Child abduction survivor Elizabeth Smart warns of ‘terrifying territory’ for today’s kids
Elizabeth Smart was 14 years old when she was kidnapped at knifepoint from her Salt Lake City home. For nine months, she survived on hope.
“[The key to my survival] was truly the belief that my family would love me no matter what and that my family would want me back, no matter what,” the 37-year-old told Fox News Digital. “Maybe nobody else, but my family would. That was worth doing whatever it took to survive.”
Today, Smart is a married mother of three, but her story is far from over. She is a child safety activist who regularly speaks on behalf of missing and exploited children. She’s also partnering with “America’s Most Wanted” to serve as a guest speaker for Monday’s episode of “America’s Most Wanted: Missing Persons.”
The three-week event series, hosted by FOX News Channel Emmy Award-winning anchor Harris Faulker, centers on finding missing people and reuniting them with their families. It features a panel of crime experts who analyze current missing person cases.
“I love the title because this is focused on the missing,” Smart explained. “I feel there’s every reason to hope and believe that each of these cases can be solved.
“I think about how my case was solved, and it came down to just how aware people were of my story,” she shared. “I’ve been told how people remember where they were the day that I was rescued because they followed my story so closely. They remembered that my missing posters were in all the windows around downtown Salt Lake City. All the trees had light blue ribbons tied around them. Everywhere they went, it was a plea to find me.
“Each of these stories that we cover deserves so much attention,” Smart added. “And if we get enough attention to these stories, these individuals, we can bring them home. … These stories don’t have to end tragically. These stories can have happy endings. And we need the public’s help because someone knows something, someone has seen something. And the show calls on the power of the public.”
It was “America’s Most Wanted,” which aired an episode about Smart’s 2002 abduction, that led to her being recognized by a couple, who spotted her walking with her captors. The true-crime series, originally launched by host John Walsh on FOX in 1988, has aired just over 1,100 episodes and helped capture 1,198 fugitives.
“My parents never gave up, even though there were plenty of people telling them, ‘She’s probably dead,'” said Smart. “[It was] John who stepped forward and brought this sketch [of my kidnapper] forward, really pushing it out on a national platform.”
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Walsh has been fueled by personal tragedy. In 1981, his son, Adam Walsh, was abducted from a department store in Florida. Two weeks after the 6-year-old’s disappearance, his severed head was found in a canal.
Along with his wife, Walsh pushed successfully for the passage of national legislation to make efforts to find missing children more effective. He was also instrumental in the founding of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
WATCH: ABDUCTION SURVIVOR ELIZABETH SMART OFFERS SAFETY TIPS TO YOUNG WOMEN
“John and his family have all experienced just unimaginable pain,” said Smart. “And, yet, that did not silence him. That did not stop him. That has not stopped him from fighting for every other missing child and suffering family out there.
“That has not stopped him and his family from doing everything they can to try to bring reunification, to spread awareness of these missing children, to try to bring them home and to try to provide as many happy endings as possible. I think that’s inspiring, just the strength and courage it has taken that family every day to keep going.”
For nine months, Smart was held captive by Brian David Mitchell, a street preacher who claimed to be a prophet, and his wife Wanda Barzee. Mitchell worked as a roofer at the Smarts’ home for a day in 2001, People magazine reported.
Smart later testified how she was drugged, tied to a tree and raped as often as four times a day, the outlet shared. If she dared to cry for help, her family would be murdered, Mitchell warned her.
During her ordeal, Smart insisted she never gave up hope that one day she would be found.
“Coming back and being with my family was everything I dreamed of while I was being held kidnapped,” she said. “All I wanted was to make it home, feel love again, feel safe again. I wanted to gain the courage, as cliché as it sounds, to follow my dreams. These weren’t extravagant dreams. I wanted to go to high school, get my driver’s license, go to prom, go on a first date, go to college, get married, have a family.”
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“That was the life I had dreamed of the entire time,” said Smart. “Being able to come home, feel loved and safe again, feeling that everything was going to be OK, that gave me the strength and courage to pursue those dreams. As each of those dreams has come true.”
Smart has new dreams. But they aren’t about her.
“I want to highlight other people’s stories,” she said. “I’m not sure if there’s ever been a case that has been as highlighted as mine was, and that’s not fair. There are so many cases that never see the light of day.
“There are so many communities that, for terrible reasons, don’t have the same attention, and that’s not fair. So, trying to share those stories has become so important to me. … Every opportunity I feel I get to help create change or be a part of it, that’s what I want to do.”
In 2011, Mitchell, now 71, was sentenced to life in prison. Barzee, 79, who helped kidnap Smart and stood by as she was sexually assaulted, was released from prison in 2018. Under the terms of her release, Barzee must undergo mental health treatment and not contact Smart and her family.
The case has affected how Smart parents her children. Like any mother, she worries constantly.
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“Communication is so important between parents and children,” she stressed. “When your children start asking questions, you need to be honest with them. You might not be ready for that conversation. I know I have been taken by surprise sometimes by the questions that my children have asked me. I’ve been like, ‘Wait, I’m not ready to talk about that yet.’ … But there is a way that you can discuss these things with them. And don’t just discuss it once. Let that conversation grow as they grow.”
“When it comes to technology, I feel this is terrifying territory because it is such a powerful tool for both good and for bad,” she admitted. “Some of these games that are hugely popular can be extremely dangerous when it comes to children being on their own unsupervised.
“Unfortunately, there are predators who are also on these same gaming platforms,” she warned. “And, so, knowing what your child is doing, setting boundaries for them, talking to them … I know it’s hard. It can be very scary to talk about because you don’t want to scare them from living. But, at the same time, these dangers are very real. They need to be taken seriously because there are too many cases.”
Smart advised that now, more than ever, parents need to supervise their children when it comes to their use of technology. She said it’s too easy for a child to become slowly groomed by a predator online.
“That is a very dangerous place for children to be,” she said. “Part of me wants to say, ‘Just don’t let them play at all.’ But I also recognize that if kids want to, they will find a way to play those games. So, make sure you’re proactive about it. Make sure you’re taking the initiative and that you’re having conversations. I can’t stress the importance of that.”
Smart’s children know about her past ordeal but not in “extreme detail,” People reported. She wonders constantly if she’s doing enough to keep her children safe.
“It makes me sound slightly neurotic, which I suppose I probably am, truth be told,” she said. “But these are my children. I would rather double, triple, quadruple check — no — keep eyes on them [at all times] to ensure their safety than ever look back and have regrets that I didn’t take it seriously enough.”
Smart continues to hope. This time, she’s hopeful that “America’s Most Wanted: Missing Persons” will help raise awareness for families in need.
“These families deserve answers,” she said. “They deserve to be reunited with their loved ones. And I just know that if these stories had the same amount of attention that my story did, we would see a lot of people coming home. We would see a lot more happy endings.”
“America’s Most Wanted: Missing Persons” premieres April 28 at 8 p.,m. The Associated Press contributed to this report.