Reward For Missing Girl Boosted
The reward for the safe return of 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart, who was reportedly abducted at gunpoint from her home, was increased to $250,000 on Thursday.
The reward has initially been offered at $10,000, but donations from the community boosted the fund, said Salt Lake Police Chief Rick Dinse at a news conference.
Meanwhile, hundreds of volunteer searchers took to the streets and foothills Thursday morning, responding to a plea for help from a desperate father of the girl who disappeared at 1 a.m. Wednesday.
Police with tracking dogs, helicopters and a new statewide emergency alert system aided the search.
With few solid leads, police turned their focus toward following up on more than 100 tips about her disappearance.
A crowd of about 400 volunteers formed a long line to check in at a search command center at the Shriners Hospital for Children in the wealthy neighborhood, where the family lives.
Organizers said so many people showed up that they ran out of forms for searchers to sign. Teams of volunteers headed out to comb the surrounding neighborhoods and the Wasatch Mountain foothills.
Family members are pleading for her safe return. The FBI has been called in and has posted Elizabeth's photo on its Web site, hoping to turn up a lead as authorities scoured Utah, Idaho and Wyoming in search of the missing teen. The search expanded hour by hour and by evening was considered a nationwide hunt.
Elizabeth, still wearing her red silk pajamas, was snatched from her bedroom at about 1 a.m. Police say her 9-year-old sister, who witnessed the kidnapping, was so frightened by the gunman's threats that she waited two hours before raising the alarm.
Police say the abductor - described as "soft-spoken" - entered the family's million-dollar, seven-bedroom home in the exclusive Salt Lake City neighborhood of Federal Heights by cutting through a screen and forcing a window open.
He then made his way to the bedroom where Elizabeth and her sister were sleeping and took the eighth-grade student away, stopping only to let her grab a pair of shoes before they left.
The younger girl said he threatened to kill Elizabeth if she alerted anyone but ultimately did so anyway. A statewide alert was issued shortly after 7 a.m.
Police and neighbors combed the area and nearby canyons and later expanded the search into Idaho and Wyoming. Police say they have yet to find a motive for the kidnapping and believe the pair left the area on foot.
Edward Smart, the missing girl's father, sobbed at a press conference as he pleaded with the kidnapper.
"I can't imagine why you took her to begin with," Smart, a mortgage investment broker, said. "Please let her go. Please, there is no reason why you should have her."
Salt Lake City police spokesman Rich Dinsie said officers were scouring the neighborhood, which is close to the University of Utah, and pursuing several leads in the case.
He said the Smart home had been listed for sale for $1.1 million and officers were trying to find potential buyers who might have toured it. Detectives were also trying to determine if Elizabeth had chatted with strangers over the Internet.
Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson said that if the kidnapper was watching his press conference "we want him to know that he will be brought to justice.
The man who took Elizabeth was described by the sister as white, with dark hair, wearing a tan, denim jacket and a white baseball cap. She said he was possibly in his 30s, about 5 foot 8 inches tall and soft-spoken.
Elizabeth was described as 5 foot 6 inches tall, 105 pounds with long blond hair.
Elizabeth's schoolmates attended an end-of-school-year talent assembly Wednesday, dedicating some of the performances to her. Counselors were provided to students.
"I just hope she's safe and hope she comes back soon," classmate Tiffany Morris said.
The response to Elizabeth's disappearance marks the first use of Utah's Emergency Alert System, known as the Rachael Alert. It was created in April to quickly broadcast information about an abducted child. The alert started about 3-1/2 hours after police were notified of the girl's disappearance.
The Rachael Alert, named after a Utah girl abducted and killed in 1982, was adapted from the Amber Plan, named for 9-year-old Amber Hagerman, who was abducted and murdered in Texas in 1996. Utah is the ninth state to establish the program.