Richard Ricci

Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped at age fourteen on June 5, 2002 by Brian David Mitchell from her home in the Federal Heights neighborhood of Salt Lake City, Utah. She was held captive by Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Barzee, on the outskirts of Salt Lake City, and later, in San Diego County, California. Her captivity lasted approximately nine months before she was discovered in Sandy, Utah, approximately 5 mi from her home. Smart had been taken from her home at knifepoint by Mitchell, an event which was observed by Smart's younger sister, Mary Katherine, who pretended to be asleep during the abduction. Mitchell, who claimed to be a religious prophet, held Smart at a camp in the woods with Barzee, where he repeatedly raped her. During her captivity, Smart accompanied her captors in public on various occasions and went largely unrecognized by those she came in contact with. Since her abduction, Smart has gone on to become an advocate for missing persons and victims of sexual assault. Barzee was sentenced to fifteen years in federal prison in 2010 for her role in the kidnapping and abduction. Extensive disputes over Mitchell's competence to stand trial lasted several years before he was deemed mentally capable in 2010, though he was diagnosed by forensic psychologists as having antisocial and narcissistic personality disorders. Mitchell was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2011.