This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Acting on tips from the public, FBI agents and Salt Lake City police arrested a serial bank robbery suspect late Tuesday night — a man once sought for questioning in the disappearance of Elizabeth Smart.

Salt Lake City police Detective Greg Chipping said 41-year-old Bret Michael Edmunds was spotted at 10:22 p.m., driving a green Saturn sedan near 1800 South and 700 East.

Officers pulled Edmunds over and took him into custody without incident.

A probable cause statement states that after waiving his rights to have an attorney present during questioning, Edmunds admitted to 12 holdups along the Wasatch Front, five of them in Salt Lake City.

Edmunds carried out the robberies by handing bank tellers or business clerks notes indicating he had a firearm and demanding cash, police say.

He was being held Wednesday without bail at the Salt Lake County jail on suspicion of five counts of first-degree felony aggravated robbery.

Court records show Edmunds has a long felony criminal history including convictions for robbery, burglary, forgery and assault on a police officer.

Edmunds also was once wanted for questioning in connection with the kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart.

Police launched a manhunt for Edmunds after a milkman reported seeing someone driving a car similar to Edmunds' in the Smarts' Federal Heights neighborhood two days before the then-14-year-old girl teen went missing on June 5, 2002.

The manhunt for Edmunds ended on June 20, 2002, when he checked himself into a West Virginia hospital, reportedly suffering from a drug overdose and possible liver failure.

In March 2003, Smart was rescued after being spotted in Sandy with Brian David Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Barzee, who had taken the girl as a plural wife.

Tribune editor Stephen Hunt contributed to this story.

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