Elizabeth Smart was still reeling from being kidnapped from her bed in the middle of the night when her captor delivered a jarring ultimatum.
Brian David Mitchell, the street preacher who abducted the 14-year-old from her Salt Lake City home on June 5, 2002, told her he was going to make her his wife inside the dilapidated tent where he held her.
“I was in shock,” she tells News Of Los Angeles in its Jan. 26, 2026 cover story. “I thought, ‘He can’t be serious.’ You can’t just kidnap a child and then say, you’re my wife now. It’s not legal. It’s not okay. I never said yes. I never said I do. None of this is okay.”
Smart, 38, recounts the moment in the new Netflix documentary Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart, streaming Jan. 21.
The Abduction and Forced “Wedding”
Smart’s nine-month captivity began when Mitchell broke into her home and took her at knifepoint. Hours later, he declared the two were to be “married.”
When she protested, he threatened to kill her and her family if she resisted again. Then he announced they would “consummate our marriage,” Smart recalls.
“I remember just wanting to hold him off long enough because I thought someone would rescue me,” she says. “I even got to the point of being like, ‘Well, shouldn’t we at least get to know each other?’ while trying to create that time for someone to show up. He did not fall for that.”
During her captivity she was:
- Raped up to four times a day
- Kept in a dark hole
- Fed garbage
When the rape occurred, “I was sobbing,” she says. “I begged him to stop. I remember it just being so painful.”
New Documentary Details
The Netflix film features:
- Smart’s father, Ed Smart, 70
- Her sister, Mary Katherine Smart, 33
- Witnesses who saw Smart veiled but failed to recognize her
- Law-enforcement officials who worked the case
Smart, now a married mother of three, previously wrote bestselling books and founded the Elizabeth Smart Foundation to support victims.
Justice and Aftermath
Mitchell was convicted in 2010 of kidnapping and sentenced to life in prison. His wife, Wanda Barzee, was also convicted and released in 2018. Barzee was arrested again in May 2025 after allegedly visiting two Utah parks in violation of her sex-offender status.
A Message to Survivors
Smart speaks out to illustrate the long-term toll of sexual violence.
“One of the biggest tragedies I come across in my advocacy work is that with so many victims that I meet, their bodies are still breathing, but they’re not living. It’s like a death, a living death,” she says.
She urges people to believe victims, noting that only 2-8% of reports are false.
“92% of victims are telling the truth and I would rather be wrong. I would rather believe someone and be wrong than never not believe a victim.”
Holding On to Hope
Despite daily abuse, Smart focused on escape.
“I always thought about getting away. I always thought about getting back to my family. I never stopped thinking about that.”
She credits hope with keeping her alive.
“Why would any of us be alive if we didn’t have hope? Hope knowing that life is only going to get better. Hope that tomorrow’s better than today.”
The documentary is now streaming on Netflix.
