The chances of finding an abducted child increase significantly when three forces come together — the family, the community and law enforcement.
That so-called "Triangle of Trust" is here in the search for Elizabeth Smart, said Bob Smither, co-founder of the Laura Recovery Center Foundation. "This is just overwhelming, there is such a natural energy that is very focused here," he said.
"When you have the family, the community and law enforcement all working together with a missing child in the middle, when you have all three sides of the triangle with a common goal of finding a child, the chances of a safe recovery are so much better.
"She is a very well-loved little girl."
Smither arrived in Utah Friday from the foundation's Texas headquarters to help organize the 1,300 volunteers who on Thursday combed the Federal Heights neighborhood around Smart's home and into the foothills and today began stretching northward into Emigration Canyon and beyond. Some teams also were being sent out on road searches in Coalville and Ogden, Smither said.
By this morning, they'd covered about 40 miles so far.
Conducting a search of such a large, mountainous areas is difficult, but the key is to be organized and meticulous. Making sure those two goals are achieved is the mission Smither has taken on in honor of his daughter, Laura, who was abducted in 1997 right before her 13th birthday.
More than 6,000 residents combed about 700 square miles in Friendswood, Texas, before finding Laura's body 17 days after she disappeared while jogging.
Those volunteers then met at least twice a week for six months to write a manual on conducting a successful search for a missing child, in hopes of helping other families. They wrote what they had learned from looking for Laura: To brief search-team volunteers before they leave on where to go and what to look for and record the exact spans of the area they combed through. The volunteers in Utah are equipped with maps and either a cell phone or radio, both of which are being donated by local businesses.
"We want to know what area they covered, if they went farther or if there were spots they couldn't get to. We want to make sure all areas on the map are covered while at the same time make sure the same area doesn't get searched twice," Smither, 57, said. "We want them to look for evidence, and that if they find it, to not touch it or move it, to back away and either call the recovery center or if it's really significant, to call law enforcement."
The Utah volunteers every morning are reminded what to look for. In Elizabeth's case, for example, fabric from the red satin pajamas she was wearing, perhaps the shoes her abductor allowed her to put on before forcing her at gunpoint from her home.
Once the search teams finish their area, which can take anywhere from two to five hours, they come back in and report anything they saw.
"Our goal is to enable a community to search for their own child, and this community has responded marvelously," Smither said. "In a couple of days we'll have local people who know as much as we do on what's involved in this. Once that's done, our job is done."
Volunteers with Smither's nonprofit organization have organized several communities in such missing child searches, including the search for Danielle van Dam, 7, in San Diego earlier this year. Van Dam's body was found two weeks after her disappearance on a road leading into the California desert. Her neighbor is on trial for her murder.
"Every search is different," Smither said. "And we've been out on searches where the family was dysfunctional, or the community just simply didn't care, where law enforcement wanted absolutely nothing to do with us.
"If even one side to the triangle of trust is missing, it makes finding a missing child tremendously more difficult.
"You always have hope until there's reason not to," Smither added. "That's the only way to do this. It's not easy to survive it, there are times when I don't."
E-MAIL: nwagner@desnews.com