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CNN LIVE AT DAYBREAK
Missing Utah Teen Safe With Family
Aired March 13, 2003 - 06:34 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: There are still many questions surrounding the Smart case, like how this drifter was able to keep control of the girl for so long, and why police couldn't find them sooner.
We take you now live to Salt Lake City and Rusty Dornin.
Good morning.
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, I think we'll probably be hearing a lot of those questions from the family in the coming days. They were pushing, as you said. It was Mary Katherine who brought it up in October.
It wasn't until February actually that there was a press conference where they released a sketch of this man, and then his relatives called in and released pictures, photos. It was those photos that were so widely circulated over the last month that caused two different couples yesterday in Sandy, Utah to call police within a minute of one another, saying they think that they had seen the suspect.
Now, the first person to call was Rudy Montoya.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUDY MONTOYA, EYEWITNESSES: We spotted Emmanuel first. That's what clued us in. We thought the guy looked like Emmanuel.
QUESTION: Describe him. What was he -- was he bearded?
R. MONTOYA: He looked like this picture with the beard. It was kind of scruffy, black and white.
QUESTION: What type of car were they in?
R. MONTOYA: They were walking.
NANCY MONTOYA, EYEWITNESS: They were walking.
QUESTION: You were in your car.
R. MONTOYA: We were in our car.
QUESTION: What did you feel when you saw Elizabeth Smart?
R. MONTOYA: We didn't -- we, neither one of us recognized that as being Elizabeth Smart. We mainly noticed that it was Emmanuel.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DORNIN: Now, within just a couple of hours of being picked up by the police, she was taken home in a police van, guarded very carefully by police, so she was taken into her home. But lots of well-wishers in the neighborhood and, of course, the family is still expressing their joy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID SMART, ELIZABETH'S UNCLE: An incredible miracle that has been brought to our family. Words cannot express how grateful we are for the prayers around the world. Do miracles still exist? And the answer is, yes. And we have Elizabeth back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DORNIN: Which is still pretty amazing I think for this community, because a lot of folks were expecting the worst. But all over town are these blue balloons that you see behind me. This is at the church that the Smarts usually come to. The blue, of course, is Elizabeth Smart's favorite color.
We don't expect to see the family for a day or so. There will be a police press conference later today -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Rusty, can you tell us more about this Emmanuel character? Apparently, he was a pretty popular homeless person in the Salt Lake City area.
DORNIN: Apparently, he was very well-known in his white robes and that sort of thing, preaching to the homeless. He saw himself as some sort of prophet. That's also according to apparently his stepchildren -- his stepson and a woman who is claiming to be his stepdaughter, who apparently ran away when she was 14 from the couple. So, they have been seen widely in the area.
Now, Lois Smart apparently did run into him when he was clean- shaven, and thought he was a very nice man, and that's when she apparently hired him to do work on their house.
COSTELLO: Yes, and he just did work on the roof and then disappeared, and now he's a suspect in Elizabeth Smart's abduction -- a strange case.
DORNIN: Yes, the thing...
COSTELLO: Go ahead.
DORNIN: The thing that's amazing is Mary Katherine remembered him so many months later.
COSTELLO: Mary Katherine being Elizabeth Smart's younger sister. Rusty Dornin, many thanks to you.
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