Drifter ‘Helpful’ in Utah Abduction Probe

Salt Lake City authorities trying to solve the disappearance of 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart were able to glean “helpful” information from a young drifter hospitalized in West Virginia, police said.

But Bret Michael Edmunds, who was the subject of a nationwide search before he turned up at City Hospital in Martinsburg last week, is still not considered a suspect after undergoing two days of questioning in an intensive care unit guarded by U.S. marshals.

“At this time, he’s still a witness. All along, that’s all we wanted to talk to him about,” said Salt Lake City Police Sgt. Fred Louis.

There was no word on what Edmunds told investigators, other than giving them permission to search his car for hair, fibers and cloth. A preliminary examination of the vehicle turned up no sign of Smart.

Edmunds, 26, a transient with a criminal record and outstanding warrants against him, may have been seen by a milk deliveryman near the Smart family’s million-dollar home two days before Elizabeth was abducted June 5.