Lead goes 'nowhere' in search for Utah girl

Neighbors circulate fliers with Elizabeth's picture.

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (CNN) -- A man depicted in a police composite sketch who was thought to have information about the disappearance of 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart was found, questioned by police and released Saturday, police said.

"It's another lead that has gone nowhere," Detective Dwayne Baird of the Salt Lake City Police Department said Saturday.

Police had said when the sketch was released that the man had met Smart "in a social setting." Capt. Scott Atkinson of the Salt Lake City Police said the man was not a suspect but was known by the Smart family, who brought him to the attention of authorities.

"Elizabeth has had contact with this man prior to the events that occurred," Atkinson said.

At least 4,000 volunteers were combing the Salt Lake City area within a 40-mile radius of Elizabeth Smart's home, said a search coordinator from the Laura Recovery Center Foundation, a Friendswood, Texas-based group that is coordinating the search.

Smart's parents, speaking at a Saturday news conference, thanked the volunteers.

"My wife, the past couple of days, has just had this incredible weight on her chest," said Ed Smart, the missing girl's father. "And it has been overwhelming to her and coming down here and seeing everyone and the support that we have and knowing what everyone is trying to do is absolutely bolstering our spirits. And we know that it is because of this that we are going to pull through it."

Earlier Saturday, the Laura Foundation contacted police after their dogs seemed to pick up a scent at Red Butte Canyon, east of the University of Utah, Atkinson said. Investigators searched the area more extensively but found nothing.

CNN NewsPass VIDEO Elizabeth Smart's father sends a message to his daughter (June 5) Play video   CNN ACCESS Missing girl's father: 'It just seemed unreal'    EXTRA INFORMATION Gallery: The search for Elizabeth Smart  Elizabeth Smart Missing Web Site

Smart, 5-foot-6, 105 pounds and blonde, was taken early Wednesday from the bedroom she shared with a younger sister in the upscale Federal Heights neighborhood. Police described the girl's abductor as a white man, 5 feet, 8 inches tall, wearing a white shirt and white baseball cap and armed with a black handgun.

Salt Lake City police have announced a $250,000 reward for Elizabeth's safe return. Law enforcement agencies throughout Utah and in adjacent areas of Wyoming and Idaho are on the lookout for Elizabeth and her abductor, and the FBI has joined the case. Police urged anyone with a tip to call a toll-free hotline at (800) 932-0190.

Neighborhood children attended a news conference Saturday where two of the girl's uncles showed off a poster the children made.

"We are friends of Elizabeth Smart. We made this poster because we love her and we want her to come home," one of the children, identified as "Jessica," said. She added, "Just bring her back safely."

One of the uncles, Tom Smart, said, "We believe Elizabeth is alive. We have a great sense of comfort and support from all over."

The command post for the searchers was located in a wing of the Shiners Intermountain Hospital for Children.

Smart's family called the Laura Foundation after they reported the teen missing early Wednesday, co-founder Bob Smither said. Someone from the foundation arrived in Salt Lake City from the headquarters in Texas that night. By Thursday, a search was under way.

"This is a very wonderful community. This is a wonderful child that's missing," he said.

Smither's 12-year-old daughter, Laura, was the subject of a massive search after disappearing from her Friendswood neighborhood in 1997. For almost three weeks, searchers scanned areas near Friendswood and surrounding communities before her decomposed body was found in a retention pond.

Smither said most of those searching for Smart weren't veteran searchers: "They're moms and dads," he said.