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I wanted to post this... I found this post on the about.com crime Elizabeth Smart forum. I don't know the poster, but what they had to say I found very interesting and right on the mark.

Having escaped a very similar abduction attempt at age 7, and knowing the perp, I believe I have a deeper appreciation for some of these issues, for what it's worth. For one thing, a failed attempt may inflict more eventual terror than the briefer act of torture and merciful death, at least considering that one is vulnerable to a future attempt. So, here are my opinions, born of some experience. I say them not from certainty, but the probabilities are on my side. The man is not distant kin, but a peripheral coworker who lives alone and within a mile. He relied on several social/job visits for familiarity with the house and back routes to take the girl. He is shrewd and knows that everyone will be looking in the wrong places and blaming the wrong people. The girl almost certainly died the first night under torture. The evidence was not terribly difficult to get rid of, and he will not likely be caught, though we hope otherwise. It would be natural for family members or others to act suspicously because the horror of such a thing would cause them to feel responsible. Elizabeth herself would have felt that way more than anyone, but we believe God would have spared her too much. Still, the perp is counting on the failure of others to recognize him while he lives and works right under their noses, laughs up his sleeve, and feels both empowered and justified because of this. It would be possible to identify him from a pscyhological profile, but he will not provide sufficient reason to allow him to be caught and will probably even escape serious suspicion. I concur, that both the family and community are conspirators, not consciously, but only in the sense that it is not possible for them to confront such wickedness or forgive themselves. Please keep in mind that a slanderous focus on the family's habits only further serves the abductor's purposes and pleasure, if not your own. This is the real axe he relishes.