Tag Archives: elizabeth smart

Elizabeth Smart, Kidnapping Victim, Hired By ABC News

Jessica WakemanJuly 7, 2011 //

OK, this is just weird. Elizabeth Smart, the young kidnapping victim, is ABC News’ newest pundit. Smart will appear on shows like “Good Morning America” and “Nightline” to discuss missing persons cases, The Daily Beast reports. While I admire Elizabeth Smart for her strength and poise, sensational stunt hiring in journalism disgusts me. And that’s exactly what this is. The woman was kidnapped by a couple of psychos and repeatedly raped for months. What are her qualifications to be a TV pundit? The cynical media reporter Howard Kurtz suggests ABC probably just wants to hoard her personal life for themselves for ratings: her graduation from Brigham Young University, a wedding, kids, etc. Hey, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck…

[The Daily Beast]
[USA Today] Keep reading »

Elizabeth Smart Faces Her Kidnapper At His Sentencing

Kate Torgovnick/Kate-Book.comMay 26, 2011 //

“I don’t have much to say to you. I know that you know what you did was wrong … You did it with full knowledge. But I want you to know that I have a wonderful life.”

—Elizabeth Smart faces Brian David Mitchell, the man who kidnapped her at age 14 and forced her to be his second wife for nine months, at his sentencing yesterday. He received life in prison after being convicted of felony kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor across state lines for the purpose of engaging in sexual activity. We are so proud of Elizabeth for being able to say this to him nine years later and for being able to move on with her life and heal. [People] Keep reading »

Elizabeth Smart Finally Gets Closure

Ami AngelowiczDecember 13, 2010 //

“It’s a wonderful day,” Elizabeth Smart said to a crowd outside the court house after learning that her kidnapper, Brian Mitchell, was found guilty. After years of waiting — six years just for the case to go to trial and then nine months in the courtroom — Elizabeth finally got her well-deserved moment of justice. She was “glowing” as her mother put it. It has been an arduous eight years for Elizabeth, since Mitchell broke into her Utah home, kidnapped her, raped her repeatedly and abused her for nine months — she was only 14 at the time. Elizabeth was looking forward to facing him in court while giving her gut-wrenching testimony about the horrors she suffered at his hand, but when he started singing in the courtroom, he was removed. As if we needed further proof that he was a completely demented lunatic. Keep reading »

Elizabeth Smart Takes The Stand To Tell About Her Kidnapping Ordeal

Kate Torgovnick/Kate-Book.comOctober 2, 2009 //

Elizabeth Smart was found more than six years ago, but her kidnapper, Brian Mitchell, has still not gone to trial. His lawyers claim that he’s a complete looney, and it’s been an uphill battle to prove that he’s fit to stand trial. Makes you oh so proud of our legal system, right? Yesterday, at Mitchell’s official competency hearing, Elizabeth took the stand for the first time to tell what exactly happened to her in the nine months she was missing. The details are horrifying: After Mitchell took her at knife-point from her house, he made her hike three miles into the mountains to a campsite he’d set up. There, he performed a “marriage ceremony” and raped her. She was 14 at the time. He raped her every day for the next nine months. She said, “Anytime I showed resistance or hesitance, he would turn to me and say, ‘The Lord has commanded you to do this. You have to experience the lowest form of humanity to experience the highest.’” Mitchell forced her to drink alcohol, to take drugs, and to watch porn. At one point, Mitchell chained her to a tree. Elizabeth says that Mitchell planned to kidnap a second girl to “marry,” though luckily the plot didn’t work out. Keep reading »