'Elizabeth Smart: Finding Justice': Meet kidnapping survivors Elizabeth Smart, Candra Torres and rest of the cast of Lifetime documentary
In a new installment of true-crime content on Lifetime, the network is uncovering stories of crime and justice in its new series entitled 'Ripped from the Headlines.' Kidnapping survivor-turned activist, Elizabeth Smart delves into another kidnapping case, the story of survivor Candra Torres in the segment 'Elizabeth Smart: Finding Justice'. The documentary will be a companion special to the Ann Rule feature film also showing on Lifetime, 'A Murder to Remember'. In the unscripted film, Smart, now a crime reporter, sits down to chat with Torres, who survived a kidnapping in the 1970s. Torres was held captive and developed Stockholm syndrome. They share the experiences of their trauma and the similar circumstances that they were faced with while in captivity. The two return to the woods where Torres was abducted and she explains the occurrences from 1976 in detail.
Here's what you need to know about the cast of the unscripted film.
Elizabeth Smart
Elizabeth Smart is a kidnapping survivor-turned crime reporter who over the years has become an advocate for missing persons and victims of sexual assault. 14-year-old Smart was abducted at knifepoint from her bedroom in Salt Lake City, Utah by Brian David Mitchell and his wife Wanda Barzee. She was held captive at a campsite on the outskirts of the city for approximately nine months. During her time as a hostage, she was repeatedly raped, tied-up, and threatened with death when she attempted to escape. She learned to follow orders and was psychologically manipulated into submission. She even went on many outings with her captors and refused to reveal her identity when she was approached by a police officer on one occasion.
Smart was finally rescued after the trio was discovered from the news reports and several televised broadcasts. Smart was rescued from her captors and returned to her family. Seven years later, she testified against them, leading to Mitchell's life sentence and Barzee is serving a 15-year prison sentence. Smart is now happilly married to Matthew Gilmour and the couple is parents to three children, Chloe, James and Olivia.
Candra Torres
Candra Torres is a kidnapping survivor who was abducted at age 16 in July 1976 in the woods of Mount Hood in Oregon. Thomas Browne shot Torres's husband, Julio, 21, while the pair had gone hiking with their dog, Rusty, to celebrate their first wedding anniversary. He had befriended the couple on their trip and after shooting the husband, Browne then held Torres captive for three days in the woods to rape her. He convinced Torres to lie to the police for him and say that Julio's death was an accident, when they emerged from the woods, three days later. Browne had killed Rusty as well.
She kept up the lie for several days and revealed the occurrence to the police later on, that not only had Browne killed her husband, but he had held her against her will and sexually assaulted her. Browne was subsequently arrested and sentenced to life in prison at the Oregon State Penitentiary. The story of Candra's abduction and Stockholm syndrome became the subject of a 1983 film entitled, 'The Awakening of Candra'.
'Elizabeth Smart: Finding Justice' will air on Sunday, August 2, at 10 pm on Lifetime.