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American Morning
Father of Elizabeth Smart Has Received Anonymous Letter
Aired July 11, 2002 - 07:31 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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to move on to another story that's caught the nation's attention, and that is the Salt Lake City story. The father of 14-year-old missing Elizabeth Smart now says he has received an anonymous letter from someone wanting to negotiate her release. And Smart says there are some details in the letter that do not seem credible, but has decided to reveal it publicly to do everything possible that might bring his daughter home.
Ed Smart joins us now from Salt Lake City.
Thank you very much for being with us this morning, sir.
ED SMART, MISSING GIRL'S FATHER: Thanks, Paula.
ZAHN: Can you describe the circumstances surrounding your receipt of this letter?
SMART: Well, the letter was received by one of three places that we receive mail from. Sometimes the mail is, you know, a number of them will come, sometimes with donations in it for the Elizabeth search or others. And this letter was received by another party. I was informed of the letter. I was also told that the letter had been sent to the police via fax. And I went and picked up the letter myself because I was most anxious to hear what it had to say.
And in the letter, the person had received a phone call in which supposedly the captor was saying that he wanted to release Elizabeth, which is what we want, and there was some information in there with regard to what she was wearing which was not credible to me. But it was the first letter that I've received from an anonymous person.
And in that I felt that it was very important to ask the captor who is out there to please communicate with us. I still don't know why or where she is and we want to do whatever we need to do to get her back.
ZAHN: Now, I know you have spent some time with investigators discussing this and investigators are now telling CNN they find this letter less credible for one of the reasons you just mentioned, the fact that it came from a third party. But also they were disturbed by the fact that there was no specific information about negotiations. Can you share with us what it said about negotiations at all?
SMART: Well, basically what it was, what he was asking for was a negotiation so that he would not come under fire. You know, he wanted to just get out of the situation, release her and not have any consequences.
ZAHN: What part of this letter does seem credible to you?
SMART: Well, the first thing, it was the first anonymous letter where we've had anyone trying to contact us to let us know that Elizabeth is there and that they want to release Elizabeth, which is what I'm praying and I'm hoping they're going to do. And I am most anxious to negotiate or do whatever I need to do to get her back. I just want this to be over with.
ZAHN: I know you implied yesterday that it is your belief this letter might have been written by a female. What makes you think that?
SMART: Exactly. Well, the letter implied that a person had an anonymous phone line and this person was a woman and that this call was made in on this anonymous phone line and she received it. And she said, you know, you won't be able to contact me and I can't give you any more information, but this is what happened.
And so, you know, had it not been for the information regarding Elizabeth specifically, you know, I would have felt very strongly that it was, you know, somebody trying to contact us.
ZAHN: Was there anything in the letter that would suggest to you how the person who wrote this letter communicated with the kidnapper?
SMART: That it was by phone. That the kidnapper called her.
ZAHN: Just that alone? Just that alone?
SMART: Right. Right.
ZAHN: So what are investigators telling you now they're going to do with this communication?
SMART: You know, I believe that they don't feel that it's credible and so I don't know that they're going to do anything with it. But to me it was the first even potential communication that we had had from anyone that was trying to say that they wanted to release Elizabeth. I still don't know why they took Elizabeth. I don't know why and I, you know, it's driving me crazy. I just, I want to hear from whoever it is out there to know why or what they want.
ZAHN: I know that every time a new piece of information comes your way that you have to be very careful not to develop a false sense of hope. Describe to us what kinds of twists and turns your family does have to take every time something like this happens? You said you've received letters like this, not identical to this, but similar letters in the past.
SMART: Well, I haven't had any letters that have been anonymous. You know, I have psychic letters come all the time. I have, you know, well meaning people. I have a lot of wonderful letters coming from people, you know, telling us how much they're praying and supporting us. And I feel their support and I appreciate their love and their consideration.
I'm just, I'm so anxious to have this over with and to hear from whoever this captor is and I would love to hear from somebody that is credible that can tell me about Elizabeth, that, you know, it's something that I can truly, truly believe and that I know Elizabeth is out there.
ZAHN: Well, Ed Smart, we appreciate your joining us this morning to share with us some of this latest information about this letter your family has received. And continued good luck to you as you wait out this very long investigation.
SMART: Thanks, Paula.
ZAHN: Appreciate your time again this morning.
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