Will something more turn up, or is this just a clear-cut case of abduction? I heard a clip on the radio of the father acting strangely in a press conference - he was normal until he said “the screen was cut from the outside” in a strange, loud tone like he was trying to convince us or hide something. On top of this, Elizabeth seems very healthy, and somehow didn’t manage to escape in 9 months, even though she was obviously allowed to roam the town with her captors. I also heard the claim of a certain “touchy-feelyness” in the family, but have not seen it so cannot verify this.
So this whole Elizabeth Smart situation, odd or not?
I find it completely bizarre. Apparently they were often in public with her; I read that they walked by a poster of Elizabeth the day they were caught. You’d think that she’d be wondering if they were going to kill her…she didn’t feel the urge to make any effort in escaping, ever. Simply running across the street to the nearest passer-by would’ve had her saved. Even when she was found, it wasn’t through her heroicness in the slightest. It was like she didn’t want to be found.
I’ve heard she was shy. But still…shurely she has heard of similar kidnapping stories, where the kid ends up being raped, tortured and thrown into a river. She was given the chance too many times by being in public.
This is pure speculation on my part, but it is conceivable that Elizabeth went willingly with the weird dude (I forget his name) to escape the boredom of her suburban existence. I know about the Stockholm Syndrome, where captives feel empathy for their kidnappers after some time, so maybe she is a victim of this, but it sure does seem strange that she made absolutely no attempt to escape or signal for help. CBS news tonight showed photos of a party that the weird dude and his wife took Elizabeth to a few months ago. She was wearing some sort of white veil and someone thought it looked strange enough that he took some photos. But Elizabeth never said anything to anyone at the party or did anything to seek help. I agree, this is very odd.
I find there to be many, many odd things about this case, not the least of which was ES’s apparent ability to escape. She didn’t seem to be trying very hard, which says to me she didn’t want to very much.
And maybe it’s just me, but there’s more than a little ‘odd’ about her father, and her mother for that matter. I mean,come on…
I agree with everyone else. She heard the searchers, and didn’t yell? She was eating at Burger Kings and didn’t say anything? She was never ONCE alone with a phone for all of 20 seconds? 911 and hangup would have rescued her. Even a trip to the bathroom at a gas station would have worked. All she had to do was lock herself in until someone complained. Something just doesn’t add up, to me.
We need to know more about the people that held her, really. Her statements when found were VERY odd, especially the part about her denying her own identity, claiming a different name, and the apparent “ceremonial marriage” thing.
From cnn:
And the gazzilion professional quality posed photo-ops of the reunited family, with more and more coming in every hour in all rooms of their house, posed with all different combinations of family members and stances, are a little bizzare as well. You’d think now would be a good time to kick the media the hell out and really reunite: it looks more like she just won the gold medal at the Olympics or won the science fair. What the heck was going on the last couple of months? If she was so brainwashed that it took her thirty minutes to even admit that she was Elizabeth Smart, how did she come out of it so fast? (Actually I can buy that, sorta: she’s young)
“She was forced to wear a wig and full robe and veil.”
“He [the police cheif] would not answer questions about a possible motive for Elizabeth’s abduction but said that Mitchell’s religious beliefs include polygamy.”
Mitchell does seem to have one thing going for him I’ve never heard before though:
“He saw himself as a “prophet” who was paid by God, they said.”
I’ve heard “sent by God” or “directed by God,” but… PAID by God? That’s a new one.
I’d say: most likely these are two very ditsturbed people that hooked up, and from the sound of it, the woman had an obsession with dollies and kids, and her own daughter has speculated that maybe she wanted another daughter. So this lady and Mitchell kidnapped Elizabeth, married her into the family or something, and took her with them on their journeys to be their daughter/sister/wife. Not clear if sex was involved or not, but definately psychological strains.
My understanding is that Mitchell threatened to come back and hurt her if she said anything. Or possibly hurt Elizabeth. Since she (Mary K) is so young, I can understand her fear and confusion in the middle of the night.
But there does seem to be something very peculiar (to say the least) about what happened to Elizabeth.
Yeah, I wonder about that too. If she was brainwashed into thinking Mitchell and Barzee had her best interests at heart, why is she not conflicted about their being arrested? And if she was traumatized, why did she look so cocky coming out of the police station? Either way, you’d think she’d be a lot more self-conscious in this situation, not grinning to beat the band. But maybe she just smiles when she’s told to do so…
And I’ve always wondered about Mary Katherine and those “two hours”. Last summer, I felt terrible for her, thinking she must have been in a world of guilt. I wonder what she and Elizabeth have had to say to each other.
As far as the dad saying so emphatically: “the screen was cut from the outside”. My memory is hazy, but I think I recall the attention being focused on him for a while. Like maybe they thought he (the dad) did something. He may have been feeling a little vindicated by the final evidence that the screen was cut from the outside. It wasn’t an “inside job”, so to speak.
And the gazzilion professional quality posed photo-ops of the reunited family, with more and more coming in every hour in all rooms of their house, posed with all different combinations of family members and stances, are a little bizzare as well. You’d think now would be a good time to kick the media the hell out and really reunite:
Maybe this photo session is part of some kind of arrangement with the press. The Smart family agrees to release some photographs, the press agrees to back off some, at least for a few days.
Even if it was discovered that she went with the kidnapper willingly, does not make this nut innocent. He was the adult. E.S. made some choices that I do not understand. Regardless, helping her stay hidden or holding her against her will… still criminal and deserving of severe punishment.
There was ample opportunity for Elizabeth to be threatened, psychologically tortured, sexually abused and otherwise broken down to the point where she not only lost any will to escape, she was no longer even assured of her own identity. It is known that she was taken to California, at the very least, and we still don’t know where else. She was also an upper-middle class little girl whose most stressful moments in life up to that point had been learning to play the harp; now she was suddenly (forced to be?) aligned with “Emmanuel’s” brand of religion, living in tents in the Utah desert and under highway overpasses in California. Everything that was normal in her life was completely gone in – if the kidnap claim is true, and I believe that it is – a sudden and violent separation.
Is it so hard to believe that someone who would plot this kind of abduction and who lives in the manner of “Emmanuel” would also be just the kind of Koresh or Jones-esque brainwashing cult developer type?
We are also talking about a girl here. An adult is usually much more strong willed, whereas a child can be manipulated much easier. Still, it does seem pretty dang odd.
But I’ve been holding off on rejoicing, because IMHO, the other shoe hasn’t dropped yet. Who knows what the long-term psychological effects of this will be.
That’s just what I do believe. It seems to be the only logical explanation for her failure to respond when she heard people callling for her?? :dubious:
Odd as it sounds, I’d feel more reassurance if she were tearfully saying, “I don’t want to talk about it…Please stop taking my picture; I just want to be alone with my family.” That would indicate that she’s working through her trauma. As it is, I fear that she’s still repressing her feelings.
I find it amazing that in a world where Jim Jones could get 910 people to “voluntarily” drink poinsoned Kool Aid and 19 people could go on a suicide mission to kill thousands of Americans, people question whether a single person could be brainwashed into staying with a group of fanatics. I’d suggest you read Patricia Hearst’s book “Every Secret Thing” before passing judgement.
Rejoice for her loved ones and the thousands of people who have anguished over her disapearance and thier uncertanties. I think the fakse assumption the officials gave everyone at the beginning was the " She looks fine and seems normal" attitude. That is a best case scenario that is so unlikely in almost any circumstances that it can only be attributed to wishful thinking. No matter how delicately she was treated, even if she was treated as loving daughter by the kidnappers, it would have been a traumatic seperation in some impressionable years.
It is the “normal” attitude that was presented that has everyone scratching their heads today. When the fact of the matter is that none of it is normal, especially her coming back alive and seemingly well.
I am waiting on the other shoe to drop with apprehension as much as everyone. And although she may seem complicit in a few matters as of now, the fact is that we cannot persue that until it is deomnstrated as such. She is the victim in this, in the eyes of the law at least, not matter what her decisions (irrational or not) are.
And we can’t forget the other victims. Her loved ones who now have some semblance of peace that they would never have had. Her story may make a decent Lifetime Orignal, it’s her return that makes it complete.
PS. I hope I’m not sounding preachy. Guess I am feeling the same way many of you are and just rationalising it out loud.
