The Kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart | Real Life True Crime Locations & Full Story

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Elizabeth Smart was abducted from her home at age 14 in June 2002. Held captive by a fanatic named Brian David Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Barzee, Smart was repeatedly raped, drugged and forced to endure religious rituals, until earning her freedom in March 2003. She has since become a noted activist and author, launching the Elizabeth Smart Foundation in 2011 and authoring My Story in 2013.

On June 4, 2002, Smart and her family attended an end-of-year awards ceremony at her school, where the 14-year-old won several awards for academics and physical fitness. Early the next morning, about an hour after midnight, Smart was awakened in the bedroom she shared with her younger sister Mary Katherine by the sound of footsteps and the feeling of cold metal against her cheek. A man whispered, "I have a knife to your neck. Don't make a sound. Get out of bed and come with me, or I will kill you and your family." The kidnapper, a man by the name of Brian David Mitchell, led Smart out of the house and marched her for hours through the forest to a camp where his wife, Wanda Barzee, was waiting.

Mitchell believed he was a prophet named Immanuel, and after performing a bizarre wedding ceremony — he was also a polygamist — he declared Smart to be his wife and raped her. "I tried to fight him off me," she later testified. "A 14-year-old girl against a grown man doesn't even out so much."

Mitchell and Barzee held Smart captive for the next nine months as they moved between California and Utah. Mitchell raped Smart daily — sometimes multiple times per day — and frequently kept her tethered to a tree. He forced her to consume vast quantities of alcohol and drugs and often did not feed her for days, bringing his captive to the brink of starvation. All the while, Mitchell attempted to indoctrinate Smart in his bizarre religious beliefs and convince her that he was a prophet.

On March 12, 2003, a passerby recognized Mitchell walking with Smart, who was veiled and wearing a wig and sunglasses. Authorities arrested Mitchell and his wife and returned Smart to her family that evening.

The prosecution against Brian David Mitchell stretched on for years, complicated by questions about his mental fitness to stand trial. Finally, on December 10, 2010, more than eight years after the kidnapping, a jury in a federal courtroom in Salt Lake City found Mitchell guilty of kidnapping and transporting a child across state lines for sexual purposes. He was sentenced to life in prison, and Brazee was sentenced to 15 years behind bars for her part in the crimes.