- Elizabeth Smart was missing for nine months
- Away from her family, she was tortured and starved by a heinous couple
- Finally, she was recognised by a member of the public
Elizabeth Smart couldn’t wait to climb into bed.
It’d been a long day celebrating end-of-term activities for the 14-year-old, who was preparing to finish up Year 8 the following day.
Sharing a bed with her younger sister, Mary Katherine, then nine, Elizabeth lost herself in the pages of her book, Ella Enchanted, until she eventually drifted off.
A few hours later, Elizabeth woke with a start. A man was standing over her with a knife pressed to her throat.
‘Get up quietly,’ he grunted, threatening to kill her and her family if she didn’t comply.
Convinced she was having a terrible dream, she stayed dead still. But when he pulled Elizabeth from the bed, she realised her nightmare was, in fact, a reality.
The man led a trembling Elizabeth out the back door and toward a trail into the mountains.
Terrified, Elizabeth, who was raised as a Mormon, asked if he planned on raping and killing her. ‘Not yet,’ he threatened.
The pair marched through the night until they reached a camp where the man’s wife, Hephzibah, was waiting.
It was there that Elizabeth learned the man who’d taken her called himself ‘Immanuel’.
He claimed he was a prophet, destined to have five wives.
After being changed into a robe by Hephzibah, Elizabeth was married to Immanuel, then he took her inside a tent and raped her.
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Meanwhile, back at her family home in Salt Lake City, Utah, Elizabeth’s parents, Lois and Ed, were worried sick about their daughter, who’d seemingly vanished in the dead of night.
‘Police began a widespread manhunt for Elizabeth.’
Paralysed with shock, Mary Katherine, who’d seen her sister abducted from bed, told her parents she’d pretended to be asleep, in fear of being killed.
Police began a widespread manhunt for Elizabeth.
Missing persons posters were also distributed.
Immanuel would rape Elizabeth up to four times a day, tying her to a tree when he was done. She’d often go days at a time without food or water.
Horrifically, instead of helping the girl, Hephzibah would encourage her husband to continue his depraved acts.
Often, on the way to collect water from the local spring, Immanuel would tie a cable around Elizabeth’s neck and walk her like a dog.
Other times, he would ply her with so much beer she threw up, only to leave her face down in her own vomit.
As time went on, Immanuel and his wife became more brazen, taking Elizabeth into town with them, albeit dressed in a disguise.
During one of their trips to a local library, police approached Immanuel and Hephzibah to determine why the mute girl with them was wearing a veil.
But Immanuel came prepared for such questions, telling officers he and his wife were ‘Ministers of Christ’, protecting their daughter for her eventual marriage.
Desperate to stay alive – and keep her family safe – Elizabeth did as she was told.
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Outwardly, she was compliant in every demand ordered of her. But she never stopped dreaming of one day being reunited with her family.
‘Desperate to stay alive – and keep her family safe – Elizabeth did as she was told’
In October 2002, four months after Elizabeth was abducted, Mary Katherine had a revelation – she remembered she’d seen Immanuel before, when he came to work on their roof months earlier.
Based on her recollections, police drew a sketch of the tradie which was widely distributed.
It prompted the sister of Immanuel, whose real name was Brian David Mitchell, to provide photos of him which were aired on the TV show America’s Most Wanted.
Five months later, a member of the public recognised Elizabeth and her captors walking along a Utah street. Despite Elizabeth being dressed in filthy clothes, a grey wig and sunglasses, the stranger notified police who raced to the scene.
‘Are you Elizabeth Smart?’ officers asked, approaching the trio.
Elizabeth was reluctant to give up her disguise, but after being taken to a local police station, she divulged her true identity.
‘Elizabeth was reunited with her family.’
After months of being held prisoner, where she was tortured, starved and raped, Elizabeth was reunited with her family.
‘It really was the first time that I felt safe in nine months,’ Elizabeth told ABC News, recalling cuddling her dad again.
Brian and Hephzibah, whose real name was Wanda Barzee, were arrested for kidnapping, among other charges.
Finally, in May 2010, Wanda Eileen Barzee, 64, was sentenced to 15 years in prison after admitting her role in Elizabeth’s kidnapping.
That December, Brian David Mitchell, 57, who pleaded insanity, appeared in the Frank E Moss Federal Courthouse where he was found guilty of interstate kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor for sex. He was sentenced to life in prison.
Barzee was released from prison in 2018.
In the years afterwards, Elizabeth felt immense shame about what had happened to her.
‘Even though my head totally knew it wasn’t my fault, I couldn’t make my heart feel the same way,’ she later told People.
But after working with survivors of sexual assault through the Elizabeth Smart Foundation, she found her purpose, helping others through their own trauma.
‘Elizabeth is bravely sharing her story of survival.’
Now a 38-year-old married mum of three, Elizabeth is bravely sharing her story of survival in the Netflix documentary, Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart, streaming now.
