicious by nature(daughter of a policeman, you know )and in light of a nearby kidnapping, if I saw someone that looked fairly out of the ordinary for my area, like it or not, I would be suspicious of them. Especially if they were women, wrapped in heavy robes and veils, and a teenage girl had just been kinapped.

Just MHO.

 

[Tiiiigergirl]

If they rounded up all of the teenage girls in Salt Lake who looked odd right after Elizabeth was kidnapped for questioning the number would have been in the hundreds. As I said, Salt Lake is not THAT small. In addition rounding up people for questioning is illegal.

 

[Liz]

Also, honestly, when the trio finally came down from the mountains and people started seeing them around town, I think most people thought Elizabeth had probably died by that time.

It tears me up inside to see the pictures of her being right out in the open. I wish someone would have thought maybe that could be her so this nightmare could have ended earlier.

And with the focus being on Richard Ricci so much, no one was looking for this Emmanuel guy or associating him with her disappearance at all. That gave him a lot of freedom to walk around.

In this day & age people are so ready to cry discrimination based on how people look that I think people are afraid to point fingers at someone who looks different.

 

[Poohbear123]

We will NEVER know the REAL story about her kidnapping.....

 

[Disney Doll]

Tiiigergirl, I am not picking on Salt Lake City. I'm sure it's a very nice place to live. I think I am not making myself clear, so I'll politely step out of the thread now, before I make yet more enemies.

Have a good day!

 

[Tiiiigergirl]

Actually, DisneyDoll I've stepped out of the Smart Kidnapping threads myself. No enemies here! It is hard to make oneself understood only in writing I think.

 

[pumba]

and we have ladies and girls wearing their native dress and some of them cover their faces too....sure alot better then some of the kids that wear dresses up their ying yang.....now those do stand out in a crowd......I just hope that the 9 months that she lost does not add more because of the media

 

[disykat]

My impression was that it was very clear to anyone who met them even briefly that they were part of a religious cult - their dress was probably the least of what was noticed about them, but it did conceal the identity of Elizabeth.

 

[Melrosgirl]

My former in-laws lived in Utah and were ex-communicated from the Mormon church many years ago. They were ex-communicated because one day they started following a branch off of the Mormon church (the branch off being a cult - not the Mormon church). They started believing in polygamy, started saying they were talking to God, etc. It was quite scary. They lived in a small town right outside of SLC.

This Brian Mitchell is very similar to the "leader" of their branch off church. It's quite scary actually how similar they are. (perhaps it was the same leader. I have no idea.) Needless to say, they freaked me out.

I really believe that Elizabeth Smart was seriously brainwashed (as were my former in laws) and due to her young age, really didn't know how to help herself. Maybe in the beginning she was just scared, but towards the end she probably really believed, due to brainwashing, that this Mitchell guy was who she was supposed to be with.

Very sad story. There are MANY branch offs of the Mormon church (cults) in Utah.