This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2006, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Posted: 10:09:06 AM- Anger and sadness at the death of Destiny Norton spilled into a Salt Lake City street on Monday night as a crowd shouted at and demanded answers from the police.

A few hundred people gathered outside the home of Destiny as well as that of Craig Gregerson, where the girl's body was found, on 500 East near 700 South.

Many were shouting profanities at the police who stood on the other side of yellow tape ensuring no one tampered with what was still considered a crime scene.

"I think somebody dropped the ball," said Nance Hanson, who said she worked as a volunteer in the search. "Why wasn't there more concentration on this area?"

About midnight, the crowd was enough that police closed traffic on the block.

Salt Lake City Police Chief Chris Burbank arrived to try and quell the crowd and take some questions from reporters and residents.

But Burbank offered few details about how detectives found Destiny in Gregerson's residence and what took so long to find her.

Burbank said he did not want to hamper prosecutors' case against Gregerson by disclosing evidence. So the event became a one-sided discussion with the crowd second-guessing police and accusing them of failing to do their job.

"Probable cause? [The suspect lives] right next door to the family's house!" said Daniel Dunn, one of the people in the crowd.

Pink ribbons and fliers with Destiny's photograph on them still hung from the trees and lamposts outside the Norton's house.

Jeannie Hill, who acted as a spokeswoman for the Nortons during the search, quieted the group about 12:30 a.m. to lead a prayer for Destiny. People who where shouting and wailing moments earlier silenced and knelt to the ground.

"Hear our prayers. Let Destiny be safe," Hill prayed. "Let Destiny be safe in the God and Goddess' arms."

But Hill levied her own criticism of the investigation. In an interview, she accused the Salt Lake City Police Department of not taking Destiny's disappearance seriously. The first night Destiny went missing, Hill said, police told the family to go home; that police would go out and search.

Hill said the lack of seriousness was in part because of the previous dealings the Nortons and their extended family had with police.

Hill described the group as people who used to "sit on the street and beg for beer money" and who used to "smoke pot in the park."

"We've always known they've had a bit of a vendetta against us," Hill said.

The police and the FBI also focused too much on the possibility someone in the extended family took Destiny, Hill said. The Nortons claim kinship with a large group of people whom they will call by familiar titles though there is no blood relation.

But many of those leads didn't make sense, Hill said. At one point, Hill said, the FBI was pursuing a tip that Ricky Norton, Destiny's father, was seen at a Smith's talking with a man who said: "Oh, they're never going to find her. They already shipped her off on a boat to Singapore."

Hill said the family doesn't know Gregerson and they didn't search his residence because police had lead them to believe they had done it.

"The police told me personally they had checked all these" buildings, said Peter Brooks, who calls himself Destiny's uncle.

Some people in the crowd accused police of not applying themselves toward finding Destiny because of her low socioeconomic status.

Chellie Ehrhart, who said she is a friend of the Nortons from Riverton, claimed police didn't apply the same amount of resources that were used to find Elizabeth Smart. Ehrhart shouted to the crowd that Destiny is a hero.

"Because of her people in the public are going to see the discrimination that goes on between the upper class and the poor class," Ehrhart said.

The crowd began to dissipate after Hill's prayer. Police officers began trickling away, too. But a handful of people and police remained on hand into the early morning. Some of the crowd slept on the ground near candles that were burning under pictures of Destiny.

A few people arrived with flowers and stuffed animals they placed next to the makeshift shrine.

One of those who remained into the early morning was Keith Wood, 48, who said he helped run the search's base of operations. He accused the public of failing to mount enough of a response to Destiny's disappearance.

"There were more people out here complaining about what the cops and the FBI didn't do than were searching," Wood said.

Wood said those who failed to lend enough aid included the angry people outside the Nortons' home. Wood said the crowd consisted of "a lot of people who came out for a party and to scream at the man, but when I needed them they weren't there."