Elizabeth Smart Engaged

First time she has spoken publicly about ordeal details

(NEWSER) - Kidnap victim Elizabeth Smart "couldn't feel more worthless and degraded" than the day she was raped by her captor, she revealed. "It was the worst feeling I could ever have felt," the now 24-year-old university student recounted yesterday. Smart, who was abducted from her Utah bedroom at knifepoint at the age of 14, was then tethered to a metal cable strung between trees and raped multiple times a day for nine months by deranged, menacing drifter Brian David Mitchell, who is now serving a life sentence. It was the first time Smart has talked publicly about the details of her captivity, and she cried as she spoke at a Salt Lake City fundraising event for her charity the Elizabeth Smart Foundation, which educates children on how to protect themselves from danger. More»

Kidnapping victim will discuss missing person cases

(NEWSER) - Elizabeth Smart knows firsthand what it's like to be kidnapped—and she'll soon be sharing that perspective as an ABC News contributor. She'll appear on Good Morning America and possibly other programs "when there are missing children or missing-person cases in the news," an ABC spokesperson tells Howard Kurtz. But Kurtz is not convinced: "Other than fame—as the victim of a horrifying crime—what exactly are her qualifications?" he wonders in the Daily Beast . On Gawker , Seth Abramovitch concurs: "Eep. Uncomfortable." More»

She confronts kidnapper before he is sentenced to life

(NEWSER) - Brian David Mitchell got a life sentence today for kidnapping Elizabeth Smart , but she got the last word in court. Confronting him for the first time, she kept it short and sweet:

• "I don't have very much to say to you. I know exactly what you did. I know that you know what you did was wrong. You did it with a full knowledge. I also want you to know that I have a wonderful life now. You took away nine months of my life that can never be returned. But in this life or next, you will have to be held responsible for those actions, and I hope you are ready for when that time comes."

Kidnapper's attorney argues to prevent Brian David Mitchell from getting life sentence

(NEWSER) - Elizabeth Smart’s kidnapper shouldn’t get a life sentence, his attorney argued yesterday, because Smart isn’t all that psychologically damaged. “In a legal sense, the story is not the extreme psychological injury. The story is her overcoming the extreme conduct of my client,” said Robert Steele in a motion he filed in an attempt to get Brian David Mitchell’s potential sentence reduced. Mitchell held a then-14-year-old Smart for eight months and sometimes raped her numerous times a day, Fox News reports. More»

Federal jury finds Brian David Mitchell guilty on both counts

(AP) - A federal jury has convicted a former street preacher of kidnapping Elizabeth Smart more than eight years ago. The verdict reached today finally brought justice for Smart and her family after the ordeal that began when Brian David Mitchell took her from her home at knifepoint and held her captive for nine months when she was 14. More»