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"The Journal: Martinsburg, West Virginia

Drifter's capture draws spectators

City Hospital visitors theorized about the role a drifter wanted for questioning by the FBI might have had in a Utah kidnapping case that has gained national attention.

By DANIEL FRIEND
Journal Staff Writer
MARTINSBURG - National news media and curious spectators descended on City Hospital Friday, after police confirmed a wanted Utah fugitive was in the intensive care unit.

"We just hope and pray for the (Elizabeth Smart) family, like we have for the past several weeks," said Dry Run Road resident Pete Moats, who drove to the hospital "to see what was going on."
Moats added, "Maybe West Virginia can help find the little girl."

As the nationally covered televison and radio news of 26-year-old Bret Edmunds' presence here filtered through the community, some residents walked or drove to the hospital to find out more.

"That's what we're here for - we're nosy," said Bobby Crase, a resident of the Martin's Landing apartment complex just across from the hospital on Dry Run Road. He walked to the parking lot with his mother, Linda Crase.

"This is going to be the talk of the town for a while, seeing as how he made it all the way from Utah to Martinsburg," Bobby Crase said. Martinsburg is nearly 1,800 miles from Salt Lake City. "I'll bet people are relieved now that the guy's caught. The father's all over the news ... sobbing, wanting to find his daughter."

Police stressed that Edmunds has not been named as a suspect in the kidnapping of 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart, but is a fugitive wanted for questioning.

Moats drove to the hospital with his son and looked on as police examined and photographed a green Saturn, reportedly Edmunds', which was cordoned off with yellow police tape in the parking lot.

"I think it's great because the West Virginia hospital and the police got together and figured it out," Moats said. "Maybe West Virginia can help find the little girl. ... I think he could supply some vital information. ... All of a sudden, he drives clean across the country ... then he gives a bogus name at our hospital."

A hospital employee who works in radiology said he saw Edmund's chest X-ray when he hung it up for a doctor, although he didn't know whose X-ray it was at the time. When he heard that Edmunds was in the hospital, he looked up his name but didn't find anything.

"But then I heard he was using a different name and then I found it," he said. "I had hung it up for the doctor (earlier). He put all the stickers on it. It's a little piece of history, but not the kind I want to be known for."

Hospital Security Cpl. R. Perrell manned the front entrance of the hospital and escorted reporters to an eighth-floor conference room where hospital spokeswoman Teresa McCabe released information about Edmunds.

Some hospital employees were asked to move their cars away from the area where the Saturn had been parked, before police ordered it removed as evidence.

"Everybody is looking around seeing this and that ... and they're starting to wonder," Perrell said Friday afternoon.

As a nurse walked toward her vehicle to go home, a man called out: "Bet you all didn't bargain on this today, did you?"

Moats said, "(Edmunds) knows something or he wouldn't have high-tailed it clean across the country - do you think?"

At King's New York Pizza, at the intersection of Dry Run and Tavern roads, Patty Hess was surprised to hear Edmunds had been captured here.

"As long as they can keep him contained, I'm
satisfied and happy," Hess said. "The man could die before anything else happens." McCabe said police want to transfer Edmunds to a more secure hospital for more questioning and evidence collection."

Salt Lake City Cops Question Drifter

Sat Jun 22,12:40 PM ET
MARTINSBURG, W.Va. (AP) - Salt Lake City law enforcement officials spoke Saturday morning with a hospitalized drifter who had been wanted for questioning in the disappearance of 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart.

Bret Michael Edmunds, 26, remained in serious condition Saturday in a secure section of intensive care and under the guard of U.S. marshals.

"He is conscious, he is alert and he is speaking with them," Martinsburg City Hospital spokeswoman Teresa McCabe said.

Edmunds had checked himself into the hospital Thursday under a phony name after an apparent drug overdose. McCabe said Edmunds would remain at the hospital and would not be transferred elsewhere for several days.

Authorities have said Edmunds is not a suspect in the Smart case. They said he was spotted near the Smarts' home a few days before Elizabeth's June 5 disappearance and may have information about the case.

The girl was apparently taken from her bedroom at gunpoint by a white man, 30 to 40 years old, between 5-foot-8 and 5-foot-10, with dark hair. Edmunds is 6-foot-2.

In a statement, the Smart family said they did not recognize Edmunds' photograph. The intruder was allegedly seen by Elizabeth's sister, 9-year-old Mary Katherine Smart.

In Utah, a subdivision construction area about 17 miles south of Salt Lake City was searched after volunteers said their search dogs picked up a scent in the area on Friday. The dogs lost the scent on Saturday, and a dog belonging to the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Department was unable to confirm the scent on Saturday, said sheriff's Sgt. Jim Winder.

Fresh piles of dirt moved by bulldozers complicated the search, Winder said.

McCabe would not confirm reports that Edmunds had liver damage related to a drug overdose.

She said he had been moved to a secure part of the intensive care unit so the rest of the 8-bed unit could be reopened. The three other patients in intensive care had been moved after nurses going through Edmunds' belongings in an attempt to track down his family became suspicious and contacted the FBI ( news - web sites), McCabe said.

Edmunds had given an alias when he showed up at the emergency room early Thursday.

Salt Lake Police Chief Rick Dinse said FBI agents have checked the outside and trunk of Edmunds' Saturn sedan, discovered in the hospital parking lot, and found nothing. Agents were seeking a warrant to search inside the car.

"All along, Mr. Edmunds is someone we've wanted to talk to," Dinse said. "He's a question mark, and we want to put a period on that question mark."

Edmunds was being sought for outstanding warrants on charges of fraud and assault on a police officer. He had served 60 days and was put on probation in 2000 for stealing and forging checks.

Ed Smart's brother Dave Smart reacted cautiously to the news of Edmunds' capture nearly 1,800 miles from Salt Lake. "We're not going to hang our hats on anything until we have Elizabeth in our hands," he said.

Authorities began searching for Edmunds when a Salt Lake City milkman recalled seeing a suspicious car near the Smarts' home two days before the kidnapping.

The milkman recalled part of the license plate number and passed it along to police, who linked the information to Edmunds. Those license plates, stolen from another car, were found last week along a road north of Salt Lake City.

Yahoo Full Coverage of the Elizabeth Smart case:

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/fc/ US/Elizabeth_Smart/

From The Smoking Gun:

"This is the arrest warrant and criminal complaint filed against Bret Michael Edmunds, the Utah drifter nabbed today in connection with the disappearance of Elizabeth Smart, the 14-year-old Salt Lake City girl who has been missing since June 5. Edmunds, 26, was caught today at a Martinsburg, West Virginia hospital where he checked in yesterday following a drug overdose. Police want to question Edmunds about the Smart kidnapping since he was reportedly spotted driving near the teenager's home the day before she was abducted. The federal warrant--for unlawful flight to avoid confinement--was issued recently when investigators told a U.S. magistrate that Edmunds had fled to Hereford, Texas from Utah, where he was wanted for probation violations. But, as it turned out, the sighting of Edmunds in Texas turned out to a case of mistaken identity. (3 pages)"

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/a rchive/edmundswarrant1.html