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CNN Saturday Morning News

Air Search Planned for Elizabeth Smart

Aired June 08, 2002 - 08:32   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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: The search for a missing Utah girl intensifies today after some fruitless leads. A massive air search is planned for Elizabeth Smart, the 14-year-old kidnapped girl from the family's home -- she was kidnapped, rather, from her family's home at gunpoint.

Our James Hattori is live in Salt Lake City with the latest from there -- hi, James.

JAMES HATTORI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kyra.

The weather is changing here in Salt Lake City, a cold front moving in. The mood of this investigation is also changing. There's definitely a growing sense of frustration. Police continue to sift through thousands of tips and leads. Volunteers continue to show up here to search the neighborhoods. A $250,000 reward has been offered for the safe return of Elizabeth Smart yet three and a half days after her kidnapping, investigators say there is still no solid lead, no hint of a suspect.

This was to be a weekend of celebration for the Smart family. Elizabeth was to have taken part in a graduation event at her middle school yesterday. Her brother accepted the diploma instead. An empty chair was set aside for her.

A flurry of excitement, the sighting of a possible suspect in Emigration Canyon, east of here, fizzled after a day of searching. The initial report was discredited. Other leads, a milkman who saw a suspicious car, a surveillance video at a convenience store, the home computer Elizabeth used, all, investigators say, have gone nowhere.

As uncertainty mounts, even the girl's parents are not above scrutiny.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF RICK DINSE, SALT LAKE CITY POLICE: The family in this case has been extremely cooperative. They have done everything that we have asked them to do. We are not focusing on the family at this time. But we have not eliminated anybody as a suspect.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HATTORI: Ed and Louis Smart have stepped back from the spotlight a bit. Understandably they are exhausted. In fact, Ed Smart was hospitalized for a time yesterday for exhaustion. FBI profilers are on the scene. They are sifting through what scant evidence there is at the house. Apparently that evidence disturbed somewhat by neighbors who were let into the house in the hours immediately following the kidnapping Tuesday morning, rather, Wednesday morning.

The profilers will likely be looking at Elizabeth's lifestyle, her habits, her friends, what was inside her mind at the time. They'll also be helping police try to come up with a profile of some sort of suspect.

Meantime this morning, volunteers will again come here to Shriner's Hospital to continue their search. Thousands have been coming up every day. Also an aerial search has been called for to, with private aircraft being volunteered, all in the hope of finding some sort of clue, but also in the hope of finding some comfort, doing something to solve this mystery here -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: James, I'm just curious, quickly, as you're out there working this story and talking with your sources, and I know how you ask questions, a lot of times these bizarre relationships and facts seem to surface from cases like this. Have you heard of anything that has caught your attention or maybe some leads that police are following that might add a new twist to this?

HATTORI: Well, that's part of the real frustration. Everybody you talk to says this was the ideal family, very close knit, very devoutly Mormon and that Elizabeth, even at 14 years old, was the perfect child, very angelic, played the harp at school, was a good student. Everybody loved her.

It's hard to believe some, a family and an individual could be that perfect. Obviously, everybody has flaws and those are the kinds of things that the police at this point will have to be looking at because absent any other clues, they have to focus on what's left. They've gone through the easy tips and the clues and those have gone nowhere.

So they've got, this is where the really hard work begins, unless there is a break in terms of somebody calling in, they saw something. They have to look at what else there is and that's the family and the girl herself.

PHILLIPS: Our James Hattori in Salt Lake City.

Thanks, James.

HATTORI: Sure.

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