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CNN Live Saturday

Volunteers Aid Effort to Find Elizabeth Smart

Aired June 08, 2002 - 18:10   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.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Let's go now to CNN national correspondent Frank Buckley, who has the latest from Salt Lake City.

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN: Well, Fredericka, the Smarts just concluding a news conference here, an emotional news conference. Really an emotional experience to meet them.

They've tried to remain strong during the past few days, but they are human beings, and going through what can only be described as probably the most difficult thing that anyone has to go through, and that is the...

(AUDIO GAP)

...and they don't know where she is.

They came here earlier today and we'd like to show you some video tape as the Smarts' were going through the volunteer center here at Shriner's Hospital, where more than 1,000 people a day have been coming and registering to do what they can to help.

Many small acts of great kindness taking place here. And, the Smarts' finally had an opportunity to speak to some of these people face to face. Let's listen in to what they said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LOIS SMART, MOTHER OF ELIZABETH SMART: We appreciate, so much, what you've done. It's so overwhelming to see. They told me that people were here, but this is overwhelming. Thank you. I feel your love. I appreciate it. I know we're going to find her. Thank you.

ED SMART, FATHER OF ELIZABETH SMART: Thank you so much. We know that you're what's making this happen and we can't express ourselves the way we'd like to, but thank you so much. We just really appreciate it.

BUCKLEY: A very moving experience before the family members and the volunteers. They also came and spoke to the media. Very moving for all of us, as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Authorities today also releasing a sketch, as you mentioned, Catherine, of the man they are looking for. He is white, in his late 30s or early 40s, medium build, has a ruddy complexion. May have a gold ring in his right ear, is missing a front tooth, and he sometimes wears a red Rastafarian hat.

The parents saying that they don't know this man. Authorities say they don't know his name, but in some situation, some social setting, as police described it, Elizabeth has met this person.

Police said that he is not a suspect at this point, but he may have some information about what happened. Police have hoped to locate him themselves, but they thought that by putting his sketch out through the media, that they might be able to locate him a little more quickly.

So, that is the man that they are looking for right now.

And, again, the Smarts' just concluding their news conference here. They told us that, "we feel your prayers," meaning the prayers and thoughts of so many people from across the country who have contacted them or have somehow volunteered their help, or are simply praying for the safe return of Elizabeth Smart.

CALLAWAY: Incredible that they have enough strength to come out and thank everyone today, especially since Ed Smart was taken to the hospital for sheer exhaustion.

BUCKLEY: Yeah, he was admitted to hospital on Friday, suffering from exhaustion. You may have just heard a few moments ago, Mr. Smart saying that neither of them had much sleep at all during the past few days as you might imagine, finally they seemed to collapse on Friday. Ed Smart being admitted to hospital.

We were told by authorities that Mrs. Smart finally got some much- needed sleep on Friday. Clearly, this has been an incredibly difficult and understandably difficult ordeal for them.

CALLAWAY: Tell us a little bit about the search effort that's going on there. I know there's thousands of people that have turned out in this search, and -- you're saying there's been a number of tips, but police are not releasing any information on their investigation yet, are they?

BUCKLEY: Well, Catherine, the police are trying to provide as much information as they can without jeopardizing anything that they're working on, but they've been pretty candid about the fact that they don't have any solid leads.

As things come up, they check them out; they have about 100 detectives working on this case from various agencies. The FBI has brought in a couple of profilers to come in to try to create a psychological profile of the abductor. Who would come in and do something like this? That might help them to locate the person.

They're doing a number of things behind the scenes. We know that they're looking over the lists of registered sexual offenders who are in this area. They're looking at each one of those people, interviewing them, in some cases.

And, on the volunteers -- more than a thousand people a day, coming into the Shriner's Hospital here. The Laura Foundation set up to -- from Texas -- came in. They have a whole protocol that they go through to help organize communities and as tips come up or as areas emerge, they send teams out. Essentially what they do is they look. The look for anything that's out of the ordinary. Then they report back to the center, they provide that information to the detectives, they prioritize the information and then move forward with anything that they feel is a solid lead.

CALLAWAY: And let's hope they get a tremendous break, very soon. Frank Buckley, from Salt Lake City. Thanks, Frank.

And, before we go to break, everyone, we want to give you that number one more time at the bottom of the screen, the Elizabeth Smart tip line number: 1-801-799-3000, or 1-800-932-0190.

We'll be back with more in a moment.

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