Authorities are investigating an apparent attempted break-in at a house owned by relatives of kidnapped 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart but suspect the incident was a prank.
Investigators have determined nobody actually made entry into the Cottonwood Heights house, 6925 S. Virginia Hills Drive (2715 East) and no items inside were missing, Salt Lake County Sheriff's deputy Peggy Faulkner said.
The incident occurred July 24 just after 3 a.m. while occupants inside the house were sleeping. "We don't have a lot; they didn't see anybody," Faulkner said.
The screen leading to the bedroom of Jessica Wright, Elizabeth's cousin, was cut horizontally and vertically and there was a chair by the window, according to a sheriff's report. Wright's mother told investigators she was upset because that was the same way Elizabeth was taken.
A kitchen window screen was discovered cut at the Smarts' Federal Heights house the day Elizabeth was abducted.
Steven Wright, Jessica's father, said he heard a loud crash and ran to his daughter's room just as she was leaving, the sheriff's report stated. Jessica Wright said she heard pictures on top of her dresser fall to the floor and looked up to see a thin object sticking through the metal blinds, according to the report.
A K9 searched the area and hit on something along the fence in the back yard but nothing more. The FBI was made aware of the situation and sent "numerous detectives" to the Wright house to investigate, the report stated.
During the Smart family's news conference on Friday, Ed Smart said he didn't know much more about the incident or the investigation.
"We have no idea what the relevance of it is. We don't feel like we can speculate," Smart said.
Smart said Elizabeth was close to all of her cousins including Jessica. Steven Wright's wife is the sister of Lois Smart, Elizabeth's mother.
Sheriff's investigators said however, the neighborhood has several families with teenagers who are known for cruising around at night. "The kids playing a prank — that's what we think it may be," Faulkner said.
Because the incident occurred at a relative of Elizabeth Smart, the Salt Lake Police Department is assisting the sheriff's office in the investigation, Faulkner said.
In other news regarding the search for Elizabeth, the Smart family said Friday that searches will be conducted Saturday along the south end of the Jordan River and near the summit of Big Mountain in Summit County.
Ed Smart said the family continued to receive tips about those areas and wants to continue concentrating its search efforts there.
"There's been enough information to come out that it's important to search," Smart said.
Elizabeth Smart has been missing since June 5 when she was kidnapped at gunpoint from her bedroom.
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