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CNN Live Today
Family of 14-Year-Old Missing Girl Makes Another Plea For Her Return
Aired June 18, 2002 - 11:17 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS: The family of a 14-year-old girl missing in Utah makes another plea for her return. CNN's Ed Lavandera is following the search for Elizabeth Smart. He's been talking to those in the area who may have some critical information.
Good morning, Ed. What's the latest?
ED LAVANDERA, CNN DALLAS BUREAU CHIEF: Well, Leon, police here in Salt Lake City, as you might imagine, have spent almost the last two weeks searching for Elizabeth Smart, who has been missing since June 5th. They've been trying to track down every possible lead as her parents have taken to the airwaves pleading for her safe return. Speaking to her directly through the news media saying that -- telling Elizabeth she will be OK, that she should come home, and that she will be OK and that she's strong enough and brave enough to make it through this ordeal.
So her parents pleading with her directly. Meanwhile, the police working every possible lead. They've gotten about 6,500 leads on this case since the case started on June 5th. Although they do admit that those leads and those tips from the public is starting to slowdown a little bit. But one of the leads they are following up is of a videotape -- a surveillance videotape just across the street here from the Smart family church.
It's the Shriners Hospital for Children, and on the night of June 5th, the night of the abduction, one of the -- the assistant director of security there, Fred Trujillo, said he saw a car sitting in front -- in the parking lot and he thought it was very suspicious. And he describes here what he saw that night.
FRED TRUJILLO, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF SECURITY, SHRINERS HOSPITAL: I was doing security rounds about 10:00 to 1:00 AM, and I was at the front of the hospital when I saw a vehicle come into our parking lot. That's not necessarily out of the ordinary, but this person, instead of exiting, stopped in our entranceway and lingered there for some period of time.
He turned his lights on and off. Adjusted his vehicle several times. And so I decided to disrupt my rounds for the moment and come back inside and get him on the security camera and focus in to see what he was doing and to see what he was up to. LAVANDERA: Now Fred Trujillo says that the man in the car was driving a four-door sedan, had dark thick hair and had wide sideburns. And he also said that he saw the man in the car was wearing a tan jacket, a crucial, perhaps, bit of information, because police say the suspect they're looking for was also wearing a tan jacket at the time.
Now police yesterday speaking a little bit about this videotape -- surveillance videotape -- and they're saying that the videotape was taken at night. The images on the tape are very fuzzy and very hard to make out. So perhaps the information that they're able to gather from this videotape isn't as strong of evidence as they would like to see. But nonetheless, it's something they are saying now.
Fred Trujillo also telling us that -- we asked him specifically if he thought perhaps this man might have been Bret Michael Edmunds, the man that police here in Salt Lake City have been looking for, for the last almost a week now, and who are looking for him just to question him. They're saying he's not a suspect in this case so far. But Fred Trujillo telling us that he doesn't think -- or he isn't able to tell whether or not the man in that car was Bret Michael Edmunds -- Leon.
HARRIS: All right. Now, Ed, before we let you go, any other hints or any other clues coming in on Edmunds?
LAVANDERA: So far, the last the police spoke yesterday -- there'll be a briefing here later on this morning, but from everything -- the last indications we've gotten from police here is that they have no idea where he might be. There have been a couple of sightings or alleged sightings, and those turned out to be false here over the last couple of days. So it's something that they still have no leads on that either.
HARRIS: Yeah, that's interesting. If he's not a suspect, you have to wonder why he's running. Boy -- Ed Lavandera, Salt Lake City, Utah, thanks, buddy. Appreciate it. Take care out there.
LAVANDERA: You got it.
HARRIS: All right.
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