| DrudgeReportArchives.com | ||
| Today's DrudgeReport.com Drudge's Special Reports | Recent Headlines Popular Headlines Time Line | |
 Support The DrudgeReport; Visit Our Advertisers  XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX THU MARCH 13, 2003 20:02:38 ET XXXXX BOMBSHELL: 'YOU THINK I AM THE GIRL WHO RAN AWAY,' SMART TOLD COP "You guys think I'm that Elizabeth Smart girl who ran away," Elizabeth Smart challenged police officer Bill O'Neal the moment she was found by authorities. Smart's startling words have ignited a firestorm around Salt Lake City: Was the teen conveying the unthinkable -- she deliberately ran way from home?! While local and federal authorities work on the likely premise the girl was taken by force and later brainwashed, questions of a possible runaway scenario began to creep into the picture, sources said late Thursday. One top federal source said the case remains "utterly baffling." Dressed in a wig, veil and sunglasses, Smart told the police officers who discovered her Wednesday in the Salt Lake City suburb of Sandy that her name was "Augustine." She said that the couple accompanying her - Brian Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Barzee - were her parents. But police became suspicious of the young girl who kept calling herself "Augustine". �She said she's a child from God, a minister of the Church of Christ and she along with her parents are passing on the gospel throughout the United States," said officer Victor Quesada. Smart became agitated when officers asked her to remove her wig and sunglasses, and told them she recently had eye surgery. "She kind of just blurted out, 'I know who you think I am. You guys think I'm that Elizabeth Smart girl who ran away,''' officer O'Neal said. For nearly 30-minutes, she denied she was Elizabeth. KNIFE OR GUN? Elizabeth's father, Ed Smart, said the little miss described being taken from her home last June at knife point. Smart said he hasn't asked his daughter for details of the ordeal because he didn't want to traumatize her any more. At the time, Elizabeth's sister, Mary Katherine, then 9, said Elizabeth was taken by a man with a gun. MORE Unidentified fingerprints found in the bedroom of Elizabeth Smart were compared to 84 thousand fingerprints on record -- including those of suspect Brian David Mitchell -- without a match ever being made, the AP reported late Thursday. Intrigue also swirls around the period of time Elizabeth Smart stayed in a basement apartment -- a block from a block from a Salt Lake police station. She didn't seem in danger and expressed no fear of her captors, claims the man who rents the studio. He said she had opportunity to escape the apartment or call police at night. "I figured she could have called the cops if she wanted,'' Daniel Trotta, 24, told reporters. MORE ----------------------------------------------------------- Filed By Matt Drudge Reports are moved when circumstances warrant http://www.drudgereportArchives.com for updates (c)DRUDGE REPORT 2003 Not for reproduction without permission of the author |
|
The Drudge Report does not own, operate or maintain DrudgeReportArchives.com and is not responsible for it in any way.
Drudge Report : E-mail: drudge@drudgereport.com Matt Drudge's Book: Drudge Manifisto Matt Drudge on social media: Twitter (occasionally) Matt Drudge music: Playlist Home | DMCA | Link Decay General Support: |
