By RALPH GREER Jr. and SUELLEN E. DEAN
Staff Writers

UNION, S.C. (10/29/94) -- Faced with no solid clues in the abduction of two Union County children, Sheriff Howard Wells said Friday he has not ruled out any suspects, including the boys' parents.

During a 5 p.m. news conference, Wells said investigators had talked to the boys' mother, Susan V. Smith, more than one time and had found some discrepancies in her statements, but he declined to elaborate.

While pursuing the case as a carjacking and abduction, he said, "We are not ruling out anything."

Mrs. Smith's brother, Scotty Vaughan, downplayed the discrepancies. In an interview Friday night, he said the sheriff was just looking for additional details about the kidnapping of Michael, 3, and Alexander Smith, 14 months, during a carjacking Tuesday.

Vaughan said his sister just became confused when investigators were trying to clarify her statement. He also thought the news reporters were trying to put words in the sheriff's mouth about his sister's statements and her relationship with the male friend she was going to visit the night of the abduction.

The (Columbia) State newspaper reported that federal and state law enforcement sources said Mrs. Smith did not pass a lie detector test when questioned Thursday.

Both parents were given lie detector tests during questioning on Thursday, sources said. The father, David Smith, passed the test, but the mother did not. Her test was inconclusive, the sources added.

Sources said that investigators hope to re-test her.

Lie detector tests are used by police to help them during investigations, but they aren't conclusive and can't be used in court. The results can either show a pass, fail or inconclusive. Lie detector results can be affected if a person is under medication or extremely upset.

Wells declined to confirm or deny that "a polygraph was used."

Meanwhile, extensive searches Friday in two wooded areas in Union County proved fruitless.

"We do not have a car, we do have the children, we do not have the suspect," Wells said. "An investigation of this kind is very frustrating. Our primary goal is getting the children back."

Friday morning, about 50 volunteer fire fighters and rescue squad members and several dozen State Law Enforcement Division agents and sheriff's deputies searched each side of Highway 49 near John D. Long Lake.

Mrs. Smith told the authorities that after the man jumped in her car at an intersection by Monarch Mill, he forced her to drive several miles and stop near the lake before making her get out of the car without her children.

During the news conference, Wells said that authorities found several items of children's clothing near the area where Mrs. Smith was ordered out of her car, but the clothing did not belong to the missing children.

Wells said the highway search was a follow-up for no other reason than that was the location Mrs. Smith was forced out of her car. He said that the searchers were looking for anything that might have been thrown from the car.

A search of the lake itself Thursday failed to provide police with any information.

Officials thought they might have had a solid tip in the case Friday, when a teen-ager girl reported seeing a man covered in mud emerging from a wooded area.

State and area law enforcement officers descended on the area -- a wooded section between Rice Avenue Extension and Highway 215 -- but failed to turn up anything or anyone.

Wells also said his office has interviewed a male friend of Mrs. Smith, whom she was going to visit in the Monarch area at the time of the reported abduction.

Wells said the friend was not at home Tuesday night and that the abduction took place before Mrs. Smith arrived.

Mrs. Smith's brother, Scotty Vaughan, said the man is a long-time friend of the family and a good friend to the boys.

He also said there is no truth to the rumor that the family had sold its story to A Current Affair. Members of the family were interviewed by A Current Affair reporter, but the family wasn't paid for it.

Vaughan also said family members were growing reluctant to talk to the media, because they needed some time to themselves to grieve.

Police have also ruled out a suspect sought for an armed robbery in Davidson County, N.C., after the suspect was arrested Friday following an extensive search of the Uwharrie Forest in North Carolina.

Extensive searches in Davidson County because of a report of a crying child also failed to turn up anything.

Telephone calls into an expanded telephone system in the sheriff's department continued to come in Friday and Wells said the reports were being passed to agents throughout the county to be checked.

Wells said police are not limiting themselves in their investigation of the disappearance of the children.

Wells said he has received several "unbelievable" calls from several people claiming to be psyhics who say they have dreamed where the children are.

"We may get to a point in time when we will turn to that but right now we will follow proven investigative procedures", he said.

As the search wears on, Wells said it is hard to imagine the car can be still in the county unless it has been hidden.

As more and more media and law enforcement personnel arrived in Union Friday, the Salvation Army set up a mobile canteen with coffee, drinks and donuts across the street from the courthouse.

Several banking institutions prepared lunch for the law enforcement personnel Friday.

A prayer vigil is planned for 5 p.m. today at the Buffalo United Methodist Church, where the Smith family attends services.

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