Missing girl found alive after nine months

A 15-year-old American girl who vanished from her bedroom nine months ago was found alive walking down a street with a drifter who had once done work at the family’s home.

The man was taken into custody and the teenager was whisked away to a long-awaited reunion with her jubilant family.

“Miracles do exist,” said Tom Smart, the uncle of Elizabeth Smart, who was found yesterday.

Elizabeth returned home early today in an unmarked police van. She did not speak to reporters as she rushed inside the house. Relatives said she was in good condition and had talked with police about her ordeal.

“All of the children out there deserve to come back to their parents the way Elizabeth has come back to us,” father Ed Smart said as he burst into sobs during a celebration at his home.

He added: “I don’t know what she’s gone through and I’m sure she’s been through hell. I just know that she’s a part of our family, she’s loved and we love her so much.”

Mayor Rocky Anderson said: “I spoke with Ed and Lois Smart, I saw Elizabeth in their arms, she couldn’t let go of her little brother.”

Authorities said Elizabeth, the drifter known as Emmanuel and a woman believed to be his companion were all wearing wigs when they were stopped along a street in suburban Sandy, about 20 miles south of the girl’s home in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Relatives of Emmanuel, whose real name is Brian Mitchell, have described him as a self-appointed prophet for the homeless who has lived in a teepee in the mountains outside the city. He was hired by the Smarts in November 2001 to work on their roof. Elizabeth disappeared seven months later.

Mitchell and the second suspect, identified only as Wanda Barzee, were in custody at the Sandy police station. No charges were immediately filed, but Salt Lake City Police Chief Rick Dinse said: “We are convinced she was kidnapped.”

Asked whether he believed Elizabeth was held against her will, he said: “At this point, yes, I do.” He did not offer a potential motive.

Police stopped Mitchell and the others after receiving calls a minute apart from Rudy and Nancy Montoya and Anita and Alvin Dickerson. Both couples had spotted the trio carrying bedrolls and bags as they walked down the street.

Anita Dickerson, thinking the man resembled the suspect, left her car and looked him in the eye. At the time, she thought Elizabeth was an older woman wearing a scarf.

“Lots of people had to see them, they just didn’t put two and two together,” Alvin Dickerson told the Associated Press news agency.

Elizabeth disappeared last summer, part of a frightening string of incidents involving children that included the killings of seven-year-old Danielle van Dam of San Diego and five-year-old Samantha Runnion of Orange County, California.

News that Elizabeth was alive sparked a celebration in front of the Smarts’ home in affluent Federal Heights, with neighbours and members of the family’s Mormon ward holding blue and yellow balloons.

“How can I even talk? This is such a miracle,” said neighbour Lynne Godfrey, 57. “I had given up hope – I mean, where would she have been? Who would have taken care of her for a year?”

A month ago, the Smarts held a news conference and released a sketch of a clean-shaven Mitchell. As recently as Tuesday, the family openly criticised police for not devoting enough attention to the former handyman.

Elizabeth was 14 when she vanished early on the morning of June 5. Her nine-year-old sister, Mary Katherine, said Elizabeth was taken by a man who may have entered the house by cutting a window screen near the back door. The sister pretended to be asleep, and she said the gunman threatened to hurt Elizabeth if she did not keep quiet.