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Utah teen's father takes polygraph testStill no clues in Elizabeth Smart investigation
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (CNN) -- Police searching for a missing Utah teenager, who is believed to have been kidnapped last week, said Monday they had given the girl's father a polygraph test, but said they had no new leads. Elizabeth Smart, 14, vanished from her upscale Salt Lake City home in the middle of the night Wednesday. Her 9-year-old sister said she was taken at gunpoint by a man who threatened to harm Elizabeth if the younger girl told anyone. At a news conference Monday, Salt Lake City Police Capt. Scott Atkinson said Elizabeth's father, Ed Smart, took the test Sunday and the results were being evaluated by the FBI. Police said they did not rule out the possibility of other family members taking a lie detector test. In a written statement issued later, Smart said, "It's not uncommon in a case like this for a polygraph test to be administered. When asked by law enforcement, I fully cooperated, because I have nothing to hide. We are doing everything in our power to bring back Elizabeth." Smart also thanked law enforcement officials and volunteers for their help. Police said they planned to interview the 9-year-old sister -- the only witness to the apparent abduction -- for a third time in an effort to get more leads.
They said they had no evidence to suggest the teenage girl might be a runaway. "Our investigation is becoming very frustrated. As we get leads and follow them up, most of them aren't going anywhere," Atkinson said. "We don't have any idea where she might be." Earlier in the day, Smart's parents urged her to "be strong" and pleaded with her captor to "have pity" and release her. "We still have tremendous faith, and, Elizabeth, know that we are trying to help you in every way we can, and please, please hang in there," Ed Smart, said on CNN's "American Morning." "We love you very much. Your brothers and sisters send their love. We just want so much for you to be back home with us." Sitting next to her husband, Lois Smart added, "Be strong, Elizabeth, be strong." Continuing his appeal to the abductor, Ed Smart said, "Please, please be good to her. Please let her go and come home to us. ... Please, please have pity on our family and release her. Please, please know that we really, really need her home." Police interviewed a man Saturday they thought could have information leading to the missing girl. But the unidentified man -- located after police released a composite sketch -- provided no helpful clues, authorities said. Police said Elizabeth's family provided the description of the man, whom they said had met the teen-ager "in a social setting." Police stressed he was not a suspect. Thousands of volunteers have combed the Salt Lake City area within a 40-mile radius of Elizabeth's home in the Federal Heights neighborhood. But no sign of the 5-foot-6-inch, 108-pound, blond girl has turned up. Hundreds of people attended a candlelight vigil Sunday night in an area park. The girl's parents also attended and expressed their belief that their daughter would return alive. Officials said an air mission over the Utah desert dropped to 11 planes from 25 planes Saturday, shifting from a search-and-rescue to an intelligence-gathering operation. |
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