Rebecca S is sceptical about Elizabeth Smart. Is she smart too?
I'm glad, for the sake of the everyone concerned, that Elizabeth Smart was returned safely to her family. However, I do not believe Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped at all. The police say the reason why she was unable to escape is because she became psychologically attached to her kidnappers.…
Article comments
— go to most recent comments26 - You all are crazy
I cant belive you people you think that she was pregnant or ran away. that is crazy. isnt it bad enough what the girl went through and now you guys are trying to make it seem like it was her fault. that is just inhumane! I, miself am a teenager and i know sometimes i want to get away from my parents but never for 9 months and i would never go with such people as Mitchell and Barzee. Its crazy to say that she would go wiht them. There is no way she had nose peircings like you said. Someone that knew her would have said something when they showed the pictures on the news if that were the case. This poor girl was tortured and you say that she is faking it. She was in deed raped by the kidnappers, just to let you know. And, what you said about her being fatter when she came home, when you dont eat your muscle turns into fat and you do gain weight. If any of you had common sence you would know that. Just please leave her alone!
27 - S Novak
The problem I have is the way Elizabeth's parents (mainly her father) seem to be pimping her off like some rescued pinup girl.
What kind of parent agrees to that many (or any, for that matter)interviews and special reports being foisted on a kid just back from Creepyland?
Just another episode of parental over-protection gone wild.
28 - anonymous
I actually met David. He asked me for a ride from Vermont to Texas. We spent 3 days in the car together. Although he went on about Jesus a bit much I found him to be a really cool guy, he is sort of like a California spiritual hippy. He made jewellry and tried to sell it. He made really good advocado and cream cheese sandwiches. He never raised his voice and talked a lot about his wife Wanda. He was totally trustworthy and I don't think he would have meant this girl one bit of harm. I feel really bad about what happened and this is the only public forum I have mentioned this meeting.
29 - just another skeptic
i saw the oprah interview, and liz's family struck me as being odd and really stiff and kind of fakey. that's no reason to doubt their story, but all the inconsistencies mentioned above are.
i think maybe she was abucted by some mormon relative or something. Ed Smart and her abductor look related.
30 - dig
You dont konw what happened to e smart. Look up ritual abuse and cults. Classic case Masons and Mormons Sexual Abuse LOOK OUT
31 - d
#26, elizabeth was not raped by her ubductors. I have seen no information mentioning this, in fact the issue was obviously looked into when she was found and the conculusion was that there was no sexual abuse. please provide information, links if don't agree.
32 - d
one more thing: mormons is not spelled with an A and they are not cultists. they are American's practicing free religion. if you don't like that then move to another country. America was created solely for freedom of religion. so please, think twice before you verbally assault these people's God given freedom
33 - what?
i have never heard this kind of complete crazy talk! how can you ever think that Elzabeth wanted to be kidnapped! I am mormon! I know what its like to have mormon parents and truthfully we are not as crazy as a lot of people think. the truth is, a lot o f what the oublic thinks about mormons is untrue. its kind of an inside joke for some mormons about the crazy questions that we're asked. we actually talk and laugh about all of those a lot. people thinking that we dont drink soda or cant drive cars. its al people just spreading rumors and others believing them! WE actually share a lot of beliefs with catholics and some other religions. we are not a clut we are a religiona and if i did not want to be mormon i dont have to. i am proud of being mormon. i love it! i believe that it is the true church and im sorry if you cant handle that. i have cousins in utah that know elizabeth, she has never had piercings or anything like that. she is a really good person and people should be able to trust that without spreading nasty rumors like this. pleas just try to understand where she is coming from.
34 - jac
"i saw the oprah interview, and liz's family struck me as being odd and really stiff and kind of fakey"
wouldn't it be a little bit odd for you were sharing some of your most horrible experience with millions and millions of people? i thought so. dont you think that it would be a little weird to be on tv in front of millions of people, period? of course they are also going to be a bit stiff after everything that they've went through, they're probably very protective over all of their kids now. you wouldn't know until you've had the exact same thing happen to you. and one more thing, i saw that oprah video too and sure they wer a little stiff but i am 100% sure that you were probably one of the maybe 100 out of the millions of people that watch taht show that thought that. some of those people would have been the ones who thought at that time that they wre faking it. but dont you think that faking is a little extreme? is there any point at all?
35 - nora
you have some nerve to say that she ran away. you must be mental yourself. she is taken out of her home at knife point during the wee hours of the night and held captive for 9 months not to mention being raped and sexually abused during this whole period. its women like you who condone this. imagine if it was your daughter and someone kidnapped her in the middle of the nite and held captive for 9 months and some idiot like you posted on the internet what you posted about her you would be outraged. You have the right to speak out but until you have been in Elizabeth's Smart shoes shut up!!!!!!!!!!!
36 - Timothy Carr
I have to say that it is most gratifying to see a theory espoused that I have long held.
Here is my take.
To ask the question, "Why someone would ever want to be kidnapped?" is presumptive at best. It assumes that she WAS kidnapped, and I don't believe she was kidnapped for one minute. She is lying.
She was a 15-year-old girl, with piercings mind you, who was in a sexually repressive home. She was rebellious and waking to her sexuality. She is enamored of the hippy guy, and I believe she knew him "well", and she found him charming. Both he and his wife were her one way ticket out of the house and into a life of sexual freedom and experimentation. She never planned to return home.
When found, Smart blurted out, ""You guys think I'm that Elizabeth Smart girl who ran away.” Those are the words of a 15 year-old mind accidentally revealing the truth. She was on the lam with her sugar daddy and sugar mama. She was well fed, and perfectly happy to be where she was.
As for her being pregnant, who knows? Seems plausible to me. Was her father the daddy? A creepy proposition, but it does happen. It would explain a lot. There is no way in hell if my brother was kidnapped, and I witnessed it, that I would wait two hours to tell anyone, and another 3-4 months to admit I knew who did it. I think the theory that dear old dad knocked up his baby girl and planned this whole scheme to help he family avoid shame. Smart disappears for a convenient 9 months, has the kid, and gets laid like Helena Bohnam Carter in “Fight Club” for her trouble.
More proof?
OK, when she was returned home, she was all smiles and “gee, let’s have some fun. Presents? For me? Awe, you shouldn’t have. But thanks, I really like this dress!” And the next thing you know she is waving and mugging for the cameras, hitting the talk show circuit while at the same time refusing to talk about the matter because she knew it would eventually lead to questions about inconsistencies in her story as well as her behavior.
Anyway, that's my two cents.
37 - AC
Just watch this interview of Smart and Nancy Grace. Pay attention to the archive news footage in the background. And watch Smarts behavior as she is being interviewed. This is a girl who knew exactly what she was doing.
38 - Kellie
Dumbass, anyone who looks at all the evidence sees she was abducted! Yea, she ran away
39 - Brother Good love
From the minute I saw this story I thought something was fishy. The more the story was talked about I figured the girl ran away. Then when she was found she tries to lie to the police about her identity, she shows concern for her "kidnappers" she goes walking around her neighborhood and she doesn't escape from 2 old people c'mon now people. This girl ran away! Why do you think she never talks about the case? Why do you think police and therapist say she may have been brainwashed? This girl has issues. Her family and the police know she ran away from home. If 5 year olds can break through ropes in the projects from drug addicts and run a few miles home, why can't a 14 year old scream for help when in public or at least run to her house being that she was basically right around the corner! Wake up people, she ran away with her friends!
40 - Lacee LeClercq
The police found proof that Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped. They found the campsites in the hills behind her home, and at one of the sites, they found the wire cable that Mitchell had used to tie Elizabeth to a tree, the remains of her burned pajamas, several knives including the one Mitchell used to kidnap her, and a lot of other evidence. Besides, ever heard of Stockholm Syndrome? That's the "concern" you think she had, which is a symptom of Stockholm Syndrome. And that little girl who escaped from drug addicts(Erica Pratt, who was 7 not 5) was not repeatedly raped by her kidnappers( Do you know what the mental, emotional, and psychological scars of rape are?) Erica's kidnappers didn't watch her otherwise she would not have gotten away. Anyway, Mitchell told Elizabeth that he and Wanda had followers watching her family's every move and if she tried anything they would all be killed. She is not psychic, she had no idea that they were lying to her. What if they hadn't been lying and someone had been killed? Then what would you be saying? Those 2 "old people" were/are completely psychotic. Besides what middle-class teenage girl of any religion would run away in nothing but pajamas and shoes(no socks), not take personal effects like diaries(Elizabeth has one), clothes, cds, tapes, etc., and go 9 months without bathing or washing her hair? Anyone who knows teenage girls knows that they're about looks and would think 9 months without a shower is totally gross. Elizabeth has a diary, and if she'd been planning to run away, she would have written it down in the diary(I'm talking about HER diary, not the one Mitchell forced her to keep). Since obviously the cops read it looking for evidence they would have charged her as a runaway 3 years ago. As for her telling the cops"You think I'm that girl who ran away" did it ever occur to you that maybe Mitchell TOLD her to say that or something like it if she was ever recognized? He controlled her through fear and abuse. Look at the way he has been manipulating the court system at his competency hearings since he's been commited to the mental hospital. He's a master manipulater. He exerted total control over Elizabeth through terror, rape, coercion, death threats, and neglect and abuse(sexual, mental, emotional, psychological, physical, and spiritual). She was obviously too terrified of him to try anything. And the reasons she doesn't talk about it in public are 1) she and everyone else with close ties to the case has a gag order on them-they legally can't talk about it, 2) what happened to her is none of the public's business, and 3) if you'd been kidnapped, repeatedly raped, horribly abused and neglected and God knows what else by 2 psychopaths, would you want to talk about it publicly? She has enough problems stemming from her abduction without stupid people accusing her of running away, which is total bullcrap. Her sister witnessed the kidnapping, remember? And before you say something stupid, like Mary Katherine was in on it(also total crap), how many little kids would be able to keep a secret like that with the constant pressure Mary Katherine was under? I have 3 younger siblings and they are the biggest tattletales in the entire free world. That's what most younger siblings do:they tattle on the older siblings. Mary Katherine idolized Elizabeth. Do you really think she would have let her run away? And kids don't need help running away, Elizabeth would have unlocked the door or met Mitchell outside if she'd been planning to run away with him. He wouldn't have needed to break into the house. Contrary to what people are determined to believe, all teenagers do NOT have sex, do drugs, drink, party, run away from home, engage in stupid, risky behavior, or commit crimes. Believe it or not, there is such a thing as teenagers who are good kids who don't do things like that. Just because she didn't try to escape when in public does NOT mean she was enjoying herself, it means she was too scared to try anything that might get her or her family killed. Those 2 idiots are not her "friends". They are abusive kidnappers who should never have been allowed to come into existance. Google Elizabeth Smart and read about the case before posting something stupid again.
41 - Megan Duncan
I don't know what to believe. I would like to believe she was telling the truth and not just wanting attention. I have many questions to this case, Why would she run away? but also Why wouldn't she get help. She could have screamed its not like she wasn't ever in public. Maybe she was abducted and had fun, maybe she ran away, maybe she was brainwashed. You will never know. So why make everything more complicated. It could have been a setup or real. My honest opinion I think at first she was possibly forced and then she started enjoying being free from her family. If I was her I wouldn't want to be away from my family for 9 months. There are no answers to this case.
42 - Lacee
If you read about the case you will see that she was tied to a tree and repeatedly raped and abused by her psychotic kidnappers.We already know what happened to her.It's all been public knowledge for 5 years.She did NOT have fun.The cops and the FBI found proof she was kidnapped and held against her will.Nobody would ever enjoy being free from her family for 9 months.There are plenty of answers.You just have to stop believing the idiot tabloids and internet trolls and look at the facts.
43 - Eliza
Its hard to know what to beleive. People say she should be more traumatised now of she was abducted but, she is just trying to move on. I feel for her greatly.
44 - Jaimee
I just finished reading "Bringing Elizabeth Home", the book written by Ed and Lois Smart, along with the help of an editor.
I strongly recommend that ALL of you read that book. It makes you feel the immense pain and suffering Elizabeth's family went through while she was gone, but it gives you that gut feeling that something just wasn't quite right with the entire situation.
The Smarts repeatedly refer to their faith in an obssesive and somewhat creepy manner. Maybe if they prayed a little less and searched a little more, Elizabeth would have been found sooner.
I do not think she ran away, but I believe there is far more to the case than what is being released.
I can't wait to find out the whole story.
45 - Skitter
Regardless of any psycho-babble that fruitlessly tries to make sense of this,....the truth remains, and you're missing it.
You imply that she "wanted" this. And that blows my friggin' mind.
She was a FOURTEEN yr old LITTLE GIRL! And Mitchell was a grown man, for Christ's sake!....a grown man who cut through a screen and took a young girl by knifepoint from her home in the middle of the night.
Shame on you for passing such lewd judgement on this young girl! I only hope you or yours will never experience the same hell that will no doubt forever haunt Elizabeth Smart.
Because if so, I feel certain your tone would change quite drastically.
It's easy to pass judgement from afar. You've had the time and the sound of mind to make assessments and decisions. But in the heat of the moment, who knows what we'll do?
I sure as hell don't.
Hypothesize it all you want,.....but until you're faced with the same perilous situation, NEITHER DO YOU!
46 - oh please...
sorry mormons are creepy. i dated a mormon once. he ended up getting mr pregnat by ripping holes in the condoms we were using without my knowlege & was mad when i didnt want 2 have it or marry him. i later found out he & his sister had fucked, and their father repeatedly cheated on their mother. both father & son veiwed women as property & both laughed in my face when i mentioned i wanted 2 buy a house. they said "why do you need to worry about that when thats a mans job?" p.s to all u mormon women, read ur crappy little book of mormon again. it clearly states all women are the mans property & when ur husband dies ur not allowed to fuck or marry anyone else. however ur husband gets as many wives as he wants in heaven. a p.s. 2 all black mormons : u all werent even allowed in until 1975 when the passage stating blacks could not be mormons was finally removed. hows that for bigotry? :)
47 - Lacee
You cannot judge all Mormons by the one you dated & his family. There are sickos in EVERY religion & EVERY walk of life. Not all Mormons are creepy. In any case the Book of Mormon was written 170+ years ago when a womans place was in the home being a wife & mother. Everyone knows that's not the case today. The Fundamentalists still follow that doctrine but the mainstream Mormons live in the 21st century.
48 - MIRA
something is just not right about this story!!!
49 - Mary A. K
It blows my mind how in this world that all the problems in the world today that we live with all the beliefs and hangups of people's religions
Why can't we face reality, everyone has a right to their belief but, with the religions that croping up here we are facing a Holy War. Let's get real, The God that governs this world could care less if Elizabeth gets preg. or etc. All that count is that we all realize we are selling our soul to the other side for not facing reality. The Americans puts to much on such isures. Every Family has their problems, RICH or POOR. Plant A Tree, plants,food for life and enjoy the beauty we have today for it may not last forever.
50 - Laurie
It is clear many of you have not reviewed all of the facts and information regarding Elizabeth's kidnapping, because there are many mistakes posted on here.
First, Mary Katherine did try to tell her parents about the kidnapping when it first happened. M.K. was awakened by a strange man, in her dark bedroom, by a man holding a knife at her throat (Mr Mitchell mistook her for her sister at first because it was dark in the room). She then was told not to leave her room or say a word, as she watched her sister being forced away at knife point. She was nine years old, scared out of her mind, but yet she did leave her room just minutes after he forced Elizabeth (again, he holding a knife at Elizabeth's throat and being told if she made any noise both she and all of the rest of the family would be killed) to leave the room. Mary Katherine did leave, but when she reached to hall leading to her parents room she saw Brian Mitchell was still in the hallway and was forced back into her room (come on people, what was she suppose to do, yell "ha-ha, I see you"?!). After that it took her a couple of hours to feel safe enough to leave her room to go for help. SHE WAS ONLY NINE YEARS OLD!!! Have you ever heard of post-tramatic-stress-disorder? Don't you think a nine year old girl might suffer from that after thinking she was going to die but then watch your sister being kidnapped by a crazy man?!! PTSD can, and quite often, cause the physicy to push memories of a tramatic event in the back of your brain; but as a person is able to work through those terrorizing memories, and events, the brain with slowly bring the other forgotten information to the conscience mind.
As far as Elizabeth not calling out to her uncle when she heard him yelling for her, she was chained to a tree by a thick metal cable that was locked around her ankle and a man who took her from her house in the middle of the night holding a knife on her saying first she, then her family, would be killed if she said a word. This man broke into her house in the middle of the night, ya think a scared 14 yrd girl would believe he could do just that??? Also, Elizabeth DID try to escape from the camp they were holding her at; the two adults/abducters were fight one time and Mitchell had forgotten to lock her back up to the tree because of it, she did run but he caught her and then threatened her and her family again. I don't know how many of you remember seeing pictures of people who had been in nazi war camps, or even look at the people in third-world countries who are starving to death, one thing you might notice is their stomachs and how far they stick out (many look like they could pass for being pregnant). This is because the body can't get the protein it needs so the body will break itself down (the muscles) to get what the heart needs to keep beating, etc. The bloating (which makes a person look fat) goes away when the body can get enough protein on a daily basis. How many big steak dinners do you think Elizabeth got being chained up in the woods or living on the streets.
Elizabeth was 14yrs old when she was taken from her own bed at knife point in the middle of the night. How could she not worry about the threats her captures made regarding the deaths of her family if she didn't do everything she was told to do. Elizabeth did the very best thing ANYONE could do in her place...she SURVIVED!
Brian Mitchell has said, many times, that he is not guilty of sexual assault against Elizabeth because she was married to him. If he really hadn't kidnapped and assaulted her why on earth would he say he had since it means he is admitting to several crimes?!!
Lastly, if this was all just a set-up by Elizabeth and her family they would all have been sent to jail. It is a felony to file a false police report, it wouldn't matter what kind of fantastic lawyer they could get there is no way they would not have to serve time.
A 14yrd girl taken from her family in the middle of the night, chained like a dog to a tree for months, being threatened and being told her family's safety is in her hands, followed by living on the streets so close to home but never being able to get there...ya, sounds like just SO much fun.
51 - Lacee
Brian Mitchell never put the knife to Mary Katharine's throat. He did check to see which girl was Elizabeth, which woke Mary Katharine, but he never threatened MK because she pretended to be asleep & he did not know he'd woken her up. Other than that Laurie your post is spot on. It's absolute stupidity in the extreme that so many idiots in the world are so determined to believe that Elizabeth ran away or that she was pregnant or that her family orchestrated the whole thing. Why won't people stop being ignoramuses & realize that the FBI, the SLPD, John Walsh of "America's Most Wanted", every media outlet, & an entire city would never lie and/or engage in a coverup over one teenager? I can't believe that people don't see how utterly stupid that is. Why won't people grow a brain & realize that anything you do to survive a dangerous situation is the right thing to do? That's not only common knowledge, that's common sense. Elizabeth did what she felt she had to do to stay alive & keep her family safe. No one has any right to judge her or the decisions she was forced to make. They weren't there & they didn't see what happened.
52 - Laurie
Lacee, thank you for the correction. I had thought I remembered the report saying Brian Mitchell knew he had awakened her when he first mistook her for Elizabeth, so my bad on that and thanks for reminding me on that.
I have an older sister whom I adore and the thought of losing her is unbearable to me. All of you saying it wasn't a real kidnapping, and Mary Katherine had been lying for months or making it up let me leave you with this point. Mary Katherine is a big part of getting her sister home to her family. This poor nine year old girl was also tramatized, and for anyone to say anything negative about her or the amount of time it took for her to work through what that night so she could remember who took her sister from their bed is down right cruel and, in my opinion, is abusive in and of itself. Remember people these are kids; there are many adults who act the same way these kids do when put in the same position. Every person who works in law inforcement or counelors who work with people (both kids and adults) after they are recovered say the same thing...In the situation Elizabeth was in the number one priority is to survive in anyway possible. She did the best she could, and she achieved that because she and her family are alive, and the people who kidnapped, raped, and terrorized her are in jail. Lastly, we have no idea what was said or how the family acted in the privacy of their own home, or during her counseling sessions to help her take back her life instead of allowing Brian Mitchell to continue to control her life. I am personally impressed by the bravery and tough spirit, and I pray she continues to succeed in becoming the person she was on her way to being before someone so violently tried to stop her!
Lacee, thanks for the support for this!
53 - WtF
ya know.....i dont understand why it would such a big deal anyway if she did have piercings. some of you people just so unbelievably outraged at the fact that a 15 YEAR OLD girl may have been experimenting in harmless teenage rebellion. SO WHAT if Elizabeth had piercings (OH MY GOD IT'S THE END OF THE FREAKING WORLD) that does NOT mean for 1 second this girl "asked to be kidnapped" or that her "father planned" for her to be kidnapped.
As for the attacks against Elzabeth's younger sister, if you were nine years old & were awoken in the middle of the night because of some nut job, I'm sure you would wait until you felt safe to tell anybody.
Everyone is allowed to voice their own opinion, so here's mine. I believe she was kidnapped & tortured, & I just hope that if someone ever breaks into your house & steals your child & threatens him/her and your family, people don't start these hurtful, ridiculous rumors about you & your family!
54 - Bob
I think everybody would like to believe that Elizabeth was an innocent girl kidnapped, but the truth is, a girl of her age is blooming sexually, and she might have really have enjoyed and welcomed the whole experience with these wacky zealots. If the two wackos were cruel to her, why wouldn't she come out in the media and say it? It's the girl experiencing sex for the first time, and later coming to terms with her experience with the media and community condemning the whole thing...
55 - Lacee
Oh right. A girl would really enjoy being tied to a tree & raped, terrorized & abused. Good grief! READ about the Smart case. All girls do not bloom sexually at 14. Some bloom later. Elizabeth was described by her family as 14 going on 11 & not interested in boys, & that was in June 2002, before anyone knew who took her. They had no reason to lie about it. She WAS an innocent girl kidnapped. The FBI & the SLPD found evidence of that & most people DO believe that. Elizabeth DID say publicly that they were cruel to her. Didn't you ever watch her interviews with Katie Couric & Oprah? Rape is NOT sex, & it was RAPE she experienced. Why are some people so determined to believe that if a teenager disappears it means he/she must have run away? Why does everyone assume that all teenagers are evil beings that do evil stupid things 24 hours a day 365 days a year fom age 12 to age 21? It's stupid. News flash:EVERY teen does NOT engage in sex or run away or do drugs or drink or smoke or commit crimes. There is such a thing as teens who are good kids who don't do that stuff. Why can't people see that?
56 - Chris
She couldn't escape because she was "a teenager having a good time" seriously?
[personal attack deleted]
57 - Utah Native
This story was fishy from the beginning. It was all a set-up so that she would become "famous". She always wanted to be in the spotlight - and this was her time. Unfortunately, it only lasted 15 minutes.
58 - anon
story worth reading.
59 - anonymous
Its quite interesting reading through all the comments left on this article. I find it amazing that many people would actually take the time out of their schedules to discredit an actual dramatic event that a poor young girl had to endure.
One point that everyone is missing, is that if this was all staged and the psychotic kidnappers were just to help her escape her family, there is nothing preventing these criminals from speaking out. They could be completely off the hook if they did. Why would an innocent person stage their "cave" or "hole" of residence as a crime scene that both police and FBI ruled as such? Why would an innocent person cut through a window screen? Why would an innocent person just stay quite after being caught? Innocent people just dont do these things.
And for anyone to discredit Elizabeth Smart mental state while being illegally detained by these monsters is absurd. If any person was threatened with a knife and told if they didnt follow, their family would be killed, that person would do exactly what they were told to do. As for telling police, when found, "i know who you think i am", has anyone even considered that maybe it was her own subtle way of saying, "its me, elizabeth, get me home to my family" or she was told to say that by the idiots to say in that event. Kidnappers asking for ransom say dont call the police and alot of people are very reluctant to do so. the same mental manipulation could have been in play here.
As for "mormons having dirty secrets". This is one of the most stupidest things ever. Sure everyone is human and make mistakes. Any serious mistake known to the church would be disciplined and probably lead to excommunication from the church. People that talk without research are stupid. And as for an earlier comment that ended with "thats my 2 cents worth", it really was only worth 2 cents. perhaps only 1. Accuracy is the foundation for good comments.
60 - Caro
1. Maybe she was abducted and decided to stay, because, hey!, never had this many crazy experiences back in mormon-land
2. maybe she ran away because she was repressed by her fundamentalist family
3. maybe she was brainwashed
4. maybe it was a scheme because she was pregnant
5. maybe it was a scheme for fame and money You will never know. So why make everything more complicated. It could have been a setup or real. My honest opinion I think at first she was possibly forced and then she started enjoying being free from her family.
61 - Caro
Yea, the last sentence in my last post was someone else's that i forgot to erase. i think it was some sort of set up.
62 - IRONSIDE
Lots of interesting comments. Well the trial is about to begin and Elizabeth is about to go to France. I believe something is not right with this "abduction". Having seen the movie which was made within a year of Elizabeths return, which was controlled by ed SmartI might add. At no time was Elizabeth seen tied to a tree and raped. ed Smart used in his campaign photos of a much younger Elizabeth...Why?...mitchel used to do odd jobs around the house for Smart because he was too mean to pay a professional. The children knew Mitchel and even in the movie he was kind to them.
Mitchel has Hepatitis C..No sign of Elizabeth having the same. Even the doctor that said she was not or had ever been pregnant was a friend of Smarts.
63 - petalsong
i am outraged at the stupidity of almost every comment on here. this poor girl was taken from her family in the middle of the night and held captive by a rapist and a psychopath. her parents were hysterical and suffered more than any parents could suffer. this girl has now gone on to college, she is an accomplished musician, she is doing all she can to recover from the most traumatic experience anyone could ever have. she was, without a doubt, an innocent victim and amazingly, she forgives those maniacs because she realizes that carrying around anger and fear was only going to hold her back. she's a hero. and stop reading the enquirer!!! paleeze!
64 - chemnerd
Ever think maybe the pictures her family used of her were old because pictures of her at an older age included the faces of her younger siblings. After losing one child to psychos, do you think her parents would want their younger kids exposed like that. Plus, when the police ask you for pictures, you look for a picture that shows the person's face in the best clarity, a good close up, whatever. You try to get the most recent but you really try to get a picture that truly shows their face so people will be able to remember the details better.
65 - howdareyou
I'm sure you dont read your comments anymore as this is several years old. I still had to post and tell you what a pig i think you are for writing this. Elizabeth Smart testified in detail today about her ordeal. Read the transcripts. You should delete your post, you are a shameful pig.
66 - John Smith
Chemnerd, The faces of siblings can be covered, cut out, or obscured with blurring!
This case is WEIRD and this family is even WEIRDER!
First off, the Smarts live in a huge house, yet two of their daughters share a bedroom. WHY? Most children even in middle-class families have their own room when they are 4 or 5 years old at the latest. IF siblings share a bedroom, they still have SEPARATE BEDS! NOT the Smart kids.
Also STRANGE is that a 14 YO girl sleeps in RED SILK PAJAMAS. Most 14 YO girls DO NOT wear pajamas, they sleep in oversized T-shirts and stuff, and IF they wear pajamas they are NOT silk! Silk is considered adult material, is sensuous, sexy, used in lingerie, etc.
I think that Elizabeth WAS pregnant; look at how chubby she was (face, etc.) upon her return. If she was just "fat," that does NOT jibe with being "starving to death, going days without food" as portrayed in recent articles.
Regardless of the stuff that just doesn't fit, the demeanor of the entire family is STRANGE. VERY STRANGE. Can't put my finger on it, but there is MORE TO THIS STORY THAN WE ARE BEING TOLD. And with Elizabeth's uncle being a reporter for Deseret News, what are the odds of that rag printing the truth?!!!
While I don't agree with all of your points, Rebecca, I admire you for speaking out and am grateful for this opportunity to chime in.
67 - BamaLady
Considering the testimony today, those critical points look idiotic. I am sure that a clean cut, religious, academic girl wanted to be kidnapped by a pair of nasty street bums so the slimey guy could chain her and rape her four or five times daily. You should be ashamed of your hurtful comments.
68 - John Smith
BamaLady, This story STINKS and has from day one.
Check out this quote from a news article today: "It was the French language that helped Smart keep her autonomy from Mitchell and co-defendant Wanda Barzee. The self-proclaimed prophet would force Smart to write in a diary each night. But at the bottom of each page, she would write messages in French saying things like, "I hate Brian and Wanda and I love my parents," Ed Smart said.
That hardly is consistent with "over time she began to sympathize with her captors" (Stockholm Syndrome), now does it?!
The Smarts keep changing the story, and that is just ONE reason this is all so suspicious.
69 - honey
whoever wrote this,whoever you are, I hope you'll rot in hell for judging someone who suffered so much to think like you do!!!FYI: Elizabeth is not a worthless human being like you are who seems to have the most stupid thoughts.I don't even think you have a brain!
70 - zingzing
honey, hoping someone rots in hell is just as bad as " judging someone who suffered so much." you're hoping for future suffering? sheesh.
this story is bullshit conspiracy theory junk. let it go.
also, i just wanted to start a comment "honey," and not get reamed for it.
71 - Cindy
lol (popped in to see who zing was calling honey...for a minute i was shocked!)
72 - zingzing
sugar, i'm southern.
73 - How do you like your crow?
Wow - what a bunch of insensitive beast - surely you can't be real ppl?! Ready to revise you blog Ms. Rebecca, now that Ms. Smart has testified?? hmmm..how would you ppl react if you led a very safe Christian life, just to be taken out of your bed w/a knife, and RAPED..not once, but 3-4x a day for NINE months?? You all should be ashamed!
74 - Glork
Rebecca S.: Read any news about the Brian David Mitchell trial lately - about Elizabeth enduring sexual assaults multiple times-even in one day? Too bad you didn't have parents to teach "judge not lest ye be judged"-It's a really helpful lesson. Perhaps a tad more helpful than your article, which can be filed under the "Have I done any GOOD in the world today?" category.YOU LOST.
75 - Jen
Wow, after reading the Elizabeth Smart testimony, this blog should be deleted. Admit you were wrong and take it down. Even without the testimony, it is such nonsense that a 14 year-old girl from an affluent family would CHOOSE to go live in the woods with two slimy, creepy people, that tie her to a pole and rape her daily. Yea, that makes logical sense. Geez, what happened to good writers?