The Chilling True Story Behind Elizabeth Smart’s Kidnapping, Captivity And Rescue

Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart. Elizabeth in Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart.

Courtesy of Netflix

In 2002, Elizabeth Smart’s abduction shocked the nation when the 14-year-old was taken from her bedroom in the middle of the night. Her disappearance sparked one of the largest missing-person searches in U.S. history, and more than two decades later, Smart is revealing what really happened.

Netflix’s new documentary, Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart, features interviews with Elizabeth and other members of the Smart family, who were thrust into a nightmare when Elizabeth was taken and held captive in the woods. Police and investigators also recount their perspectives and detail how they tracked down Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Barzee, the bizarre husband-and-wife duo responsible for the teen’s abduction.

The child safety activist, now 38, told Netflix’s Tudum that she was ready to speak more openly about her experience to reclaim her story and add context to her powerful testimony at Mitchell’s trial, where she detailed the horrors of her nine-month captivity.

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“If all of this was going to be out there anyway, I wanted it to have some meaning … it needed to serve a purpose,” Elizabeth said. “It really was the trial and wanting to be able to own my story and have some ownership over the conversation around my story that really helped me decide to share.”

Keep reading to learn more about Elizabeth Smart’s high-profile abduction case and the revelations from Netflix’s new documentary, including a timeline of her abduction, what happened during her captivity and what led to her miraculous rescue.

Who Is Elizabeth Smart?

Elizabeth Smart was 14 years old when she was kidnapped at knifepoint from her hillside home in Salt Lake City, Utah. She is the second-oldest of six children born to Ed Smart, a real estate and mortgage broker, and Lois Smart. Elizabeth and her family were deeply involved in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and lived in the Federal Heights neighborhood of Salt Lake City, Utah.

How Was Elizabeth Smart Kidnapped?

On June 5, 2002, Smart was abducted from the bedroom of her family’s home in Salt Lake City, Utah. The only witness was Smart’s younger sister, Mary Katherine, who was nine years old at the time. Mary Katherine told ABC News in 2005 that she and Elizabeth were asleep in their beds when a man entered their room.

“I saw him come over to my side, and then I saw him walk over to Elizabeth and he tapped her, and she’s like “What is it?” And I guess she thought it was me,” Mary Katherine recalled.

She added that the man forced Elizabeth out of bed and made her put on her shoes. She got up to tell her parents, but saw the man forcing her sister down the hall. Frightened, she ran back to bed.

“I thought, you know, be quiet, because if he hears you, he might take you too, and you’re the only person who has seen this,” Mary Katherine said. “I was, like, shaking.” She later told police that she recognized the man’s voice but didn’t know who he was.

About two hours later, Mary Katherine told her parents what had happened, and they called 911. When police arrived, they found that the screen of a kitchen window had been cut open, with a chair propped up against the other side of the window.

Who Were Initial Suspects In The Investigation?

Early in the investigation, authorities considered whether a member of the Smart family could have taken Elizabeth. In the documentary, Cory Lyman, a lead investigator on the case, recalled how they conducted “in-depth interviews” with the Smart family’s extended relatives and seized 12 computers.

“Statistically, more often than not, the perpetrator of this type of crime is a parent or a family member. So we started looking very hard at them,” Lyman said. Police ultimately found nothing suspicious on the family’s devices or in their emails. Ed Smart passed a polygraph test, and the remainder of Elizabeth’s relatives were cleared.

Richard Ricci, a handyman and ex-convict who had recently been to the Smart home, became the police’s next person of interest. However, authorities began to question whether he was the right suspect after an incident on July 24, 2005, when someone attempted to break into the home of Elizabeth’s aunt and uncle and kidnap their 18-year-old daughter.

Two chairs were found propped up by the window, mirroring how they had been placed outside Elizabeth’s home — a detail only the perpetrator would have known, as police had not released that information to the public, according to the documentary.

Ricci was in jail at the time of the attempted break-in, and Mary Katherine was confident Ricci’s voice was not the one she heard that night. He died after suffering a stroke or an aneurysm in his prison cell.

What Happened While Elizabeth Smart Was In Captivity?

Elizabeth said in Kidnapped that on the night she was abducted, a man led her through her backyard and up a trail. She asked him if he was going to rape and kill her, and he told her he wasn’t going to do that “yet.” He then brought her to a tent, where a woman dressed in a tunic and headdress washed her feet, undid her clothes and handed her a robe.

The man then said, “I hereby seal you to me as my wife before God and his angels as my witnesses.” When Elizabeth screamed no, she said the man threatened that if she screamed again, he would kill her. He also threatened to duct-tape her mouth. He told her it was time to consummate the marriage and then proceeded to rape her.

When she woke up, her ankles were chained. The man told Elizabeth that his name was “Emmanuel David Isaiah,” that the woman was “Hephzibah Eladah Isaiah” and that they had their own set of scriptures. He claimed that God had “commanded them to kidnap seven young girls,” and that Elizabeth was the first. He also said that her sister, Mary Katherine, and her cousin, Olivia, would likely become two of his wives.

While in captivity, Elizabeth said she was raped every day, often multiple times a day, and endured psychological abuse. She was also forced to drink beer until she threw up, and he threatened her, telling her that if she did not do what he wanted, he would kill her or harm her family.

Elizabeth also described several close calls in which she was close to being discovered, including hearing people call her name in the woods and a trip to Salt Lake City, where her captors took her to a library to look at maps. A homicide detective approached them and asked to see Elizabeth’s face, but Emmanuel refused.

Elizabeth recalled wanting to get away, but Emmanuel refused to lower her mask, saying it was against their religion. In the documentary, a witness also described seeing the trio at a Salt Lake City nightclub, where they were dressed in white robes with face coverings.

Who Kidnapped Elizabeth Smart?

Four months after Elizabeth was taken, Mary Katherine was flipping through the Guinness World Records when a name popped into her head. She immediately knew it was the person who had been in her bedroom and who had kidnapped Elizabeth, and she told her parents.

She remembered Emmanuel, a man she had previously encountered on the street downtown. In 2001, Lois had taken the children downtown, where they saw a homeless man preaching. Mary Katherine later told investigators that she saw Emmanuel again when he came to their house. It turns out, Elizabeth’s mom Lois had given the man her husband’s business card while he was beginning. He helped Ed with projects around the house, Ed said in the documentary.

Police were skeptical at first about Emmanuel’s involvement. He wasn’t on their radar, and he was only at the Smart home for three hours doing work. Authorities created a composite sketch of Emmanuel but advised the family not to publicize the image until February 2003.

The family finally released the sketch on America’s Most Wanted, and shortly after, a man called Ed Smart’s brother, Tom Smart, to say that the man in the sketch could be his brother-in-law, Brian David Mitchell. In a recording played in the documentary, the man revealed that Brian had a teepee in the mountains but had never told his family where it was.

As police traced Mitchell’s movements over the past couple of years, they discovered that Mitchell was married to a woman named Wanda Barzee. Mitchell believed he was a prophet of God and was becoming increasingly violent. After talking to Mitchell’s ex-wife, investigators learned that he had previous allegations of sexually abusing children.

How Was Elizabeth Smart Rescued?

In March 2003, nine months after the kidnapping, Elizabeth was being held captive at a camp in San Diego. That same month, they returned to Salt Lake City after Elizabeth told Mitchell that God was calling them back to the city, knowing her chances of being rescued would be slim elsewhere.

They took a Greyhound bus to Sandy, Utah, and when they arrived, Mitchell told Elizabeth he would take her back into the mountains. A woman called 911 after spotting individuals that looked like Mitchell, Barzee and Elizabeth walking down the street. A police car pulled up and stopped beside them, and officers began questioning Mitchell and Barzee.

In the documentary, Elizabeth recalled being terrified when police asked whether she was Elizabeth. With her captors standing right there, she responded in the best way she could, saying, “Thou sayest,” which the police took as a yes.

What Happened To Brian David Mitchell And Wanda Barzee?

After Elizabeth was rescued, Mitchell and Barzee were taken into custody. They were charged with six felony counts, including aggravated burglary, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated sexual assault, and two charges related to an alleged attempt to break into the home of Smart’s cousin, according to CNN.

In 2009, Barzee was finally found competent to stand trial; she pleaded guilty to kidnapping and transporting a minor across state lines for sexual activity. She testified that she was manipulated by Mitchell and said she was “devastated” that her husband wanted to take a young girl away from her family, according to Deseret News. In 2010, Barzee was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

In March 2010, authorities determined that Mitchell was faking mental illness and was competent to stand trial. He was eventually found guilty on charges of kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor across state lines to engage in sexual activity. The judge sentenced him to life in prison in 2011.

While Mitchell is still serving his federal life sentence, Barzee was released from prison in 2018. Smart said she was shocked to learn that one of her captors would be released so soon.

“I would urge the powers that be and anyone who works under them to really strongly reconsider this situation, to look at all the facts, look at her mental status, and see if they really and honestly truly feel that she is no longer a threat,” she said at a press conference before Barzee’s release, per ABC News.

Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart is streaming on Netflix. Watch the official trailer below.