Was she brainwashed or something? Did she not know how to call home or get away? Something very fishy is going on...

I was watching one of the morning shows and they had the woman's daughter on. She said her stepfather made her eat her own pet rabbit and killed her dog in front of her

Sick sick people.

I'm so glad Elizbeth is back w/ her family.

Only time will tell what really happened there.

My prayers go out to them.

I know, dude. I am very happy she's home safe, but in the eight-or-so months, there's been notes where she had every opportunity to run the fuck out of there, or yell, or get a phone, or SOMETHING.

Weird shit.

Well, what matters most is that she is home, safe with her family.

and how many networks are bidding for the rights to the story..??

EVERYONE is talking about it here in Salt Lake City. I wonder if maybe she was willing to stay- if perhaps "Emmanuel" convinced her that he was a prophet or something.

The town is definitely buzzing about it. Something definitely seems strange to me.

Then again, maybe she was simply threatened with her life and thus didn't dare try to get away. Maybe he threatened her family.

At 15 years old you believe a lot of nonsense... so there is no telling what they were feeding to this girl and how much of it she really believed. I feel really bad for her because she has a long hard road ahead of her as far as the healing of her soul is concerned. It is a shame that someone has so easily taken her teenage years away from her and what it really should have been!

That guy probably put alot of shit into her head, who knows maybe he threatned her and said that he would kill her whole family if she tried to escape.

I agree, sumphin wierd going on here. Listening and watching the father speak gives me the willies. Then listeneing to that young punk they interviewed who actually attended a gathering with the so-called kidnapper and Elizabeth, who said Elizabeth looked quite comfortable at the party and didn't give any indication that she needed help etc. Could there be more to this story? Was this an arranged kidnapping? Why?

I cannot understand why she didn't try for help when she was in public. There is a video tape that someone made with her sitting at a picnic table in the summer. This is a public place. She could have easily run for help.

Also, msn.com has the story of whether Smart married the kidnapper.

I'm glad that Elizabeth is back home, but
there's some shit that no one knows about except
her family, that man that had her and GOD.

That girl was not brain washed in any way.
She was 3 miles away from her house in the mountains
where they started the search. She's seen on different occassions,but not once tried to signal for help.

The person that took her was only at
the house for 5 hours and he got that close to their family.
First he was helping on the roof and
then they switched it to the yard, but he was with
the father the whole time.

When this story first came out they
had so many different ways of explaining the story
they accused someone in a white truck
for being around the house when it happened, then they accused someone that used to work for them.

It's to much shit that has not been said that makes
this story PHONY...

This is not a TRUE KIDNAPPING STORY
never would a person who has been kidnapped go
back to living their lives like nothing ever
happened no stress, no worries just happy go
lucky

I don't know... many things about the story do seem strange, however, without being in the situation she was in, we really don't know if we would act rational and do the things that would seem obvious.

I think its very easy for people to claim that they can tell that the kidnapping must be phony, or that the child wasn't brainwashed, but we just don't know all of the facts. Very few people outside of the field of psychology understand the nature of brainwashing, as most of their knowledge comes from TV and movies that completely distort the facts. Plain and simple, if this girl was brainwashed, then she wouldn't have tried to signal for help in any way. She would have believed in the power of her captor over her. It is even possible that she started to believe in his messianic claims, thinking that he had the power to kill her, or her loved ones if she disobeyed him.

It is also highly likely that this "Emmanuel" person used drugs to make her compliant. Keep in mind, she was 14 when first abducted, making her already very impressionable and open to suggestion. Combine psychological terror and drugs, and you have the makings of a brainwash. It is also assumed, because we see her smiling in these pictures that she has just gone back to living her life like before, but that is a hell of a lot to assume. For all we know, she was told that her family was dead, so she may be overjoyed to realise that this isn't the case (it is also highly likely that the reality that this wacko doesn't have complete control over her is just starting to set in).

I doubt that the general public will get all the details for the time being. No doubt the police have told the family to keep as much of the details private for now, as it could affect the outcome of any forthcoming trial. It is understandable that we all want to know what went on, but that doesn't mean that it is in the best interest of this child, or the case, for us to know everything. No doubt we will hear more in the weeks and months ahead, especially when this all goes to trial.
[This message was edited Fri Mar 14 10:29:00 PST 2003 by JediMaster]
[This message was edited Fri Mar 14 10:29:13 PST 2003 by JediMaster]