Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart
Courtesy of Netflix
More than 20 years after her kidnapping, Elizabeth Smart is reclaiming her story. The survivor and child safety activist appears in Netflix’s new documentary, Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart, where she reflects on her traumatic abduction at just 14 years old.
On June 5, 2002, Smart was taken in the middle of the night from the bedroom of her family’s home in Salt Lake City, Utah. Her nine-year-old sister, Mary Katherine, was the only witness to the kidnapping. She told police that a man, whose voice she recognized, forced Elizabeth out of bed at knifepoint and threatened to kill them if they spoke up.
Smart’s kidnapper was Brian David Mitchell, a street preacher her family met downtown and hired for odd jobs around the home. His wife, Wanda Barzee, assisted in the abduction and participated in Elizabeth’s abuse. Mitchell believed he was a prophet of God, and while in captivity, Smart said Mitchell raped her daily, often multiple times a day, and subjected her to severe psychological abuse.
Elizabeth was finally rescued in Sandy, Utah, nine months after her abduction. After a years-long trial saga, a judge sentenced Mitchell to life in prison in 2011. Barzee, who testified in 2009 that her estranged husband had “manipulated” her using their religion, was sentenced to 15 years in prison, though she was released in 2018 after being credited for time served.
Where Is Elizabeth Smart Now?
Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart
Courtesy of Netflix
After her abduction, Elizabeth Smart went on to graduate from high school and attend Brigham Young University, where she studied music as a harp performance major. She met her husband, Scottish native Matthew Gilmour, while serving as a Mormon missionary in Paris in 2009.
“Because he didn’t know anything [about] my past, he wasn’t afraid to tell me what he really thought,” Elizabeth said in an interview with Skip Intro with Krista Smith. “I appreciate that I’m not my past [with him]. I am just who I am right now, right here in the moment.”
Elizabeth and Matthew married in 2012 and moved to Park City, Utah. They went on to have three children: daughters Chloé and Olivia, and son James. In 2024, Smart told People that her kids know about her kidnapping and captivity, just not “in extreme detail.”
“They could tell you the overarching story of what happened, but they couldn’t tell you details,” she explained. “Now it’s to a point that I just say, ‘If and when you want to talk about it more, we can.’ And they seem pretty content with where they’re at right now. And I guess I’ll just take it day by day as it comes.”
Smart is now 38 years old and works as an advocate for change related to child abduction, recovery programs and national legislation, according to her website. She founded the Elizabeth Smart Foundation, which focuses on “building a more compassionate society to end sexual violence.”
Smart has published several works and contributed to films related to her abduction. In 2014, she released her memoir, My Story, which details her kidnapping and captivity. She followed it with Where There’s Hope in 2018, offering insight into her healing process, and 2025’s Detours, which traces her journey from trauma to normalcy.
Smart also produced the 2017 Lifetime movie I Am Elizabeth Smart and participated in Netflix’s 2026 documentary Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart. She told Tudum that she remains dedicated to supporting survivors in their healing and helping them feel they’re not alone.
“Stories are so powerful. It’s why I agreed to do this [film],” Smart said. “Documentaries are how we learn, and they hit me in the heart and stay with me so much longer than [statistics] do.”
The mother of three continued, “I want to give survivors a place to share their stories as a community. We also have our survivor fund, to try to help pay for medical costs, first and last month’s rent, airplane tickets, or scholarships. Our fund isn’t huge, but we try and do as much as we can to help survivors fill in the gaps.”
In 2025, Smart spoke out after one of her captors, Barzee, was arrested for violating the terms of her parole by visiting a park as a registered sex offender.
“Her justification was that she was commanded by the lord, which unfortunately is very familiar to me and is probably the most concerning thing because that’s how they justified kidnapping me,” Smart said in an Instagram reel. “I feel like I’ve been vocal about my concerns since Barzee’s initial release. And this incident confirms exactly why.”
“When authorities take these situations, these violations, seriously, it sends a very powerful message that survivors’ safety matters,” Smart added. “My case received so much attention, but the sad truth is that most survivors never see their perpetrators arrested, let alone convicted. For many survivors of sexual violence, we have more of a legal system than a justice system.”
Where Are Elizabeth Smart’s Parents Today?
Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart. Ed Smart in Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart.
Courtesy of Netflix
In 2019, Ed revealed that he and his wife, Lois, had divorced after 34 years of marriage, and he announced that he was gay.
“I went in and called each one of them. This was 5 o’clock in the morning,” Ed told CBS This Morning co-host Gayle King about revealing the news to his children. “I said, you know, ‘Your mother and I are getting a divorce and I’m gay.'”
Ed said that his plans are to be happy and to live a “very full life,” adding that he wants “each one of my children to be happy. And I want Lois very much to be happy.”
On Skip Intro, Smart recalled watching her dad go to Capitol Hill to lobby for safety legislation and seeing him “calling families whose children had been kidnapped, or going in and helping set up search centers and doing media to help raise awareness and make sure that these stories weren’t buried.”
She added that they still have a tight-knit relationship today. “He and I are really close,” she said. “We chat multiple times a week.”
Why Was Elizabeth Smart’s Mom, Lois, Not Interviewed In Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart?
While Ed is featured throughout the documentary, Lois is notably absent. According to Netflix, Lois chose not to participate. “Some members of my family want to leave things in the past. And personally, that’s okay with me. I want to respect their wishes,” Elizabeth told the streamer.
Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart is streaming on Netflix. Watch the official trailer below.