I'm watching GMA right now and basically the whole show is centered around the Smart case. Now, while I'm happy that the Smart family has their daughter back and the sicko that took her is in jail, BUT what about that man they put in jail (can't remember his name) when this first broke?? Remember, he maintained his innocence and he died in jail. In the midst of all the joy of having their daughter found, I really hope that the Smarts apologize to that man's family and pay some kind of restitution to his family for all of their pain and suffering as well!

I'm sure that guy's family has been consulting with an attorney all last night and probably during the day today.

I'm just happy she's alive and well. I couldn't imagine what she was going through all of these months.

I heard on our news this morning that she may have spent some time here in Atlanta, as the couple she was with were drifters and may have traveled all over the country.

His widow was on TV. She said that she was happy that Elizabeth had been found and she knew all along that her husbnad was innocent. She probably is going to sue, although I don't believe they asked her about that.

Richard Ricci was in prison on an unrelated parole violation. If there is a lawsuit I would think it would be about defamation of character or something along those lines. He was just the prime suspect, never actually charged with anything pertaining to the case. I blame the police and the media, not the Smart family.

There are so many crazzzzzy people in this world. What is really happening??

The Smart family was too nice. They let too many strangers into their home. Mrs. Smart met "Emmanuel" on the street begging her for money, and the next thing you know he's at her house working on the roof? It's one thing to be a nice person, but now a days you can't just let everyone into your home. WoW Wow WOw..

Am I the only one that finds this whole mess shady.....?

How nice would they have been to a man of color who needed some work?

Smart Suspect Considers Teen As 'Wife'
 

Smart Suspect Considers Teen As 'Wife'
Mon Mar 17, 8:50 AM ET Add U.S. National - AP to My Yahoo!


By REBECCA BOONE, Associated Press Writer

SALT LAKE CITY - The self-proclaimed prophet accused of abducting Elizabeth Smart told his attorney he considers the girl his wife and wants the 15-year-old to be renamed "Remnant Who Will Return."

"He wanted me to tell the world that she is his wife, and he still loves her and knows that she still loves him, that no harm came to her during their relationship and the adventure that went on," attorney Larry Long said in an interview aired late Sunday on Salt Lake City's KUTV.

Long, who said he had agreed earlier Sunday to become Brian David Mitchell's attorney, was speaking for his client for the first time.

Long said Mitchell — whom he referred to as "the perpetrator" — would consider the girl's nine-month disappearance a "call from God," not a kidnapping.

Smart, who was snatched from her bedroom June 5, was found Wednesday with Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Barzee, in Sandy, Utah, when they were stopped by police. Mitchell and Barzee remained in jail awaiting charges expected to be filed Monday.

Long suggested that giving his client a light sentence could encourage kidnappers to keep their captives alive.

"If we can somehow set up some structure where the message gets out that if you bring the girl back alive, that there's some kind of commutation of the sentence, we may be much better off as a society," Long said.

He also said Mitchell, 49, wanted to be known as Immanuel David Isaiah, and wanted Barzee, 57, to be called Hephzibah Eladah Isaiah. Mitchell's name for Elizabeth, Long said, is Shear Jashub Isaiah, or "Remnant Who Will Return."

He said his client, who did handyman work at the Smart house one day in November 2001, was on a fruit-only diet in jail.

"I found him to be very intelligent, very knowledgeable, very coherent and very articulate in his expression of his views," Long said.

Calls to Long's office from The Associated Press were not returned Sunday, and calls to his home went unanswered.

Mitchell, an excommunicated Mormon, he wrote a rambling manifesto last year espousing the virtues of polygamy. The Mormon church has long distanced itself from polygamy and excommunicates those who practice it.

No details have been released about any abuse Elizabeth may have suffered while captive. The girl has been interviewed several times by police, but her parents have not asked her for details, according to family spokesman Chris Thomas.

He did deny speculation the girl could be pregnant: "Unequivocally, she is not pregnant and was never pregnant."

"She has been thoroughly examined and tested," Thomas said Saturday.

The Salt Lake Tribune reported Monday that the girl boarded a police helicopter over the weekend to point investigators to the camp where she, Mitchell and Barzee lived for two months in the foothills near her family's home.

Salt Lake City detective Dwayne Baird said police interviewers are taking care not to traumatize her with their questions.

At a Mormon church service Sunday, Elizabeth Smart's grandfather said her captors so sapped her of free will that she didn't try to escape even when left alone for a day.

"As a doctor, it's amazing to me that you can become so brainwashed that you identify with your captor," Charles Smart said.

Bishop David Hamblin said despite anything that may have happened during the ordeal, the teen is "pure before the Lord. People who are in the control of others are not accountable."

Re: Smart Suspect Considers Teen As 'Wife'
 

That is so sad, she is going to need extensive counseling! I am glad that her parents are well-off, she is going to need those resources. I just can't imagine!

Kidnapped Utah Girl Smart in TV Interview
Sat Oct 18, 2:34 PM ET Add Top Stories - AP to My Yahoo!



SALT LAKE CITY - Elizabeth Smart says she's "still pretty much the same person" after her nine-month kidnapping ordeal, and tells NBC's Katie Couric in her first television interview that the experience has made her more compassionate toward the homeless.

Couric interviewed the 15-year-old high school freshman Tuesday at her family's ranch near Salt Lake City. The network did not pay for the interview, Smart's first for television, said NBC spokeswoman Caryn Mautner.

Ed and Lois Smart talked about the police investigation and how their faith helped them during the nine months Elizabeth was gone.

"It was a miracle that we could function as a family together because these ... types of things can wreck marriages and pull families apart, and I think we've become stronger and closer as a family," Ed Smart told Couric.

Brian David Mitchell, 50, and his wife Wanda Barzee, 57, are charged with aggravated kidnapping, aggravated sexual assault and aggravated burglary in Elizabeth's June 5, 2002, abduction.

The homeless couple allegedly kept Elizabeth as Mitchell's second wife for nine months in Utah and California. They were found March 12 in Sandy, a suburb about 15 miles south of Salt Lake City, nine months after Elizabeth disappeared.

The one-hour program is scheduled to air Oct. 24.