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CNN Live At Daybreak

Salt Lake City Police Chief Says Smart Psychologically Impacted

Aired March 14, 2003 - 05:03   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.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Time to look at the investigation into the abduction of Elizabeth Smart. The Salt Lake City police chief says the 15-year-old girl was psychologically impacted by her kidnapping. The police official says that could explain why she never tried to escape during her nine month ordeal that ended on Wednesday.
And in San Diego, a law enforcement official says Brian David Mitchell, who faces kidnapping charges in the Smart case, was arrested there in February for stealing from a church. He gave police a false name.

And we've just gotten in new pictures of Elizabeth. Take a look. This is Elizabeth and her alleged kidnappers. They're walking in a park in San Diego, one of the stops they reportedly made during their nine month ordeal. The pictures were taken Christmas Day in Balboa Park by a man who was intrigued by their unusual dress.

Elizabeth's family says on her first night back home she slept holding the hand of her younger sister Mary Katherine.

Let's get more on the homecoming and the investigation.

Our Jeanne Meserve is in Salt Lake City.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED SMART, ELIZABETH'S FATHER: It's real! It's real!

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A reunion so joyous, Elizabeth's grandmother called it Thanksgiving in March. Family members say they are not jeopardizing the celebration or Elizabeth's mental health by pressing her for details of what she's been through these past nine months.

ED SMART: I think that what is going to come out is going to come out and I just, I don't have it in me to try and make this harder than it is for her.

MESERVE: Helicopters whirred over the mountains behind the Smart home, locating the camp site where police say Elizabeth was held for two months after being taken from her bedroom at knifepoint by Brian David Mitchell. One of Elizabeth's aunts says a panhandler approached her within a day or two of the abduction as she picked up fliers to be used in the search. She believes the man was Brian Mitchell and that he may have recognized her. ANGELA SMART DUMKEY, ELIZABETH'S AUNT: He was with a woman and her hair was tied back in a little white scarf and they were in the garb.

MESERVE: The woman might have been Wanda Barzee, identified as Mitchell's wife. Elizabeth wasn't with them. But the trio did come back to Salt Lake later, staying for a time at this apartment and shopping at this store. A salesperson found the relationship of the women to Mitchell unusual.

ERIN JOHNSON, GROCERY STORE CLERK: Very, very passive. I have never heard them speak a word and they always walked behind him.

MESERVE: For several months, the three camped out near San Diego. In February, Mitchell was arrested for breaking into a church and held by the county sheriff for six days. By then, Salt Lake police had identified the man known to the Smarts as Emanuel as Mitchell. But they had not issued a bulletin and Mitchell was let go.

CHIEF RICK DINSE, SALT LAKE CITY POLICE: In hindsight, it's 20- 20 vision. If we had to go back over it again, that decision by the investigators, I think every and each one of them would say I wish we had gone public with that photograph sooner.

MESERVE: But Sandy police say initially Elizabeth identified herself as the daughter of Mitchell and Barzee and although she was often in public, she apparently never tried to escape.

DINSE: There's no question that at the time of the abduction, she was in fear and was fearful for a period of time. The other part of the question is whether she had compassion for them. Again, there's no, she was psychologically affected by this abduction and by this imprisonment and to say that she could be, walk around in a free area where she could have walked away is to say that she was affected by them.

MESERVE (on camera): Chief Dinse says he believes he knows whether or not Elizabeth Smart was sexually abused during her captivity, but he won't say what he knows. He also says that Mitchell believed in polygamy, but Dinse won't say whether Mitchell viewed Elizabeth as one of his wives.

Jean Meserve, CNN, Salt Lake City.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: An FBI agent says investigators believe the person who abducted Elizabeth came from outside her daily circle of friends and acquaintances.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIP BURUS, FBI SPECIAL AGENT: Elizabeth's victim profile from the very start has been low key. So part of the profile has been to focus on someone coming in from the outside, into her world. She had school, she had church, she had music and she had home, generally. She, you know, we didn't find she was aggressive on the Internet or hanging out at malls, anything like that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: 911 phone calls led police to Mitchell. Police in Sandy, Utah got the calls on Wednesday, hours after Brian Mitchell and Wanda Barzee returned to Salt Lake City with Elizabeth.

Here's one of those calls. It was phoned in after the trio was spotted by someone who recognized Mitchell.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 911.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, could you tell me, is this like how if I think I see that Emanuel they're looking for?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is. Where do you think you see him, ma'am?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think he is right here across from Southtown Mall on State Street.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. What business are you by?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm right in front of Burger King. Well, no, I'm across from Target, actually.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: By...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And he (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 102nd South. And he's walking, he's walking towards town, so he's walking north. And he's with two ladies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Because of that call and another, Mitchell and Barzee are now in custody and face one count of aggravated kidnapping each.

Coming up in the next hour on DAYBREAK, we'll have a live report from Salt Lake City updating the very latest in the Elizabeth investigation.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




Impacted>


Aired March 14, 2003 - 05:03   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Time to look at the investigation into the abduction of Elizabeth Smart. The Salt Lake City police chief says the 15-year-old girl was psychologically impacted by her kidnapping. The police official says that could explain why she never tried to escape during her nine month ordeal that ended on Wednesday.
And in San Diego, a law enforcement official says Brian David Mitchell, who faces kidnapping charges in the Smart case, was arrested there in February for stealing from a church. He gave police a false name.

And we've just gotten in new pictures of Elizabeth. Take a look. This is Elizabeth and her alleged kidnappers. They're walking in a park in San Diego, one of the stops they reportedly made during their nine month ordeal. The pictures were taken Christmas Day in Balboa Park by a man who was intrigued by their unusual dress.

Elizabeth's family says on her first night back home she slept holding the hand of her younger sister Mary Katherine.

Let's get more on the homecoming and the investigation.

Our Jeanne Meserve is in Salt Lake City.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED SMART, ELIZABETH'S FATHER: It's real! It's real!

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A reunion so joyous, Elizabeth's grandmother called it Thanksgiving in March. Family members say they are not jeopardizing the celebration or Elizabeth's mental health by pressing her for details of what she's been through these past nine months.

ED SMART: I think that what is going to come out is going to come out and I just, I don't have it in me to try and make this harder than it is for her.

MESERVE: Helicopters whirred over the mountains behind the Smart home, locating the camp site where police say Elizabeth was held for two months after being taken from her bedroom at knifepoint by Brian David Mitchell. One of Elizabeth's aunts says a panhandler approached her within a day or two of the abduction as she picked up fliers to be used in the search. She believes the man was Brian Mitchell and that he may have recognized her. ANGELA SMART DUMKEY, ELIZABETH'S AUNT: He was with a woman and her hair was tied back in a little white scarf and they were in the garb.

MESERVE: The woman might have been Wanda Barzee, identified as Mitchell's wife. Elizabeth wasn't with them. But the trio did come back to Salt Lake later, staying for a time at this apartment and shopping at this store. A salesperson found the relationship of the women to Mitchell unusual.

ERIN JOHNSON, GROCERY STORE CLERK: Very, very passive. I have never heard them speak a word and they always walked behind him.

MESERVE: For several months, the three camped out near San Diego. In February, Mitchell was arrested for breaking into a church and held by the county sheriff for six days. By then, Salt Lake police had identified the man known to the Smarts as Emanuel as Mitchell. But they had not issued a bulletin and Mitchell was let go.

CHIEF RICK DINSE, SALT LAKE CITY POLICE: In hindsight, it's 20- 20 vision. If we had to go back over it again, that decision by the investigators, I think every and each one of them would say I wish we had gone public with that photograph sooner.

MESERVE: But Sandy police say initially Elizabeth identified herself as the daughter of Mitchell and Barzee and although she was often in public, she apparently never tried to escape.

DINSE: There's no question that at the time of the abduction, she was in fear and was fearful for a period of time. The other part of the question is whether she had compassion for them. Again, there's no, she was psychologically affected by this abduction and by this imprisonment and to say that she could be, walk around in a free area where she could have walked away is to say that she was affected by them.

MESERVE (on camera): Chief Dinse says he believes he knows whether or not Elizabeth Smart was sexually abused during her captivity, but he won't say what he knows. He also says that Mitchell believed in polygamy, but Dinse won't say whether Mitchell viewed Elizabeth as one of his wives.

Jean Meserve, CNN, Salt Lake City.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: An FBI agent says investigators believe the person who abducted Elizabeth came from outside her daily circle of friends and acquaintances.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIP BURUS, FBI SPECIAL AGENT: Elizabeth's victim profile from the very start has been low key. So part of the profile has been to focus on someone coming in from the outside, into her world. She had school, she had church, she had music and she had home, generally. She, you know, we didn't find she was aggressive on the Internet or hanging out at malls, anything like that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: 911 phone calls led police to Mitchell. Police in Sandy, Utah got the calls on Wednesday, hours after Brian Mitchell and Wanda Barzee returned to Salt Lake City with Elizabeth.

Here's one of those calls. It was phoned in after the trio was spotted by someone who recognized Mitchell.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 911.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, could you tell me, is this like how if I think I see that Emanuel they're looking for?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is. Where do you think you see him, ma'am?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think he is right here across from Southtown Mall on State Street.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. What business are you by?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm right in front of Burger King. Well, no, I'm across from Target, actually.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: By...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And he (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 102nd South. And he's walking, he's walking towards town, so he's walking north. And he's with two ladies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Because of that call and another, Mitchell and Barzee are now in custody and face one count of aggravated kidnapping each.

Coming up in the next hour on DAYBREAK, we'll have a live report from Salt Lake City updating the very latest in the Elizabeth investigation.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




Impacted>