In the early morning of June 5, 2002, 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart was taken from her bedroom inside her family’s Salt Lake City home. With little physical evidence to help them, investigators turned to the only witness: Elizabeth’s 9-year-old sister, Mary Katherine Smart.
Although at first Mary Katherine could confirm little about the person responsible, her memories from that fateful night eventually proved to crucial to bringing Elizabeth home safe. The new Netflix documentary Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart, now streaming, revisits the case and Mary Katherine’s role in leading investigators to now-convicted abductor Brian David Mitchell.
With both Mary Katherine and Elizabeth set to offer new insight about the saga, here’s what we know about the younger sibling’s part in the case and life today.
Where Was Mary Katherine When Elizabeth Was Abducted?
The most notable physical clues from Elizabeth’s abduction were a wrought-iron patio chair found propped against the house and a cut screen in the family’s kitchen window, seemingly explaining how the perpetrator entered the house.
The only person to witness the disturbing scene was Mary Katherine, Elizabeth’s then-9-year-old sister. Speaking to journalist Diane Sawyer in 2005, Mary Katherine revealed she awoke in their shared bedroom and saw a man tap Elizabeth on the shoulder, forcing her to get out of bed and find shoes.
Mary Katherine said she initially tried to alert her parents about the stranger, but returned to her bed out of fear of being seen. “I thought, you know, be quiet, because if he hears you, he might take you too, and you’re the only person who has seen this. I was, like, shaking,” Mary Katherine told Sawyer.
She stayed in bed for two hours before finally telling her mother and father what happened. Mary Katherine heard the intruder’s voice, but didn’t get a clear look at his face.
Who Did Police Initially Suspect in Elizabeth Smart’s Kidnapping?
Following Elizabeth’s disappearance, investigators made a list of individuals who had previously been inside the Smart home. One of those was Richard Ricci, a former handyman with a criminal record.
The Smart family hired Ricci to do work inside their house sometime around June 2001. He was later charged with two counts of theft and one count of burglary after roughly $3,500 worth of items—including jewelry, perfume, and a wine glass filled with seashells—were taken from the residence.
Ricci was also charged in connection to a burglary from another home in the neighborhood and indicted by a federal grand jury related to a bank robbery in November 2001, according to CNN.
Police questioned Ricci about Smart’s disappearance, but he denied any involvement. Footage of Ricci’s interrogation appears in the trailer for Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart.
Ricci ultimately wasn’t considered a suspect, and police said there were “other individuals that we are looking at that may have some kind of connection” to the abduction.
On August 31, 2002—more than six months before Smart was found alive—Ricci died after suffering a spontaneous brain hemorrhage while incarcerated at the Utah State Prison for a parole violation.
How Did Mary Katherine Smart Identify Elizabeth’s Kidnapper?
According to the introduction from the 2006 book In Plain Sight: The Startling Truth Behind the Elizabeth Smart Investigation, police revealed in a news conference they completed four formal interviews with Mary Katherine in the weeks following Elizabeth’s kidnapping. “We may learn more from her as time goes on because of the ability to remember and recall a traumatic situation, particularly with a child of her age” Salt Lake Police Chief Rick Dinse said.
Those words proved prophetic as months later on October 12, Mary Katherine was flipping through a Guinness Book of World Records picture book when one of the photos—of a muscular woman—triggered a memory from the abduction.
“Dad, I know who took Elizabeth,” she told Ed later that night, identifying the perpetrator simply as “Emmanuel.”
Why Was Brian David Mitchell Known as ‘Emmanuel’?
It turns out Emmanuel was an alternate religious-based identity of Mitchell, whom Mary Katherine and Elizabeth’s mother, Lois Smart, originally met almost a year prior near a shopping mall downtown. Emmanuel asked for money, prompting Lois to give him $5 and offer him work at the family’s house.
Emmanuel’s time at the house was so brief that Ed had simply forgotten about it, and he wasn’t included on the original list of possible connections. However, Mary Katherine insisted his voice matched that of the man that abducted her sister.
Investigators had their breakthrough clue, but the case was far from solved. They needed to connect the Emmanuel alias with the suspect’s real identity.
How Did America’s Most Wanted Help Capture Mitchell?
By February 2003, police tepidly pursued Mitchell when the popular TV show America’s Most Wanted aired an episode about the Smart case, including some information about the religious zealot. According to Deseret News, FBI agent Mick Fennerty broke protocol to send photographs of Mitchell to the agency’s headquarters so they could appear on the show.
The episode helped bystanders identify Smart, who was held captive in torturous conditions for nine months by Mitchell and his then-wife, Wanda Barzee. On March 12, 2003, police apprehended the couple and confirmed Smart as the young girl with them.
As soon as Smart’s family discovered she was alive, they were quick to credit Mary Katherine’s tip for solving the grueling mystery. “She’s my hero,” Ed Smart said of Mary Katherine. “I cannot get over that she was inspired to come forward on Emmanuel.”
Where Is Mary Katherine Smart Today?
Mary Katherine has spoken little about the case in the decades since and maintains a relatively private profile. In March 2023, she made a rare appearance on NewsNation to speak with anchor Ashleigh Banfield.
She offered commentary on the Idaho murders case and then-suspect Bryan Kohberger, as well as briefly sharing an update on her life. “I know I’ve tried to find things that I enjoy, such as teaching. I love working with kids,” she told Banfield, adding she had pursued a master’s degree in applied behavior analysis.
How to Watch Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart on Netflix
Mary Katherine Smart appears in the trailer for Netflix’s Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart and Tudum has confirmed she, Elizabeth’s father Ed Smart, and other family members participated in the project.
Stream the film on Netflix now.
Tyler Piccotti joined the Biography.com staff as an Associate News Editor and is now the News and Culture Editor. He previously worked as a reporter and copy editor for a daily newspaper recognized by the Associated Press Sports Editors. In his current role, he shares the true stories behind your favorite movies and TV shows and profiles rising musicians, actors, and athletes. When he's not working, you can find him at the nearest amusement park or movie theater and cheering on his favorite teams.
