Authorities block off wooded canyon in search for missing 14-ye

SALT LAKE CITY -- More than 48 hours after she disappeared, police on Friday said they are no closer to finding out what happened to 14-year-old girl reportedly taken at gunpoint from her home.

"I don't believe we've gotten any leads that we could call really solid, any at all," said Police Capt. Scott Atkinson said. He said police were still optimistic but "the longer we go without finding her, it becomes problematic."

The mere report of a man acting suspiciously was enough for authorities searching for Elizabeth Smart to block off a heavily wooded canyon and search through the night.

One of 1,200 volunteers searching for the girl reported seeing a man acting suspiciously at the top of Emigration Canyon on Thursday evening.

An all-night search yielded nothing, and Atkinson said of that report, "I think it's the quality of any other lead we've had."

The searchers may have seen a transient who lives in the rugged area of forest and sagebrush, sheriff's spokeswoman Peggy Faulkner said. Police hope to question the transient, but he's not considered a suspect, she said.

Police on Friday also were asking for information about a man that was seen in the neighborhood a day or two before Elizabeth disappeared. A milkman said he saw the man in an older gray Nissan or Honda, but the license plate number he recalled didn't match any number in the state's database.