1509 Kristianna Circle, Salt Lake City, UT 84103
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Author: Jewls Krueger
In the early morning hours of June 5, 2002, 14 year old Elizabeth Smart was abducted at knifepoint from the bedroom of her family's home in the Federal Heights neighborhood of Salt Lake City, Utah.
The kidnapping launched one of the most high profile missing child cases in American history. After nine months in captivity, Elizabeth was found alive, becoming one of the very few abducted children to be recovered after such a long period of time.
Elizabeth Ann Smart was born on November 3, 1987 in Salt Lake City, the second of six children of Ed and Lois Smart. The Smart family was active in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and Elizabeth was a harp player and a student at Bryant Middle School.
The family's home sat in the upscale Federal Heights neighborhood at the foot of the Wasatch Mountains. The area is known for its tree lined streets, large historic lots, and proximity to the canyons just above the city.
Approximately seven months before the abduction, in October or November of 2001, Elizabeth's mother encountered a homeless man begging for change in downtown Salt Lake City who called himself "Emmanuel." She hired him for the day to help with some work at the house, including raking leaves and repairing the roof. His real name was Brian David Mitchell, a 48 year old self proclaimed prophet who had broken from the Latter-day Saints church and lived on the streets of Salt Lake City with his wife, Wanda Barzee.
In the early hours of June 5, 2002, Mitchell entered the Smart home by cutting through the screen of an open kitchen window. He made his way upstairs to the bedroom Elizabeth shared with her nine year old sister, Mary Katherine, and took Elizabeth from her bed at knifepoint.
Mary Katherine, who was awake but pretending to be asleep, waited about two hours before going to her parents' room to tell them what had happened. Mitchell then walked Elizabeth roughly four miles up into the foothills above her own neighborhood to a primitive campsite in Dry Creek Canyon, where his wife Wanda Barzee was waiting. Elizabeth would later say she was held at the canyon camp for the first several months of her captivity, sometimes within earshot of search parties calling her name.
In October 2002, Mitchell and Barzee took Elizabeth to the San Diego, California area, where they continued to live in campsites and panhandle on the streets. The trio returned to Utah in early 2003.
Elizabeth Smart at the White House - Public Domain
The case broke when Elizabeth's sister Mary Katherine, while flipping through a Guinness World Records book at home in October 2002, suddenly recognized that the kidnapper's voice had been that of "Emmanuel," the handyman who had worked at their home the previous fall. The Smart family pushed investigators to focus on the man, and a sketch of "Emmanuel" was eventually released in February 2003. It was featured on "America's Most Wanted" and quickly generated leads.
On March 12, 2003, two motorists in Sandy, Utah, recognized the trio walking along State Street and called police, who pulled them over. Elizabeth, who was wearing a wig and veil and initially identified herself as "Augustine," was reunited with her family that same day.
Mitchell was charged in federal court and, after years of competency hearings, was convicted on December 10, 2010. He was sentenced on May 25, 2011 to life in federal prison without the possibility of parole. Wanda Barzee pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 15 years in state and federal prison. She was released in September 2018 after the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole determined that her time in federal custody had to be credited toward her state sentence.
Elizabeth Smart has gone on to become a child safety advocate and founded the Elizabeth Smart Foundation. She married Matthew Gilmour in 2012 and is the mother of three children.
Further Reading
The Smart family home is located in Federal Heights, a quiet residential neighborhood at the foot of the Wasatch Mountains in Salt Lake City, just north of the University of Utah campus. The Smart family eventually sold the home, and it remains a private residence to this day. The current owners have no connection to the 2002 kidnapping.
Dry Creek Canyon, where Elizabeth was held for the first months of her captivity, is part of the wider foothills trail system above the city. The site in Sandy, Utah, where she was recovered is approximately 18 miles south of the Federal Heights home along State Street.
Please be respectful of the current owners and the surrounding neighborhood, stay on public roads and walkways at all times, and do not trespass.
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