Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart

If Elizabeth is listening right now, Mary Katherine, what would you say to her?

That I miss her and I want her to know that our whole family loves her.

I wonder why would somebody want to kidnap Elizabeth?

I was nine years old when Elizabeth was taken.

I missed not having my sister.

She was my best friend.

I think you're asking me have I dealt with it?

I think it's something I still deal with.

That night, Elizabeth and I said our prayers together

and we went to sleep.

The next thing I remember,

there was a man in my bedroom

telling Elizabeth if she screamed, he would kill her.

I was paralyzed.

I just couldn't believe what's happening.

I finally worked up enough courage to tell my parents Elizabeth was gone,

that a man had come in and taken her.

Every parent's worst nightmare.

A 14-year-old Utah girl

taken from her bedroom while her family was sleeping.

How could it happen right in her own bedroom

in an affluent community?

Where in the world is Elizabeth Smart?

This case captivated the nation.

Authorities have launched a nationwide manhunt.

It just had all the elements of a Hollywood story.

A strange and puzzling new twist tonight.

Police are continuing to focus on her family members.

Law enforcement don't believe we're telling the truth.

As a family, we weren't gonna just leave it to the authorities.

There is somebody out there that knows something.

I had this overwhelming feeling Elizabeth was still out there.

I needed to find my daughter.

When I made my bid for freedom, I wanted it to be a sure thing.

I was gonna do whatever it took

to escape.

As a father, you are there to protect your child

and to keep them from harm's way.

That didn't happen. I didn't keep her from harm's way.

That just repeats over in your mind, over and over and over again.

I remember specifically at 3:58,

Mary Katherine came into the room saying that somebody had taken Elizabeth.

I thought, "You know, you've just had a bad nightmare."

"Elizabeth is probably somewhere in the house."

But as we went room to room, the anxiety started rising.

In the kitchen, I saw this cut screen.

And the window was wide open.

My wife screamed, "Call 911!"

On June 5th, early in the morning, my pager was going off.

We had had a kidnapping of a young woman

up in Federal Heights.

The abduction of a child taken from their bedroom

is extremely rare.

So I felt some pretty good urgency to get down there.

I went up to the scene. A captain briefed me.

Elizabeth Smart was a young 14-year-old girl

involved in music,

involved heavily with her church.

The family said she'd been taken from her bedroom

in the middle of the night.

The window was open.

There was a cut screen.

Then outside,

somebody had put a chair up against the wall.

My initial impression was this isn't gonna be a long-term, ongoing thing.

We'll have answers in 48 hours.

I was wrong.

This morning at about two o'clock, we had what appears to be an abduction

from a home up here in the Federal Heights area.

Terror set in as the news spread.

In Salt Lake City, I'm Nicea DeGering, 7 News at 11.

I recall my first report on the story.

"A little girl is missing in Federal Heights,

taken from her bedroom in the middle of the night."

And I remember being shocked by the words as they came out of my mouth.

Federal Heights is one of the most ritzy areas in Salt Lake City.

The homes are gorgeous.

The Mormon church is interwoven into the community.

You wouldn't think crime happens here.

And I remember thinking, "Is this a real kidnapping?"

I got a call, and my brother Ed said, "Please come, I need your help."

I remember walking into the front door.

Ed came over and got me.

And he just looked like he'd been put through a meat grinder.

Elizabeth, if you're out there,

we're doing everything we possibly can to help you.

We love you.

We want you to come home safely to us.

Elizabeth's mother, Lois,

was in the front room surrounded by family and friends.

And there was just this blood-curdling

moan and cry coming from her.

"Where is my daughter?"

Right from the get-go, we set up a phone room to take tips.

The number of leads that came in from the public numbered about 40,000.

And so we assembled a team of hundreds of investigators.

Oh well, no matter how much lipstick you put on this pig,

I'm not gonna look any better.

We went out to the school and to contact Elizabeth's friends.

Our investigation revealed no boyfriends, no shady associations, no drug use.

Elizabeth Smart was just a very typical 14-year-old devout Mormon girl

living a very normal life in a very nice neighborhood.

Everyone knew who Elizabeth was up in that area.

And by 4:30, the neighborhood had mobilized.

Any of you know CPR or rock climbing?

Our community is very strong,

and so everybody was willing to just drop what they were doing and search.

Why are you doing this?

I love Ed and Lois, and they are a wonderful family.

My handsome husband.

Our home is nestled up into the hills.

Oh, happiness and joy.

Lois and I and the family had been there for about eight years.

We had six children. Four boys, two girls.

Hi, Mom.

Hi, Elizabeth.

Elizabeth, you know, she was the first daughter.

She was fiercely competitive, especially with her brothers.

As far as, you know, her inner strength, she just really had a very strong spirit.

Authorities have launched a nationwide manhunt today,

Thursday, June the 6th.

The search goes on this morning for kidnapped Utah teenager

Elizabeth Smart.

An innocent girl has been stolen

from what should've been the safest place in the world.

Today, Salt Lake City police announced a reward.

A quarter of a million dollars for Elizabeth's safe return.

The media response to this case was insane.

CBS News.

- Fox News. - NBC News.

There was a lot of pressure on the police department

to try and resolve the case very, very quickly.

There was so little evidence to go on.

But there was a witness to the kidnapping…

The nine-year-old sister of Elizabeth Smart, Mary Katherine.

As a nine-year-old, I don't think I understood

what was going on.

Just that my sister was gone and I was very frightened.

We tried to do everything together.

I wanted to be just like her.

We did fight, mostly over how messy I was.

But any opportunity to be able to spend time with her, I was there.

Mary Katherine was very likely going to be the key to finding Elizabeth.

Anybody who has a traumatic memory will make certain memory imprints.

And so we wanted her interviewed in a controlled, safe environment.

The guy said, "Be quiet."

"If you scream, I'll shoot you. But if you don't, I won't harm you."

Did his voice sound familiar to you?

Yeah.

Can you tell me where you've heard that before?

No, I can't remember.

Mary Katherine had indicated that the voice seemed familiar to her.

She couldn't say whose voice it was, but it was a familiar voice.

You know, first impression looking at the Smarts,

they looked like a happy, normal family.

But, statistically, more often than not,

the perpetrator of this type of crime is a parent or a family member.

So we started looking very hard at them.

We brought members of the Smart family in.

We did in-depth interviews.

And there were a couple things that came up that made us go, "Huh."

I was told that the alarm had been inadvertently left off.

And the window.

When I looked at it the first morning,

there were no scuff marks on the outside wall.

Even if you step up on a chair, you're gonna make a scuff mark.

I did not see any.

My initial assessment was maybe this wasn't the point of entry.

Maybe it was a staged one.

Someone had cut the screen after the fact, but didn't come and go through the window.

So we searched the home.

We're looking for any indication that harm befell Elizabeth.

Is there even a body in the home?

We have a really good bloodhound on the department.

His name is JJ. We had a lot of confidence in him.

And he picked up the scent for Elizabeth.

Went out the back, and then up into the trees.

And he followed a trail,

got up to the street up there, which is a dead end,

and lost the scent.

I made the assumption

that she was probably taken away in an automobile.

There's some indication that this may have been an inside job.

Police confirming they have taken 12 computers from the family.

We were peppering police.

Is it the family? Are we looking at the family?

I want to thank you all for your help. I can't thank you enough.

I… I know it's gonna take everyone's effort to find her.

It's really hard to think of somebody coming in there and taking her.

I… I would do anything to have her back in my arms.

Ed and Lois Smart, I think initially you felt their grief,

but it definitely shifted.

People would watch Ed on TV when he was talking,

and they would make statements like, "There are no tears when he's crying."

There was a sense of, "Is he telling us everything?"

"Could he be involved?"

Something strange about that story.

As a reporter, you… you… you ask some good questions,

but there are a lot more questions to be asked.

- Like? - It doesn't ring true.