by Ed Smart
Shortly after Elizabeth disappeared, Marc Klaas showed up in Salt Lake offering to help us in our plight. Marc had become a public advocate for missing children after his twelve-year-old daughter, Polly, had been abducted from her bedroom and murdered in 1993. He tried to convey to us what we needed to do to move forward—to keep the story in the press. We had been grateful to meet him, knowing he would understand the pain we were in. We wanted to hear what he had been through so we could prepare ourselves and understand what to expect, knowing that the day might come when we'd have to hear the news that Elizabeth was dead. We also understood that we would have to move past that moment, because living for Elizabeth's kidnapping would not allow us or our family to have a life. Fox News also taped a short interview with us.
Though we hadn't originally thought of bringing in a sketch artist to work with Mary Katherine, Marc suggested that we place a call to Jeanne Boylan, a famed forensic sketch artist who had worked on several high-profile cases, including the Oklahoma City bombing. Best known is her hooded portrait of the Unabomber, which helped the FBI identify Ted Kaczynski. She had helped produce a sketch of Polly's kidnapper, and Marc felt she could be extremely helpful to us. He even offered to have Fox News pick up the cost. Unable to reach Boylan directly, we left a message on her machine to call us. But it would later become a controversy in the media that investigators initially chose not to use Boylan, and though we were very interested in having her involved, we decided to back the investigators' decision.
The following week, Tom's daughters, Amanda and Sierra, appeared on The O'Reilly Factor, with Marc Klaas also a guest on the show. The Jeanne Boylan issue was raised as the first topic, and our choice to back the investigators was hotly debated. Tom, especially, was strongly criticized. O'Reilly questioned the girls about what they knew regarding the investigation. O'Reilly pushed hard, suggesting that it was strange for the girls to have nothing to add about the details, as “the Smarts are a very close family.” At the end of the show, the girls wound up leaving the studio in tears.
Elizabeth's abduction remained a topic on The O'Reilly Factor for several days that week (as it was on many cable talk shows), even though there was little new information. It hurt us deeply that our choice to follow the investigators' advice was so roundly criticized and that we were being compared in some places to Susan Smith, who had killed her two young sons a few years earlier.
Chapter 13
BRIAN DAVID MITCHELL had gotten away with kidnapping Elizabeth, but she was never convinced that God was in any way protecting him. It seemed as if he was getting away with everything, and he used this to try rationalizing her captivity to her. He paraded her through downtown Salt Lake City without being recognized. She could hear people calling her name in the mountains, but no one ever found them. Would he have killed her if she didn't obey him? Fortunately, this is a question that will forever remain unanswered.
Mitchell and Barzee tried to strip Elizabeth of everything—her identity, her family, her entire person—so that she would no longer be Elizabeth. They even started referring to her as Augustine. Mitchell certainly had a plan in which Elizabeth played a part, and he spoke to her often of how corrupt the world was and how he had been sent to save her from evil. She believed that he would kill her family if she tried to flee or was not cooperative, but she never accepted that he was a messenger of God. People ask us all the time why Elizabeth didn't try to escape—why she didn't try to break free. The answer is simple. She did try, and she couldn't get away. She was never left alone. When the three walked together, Brian and Wanda were on either side of her, holding her hands or otherwise making sure she knew she couldn't run.
When he started bringing her down the canyon, she was forced to wear a robe and veil, which covered her entire face except her eyes. Her face had changed from constant exposure to the sun, wind, and rain. She had grown taller. No one seeing her on the street would have viewed her as a girl in distress, which in itself is remarkable. She went so deep into hiding—for her own safety as well as for ours, she believed. She told us later that she could not live in fear, because to her if she did, her worst fears would come to fruition. She chose to survive. She had no way of knowing whom she could trust.
By trying to destroy everything she connected with her past life, Brian Mitchell thought he could force his beliefs onto Elizabeth until she was, in a sense, reprogrammed. The only other person Elizabeth had contact with in those nine months was Wanda Barzee. Elizabeth was in public many times but never uttered a word. Brian always spoke for her. Many people have asked if Elizabeth suffered from Stockholm syndrome, which is a phenomenon where victims begin to identify with their captors as they fear for their own lives. The personalities of Stockholm syndrome victims do not really disappear and are pretty much the same after the ordeal as they were before. Elizabeth exhibited some of the traits of Stockholm syndrome, but unlike most victims she never bonded with her kidnappers. She did what they said in order to survive. She was never fooled by their diabolical and distorted views. Elizabeth was not the same person physically when she came home—but our daughter still very much existed as we remember her. We believe she did what she had to do to survive.
In Elizabeth's mind, she chose life over death; life over herself. She was forced to live a life that wasn't her own. She didn't believe anything her captors said except for the threats of killing her and us. She knew she didn't want to die. She had no way of knowing if there were other people involved. In her mind, Brian had followers watching the house, following our every move. She was led to believe that if she slipped up, we would be harmed. She had to live with that threat every day she was gone.
Elizabeth never left the campsite—her prison—until early August. After her return, people remembered seeing a strangely dressed man and woman with a young girl shrouded in white robes all over Salt Lake. Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Barzee had gotten so brazen and confident they would never be found that they started parading Elizabeth throughout the streets of her hometown. To be sure, there must have been some fear that they'd be caught, since Mitchell insisted she cover her face, leaving only slits for her eyes. They had been in plain sight, but who would have known it was Elizabeth? The outfit of white robes was mysterious but not strange enough to prompt anyone to question it. We can only guess that people thought that Elizabeth and her captors were part of a religious group.
The hunt for Bret Michael Edmunds ended on June 21 when Edmunds checked himself into a hospital in West Virginia for an apparent drug overdose. He had given a false name when he registered at the hospital, but had used his mother's real phone number as his emergency contact. He was in critical condition, so a hospital worker contacted his family in Utah. A relative called the sheriff's office, igniting a sequence of phone calls between police in Utah and the hospital in West Virginia to confirm that the patient was Edmunds. When the police were certain they had their man, investigators flew to West Virginia to question him. They were able to recover his car, tow it from the hospital, and arrange for a warrant to search it.
We were unaware of Edmunds's arrest until later that day. The news was encouraging, but we didn't want to get our hopes up too high, since Elizabeth had yet to be found. We prayed that Edmunds would cooperate and reveal any information he had about our daughter. The following day, we were hit with our hardest knock from the media to date—make that the tabloid media. The National Enquirer came out with a story that sent a crushing jolt through our entire family. At the time, we declined to acknowledge the scandalous report, and we still feel strongly about not commenting. All of the legitimate media covering our story refused to give credence to the story. Many stores in Utah showed their support for our family by pulling the Enquirer from its shelves. It was an extremely cruel report that we chose to deal with only after Elizabeth had been returned safely. Five weeks after Elizabeth came home, the National Enquirer issued a retraction of its story, admitting it was false and settling an out-of-court agreement with our
family.
What became most troublesome to us were not just the articles that were being written, but the continuous leaks that seemed to flow from the Salt Lake Police Department to the media, especially to two reporters working for the Salt Lake Tribune. Information was being provided by unnamed sources in law enforcement, and stories were emerging that were filled with accusation, finger-pointing, and bald-faced lies. Further, their indiscretion in selling that information to tabloid newspapers proved to be very damaging to the investigation. There was evidently a need to make news about our family when the story was about our missing child. Why couldn't the focus of the case stay on bringing Elizabeth home?
We could take up several pages in this book lambasting the lack of journalistic integrity of those two Tribune reporters, but we have decided, as a family that has endured hurtful and painful lashings in the press, not to put those reporters through what we have been through. These two men have families—wives, children, relatives—all innocent people who would be negatively impacted by the choices those two reporters made throughout the investigation. Enough said.
On the night of July 24, a strangely familiar terror would hit another member of our family. A niece was asleep in bed when she awoke to the sound of picture frames crashing from her windowsill onto the floor. It was a hot summer night and she had gone to bed with her window open. Her family had installed a stop on the window so it could be opened only a few inches. It was open when she went to sleep. She awoke to see an arm poking through the screen. She thought she saw a gun. She sat up in bed, watching in horror as the arm quickly pulled back and disappeared. Her father, Lois's brother-in-law, heard the loud noise and was startled out of bed. He rushed to her room, where he was met by his frantic daughter. He searched the house and found a chair outside the window, propped up against the wall in exactly the same way as was the one that was found outside our home the night Elizabeth was taken. He called the police, who arrived within minutes. Police looked at the window and saw cuts in the screen just like the ones at our home—vertical and horizontal. The police dusted for fingerprints but came up with no solid leads. The police didn't put very much emphasis on the striking similarities of the two break-ins. They stayed at the house for a while but turned up nothing unusual, and after an intense two-week investigation by the FBI, they concluded that the incident was probably a prank by teenage boys. We were not as certain as the police that there was no connection to Elizabeth's kidnapping. It was only after Elizabeth came home that we discovered that Brian David Mitchell had planned to kidnap one of Elizabeth's cousins. He had a list of girls he wanted to kidnap to complete his plan of having seven wives. Brian's mother lives in an adjoining neighborhood as our niece's family. When Brian told Elizabeth that he was familiar with that area, Elizabeth mentioned she had a favorite cousin who lived there. Elizabeth had no way of knowing that Brian was plotting another kidnapping. In the end, Elizabeth hoped and prayed that their dog would be out and scare him away.
The twist to this story is that when the break-in happened, the man police had all but pinned Elizabeth's kidnapping on, Richard Ricci, was sitting in a jail cell. This led us to believe that Ricci may have had an accomplice. Was this a copycat crime, a cruel prank, or was there someone else out there who had kidnapped Elizabeth and was looking to strike again?
The news of the second break-in didn't go public until August 9. It supported our belief that perhaps Ricci hadn't acted alone and that the hunt for Elizabeth had to continue. There had to be someone else who had our daughter, which confirmed our belief that there was a good chance she was still alive. Crucial time was passing, and all eyes were on innocent men. We appreciated everything the police were doing. We supported their efforts one hundred percent. But we know, as the parents of a missing child, that no matter how much is being done to bring your child home, it never feels like enough. Every day without answers was torturous.
In the weeks that followed, we continued to make public pleas to whoever had Elizabeth. We tried to keep the public informed whenever there was news, but we were no longer giving our daily news briefings to the media. Releasing pertinent information was a crucial part of our plan to save Elizabeth. Although the break-in at our relatives' home certainly indicated the possibility of another person being involved, the police felt they had the right man in custody, Richard Ricci. It was hard to ignore the evidence against Ricci, so hard that we couldn't help but begin to believe he was responsible for bringing this terror into our lives. We released a public statement once again asking for someone to please step forward with information about Elizabeth.
To the holder(s) of Elizabeth Ann Smart and Friends Throughout the World: It has been several weeks since our daughter Elizabeth was awakened during the night and taken from her home by force. Every minute of the day we continue to search for her, pray for her, and yearn for her to come home. So many of you have joined us in our search and prayers. Since we last saw Elizabeth on the evening of June 4, we have not received any communication from the person who took her. We continue to eagerly await information about her location. We believe that through awareness of this terrible tragedy in our family many children throughout the world will be saved. As the authorities continue to piece together a puzzle, we still are only interested in one thing—finding Elizabeth. We believe that she is still alive and wants desperately to be returned to us. Whether or not you are the person who took her, we are pleading with you to do the right thing and let her come home.
Anxiously awaiting,
Ed and Lois Smart
After Bret Michael Edmunds was cleared of any involvement in Elizabeth's kidnapping, all eyes focused on Richard Ricci as the primary suspect. When they brought him in for questioning, Ricci, faced with proof, finally admitted stealing Lois's bracelet and to breaking into our neighbors' home but emphatically denied any connection to the kidnapping. The police had checked pawnshops and found one that had a receipt with a detailed description of the bracelet. This allowed them to put on heated pressure to confess to abducting Elizabeth. By admitting his guilt in stealing the bracelet, Ricci had proved to us once again that he was not a man of integrity. He had lied to our faces and he was convincing. The evidence was mounting against Ricci, and investigators seemed to be building a good circumstantial case. Though the police brought him in to be interviewed about the kidnapping, there was no evidence concrete enough to warrant holding him.
Several people were called and questioned by the grand jury investigating Ricci, including his wife, Angela, who steadfastly testified that Ricci was home in bed with her on the night of Elizabeth's abduction. She had given statements to the media on the morning of the kidnapping, expecting that her husband would be fingered. The police administered a polygraph test to Ricci about the kidnapping, which he passed. But he had lied so many times to us. How could we believe him about anything—especially about the disappearance of our daughter?
The biggest hole in Ricci's story revolves around the Jeep we gave him. We were told that on May 30, Ricci picked up his Jeep from Neth's Auto Repair. He returned the Jeep on the morning of June 8. According to Neth Moul, there were approximately 500 to 1,000 new miles on the odometer since he had picked it up. Ricci, who was usually very friendly, was uncharacteristically reserved. He loaded some things from the Jeep into two bags and also took a posthole digger. When he left, he met up with a friend across the street and then disappeared. In the wake of Elizabeth's disappearance, all of this raised several questions in investigators' minds about where Ricci was and what he was doing. It appeared extremely suspicious.
Moul said that on May 30, 2002, he received a phone call from a woman claiming to be Ricci's wife, asking about the Jeep. The story given was that they needed the Jeep to get to work. Neth told them to come and get the car. The Jeep had been ours for two years and Elizabeth had ridden in it numerous times, so any evidence of her found inside would not be enough to implicate Ricci in her kidnapping. Ricci denied he'd taken the Jeep and refused to an
swer investigators' questions about the added miles. He had several chances to vindicate himself with regard to the kidnapping, but he refused to say where he was, whom he was with, or what he'd been doing. What was he hiding, if anything?
Salt Lake City District Attorney David Yocom filed felony charges against Ricci for theft of money, jewelry, and other items he'd confessed to taking from our home and our neighbors'. In an effort to build a stronger case against Ricci, Yocom also charged him with habitual criminal charges, which, if convicted, would put him in jail for the rest of his life. Ricci was taken into custody, and Salt Lake City police hoped to garner a confession about Elizabeth. They had established that Ricci had a pattern of breaking into occupied homes in the middle of the night. We desperately sought answers—answers we believed Ricci could provide. We wanted Ricci to give us a reasonable explanation for the miles Neth Moul said he'd put on the Jeep. If Ricci wasn't involved in the kidnapping, precious time was slipping away while the investigation was focused on him.
The evidence, even if it was circumstantial, was very convincing. It certainly appeared to everyone involved that Ricci was somehow connected. We wanted truthful answers, and in seeking those, we offered a reward for any information regarding Ricci's whereabouts between May 30 and June 8, 2002. We also offered a reward to anyone who could identify the man waiting for Ricci the night Ricci returned the Jeep to Neth Moul's garage. No one ever stepped forward with a single concrete lead in either investigation. Ricci never offered a reasonable explanation about his whereabouts.
In early July 2001, Richard Ricci took part in a bank robbery in Sandy, Utah, getting away with slightly more than seventeen hundred dollars. Ricci was indicted for armed robbery on July 17, 2002. One of the other men involved confessed to the bank robbery, implicating Ricci. This came on the heels of the charges brought against Ricci for the robbery of our home and our neighbor's home. Our understanding was that Ricci was imprisoned and held in a maximum-security facility. Police had hoped that leaving him in solitary conWnement would prompt a confession about Elizabeth, but Ricci never admitted to any involvement.