Newspaper Article

Suspect a reported polygamist

Murphy, Dean E

2003

Overview

In a news conference Thursday afternoon, Salt Lake City Police Chief Rick Dinse described Mitchell as a \"self-proclaimed polygamist\" but would not say whether Elizabeth was abducted by Mitchell to be a wife. \"That is part of what we are investigating right now,\" the chief said. On the night of the kidnapping, Dinse said Mitchell had cut through a screen window, threatened Elizabeth with the knife _ not a gun as the police had previously reported _ and took her outside through a screen door. Then, at knifepoint, he led her through the back yard into the canyons that reach into the foothills behind the Smart home, he said. [Edward Smart] held a news conference Thursday morning during which he shared heartwarming details of the family's first night together. He said that Elizabeth and her sister, Mary Katherine, had fallen asleep in their bedroom holdings hands. Elizabeth watched her favorite movie, \"The Trouble with Angels.\" At the urging of her family, she also struggled through a few songs on the harp, complaining that she was out of practice after nine months away.

• Publisher: Los Angeles Newspaper Group
• Subject: Dinse, Rick / Mitchell, Brian / Smart, Edward / Smart, Elizabeth / Smart, Tom