Show The Herald Journal Logan Utah Friday March 14 2003 — A7 i : ar- Continued from A1 Most duld abductions ere committed by parent or other relative as part of a custody dispute — and sometimes children run away In other cases parents facethe nightmare of having a child abducted Hr a stranger Erica Baker then 9 vanished four years ago as she walked her dog in Kettering Ohio a suburb of Dayton She has not been found and no one has been charged though police have investigated more i than 2000 leads Erica's father was delighted to hear about Elizabeth Smart “I yelled ’Yahoo!’ right in front of my living room when I saw it on the news” said Greg Baker “I’m very happy for that family Their nightmare’s over even though ours is continuing” Baker is waiting for the last of the snow to melt so he can reassemble a search party he has led during much of his spare time since his daughter’s disappearance “I wish Erica was back home with us” he said “It's not our time yet” Erica’s grandmother Pam Schmidt has recorded a message on her home telephone: “Erica honey if this is you hang up and call 911 for help” Milwaukee police initially thought that Alexis Patterson was a runaway when she disappeared last May on her way tion in Salt Lake City According to the Jacob Wet-terling Foundation a girl in Japan was reunited with her family in 2000 nine years after she was kidnapped In 1979 Steven Stayner then 14 sought help at a police st tion after spending seven years with an abductor who sexually abused him Stayner who he died in a motorcycle accident in 1989 once wrote a message of advice regarding child abdurs dons “The first thing abductors often do is convince foe child that their parents don’t want them” he wrote “So don’t expect abducted children to come up and ask for help” Patty Wetteriing said foe Smart case might spur some children to take foe initiative in trying to to schooL Police Chief Arthur Jones upgraded the old’s case to a criminal investigation 10 days later Since then river in Milwaukee has been dredged in the search for her body and police have received calls saying she had been notted in die Chicago suburbs California and Texas Some detectives remain on the case as well as a private investigator John Rotnns-Wel“The trail’s gone real cold” Robin-Welsaid Thursday Similarly there has been no news about Jahi Turner a reported missing last April in San Diego His stepfather told police he left Jahi alone in a park for IS minutes while he went to buy a soft ls ls drink In Chicago the mother of 'two girls missing for 19 months said she cried on hearing of the breakthrough in the Smart case — and also gained a new sense of hope “I miss my babies” Tracey Bradley said “I have been hurting” Her daughters Honda 10 and Diamond 3 haven’t been seen since July 2001 when Honda left a note saying they woe headed to a nearby long-abduct- ed escape “The trauma and the threats are what keeps these kids hostage” she said “This is a message to them that if they’re put in a controlled situation and told they’re not wanted by their families they can get away and get help” Wetteriing said Elizabeth Smart’s return home also will inspire many parents who have refused to accept that a child is dead school Just this week two brothers from Anchorage Alaska disappeared Malcolm Johnson 8 and Isaiah Johnson 5 were last seen Monday evening walking near their home When children go missing for months or years their stories often end tragically But there are precedents for Elizabeth Smart’s homecoming nine months after her abduc- - long-missi- ng On the Nub National Center for Missing & Exploited Children: http:wwwmiss4ngkJdscofH Jgcob Wetteriing Foundation: Police He refused to elaborate Dinse said foe girl at first feared for her life and that the Continued from A1 psychological impact of her capture kept her tram trying to escape lata when she could have done so Police fielded more than 16000 tips in their search for Elizabeth Smart but it was just one — from Elizabeth’s younger sister — that really mattered in the end In October Mary Katherine Smart recalled that foe intruder who took ha older sister from their shared bed most likely was Mitchell a one-tim- e family handyman then known only as Emmanuel But police focused on Richanl Ricci who died Aug 30 of a brain hemorrhage and had insisted he had nothing to do with Elizabeth’s disappearance Dinse acknowledged that half of his task force waked on Ricci while the other half pursued all other leads in the case On Thursday he said Ricci was not involved in the Smart abduction Mitchell who didn’t have a lawyer Thursday was being held at the Salt Lake County jail where officials said he wasn’t responding to interview requests Dinse acknowledged investigators were slow to release a sketch of Mitchell who Elizabeth’s sister had suggested was the abductor “Hindsight is 20-2- 0 vision If we had to go back over it again I think every one of (our investigators) would say ‘I wish we had gone public with that earlier” Dinse said The details of Elizabeth’s captivity are gradually becoming clear Dinse said Mitchell acted alone in snatching the girl at knifepoint from her bedroom JuneS Mitchell his wife and Elizabeth lived at a remote campsite for two months in the rugged foothills above the Smarts’ house spent time in Salt Lake City and then took a bus to San Diego Mitchell and his wife Wanda Barzee were arrested Wednesday after returning to Utah Two couples who recognized Mitchell from the television show “America’s Most Wanted" told police he was walking along a street in the Salt Lake City suburb of Sandy with a girl who turned out to be Smart Burrus said investigators were executing a search warrant in Montana but that the trio did not travel to that state AH Tun-U- Altemtor p Cooling System OH Salt Lake police spent thousands of hours on the case the biggest for the department since the Unabomber investigation in the 1990s But the Smart family which held ' daily media briefings on foe search for Elizabeth recently became frustrated with the slow pace of the investigation A day before Elizabeth was ' found one of her uncles accused police of dragging their feet in pursuing Mitchell And Ed Smart said Thursday he could not understand ho some investigators could so easily dismiss the tip front Mary Katherine SOW Main Richmond Transmissions Service best” LD’S CAFE http:wwwjwfoig Brake Officials said charges may be filed as early as Thursday At his own news conference earlia Thursday Elizabeth’s father Ed Smart gave his youngest daughter credit for cracking the case — “there’s no question that Mary Katha-in- e is our hero” — while pointedly withholding credit from police “This was a public effort” he said Asked if police blew it he said “I believe that some mistakes have been made but I know that they were trying" “We learn by our mistakes” he said “We don’t have professional kidnap policemen so we do our Featuring Corned Beef 8 QAbage With AH The Trimmings! aMuvl)anmTHERApEUTCMA5SACE K tffmd All Appts through March Lee Kdiey I irn—4 Umugl TVraput $500 OFF ONLY FIRST VISIT Hoi Stone Himwini Mm-jg- f Reg $35 R eg $50 hr Natali hr cwhm a (435) 760-318- 8 Dayfo Call Today Gnqr hoac oflcri Serving Starts at 11:00 am 3 Phone 30°Vlmr State Safety Inspection RqWM RrimtkM orThenpeutk if lITV LULL 3131 ML Main Logan 770-56- 95 rT vi! 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