Many thought this case would never go to trial but the Smarts had gone too far with their lies, even so, Ed managed to drag it out for many years and peoples memories do fade. Which is where we are at now, the truth erased and the Smarts may now tell 'their story'. The Smarts are in a position of power and keeping the trial in Utah where Smart is held in high esteem Mitchell and Wanda never stood a chance. Ed did not make his 911 call as a kidnapping which is why it can never be released to the public.
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The morning Liz was allegedly taken from her home, Ed and Lois were awakened by Mary Katherine at 3:58 A.M. This is the first issue in the Smart case that will prove to be controversial, for at least two reasons.
The first is that Tom Smart has made statements that Ed had phoned him at 3:30 A.M. The second reason is that Ed made his 911 call at 4:01 A.M. After making the call Ed has told us that he ran through the neighborhood knocking on neighbors doors. He was able to wake these neighbors and have 12 of them in his house in under 10 minutes when police arrive.
When Ed and Lois were awakened by Mary they began to search the house. Mary told them, " you wont find her because a man with a GUN took her." Ed searches his entire 6,600 square foot house in under 3 minutes, 3:58A.M. wake up,4:01A.M.-911 call.
After Ed makes his 911 call he leaves his wife and other children in the home where he has just been told that an armed abductor has taken Liz, and he runs through the neighborhood knocking on doors. Keep in mind that as far as Ed knew this armed man may still be in the home, yet he has left his family there.
When the police arrive at about 4:13 A.M. they find between 10 and 12 neighbors in the home. Tom Smart arrives a short time later and he states that when he arrived that there was crime scene tape around the home. That isn't true. Shortly after his arrival they arrange to have a family meeting at their father's home.
Ed and Tom leave for this family meeting. Keep in mind that they have left the home with 12 neighbors and a few cops in the house. After this family meeting they return to Ed's house and there is now close to 50 friends and neighbors in the home. It is close to 7:00 A.M. now, almost 3 hours after the police were called, and the crime scene still hasn't been sealed. But right after returning from the family meeting, the police do seal the scene and they run everyone,all 50 neighbors out of the house.
Ed did not make his 911 call as a kidnapping. The police were ask why it took them so long to seal the crime scene, and their response was," we were unsure what type of case we had on our hands." What part of armed kidnapping would a police officer have a difficult time understanding? How could it possibly take 3 hours and a family meeting to understand that a 14 year old was kidnapped? I think the problem was that the armed kidnapping was a manufactured story that developed in that family meeting. For three hours the police believed that they had a run-away on their hands. That three hours may be the only time in this case that the police were right.
Keep in mind that the harp was the center of Elizabeth's life. For her to miss a once in a life-time performance because as Ed said,"we were running late," is not believable.
We know that Liz went jogging before her scheduled award ceremony,she also took Mary Katherine with her. On this jog, did they meet Mitchell as he was returning to his camp in the hills? It's possible. It is also possible that he began to preach to them and being religiously vulnerable, Liz and Mary listened to him. Liz may have believed that he was either God or maybe the second coming of Christ. She has been taught these things all her life. She may have felt very chosen by this encounter. He may have requested that she meet him back there later that night. There is a reason that Liz was so late for her award ceremony that she couldn't perform on her harp. There was either serious trouble between her and her parents, or she met someone on her jog that made her late.
Before the home was even sealed as a crime scene, when the police still didn't know what type of case they had on there hands, sometime between 5:00A.M. and 7:00A.M. the family sent friends and neighbors to the closest convenience stores to search for Liz. That is understandable. But they also sent them up City Creek Canyon to search. Why there? Why did they send people up that canyon before the police even knew what type of case they had on their hands? Why did they send these people up a canyon that is known to be a canyon that Mitchell camps in? That in and of itself is an indicator to me that the Smarts' knew of Liz's contact with Mitchell before June 5th.
As the days and weeks move on we have Ricci come into the picture. It was clear to me that Ricci was a scape-goat from the very beginning. I won't even touch on the Ricci issue here except I do want to bring up Neth Moul. Neth Moul went to a Federal Grand Jury and testified that Ricci had brought the Jeep back caked in mud and that he watched him remove the seat covers and post diggers. He also said that Ricci showed up looking worried and waring a machete. Neth hurried and washed the Jeep before police arrived as he thought he was doing them a favor. This is one person that is hiding out from the media now, but he was the center of the police investigation and I hope he is indited for his lies!
Skipping up to October. One night Mary Kathrine goes to Ed and says, dad I think I know who took Elizabeth. I don't think that all of the sudden Mary just got hit with this information. She either knew Mitchell from the jog on the evening of June 4th or Liz had made contact with her in an attempt to get Mary to join her in her new life with these wonderful, Godly, party animals.
It was documented that Liz and the Mitchell's were living in an apartment just a few blocks from Mary's school. Did they try to get her to join the little cult? Possible.
When things didn't work out the way Mitchell planned he got nervous and left for California. Then he got nervous in California because he couldn't live up to his sentence for burglary. So he comes back to Salt Lake on the same day that the Smart's go public announcing their discouragement over the way the police are handling the case. When Mitchell was ask where he got his money from, he told the police that he got it from God. Supporting two women on the streets by panhandling isn't an easy task, but Mitchell was a regular customer of Wild Oats. And Liz doesn't appear to have missed too many meals. Who is this Money-God that Mitchell mentioned?
Did the Smarts' lie about the armed abduction? I think they did. It was a lie of love and concern,I'm sure. They lied to draw as much police and media attention as they could to their run-away daughter.
There were times over the last nine months that I felt some of them should be in jail for their lies. I was tired of hearing them, and the longer that Liz was missing, the more I wanted the truth. It's a good thing that the truth is no longer important to me since Liz is home, because we are never going to get the truth.
I find it quite ironic that Ed has hyped the Amber Alert more than he has hyped the return of his daughter. . The Amber Alert comes responsibility. The responsibility of not using such a system to report a run-away child as an armed abduction. So while I support the Amber Alert, I also support passing very strict criminal laws for people that abuse the system with manufactured stories of abduction
During the past week I have been hit with more oddities and questions:
According to the charges, Liz was kept in this hole in the ground from June 5 through October 8. They specify that there was no plumbing, no water supply, the hole was covered with boards, etc. So how did this trio manage to parade around SLC in those clean white robes and veils?
There are pictures of them at the party in September and pictures of them in Liberty Park in August.......IN CLEAN WHITE ROBES.
Also, when they were arrested, Mitchell and Barzee looked as if they hadn't bathed in weeks.Their hair was greasy and matted in their police photos. Yet Elizabeth came trotting out of that police station with apparently clean hair up in braids and wearing an apparently clean shirt.
(And, of course, in spite of her severe trauma, she went straight home to watch a movie, give a fashion show, take a bubble bath and paint her toenails.
The Smarts trying to call the shots on what charges would be filed absolutely floored me. I know the easy answer is that they don't want Elizabeth to have to go through the trauma of testifying on sex charges, but I have to wonder if there's something more. Do they not want to get into the possibility that it was consensual?
One other thing that is really weighing on my mind here.We're now being told that this group walked 4 miles from the Smarts' house up into that canyon. Those 3 would have left a SCENT TRAIL that my chihuahua could have followed!!! Why did Dwayne Baird LIE and say that the dog lost the scent because "too much time had passed" from the time of the abduction and the time the dogs were brought in??? Those dogs were there at 9 a.m. Seven hours is NOTHING for a scent dog! That one thing makes it look like even the POLICE knew where she was and were helping keep her hidden. The night before Elizabeth came up missing, was the night of her award ceremony at her school. She was scheduled to perform on her harp. She never made it to her harp performance that night.
