Elizabeth Smart Shares Harrowing Account of Nine-Month Abduction in New Netflix Documentary

Elizabeth Smart opens up in the Netflix documentary Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart (streaming Jan. 21) about the nine months she was held after being abducted from her Salt Lake City bedroom at age 14. In candid interviews, Smart recounts the repeated sexual assaults, prolonged restraints and threats she endured at the hands of her captors — and she speaks about the long aftermath of trauma and recovery.

What Happened

In the early hours of June 5, 2002, then-14-year-old Elizabeth Smart awoke to a bearded man standing over her bed. Brian David Mitchell, who later styled himself a prophet and used the name "Immanuel," threatened Smart with a knife, forced her from her home and carried her to a remote campsite in the foothills outside Salt Lake City. Inside the tent, Mitchell's then-wife, Wanda Barzee (who went by "Hephzibah"), pressured Smart to change clothes and helped facilitate the abduction and ongoing abuse.

Abuse and Survival

Smart describes being sexually assaulted repeatedly — at times as often as multiple times a day — and subjected to degrading treatment, including being led on a cable, tethered to a tree and confined in dark spaces. She recalls Mitchell threatening to kill her if she screamed and remembers the physical and emotional pain that followed each assault.

“If you ever scream out like that again, I will kill you,” Mitchell told her, she recalls. “I begged him to stop. I remember it just being so painful.”

Because of her conservative religious upbringing and limited understanding of sex, Smart also struggled with intense shame and self-blame in the years after her rescue. Over time she worked to reject that stigma and to reframe her identity beyond what happened to her.

Documentary Perspective

Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart pairs Smart’s first-person account with perspectives from family members, witnesses who saw her while she was veiled, and law-enforcement officials who investigated the case. Smart says the inclusion of multiple voices helps provide fuller context and broader understanding of the ordeal and its impact.

Aftermath and Accountability

Brian David Mitchell was convicted related to Smart’s abduction and was sentenced to life in prison. Wanda Barzee was convicted for her role and was released from prison in 2018. According to reports cited in the documentary, Barzee was reportedly arrested in May 2025 for allegedly visiting two Utah parks, an action that would violate her registered sex-offender conditions.

Advocacy and Recovery

Smart, a mother and best-selling author, has spent years advocating for survivors of sexual violence. She founded the Elizabeth Smart Foundation and has used her public platform to raise awareness, push for reforms and support others who have experienced abuse. In the documentary she says she hopes her honesty will help survivors feel less alone and challenge the shame many victims internalize.

Note: This article summarizes testimony presented in Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart and the historical record of the case. Some post-release developments cited in the documentary are reported as alleged and tied to official sex-offender restrictions.