Elizabeth Smart

American child safety activist and contributor for ABC News, who first gained national attention at the age of 14 when she was abducted from her home in Salt Lake City by Brian David Mitchell. Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Barzee, held Smart captive for nine months until she was rescued by police officers on a street in Sandy, Utah. Smart has gone on to work as an activist and advocate for missing persons. Her life and abduction have been the subject of numerous non-fiction books and films. The second of six kids, Elizabeth grew up in a close-knit Mormon family, reading scripture and praying morning and evening, an award winner at school. She was dedicated to her harp practice, having begun to play in kindergarten, and shared her love for music with her younger sister. Her goal was to one day attend Juilliard School of Music. She enjoyed the outdoors, camping, snowmobiling, horseback riding and dogs when she wasnt eating pizza or jumping on trampolines with her friends. Smart disappeared on 5 June 2002 in Salt Lake City, Utah. A pretty girl with blonde hair and blue eyes, 56" (1.67m) and 100 lb (45 kg), she was abducted from her Salt Lake City home as her family slept. On the evening just before her disappearance, she and her family had attended an award ceremony at Elizabeths middle school where she was recognized for various school accomplishments. The family prayed together and kissed goodnight. Sometime in the early morning hours of 5 June, a man entered the bedroom she shared with her younger sister and spirited her away at knifepoint. Just before 4:00 AM, Mary Katherine, the younger sister, woke up her parents saying Elizabeth had been taken. Police estimate that the time of disappearance was around 1:00 AM and that Mary Katherine delayed reporting Elizabeths disappearance for fear of reprisal. No ransom note was found. Smart was raped daily, tied up, and threatened with death if she attempted to escape. No trace of her was reported until 12 March 2003 when she was spotted walking in Sandy, a Salt Lake City suburb, with Brian Mitchell, a shaggy-haired vagabond (born 8 October 1953). In the nine months since her kidnapping, police followed many leads and false paths, including arresting another handyman who subsequently died professing his innocence. Police revealed that Brian Mitchell was once given $5 by Elizabeths mother, Lois, and offered work for Elizabeths father, a real estate and mortgage broker. During Elizabeths ordeal, she was taken as far away as San Diego but spent a great deal of the time near her home wearing disguises and veils in public. The Smart family believes she was brainwashed, citing that she did not call out for help or apparently try to escape even when she heard rescuers call out her name. On 6 November 2004, this beautiful young woman played the national anthem on the harp at a Toby Keith concert in Salt Lake City. Smart had had only three days to prepare for her performance since Keith had his promoter phone her on the spur of the moment. Nearly two years after her rescue, her father said that she was "just a normal teenager who likes shopping and going to the movies with friends." A self-assured young woman and college graduate, Smart confronted her kidnapper at his 2011 trial. In July 2011 she accepted a job as a contributor for television network ABC in its coverage of missing persons. On 11 November 2009 (a week after her 22nd birthday), Smart left Salt Lake City to serve as a missiona Read less