 |
 |
Expert
Lends Help in Smart Case
Police
need four things to crack a case, said forensic investigator
Henry Lee as he arrived here on Tuesday to help find Elizabeth
Smart, the 14-year-old girl who was abducted in June.
|
October 15, 2002
Renowned forensic investigator on the trail of missing girl
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Police need four things to crack a case,
said forensic investigator Henry Lee as he arrived here on Tuesday
to help find Elizabeth Smart, the 14-year-old girl who was abducted
in June.
One of those things is luck, and Salt Lake City detectives
haven't had much of that. "There's been a lot of twists
and turns, but we just haven't had that piece of luck,"
said police Sgt. Fred Louis.
More than
four months after Smart was taken from her bedroom at gunpoint,
her 9-year-old sister the only witness, police have yet to make
an arrest, or even name a suspect.
Their top "potential suspect," an ex-convict handyman
who once worked in the Smart home, died from a brain hemorrhage
in August without revealing any secrets.
Police also need good crime scene evidence, said Lee, who has
worked on high-profile cases such as the O.J. Simpson trial,
the Chandra Levy disappearance, and the murder prosecution of
Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel.
In this case, the Smart's neighbors and church bishop came to
the home -- before police arrived -- on the night of the June
5 abduction.
Lee, who has investigated 6,000 cases in a 45-year law
enforcement career, said he doesn't know how much harm was done
by all that traffic at the crime scene.
"Any time the scene has contamination, you're going to
have some difficulties," Lee said.
But Lee said he does know that investigators here have done
an excellent job collecting evidence and following up thousands
of leads.
Physical evidence is another one of Lee's four necessities.
He said he hasn't yet seen that evidence firsthand, but he plans
to go through all of it with detectives on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Police have been tightlipped with the media about just what
clues they've collected. "There's definitely a lot of information
there," Louis said.
Lee also said he plans to conduct a crime-scene reconstruction
at the Smart's upscale home in the Federal Heights neighborhood.
Lee says public support is another thing law enforcement needs
to solve cases. There's been no shortage of support in the effort
to find Smart.
Thousands of people turned up in the days and weeks after the
kidnapping to comb the foothills of Salt Lake City. Thousands
more have called in with tips and potential clues. Missing posters
still plaster train stops and telephone poles around town.
Lee said he agreed to take a look at the case at the request
of Ed Smart, Elizabeth's father, and is working "pro-bono."
Salt Lake Police agreed to meet with him and share their evidence,
Louis said.
"Sometimes you need another pair of eyes to look at it,"
Lee said.
But the former Connecticut public safety director isn't
expecting to solve the case alone.
"Solving cases, as I always say, is teamwork. Nobody can
solve the case by him- or herself. It's not a television show,"
he said.
"Solving cases is not like the public perceives" where
the
case-cracking clue always comes in before the third commercial
break, Lee said.
|
|
|
|
