Elizabeth Smart’s Kidnapper Released on the Streets as a Free Woman

Elizabeth Smart was only 14 years old when she was kidnapped from her home in Utah on June 5, 2002, by Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Barzee. For the next nine months, the Mormon teenager was raped daily by Mitchell as Barzee laughed at, mocked, and tortured her.

Smart was finally freed on March 12, 2003, and both of her captors were arrested. Though Mitchell was sentenced to life in prison, Barzee was sentenced to just 15 years behind bars after agreeing to testify against her partner in crime.

Much to the dismay of millions of Americans, Barzee was released from prison just after 8 am on Wednesday.

Hours after her release, Barzee was photographed grabbing lunch in Utah as a free woman.

Yahoo News reported that though Barzee was supposed to be behind bars until 2024, it was ruled by the parole board that the time she served before she was convicted had to be included, meaning the state had no choice but to release her. Smart was blindsided by the news of Barzee’s release and had spent the days prior trying to convince the authorities to keep her in prison.

“I know just how bad she really can be. She would encourage him to rape me. She would sit right next to me like the side of her body would be touching me,” Smart told CBS host Gayle King on Tuesday.

When her attempts to block Barzee’s release failed, Smart released a statement making it clear how dangerous this woman really is.

“It is incomprehensible how someone who has not cooperated with her mental health evaluations or risk assessments and someone who did not show up to her own parole hearing can be released into our community,” Smart said. “I am trying to understand how and why this is happening and exploring possible options.”

It’s incredibly disturbing that someone who played a role in this sickeningly heinous crime is now allowed to walk the streets. While it can be argued that rehabilitation is possible in the cases of some violent offenders, Barzee has clearly done nothing to try and better herself or show remorse. In fact, Smart said that she has been told that Barzee is still devoted to Mitchell, indicating that she has no regrets about what she did.

“I do believe she’s still a danger. Through my sources, I’ve heard that she’s still carrying around this ‘book of revelations’ that Brian Mitchell wrote… that said he should kidnap me, and not just kidnap me but six other young girls, and that we’d all be his wives… clearly, she hasn’t let it go,” Smart said.

Someone like this should never be allowed back into society. Barzee helped her co-conspirator put this young girl through Hell and back, and she deserves to pay for that by spending the rest of her life in prison. While forgiveness is important in life, some things are unforgivable, and this is one of them.