Elizabeth Smart’s Journey: Life as a Mom and Advocate 23 Years After Her Abduction
Elizabeth Smart poses for a portrait on February 22, 2004, in Salt Lake City, Utah; Elizabeth Smart on Fox’s ‘America’s Most Wanted’ season 2.
Credit:
Lois Smart via Getty; FOX via Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- Brian Mitchell and Wanda Barzee abducted 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart on June 5, 2002.
- She was found nine months later, and her kidnappers were later sentenced to prison.
- Today, Smart is a victims’ rights advocate who recently shared her experience in the Netflix documentary, Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart.
Elizabeth Smart made national headlines in June 2002 when she was kidnapped by Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Barzee. During the nine-month ordeal, the 14-year-old faced extensive abuse, including rape and starvation, before being rescued in March 2003, found wandering in Utah.
“After I was rescued, I was very embarrassed by what had happened to me,” Smart recounted in January 2026, discussing the Netflix documentary, Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart. “Even though my head totally knew it wasn’t my fault, I couldn’t make my heart feel the same way.”
Since her rescue, Smart has established herself as a prominent advocate for victims’ rights. Now a married mother of three, she continues to reflect on her past trauma, which remains a constant presence in her life.
“I have great days. I have not good days. I’ve got three kids that I love and drive me crazy,” she joked in June 2024. “No, they’re the best part of life.”
Smart regards March 12, the date of her rescue, as a “happy day,” expressing, “March 12th is to me a reminder that miracles happen and that there are many good things to be grateful for. And it’s a bright moment in the dull month of March.”
Who is Elizabeth Smart?
A family photo of 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart.
George Frey/Getty
Smart was kidnapped from her Salt Lake City bedroom on June 5, 2002. Her sister, Mary Katherine, was the only witness to the abduction, which captured significant media attention.
Following her return, Smart dedicated her life to activism, focusing on initiatives such as the AMBER Alert System and various recovery programs. In 2011, she founded the Elizabeth Smart Foundation to combat sexual assault and victimization, alongside publishing her memoir in 2013.
When was Elizabeth Smart kidnapped?
Elizabeth Smart poses for a portrait at her home February 22, 2004, in Salt Lake City, UT.
Lois Smart/Getty
Smart was kidnapped on June 5, 2002. Initially taken to California by her captors, she later described the night of her abduction as surreal, saying, “It couldn’t actually be real.” Mitchell threatened her life and that of her family if she tried to escape. During her captivity, she endured daily rapes, which at times led her to contemplate suicide.
In a 2017 interview, she shared, “For me, because I grew up in a very conservative Christian neighborhood, the first time I was raped I remember feeling devastated. I felt like it would be better to be dead than to continue living being a rape victim, being a rape survivor.”
Smart was rescued on March 12, 2003, just miles from her home in Sandy, Utah.
How was Elizabeth Smart found?
Elizabeth Smart makes her statement to the media outside federal court after the verdict in the Brian David Mitchell trial on December 10, 2010, in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Douglas C. Pizac/Getty
Authorities located Smart thanks to a couple who recognized Mitchell walking in Sandy with two women on March 12, 2003. Despite wearing a veil, Smart was identified from a sketch circulated on the show America’s Most Wanted.
“We think we found a homeless girl that might be Elizabeth,” her father, Ed Smart, recalled the police informing him in his book. He described the emotional scene of their reunion, stating, “I held her back, looked her in the eyes, and said, ‘Is it really you, Elizabeth?’”
Where is Elizabeth Smart now?
Elizabeth Smart and Matthew Gilmour with their kids Chloe, James, and Olivia.
Elizabeth Smart Instagram
In the years following her return home, Smart completed high school and graduated from Brigham Young University. She now lives in Park City, Utah, with her husband, Matthew Gilmour, whom she met while serving as a missionary in Paris in 2009.
Gilmour, who was unfamiliar with Smart’s past when they met, praised her resilience, stating, “The thing that attracted me the most to her — at the beginning and now — is how confident she is, especially considering everything she has been through.” The couple was wed in 2012 and has welcomed three children: daughters Chloe and Olivia and son James.
Reflecting on motherhood, Smart remarked, “My children have brought so much happiness and joy. To me, they’re the very definition of love.”
Besides her family life, Smart has continued her advocacy work, producing the Lifetime movie I Am Elizabeth Smart and publishing a second book, Where There’s Hope. She remains vocal about the justice received by her captors. While Mitchell is serving a life sentence, Barzee’s release was permitted by a judge in 2018.
Addressing this ruling, Smart expressed concern over Barzee’s potential threat to the community, stating, “To my knowledge she has neither complied with medication or treatment and as someone who has experienced firsthand just how depraved she truly is, I believe her to be a threat and a danger.”
In May 2025, Barzee was arrested for visiting two parks in Salt Lake City, which she was barred from entering as a registered sex offender. Smart spoke out soon after, sharing her alarm at Barzee’s justification for her actions.
