'I always had hope': Kidnapping victim Elizabeth Smart marks 20 years of being rescued with emotional post
Warning: This article contains recollections of child sexual abuse that may trigger some readers. Discretion is advised
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH: Elizabeth Smart was only 14 years old when she was kidnapped by her abusive abductors at knifepoint from her bedroom in Salt Lake City in June 2002. The search for the teen captured worldwide attention and she was eventually rescued nine months later in March 2003 after being held captive by Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Barzee.
Elizabeth Smart, who is now 35 and a child safety advocate, marked the 20th anniversary of being rescued in a heartwrenching Instagram post. She wrote, "20 years ago when I was kidnapped I didn't know if I would survive, each day was a question right up until I was rescued." The mother-of-three revealed how she spent the day she was once rescued from a nightmare. "Yesterday was my 20 year rescue anniversary. I was able to celebrate by relaxing at home and spending time with my little family," she wrote on Monday, March 13, 2023.
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"Thank you so much for all the kind messages I received, the many prayers I've been the recipient of over the years, and all the love I've been shown," Smart wrote on Instagram, adding, "I'll never be able to express my full gratitude enough. It is fair to say I could have never imagined my life turning out the way it has. Once I was rescued it was a rollercoaster of emotion and honestly felt like we were all stepping into the unknown."
She continued, "Now 20 years later looking back although it was difficult and often overwhelming I'm so grateful for my experiences and the path it has lead me down, meeting my husband, having children, learning a whole new level of empathy and compassion, meeting the most amazing and dedicated individuals, and being able to devote my life to a cause that I feel so passionate about and feeling like I'm contributing to the betterment of humanity is more than I could ask for."
After her traumatic experience, Smart founded the Elizabeth Smart Foundation in 2011 and spent more than a decade of being a powerful advocate for survivors of sexual assault.
In a 2021 interview on 'Red Table Talk' with host Jada Pinkett Smith, Smart recalled the harrowing ordeal and said, "My parents always said the worst part of having me gone was not knowing if I was alive and out there or if I was dead," reported Daily Mail. "And actually, when I was being taken up into the mountains, that first night that I was kidnapped, I asked him if he was gonna rape and kill me, and if he was gonna do that, could he please do it fairly close to my house, because it was important to me that my parents find my body and know that I hadn't run away," Smart added. But her abductors did not kill her, instead, Mitchell and his wife took her away from home to Lakeside, California, where she spent nine months in captivity.
During those tormenting nine months, Mitchell performed a "marriage" ceremony with her and raped her repeatedly. Smart said that she spent those months wishing someone would find her. "I always wanted to be rescued. I don't know that I always had hope. There were some pretty dark times for sure," she said. Smart's abductors Mitchell was sentenced to life in prison for his crimes, but Barzee was given just 15 years.