ELIZABETH SMART
ELIZABETH SMART
3 November 1987
Elizabeth Smart was an American child who lived in Utah with her family. In 2002, Elizabeth was 14 when she was taken from home by a nut named Brian David Mitchell in the middle of the night. Elizabeth’s sister witnessed the kidnapping, but initially couldn’t remember where she had seen the man previously. Mitchell had previously worked for the family; they knew him as ‘Emmanuel’ who fixed their roof and raked up their leaves. He took Elizabeth into the mountains where he and his wife Wanda Barzee was camping. He and his wife were both religious fruit loops and he was a narcissist. Mitchell abused and raped Elizabeth and told her she was now his second wife. He chained Elizabeth up and made threats to harm her and her family if she tried to escape. Search parties failed to find her, even though they were so close to where she was being held. Mitchell then moved her to a different location and Elizabeth spent most of this time without showering, eating and sometimes with nothing to drink. During this time, he attempted to kidnap other young girls but was unsuccessful.
Mitchell’s wife Wanda was a doormat and went along with everything he said and did nothing to help Elizabeth and enabled his behaviour. Over time, Mitchell started trusting Elizabeth more as Elizabeth was too afraid to escape. He took her to a party on one occasion and had her concealed with white fabric covering her face, so people could only see her eyes and nothing else. He got kicked out of the party for preaching religion. On a different occasion a police officer approached the group, Elizabeth had her face covered up and because Elizabeth didn’t say anything, the officer gave up and walked away.
The group hitchhiked to California but spent lengthy times with no food and living in the dirt. Elizabeth, 15, managed to convince Mitchell to return to the mountains in Utah, not far from her home. In March 2003, as they were returning home, he had Elizabeth dress up in fake silly glasses and a silly looking wig. Passengers couldn’t help but notice Elizabeth and one passenger approached the group and asked a few questions. When they got off the bus, the passenger contacted the authorities to tell them that he recognized Elizabeth on the bus. The police tracked the trio down, and Elizabeth was finally rescued and returned to her family. Mitchell is still in prison; however, Wanda has been released and Elizabeth believes she is a threat to the public.
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