1987-present
Who Is Elizabeth Smart?
Elizabeth Smart is a kidnapping survivor and child safety activist who made national headlines when she was abducted from her home at age 14 in June 2002. Held captive by a fanatic named Brian David Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Barzee, Smart was repeatedly raped, drugged, and forced to endure religious rituals, until earning her freedom in March 2003. The Utah native has since become a noted author and advocate, writing two books about her abduction and recovery, and launching the Elizabeth Smart Foundation in 2011. She has also served as a correspondent for ABC News and the true crime show Crime Watch Daily. Smart is featured in the Netflix documentary Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart, which begins streaming on January 21, 2026.
Quick Facts
FULL NAME: Elizabeth Ann Gilmour (née Smart)
BORN: November 3, 1987
BIRTHPLACE: Salt Lake City, Utah
SPOUSE: Matthew Gilmour (2012-present)
CHILDREN: Chloé, James, and Olivia
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Scorpio
Early Life
Elizabeth Ann Smart was born on November 3, 1987, in Salt Lake City, Utah to Ed and Lois Smart. The second eldest of a successful real estate developer and a homemaker, she was raised in a devout Mormon household with her sister Mary Katherine and four brothers Andrew, Charles, William, and Edward Jr. Smart was known as a kind, smart, shy and obedient child. Her greatest passion was the harp, which she began playing at the age of five and practiced for hours each day.
By the time she reached middle school, Smart was sought out to perform as a harpist at local weddings and funerals, and she regularly participated in the annual fall concert at the Capitol rotunda in Salt Lake City. Smart was also a skilled equestrienne and distance runner who was training to compete in cross-country racing when she reached high school. She attended Bryant Intermediate School, where she was known as an intelligent and diligent student.
Kidnapping
On June 4, 2002, Smart and her family attended an end-of-year awards ceremony at her school, where the 14-year-old won several awards for academics and physical fitness. Early the next morning, about an hour after midnight, Smart was awakened in the bedroom she shared with her younger sister, Mary Katherine, by the sound of footsteps and the feeling of cold metal against her cheek.
A man whispered, “I have a knife to your neck. Don’t make a sound. Get out of bed and come with me, or I will kill you and your family.” The kidnapper, a man by the name of Brian David Mitchell, led Smart out of the house and marched her for hours through the forest to a camp where his wife, Wanda Barzee, was waiting.
Mitchell believed he was a prophet named Immanuel, and after performing a bizarre wedding ceremony—he was also a polygamist—he declared Smart to be his wife and raped her. “I tried to fight him off me,” she later testified in November 2010. “A 14-year-old girl against a grown man doesn’t even out so much.”
Mitchell and Barzee held Smart captive for the next nine months as they moved between California and Utah. Mitchell raped Smart daily—sometimes multiple times per day—and frequently kept her tethered to a tree. He forced her to consume vast quantities of alcohol and drugs and often did not feed her for days, bringing her to the brink of starvation. All the while, Mitchell attempted to indoctrinate Smart in his obscure religious beliefs and convince her that he was a prophet.
Discovery and Rescue
The night of Smart’s kidnapping, Mary Katherine had pretended to be asleep in the other bed while silently attempting to observe her sister’s kidnapper in the dark. “I stayed in bed,” she testified. “I was scared. I couldn’t do anything. I was just shocked, petrified. I didn’t know what to do, knowing someone had come into my bedroom and taken my sister.”
After several months, it suddenly occurred to Mary Katherine that the kidnapper resembled a man who had once worked on their home as a handyman—a person who called himself Immanuel. Police discovered that Immanuel was a man named Brian David Mitchell, and in February 2003, the popular crime detective show America’s Most Wanted aired his photograph in an episode.
On March 12, 2003, a passerby recognized Mitchell walking with Smart, who was veiled and wearing a wig and sunglasses. Authorities arrested Mitchell and his wife and returned Smart to her family that evening. “It was one of the happiest days,” she recalled to People magazine in January 2026. “I knew that my family was the reason I wanted to survive.”
The prosecution against Mitchell stretched on for years, complicated by questions about his mental fitness to stand trial. Finally, on December 10, 2010, more than eight years after the kidnapping, a jury in a federal courtroom in Salt Lake City found him guilty of kidnapping and transporting a child across state lines for sexual purposes. He was sentenced to life in prison, and Brazee was sentenced to 15 years behind bars for her part in the crimes.
Activism
Remarkably, Smart managed to return to a relatively normal life shortly after rejoining her family. Only weeks after her return, she hiked with her family to the camp where Mitchell had taken her nine months before. “I felt great. I felt triumphant,” she said of the experience during a press conference in May 2008.
Still, Smart internally struggled with the brutal abduction and assault she had endured for nine months. “After I was rescued, I was very embarrassed by what had happened to me,” she told People in January 2026. “Even though my head totally knew it wasn’t my fault, I couldn’t make my heart feel the same way. I felt I’d be judged for it. I ended up feeling very alone and very isolated.”
Smart soon returned to the classroom and resumed her favorite activities. After graduating from high school in 2006, she enrolled at Brigham Young University to study music performance. She also became an activist on behalf of kidnapping survivors and child victims of violence and sexual abuse, recounting her inspirational story in interviews with Katie Couric and Oprah Winfrey, and eventually becoming a noted public speaker.
In 2006, she testified before the U.S. Congress to advocate for stronger sexual predator legislation. That July, the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, which created the modern national sex offended registry, was signed into law by President George W. Bush that July. Smart also helped to author the United States Department of Justice’s 2008 handbook for kidnapping survivors, You Are Not Alone: The Journey From Abduction to Empowerment.
The following year, Smart moved to Paris for her Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints missionary trip, which was interrupted by a return to the U.S. to testify against Mitchell.
Elizabeth Smart Foundation
In March 2011, she won Diane Von Furstenberg’s Vital Voices Award, receiving a $50,000 check, which she used to establish the Elizabeth Smart Foundation later that year. She founded nonprofit organization to empower children and provide resources and trauma support for victims and families. Today, the foundation offers self-defense training and education for children and adults and provides financial to survivors in need of therapy, housing, and legal support, among others.
Media Presence
In addition to her work at the foundation, Smart has also established a media presence as a commentator about child safety. In July 2011, she was named a special correspondent for ABC News to report on missing persons and child abduction cases before joining the syndicated true crime show Crime Watch Daily as a correspondent in 2016. Smart also appeared briefly on the reboot of America’s Most Wanted in April 2025.
Books
In 2013, Smart released a memoir entitled My Story, highlighting the horrific ordeals that she encountered while she was kidnapped. Although the story delves into the inhumane treatment that she received from her captors, she wrote the book as a form of closure. “I want people to know that I'm happy in my life right now,” Smart said to the Associated Press that October.
Five years later, she followed up with Where There's Hope: Healing, Moving Forward, and Never Giving Up in 2018. The book chronicles her personal journey to recovery, while serving as a guide for other survivors of kidnapping and assault.
Movies and Documentaries
Smart’s abduction was first chronicled in the 2003 TV movie The Elizabeth Smart Story, which was based on the book Bringing Elizabeth Home: A Journey of Faith and Hope, written by her parents. In the film, she was portrayed by Canadian actor Amber Marshall. Nearly 15 years later, Smart's story got another dramatic retelling in the 2017 Lifetime movie I Am Elizabeth Smart, which the kidnapping survivor narrated herself. That same year, she starred in the two-part docuseries Elizabeth Smart: Autobiography.
In January 2026, Smart will offer new insight into her kidnapping and survival in the Netflix documentary Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart, featuring never-before-seen archival footage and materials. “There will be victims and survivors who watch this, and I hope they realize they’re not alone, and that they don’t have to be ashamed of what happened to them,” she told Netflix’s Tudum in December 2025. “And I hope that people who watch this can gain compassion and understanding for other families who are going through this.”
Husband Matthew Gilmour and Children
Smart is married to her husband Matthew Gilmour, who is from Scotland. The couple met on a missionary trip in Paris and later wed in a private ceremony in Hawaii in February 2012. They went on to have three children together, welcoming their first child, a daughter named Chloé, in February 2015. Two years later, Smart and Gilmour's son James was born in April 2017, followed by their daughter, Olivia, in November 2018.
“My children have brought so much happiness and joy,” Smart told People magazine in November 2017. “To me, they’re the very definition of love.”
Quotes
- After I was rescued, I was very embarrassed by what had happened to me. Even though my head totally knew it wasn’t my fault, I couldn’t make my heart feel the same way. I felt I’d be judged for it. I ended up feeling very alone and very isolated.
- I knew that my family was the reason I wanted to survive.
- I want survivors to know they are not alone.
- Yes, I have lived through many miracles. I had experienced tender mercies that literally kept me alive. I had been carried by the love of others, and in many ways I had been blessed.
How to Watch Netflix’s Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart
Stream the new documentary Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart on Netflix beginning January 21, 2026.
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