Elizabeth Smart says faith enabled her to cope during captivity
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — During the nine months then-14-year-old Elizabeth Smart was held by kidnappers, it was her faith in God that enabled her to cope, she said Thursday. “I always knew (God) loved me, and that whether I survived or didn’t, he would be there and that my family would always love me no matter what happened,” she said in an interview on CNN’s “Larry King Live.” Drifter and self-styled prophet Brian David Mitchell, who had done roofing work on the Smarts’ home, allegedly kidnapped her in 2002 to make her his second wife.
Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Barzee, are charged with aggravated kidnapping, aggravated sexual assault and other charges, but both have been declared incompetent to stand trial at this time. Asked by King whether the parents no longer hired drifters, Elizabeth Smart’s father, Ed Smart said, “No, we no longer hire homeless people. “After something like this, we’re paranoid — aren’t we?” he said to his daughter, who smiled
and said, “Yeah.”
The young woman, now 18, said she looks forward to attending Brigham Young University, where she plans to major in music.