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CNN Saturday Morning News

Police Search For Bret Michael Edmunds

Aired June 15, 2002 - 12:12   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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to go now to the search for the missing Utah teenager, Elizabeth Smart. A man who may have some answers to her whereabouts is still at large and investigators are still looking for her. And our CNN's Jeanne Meserve has been following those efforts from Utah, and she's in Salt Lake City right now -- hi there, Jeanne.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka -- disappointment here in Salt Lake City that police have not found the man they're looking for, Bret Michael Edmunds.

He is a drifter who was seen in the vicinity of the Smart home prior to the abduction. Police saying now he's not a suspect, just someone they want to talk to. Someone matching his description was arrested in Littlefield, Texas yesterday on suspicions of shoplifting. This after a series of car thefts in several states.

But fingerprints did not match. They have not found Edmunds. The search for him continues. So does the search for young Elizabeth. It has been a huge effort involving 8,500 individuals, but police say today, families say today that it is changing in nature.

What they want now is a more localized approach. They are asking neighborhood watch and other local groups, even individuals to search the areas they know best like: backyards, looking in sheds, barns, under swimming pool covers just to make sure that nothing is amiss.

In a sign that things are changing, the Salvation Army tent that's been set up here at central command, provisioning volunteers, is being taken down this morning, but the family insists this is not a de-escalation of the search. They say it is just a second more focused phase.

The family still continuing to hope and say that Elizabeth is alive. Although, she has now been missing for ten and a half days -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thank you very much, Jeanne Meserve from Salt Lake City.

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