James Hattori: The search for Elizabeth Smart

CNN's James Hattori

(CNN) -- Salt Lake City, Utah, police are seeking a 26-year-old man for questioning in the disappearance of Elizabeth Smart.

Bret Michael Edmunds is not considered a suspect, police said, but they think he may have some information about Elizabeth's disappearance. The 14-year-old girl was kidnapped from her home June 5 in the early morning as her parents slept.

CNN Correspondent James Hattori talked Thursday with CNN anchor Paula Zahn about developments in the case.

HATTORI: Investigators seem to be pursuing a wide-ranging search for a suspect and motive, even as they continue to look for a man, a suspicious transient who was seen in the neighborhood where Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped shortly before her disappearance.

MORE STORIES Police want to quiz man in teen's abduction

That man is identified as 26-year-old Bret Michael Edmunds. He is 6-foot-2, 235 pounds. He was seen by a milkman ... in the neighborhood just a couple of blocks away from where Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped. ...

Police say they want to question him. They don't consider him a suspect. He does not fit the physical description of the suspect provided by the police earlier. He does have criminal warrants for fraud and assaulting a police officer last month. He used pepper spray on an officer during a late-night traffic stop. A high-speed chase ensued, and it ended up in the very same neighborhood where Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped, very close to it.

We should stress that nothing about Mr. Edmunds is connected to the kidnapping per se. They stress that he is wanted for questioning, not a suspect. [There are] a lot of unanswered questions about who this man is and what information he might possibly have to shed some light on this case.

ZAHN: There's a story in the Salt Lake Tribune [on Thursday] morning that suggests that investigators are theorizing that the girl may have been abducted by a member of the extended family and then whoever was responsible for that staged it to look like an outsider had done it. How much weight are police giving this potential theory?

HATTORI: Police are disputing that report, first of all. Nonetheless, there are some pretty outstanding questions about how this crime happened. And they're obviously struggling to try and put the pieces together. One of the real questions is, how did somebody gain access? It's unclear if it was an inside job, how someone could have gained access if they weren't a family member?

Police do say that they are not ruling out anybody. They don't rule out any scenario, but they do dispute this report.

ZAHN: It's also interesting that police won't tell you exactly where this window is, that this abductor allegedly entered from. We were originally told it was the little girl's bedroom. I guess they're now saying that's not the case, but they're not telling us how this person entered the house. Any new information on that?

HATTORI: Early on, the father, Ed Smart, said the window was really almost too small for someone to enter. And, as you say, the police have not been very forthcoming to us about where it is located or how big it is. So there are some real questions about how someone could have gained entry.

It does appear, according to reports, that the screen was ripped open from the outside, indicating an intruder did come in. But not having seen it firsthand, it's hard to make any assessment.