Elizabeth Smart Found

[interactive]

I don't know if ya'll remember the Elizabeth Smart ordeal. She was kidnapped about 9 months ago, and I guess they found her today. Go close to a sad story. There's a live press confrence about it right now.

[Chicken]

I just saw that. After 9 months you'd think... well, you wouldn't want to think... but you'd think that she'd never be found (realistically). I'm rather surprised that she is safe and sound (so I heard).

[interactive]

Originally posted by Chicken:

I just saw that. After 9 months you'd think... well, you wouldn't want to think... but you'd think that she'd never be found (realistically). I'm rather surprised that she is safe and sound (so I heard).

True. I heard that they were saying she suffered from "stolkholm" sindrum (sp?), or something like that. The guy who kidnapped her though, seems not to be in grasp with reality. Oh well least she is safe, or so it seems. Although I wonder if she was abused?

[Chicken]

Well, I imagine that the family is a bit overcome with emotion, however I did feel that the whole thing was a bit odd from yesterday's news conference. I never followed the story all that much from the start. I don't know, I suppose anyone would seem a bit odd after just getting their daughter back after 9 months. Guess I'm reading into it too much.

[interactive]

It seems really weird that the story was big for about 3 weeks, then died, and now came back and is alive (finished now I guess). I guess it's just the media though.

[Chicken]

Geez, she was just found yesterday and already Dateline seemed to have interviewed everyone who had ever saw the three during the time she was missing, investigated the past of the alleged kidnapper, and threw it all together for a 1 hour show! Some under the wire editing going on there, whooo.

After watching it (mostly), I find the whole thing strange. Maybe I'm just cynical, but this wasn't your average case of, "child gets abducted, is found and returned to parents." Everyone involved seems a quarter shy of a dollar. Even the young daught, who was in the room during the kidnapping (at knifepoint), suddenly comes forward after months and suddenly remembers details about the person who kidnapped her sister (enough for them to draw an exact sketch of this person)? And he worked in the home for an afternoon (though they didn't say if the young daughter saw him at that time or not).

I don't know, the whole thing is odd. This one seems to be more of an X-Files type case if you ask me.

[deadserious]

The story does seem odd. You said Dateline had already seemed to interview anyone and everyone that had any connection to this already and it's only been one day. 48hours had flown out to UTAH the same day this all happened and had there show on this story that same night just hours after she was found lol.

And about the quarter shy of a dollar part, I agree with you on that all the way atleast for the parents anyways. I think they could have prevented this if they would have thought twice about letting a total stranger they found pan handling out on the street into there house, and providing full access to their house, even the key to it lol. They did this with more than one stranger they found out on the streets.

Here in Salt Lake the news is about this and this only for the past 2 days. I don't think we've had one regular local news broadcast scince she was found, and I haven't heard a single word about War on the news or radio scince this happned. Before this happened that's about all you heard about on the news.

[allan]

Originally posted by deadserious:
They did this with more than one stranger they found out on the streets.


This is the part that really sticks in my crawl. Apparently, they had multiple handymen all of whom were suspects. We have a guy who does some work around our house for us occassionally -- but he is ONE guy, we don't go from guy to guy, and we certainly don't hire out work to be done to any person on the street. To me, that is just bizarre.

[Chicken]

I know the story goes she was kidnapped at knifepoint, yadda yadda, but you could almost draw your own story...

Girl lives with somewhat odd father in 1.2 million dollar house in Utah, probably given anything she more or less wants, except what she really needs (what that may be I don't know, love, attention, etc.). So she runs off with drifter cult type person, away from the money and control, to a more free, exploratory, natural type life for a bit. When questioned, she denied she was Elizabeth Smart, and saw the blue ribbons but didn't know they were for her. She also didn't see all the posters, news? Was oblivious to the fact that her family was looking for her and she was kidnapped? I don't know.

Maybe she was brainwashed somehow, like a Manson thing, however to some degree I think people believe in what they want to believe, even though she is young. I just don't know. She was found 15-30 miles from her house, which to a young child could be 3,000 miles, I realize this, but still the whole thing is just errrrrm... odd. She wasn't hed captive (physically), at least video of the three out indicated. Was seen shopping in stores, etc. All around town. Just odd.

As I said, this isn't the usual case of: Child gets abducted, then found and returned to her parents. I don't know what's up with all of this, but I suppose as long as everyone is happy and she is back with her family and that's what everyone wants, then it is OK, but...

Anyway, one could read into this story and find an angle on it, but maybe what happened is simply what happened as that is all. A bit hard for me to swallow, but I suppose it's not the strangest thing I've ever heard of.

[allan]

Originally posted by Chicken:
Girl lives with somewhat odd father in 1.2 million dollar house in Utah, probably given anything she more or less wants...

That's another thing -- if I had $1.2 Million to spend on a house, why would I buy one in UTAH :D?

[deadserious]

Originally posted by allan:

That's another thing -- if I had $1.2 Million to spend on a house, why would I buy one in UTAH :D?

Heh, I don't know why would you? :D

I surely wouldn't buy a house in Virginia if I had $1.2 million to spend on one. I already know why I wouldn't though..... Because I've never lived there, never been there, have no clue what it's like...... so ofcourse I wouldn't just up and buy a house somewhere I know nothing about. :D

UTAH is a great place to live really! I like it anyways. :D

[deadserious]

Originally posted by Chicken:

I know the story goes she was kidnapped at knifepoint, yadda yadda, but you could almost draw your own story...

Girl lives with somewhat odd father in 1.2 million dollar house in Utah, probably given anything she more or less wants, except what she really needs (what that may be I don't know, love, attention, etc.). So she runs off with drifter cult type person, away from the money and control, to a more free, exploratory, natural type life for a bit. When questioned, she denied she was Elizabeth Smart, and saw the blue ribbons but didn't know they were for her. She also didn't see all the posters, news? Was oblivious to the fact that her family was looking for her and she was kidnapped? I don't know.


The story is strange and that's definitely possible, but I really doubt it. I believe it has now came out she was told they would kill her if she didn't do exactly as they say, so that's probably why she never tried to escape. I'm sure they probably scared her out of her mind the first little while why they had her when they weren't around the public at all. Also when the cops asked her who she was she said something along the lines of "I'm not who you think I am, I'm not that Elizabeth Smart girl"..... that was probably here crying for help in a way that she thought if the cops actually believed here and let them go, then her kidnappers wouldn't do anything to her or something.

But yes I agree the story is odd, and there could be some strange twist in it somewhere.

[interactive]

Just some bg on the family. The smarts or whatever got rich of a start up ISP in the Salt lake city area. Though I would just through that out. I remember he like emailed all of his users pleading with them to help to find the girl...