Utah Girl Kidnapped From Room At Gunpoint

Parents Were Asleep In Bedroom

SALT LAKE CITY -- A gunman forced his way into a house and abducted a 14-year-old girl Wednesday while her parents slept in their bedroom, police said.

Police said the man also threatened Elizabeth Smart's 9-year-old sister and said he would harm the teen if her sister said anything. The two girls share a bedroom in the home in the affluent Federal Heights neighborhood.

Her sister waited several hours before alerting her parents because of the threat, said Duane Baird, a Salt Lake City police spokesman.

"A two-hour window gives anyone the opportunity to be away from this area," Baird said.

Searchers began looking for clues before dawn Wednesday.

Elizabeth was abducted at about 2 a.m. on June 5, 2002. The abductor is described as a white male, with dark hair and wearing a white jacket and a white baseball cap. Elizabeth was wearing red pajamas, and he let her take a pair of shoes, police said.

The sister told police that the soft-spoken man got into the house by forcing open a window and had a small black handgun.

There was no indication that the man knew Elizabeth, police said. He didn't call her by name.

Police have expanded the search into Wyoming and eastern Idaho at the request of Elizabeth's parents. Hundreds of neighbors, officers, search and rescue crews and people with dogs are scouring the neighborhood for the girl.

Her sister said that she saw the suspect very clearly, which leads police to believe that it was not a family friend.

The home is for sale, so people had gone in and out of it during open houses. So someone may have posed as a buyer to originally get into the home. Also, the home was undergoing renovations, so someone may have gotten into the house that way.

Police are reviewing a list of people who toured the home. They're also looking at a computer in the home, to see if the girl had been in contact with strangers on-line.

Police say there's no sign the man knew Elizabeth or his way around the house.

No other neighbors reported anything suspicious during the night.

Police ask that anyone with information that may help the case please call (801) 799-3000.

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