SALT LAKE CITY, June 13 (UPI) -- Police may not be convinced that the kidnapping of Salt Lake City teenager Elizabeth Smart was carried out by a gun-wielding stranger and have developed a theory that the teenager and someone inside the extended Smart family could have staged the abduction, it was reported Thursday.
Sources told the Salt Lake Tribune that evidence found inside the $1 million suburban home could indicate that the screen on the window the kidnapper supposedly used to gain entry may have been cut from the inside, meaning that the suspect had been let into the house. The small size of the window also has apparently troubled detectives due to the apparent difficulty someone would have climbing through.
Police downplayed the report in Thursday's edition of the Tribune, but refused to comment on whether they believed there had been a forced entry into the home, or on any other evidence that had been collected.
"Any time you have an investigation of this magnitude, we always look closely at who this person (the victim) might be acquainted with, who there contacts were, and that kind of thing," police Capt. Scott Atkinson told reporters at a late morning news conference Thursday. "Looking at the family and extended family, and other people who had been in the area, is a typical type of investigation."
"I don't believe we are focusing on them (the Smart family) any more than we already have been," Atkinson said, quickly adding that he "would not characterize" the investigation as targeting a family member.
Elizabeth disappeared early June 5 when, according to her 9-year-old sister, Mary Catherine, a man appeared in their shared bedroom and hustled Elizabeth out of the house in her red satin pajamas and tennis shoes at gunpoint. The little girl also reportedly did not awaken her parents for two hours because the kidnapper had threatened to harm Elizabeth if she reported the incident.
Hundreds of volunteers, squads of detectives, and FBI agents have found no trace of Elizabeth since she disappeared despite nationwide alert and heavy media coverage of the alleged abduction.
The Smart family has been described by police as being very cooperative with detectives who have been largely frustrated by a lack of breakthrough leads in the bizarre kidnapping.
"If they didn't investigate us, they would be negligent," Elizabeth's uncle, David Smart, told reporters. "But do not get distracted with this type of aspect. Our focus is finding Elizabeth, and we don't want to lose that focus."
Edward Smart, the missing girl's father, has taken a polygraph test and has been described as "forthcoming" by police, although the results have not been publicly revealed. His brother, Tom Smart, told CNN's "Larry King Live" on Tuesday night that he, too, had under gone a polygraph exam, and that "the entire family" was willing to be tested as well.
"Everybody is suspect on this," Smart said. "It's the police's job to question everybody in this situation."
Police have interviewed Mary Catherine three times since the apparent abduction and her story has apparently remained consistent. There has been no indication that she recognized the intruder, however she has not been asked to help an artist develop a composite sketch of the suspect.
There were also questions Thursday as to whether Mary Catherine or anyone else in the family recognized a photo of Bret Michael Edmunds, a 26-year-old transient who may have been seen in the neighborhood on the Monday before and is wanted for questioning although is not considered to be a suspect.
David Smart told reporters that the family had seen the picture of Edmunds, who is physically larger than the man Mary Catherine saw, and did not find him familiar.
(Reported by Hil Anderson in Los Angeles)
