Source: Drifter 'pretty cooperative' during Smart interview

Authorities inspect Edmunds' Saturn in the parking lot of a Martinsburg, West Virginia hospital on Friday afternoon.

MARTINSBURG, West Virginia (CNN) -- Bret Michael Edmunds, a drifter from Salt Lake City wanted for questioning in the case of a missing 14-year-old, was "pretty cooperative" Saturday during about six hours of questioning by police and FBI at a hospital, a law enforcement official said.

He said Edmunds was also cooperative about telling police what day he left Salt Lake City and about his itinerary in the past two and a half weeks he's been missing. Edmunds also was cooperative about allowing police to search his car, the official said.

"He didn't care what they did to his car when they searched it," said the official, who wished not to be identified. "He was fine with lifting prints and fibers [from the car]. I can't imagine them talking to him for more than one day. Everything we need to ask him we can ask in one day."

The interview was interrupted at least once so medical personnel in the hospital could treat Edmunds, according to a Salt Lake City police official who also did not wish to be named.

Authorities are trying to find out if Edmunds has any information about the abduction of 14-year-old of Elizabeth Smart from her Salt Lake City home more than two weeks ago.

After questioning Edmunds for nearly three hours earlier in the day, Salt Lake City police and FBI agents returned at about 5 p.m. to Martinsburg's City Hospital to question Edmunds for another three hours.

Edmunds, 26, was captured Friday after checking himself into Martinsburg's City Hospital for an apparent drug overdose, the U.S. Marshals Service said. He remained in serious condition Saturday.

"He is conscious, he is alert and he is speaking," hospital spokeswoman Teresa McCabe said. She said authorities were also questioning hospital staff.

Friday night, hospital staff moved Edmunds to a secure area of the intensive care unit so they could reopen five beds for other patients.

Salt Lake City police arrived Saturday and joined the FBI in interviewing Edmunds, doctors and hospital staff. His physicians recommended that he remain at the hospital rather than be transferred to another facility, McCabe said.

Police described Edmunds as a "wanted fugitive," but insisted he still is not a suspect in the June 5 kidnapping in Salt Lake City, more than 1,800 miles away.

Edmunds first came under scrutiny in the kidnapping case after neighbors and a milkman reported seeing him near the Smarts' sprawling 6,600-square-foot home a day or two before Elizabeth's abduction.

Edmunds -- 6 feet 2 inches and 235 pounds -- also was seen almost two weeks ago at a vigil for Elizabeth in Salt Lake City. Police approached him, but he fled in his vehicle.

Marshals were asked Wednesday to look for him because he is wanted on federal charges of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. He is also wanted on local charges that include assaulting a police officer.

Authorities had issued an all-points bulletin for his vehicle with Utah license plate 266XJH. When the vehicle was found, it had Washington license plate 350KPH.

'He was in pretty bad shape'

CNN NewsPass VIDEO CNN's Michael Okwu reports police say Elizabeth Smart's sister saw the suspect a second time and went back to her room in fear (June 19) Play video   MORE STORIES Milwaukee girl missing for seven weeks    EXTRA INFORMATION Images of Elizabeth Smart  • Missing children facts     Suspect description White male 30 to 40 years old 5 feet 8 inches tall to 5 feet 10 Medium build Dark hair Dark hair on arms and backs of hands Source: Salt Lake City police Elizabeth Smart information Web site: ElizabethSmart.com Tip lines: 800-932-0190 or 801-799-3000

Edmunds gave the bogus name of Todd Richards when he checked into the hospital around 5:15 a.m. Thursday, but he gave his mother's contact information in Salt Lake City, said Geoff Shank, a senior inspector with the U.S. Marshals Service.

He said a family member told the hospital who the man was, and marshals got a tip from a source at the same time.

"That's when we dispatched our deputies," he said.

The deputies arrived at the hospital around 2 p.m. Friday and found his green Saturn in the hospital parking lot, then went to his room and positively identified him with a photo, Shank said.

Edmunds, described by police as a heroin addict, had suffered a drug overdose that made his liver stop functioning, said Shank. "He was in pretty bad shape from a medical standpoint."

The FBI office in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which covers West Virginia, said three agents from its Martinsburg field office were at the hospital, keeping watch and providing security. It confirmed that its agents arrested him in his hospital room.

Ted Wilson, a neighbor and friend of the Smarts and the former mayor of Salt Lake City, said the family was "cautiously optimistic" after hearing news of Edmunds' capture.

"I think it is a shot in the arm to us. We need something, and this is something," he said. However, he added, "We will not dance in the street until Elizabeth dances with us."

Wilson also said that even though Edmunds hasn't been labeled a suspect in the girl's disappearance, "There's something fishy about this gentleman, and we need to find out what that is."