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 Support The DrudgeReport; Visit Our Advertisers  XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX THU MARCH 13, 2003 20:02:38 ET XXXXX 'YOU THINK I AM THE GIRL WHO RAN AWAY,' SMART TOLD COP "You guys think I'm that Elizabeth Smart girl who ran away," Elizabeth Smart challenged police officer Bill O'Neal the moment she was found by authorities. Smart's startling words have ignited a firestorm around Salt Lake City: Was the teen unknowingly conveying the unthinkable -- she deliberately ran away from home?! While local and federal authorities work on the likely premise the girl was taken by force and later brainwashed, questions of a possible runaway scenario began to creep into the picture, sources said late Thursday. One top federal source said the case remains "utterly baffling." Just as NBC reported teen Elizabeth had a "ceremonial marriage" to the drifter on the night she went missing. MORE Dressed in a wig, veil and sunglasses, Smart told the police officers who discovered her Wednesday in the Salt Lake City suburb of Sandy that her name was "Augustine." She said that the couple accompanying her - Brian Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Barzee - were her parents. But police became suspicious of the young girl who kept calling herself "Augustine". �She said she's a child from God, a minister of the Church of Christ and she along with her parents are passing on the gospel throughout the United States," said officer Victor Quesada. Smart became agitated when officers asked her to remove her wig and sunglasses, and told them she recently had eye surgery. "She kind of just blurted out, 'I know who you think I am. You guys think I'm that Elizabeth Smart girl who ran away,''' officer O'Neal said. For nearly 30-minutes, she denied she was Elizabeth. She expressed concern about what would happen to the man and woman she had been living with. [Is it possible for someone who has been completely brainwashed to simply rebound hours later? The family said Elizabeth shared hugs and jokes with her parents and siblings just hours after being separated from Mitchell and Barzee. Elizabeth even gave an impromptu harp concert. "She's like totally talking, totally casual," said Elizabeth's cousin, Sierra, 22. "She got all new clothes. She gave a fashion show." One case insider asked: "Just when did the deprogramming occur here?"] KNIFE OR GUN? Elizabeth's father, Ed Smart, said the little miss described being taken from her home last June at knife point. At the time, Elizabeth's sister, Mary Katherine, then 9, said Elizabeth was taken by a man with a gun. 'I remember hearing Mary Katherine saying 'You're not going to find her. A man took her. A man took her with a gun,' Mr. Smart said months after the disappearance. Unidentified fingerprints found in the bedroom of Elizabeth Smart were compared to 84 thousand fingerprints on record -- including those of suspect Brian David Mitchell -- without a match ever being made, the AP reported late Thursday. MORE Meanwhile, intrigue swirls around the period of time Elizabeth Smart stayed in a basement apartment -- a block from a Salt Lake police station! Elizabeth didn't seem in danger and expressed no fear of her captors, claims the man who rents the studio. He said she had an opportunity to escape the apartment or call police at night. "I figured she could have called the cops if she wanted,'' Daniel Trotta, 24, told reporters. ----------------------------------------------------------- Filed By Matt Drudge Reports are moved when circumstances warrant http://www.drudgereportArchives.com for updates (c)DRUDGE REPORT 2003 Not for reproduction without permission of the author |
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