Elizabeth Smart Met With Mitchell 6 Times Before Kidnapping

The Globe ^ | April 8, 2003 | Globe Reporters

[Palladin]

The Secret Meetings

The night Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped at knifepoint from her bedroom by mad messiah Brian David Mitchell was NOT the first time she'd been alone with him!

Shockingly the then 14 year old had met the raving self- proclaimed prophet six times before, says sources.

At least four of those times, the tenderhearted teen--who was raised in a religious home where charity to the less fortunate was encouraged--secretly sneaked off to see the 49-year old Mitchell in a bid to help him, say insiders.

The first time Elizabeth met Mitchell and Wanda was in November 2001, when her mother hired him to do some yard work at the Smart's $1 million Federal Heights home.

"When Elizabeth first met Mitchell, the pair really hit it off right away," says the insider. "They had a long conversation about his mission to the homeless and his calling from God."

After that, mostly unknown to her parents, the bighearted girl met with Mitchell at least five more times in downtown Salt Lake City, where he roamed and spouted his beliefs, say sources.

On a couple of occasions, she went with girlfriends--one of whom was 16 years old and could drive--and the other times she took the bus, says sources. The girls would pool their allowances to buy the couple food.

Her parents' only knew of one visit, when Elizabeth and her girlfriends delivered a box of oranges and apples to a homeless shelter where Mitchell had said he and Wanda lived.

But during the meetings, Elizabeth grew fond of Mitchell and his wife, say sources.

"Elizabeth also like Wanda immediatley when they first met," says the source. Each time she visited with the couple, Elizabeth had long conversations with them about their beliefs. And Mitchell kept referring to a revelation that he had."

The insider says the generous teen met with Mitchell "repeatedly-- before the kidnapping-- and she really liked their company. She also felt sorry for their circumstances."

Adds another source, "Wanda treated Elizabeth like a daughter and was very affectionate to her. Mitchell was also nice to her--but was always trying to indoctrinate her."

"I think Elizabeth began to believe that he was really a prophet. He was always talking about charity and taking care of the por. These are the things she felt strongly about, too."

During one of these visits, Mitchell told her that she was to become his bride, says sources. And during one, Elizabeth gave him a pair of work boots to replace his worn shoes, which he wore the night he kidnapped her.

[Palladin]

Looks like some of you were right. Elizabeth knew Mitchell and Barzee pretty well.

[Palladin]

Some of you said there was more to the story.

If the Globe is right, Elizabeth was an impressionable youngster who placed her trust in the wrong people.

Mitchell used Barzee to draw her in and make her feel safe.

What an evil couple!

[Palladin]

Adds another source, "Wanda treated Elizabeth like a daughter and was very affectionate to her. Mitchell was also nice to her--but was always trying to indoctrinate her."

Quite a few sources are cited. Probably the teenage girlfriends. But why didn't they speak up before now?

[trussell]

But why didn't they speak up before now?

Looking for their fifteen minutes of fame!??

[SwordofTruth]

Quite a few sources are cited. Probably the teenage girlfriends. But why didn't they speak up before now?

That's a very good question. Either they are lying about this now or they thought Elizabeth would have been mad at them if they told the police. Either way Elizabeth needs some better "friends" than these girls.

[Palladin]

More from the Globe article:


Elizabeth Smart and her kidnapper: THE SECRET MEETINGS
They met SIX times and she gave him work boots

The night Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped at knifepoint from her bedroom by mad messiah Brian David Mitchell was NOT the first time she'd been alone with him!

Shockingly, the then-14-year old girl had met the raving, self-proclaimed prophet SIX times before, say sources.

At least four of those times, the tenderhearted teen-who was raised in a religious home where charity to the less fortunate was encouraged - secretly sneaked off to see the 49-year-old Mitchell in a bid to help him, say insiders.

"Elizabeth is a very kind, loving person-traits she gets from her mother Lois and her church," says an insider close to the case.

Mitchell became obsessed with the pretty blond teen and told her during one of their meetings that she was "chosen" by God to be one of his seven virgin brides, say sources. But Elizabeth dismissed the talk as the babble of a pitiful nut and didn't tell her parents.

"When Mitchell first told Elizabeth before the kidnapping that she was to be his new wife, I think that took her by surprise-she was only 14," says the insider.

"She laughed it off at the time and didn't take Mitchell seriously because she believed he was a harmless guy who needed her help."

But the self-proclaimed prophet, who had written in a rambling 27-page manifesto that God had commanded him to take seven brides, kidnapped Elizabeth from her bedroom June 5, say cops. He terrorized and brainwashed the frightened girl and held her captive for nine months, until she finally was discovered with Mitchell and his wife Wanda Barzee, 57, on the streets of Sandy, Utah, March 12.

Now, insiders say the girl is a basket case from her nightmare ordeal. "Elizabeth has gone through hell and back and right now, she's an emotional wreck," says the insider. "She spends most of her days locked in her bedroom, crying. She feels an overwhelming sense of guilt and she prays that God will forgive her for what she's done.

"She's also afraid of the dark and afraid to be alone. Each night, she won't go to sleep until she checks that her four brothers and sister are in the house."

And because she was so brainwashed by her kidnappers, she is even concerned for them.

"She keeps asking, "What are they going to do to them?" the insider says.

[Palladin]

Last part of article (Warning: GRAPHIC!)

In the dark, he forced the girl in her red silk pajamas to walk four miles up Dry Creek Canyon into the mountains to a concealed campsite where Wanda was waiting. She told the frightened girl there was to be a "wedding ceremony" with Mitchell after which they'd have sex to solemnize the ceremony.

Mitchell conducted the ritual. Elizabeth started screaming when Wanda tried to take off her red pajamas, but the older woman said Mitchell would strip her if she didn't cooperate.

Sources say a wife leading a new wife naked to her husband is one of the beliefs of the many polygamist sects living in Utah.

But when Mitchell tried to have sex, the terrified teen bravely fought him off. In a fury, Mitchell grabbed his knife. Sources say he would have killed the girl if Wanda hadn't thrown herself in front of Elizabeth, screaming, "Don't kill her. Please, I beg you."

Still, plucky Elizabeth put up such a fight, Mitchell wasn't able to have his evil way with her until three weeks later, after he'd brainwashed the girl, say sources.

During that time, the three stayed in a pit which Mitchell covered with boards and dirt so helicopters with infrared seeking devices couldn't detect them, say sources.

When Elizabeth wasn't in the pit, Mitchell kept her tied to a tree with a cord around her ankle.

Wendy Murphy, a former Boston prosecutor who is now a victims' advocate, says Elizabeth's background may have made it easier for Mitchell to brainwash her.

"She was a terrified child from a very religious family and her abductor wielded not only a knife, but the power of God," explains Murphy.

"Once Mitchell isolated her by force, he used his physical dominance and exploited her religious beliefs to render her submissive to his demands.

"No doubt he convinced Elizabeth that she was 'special.'"

Murphy says the concern Elizabeth now has for her kidnappers is a normal reaction.

"When human beings become overwhelmed by terror, the brain makes adjustments to enable them to do whatever is necessary to survive," Murphy says.

Ironically, the girl's belief in charity and helping others made her a target for the mad prophet, who with Wanda is being held in a Utah jail under a $10 million bond each.

"It's tragic to think that the very qualities that her parents and church instilled in her-generosity, charity and compassion for the less fortunate-got her involved with Mitchell in the first place," says a senior Mormon church official.

[Palladin]

Good article in today's SL Trib about Mitchell and his journey into madness:

http://www.sltrib.com/2003/Mar/03302003/utah/43270.asp

I suppose they will use an insanity defense for this creepy lecher. I don't think it will be successful.

[Alberta's Child]

But why didn't they speak up before now?

Maybe they did. And maybe that's exactly why the police didn't fully buy in to the "abduction" story.

[Palladin]

From CNN Legal Center:


Blood, writing samples sought in Smart case
Mental competency exams also requested
Friday, March 28, 2003 Posted: 1638 GMT (12:38 AM HKT)

RELATED
• Criminal information and arrest warrants Utah v. Mitchell, Barzee (FindLaw, PDF)
• Court TV.com: From kidnap to return

SPECIAL REPORT

• Gallery: Technology to keep children safe
• Facts: Missing children
• National Center for Missing & Exploited Children

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Prosecutors requested blood, hair and writing samples Thursday from the couple charged with kidnapping and sexually abusing Elizabeth Smart.

District Attorney David Yocom filed the motions Thursday along with a request for mental competency exams for self-proclaimed prophet Brian Mitchell, 49, and his wife, Wanda Barzee, 57.

The two are charged with aggravated kidnapping, aggravated sexual assault and aggravated burglary in the girl's abduction last June. Each is jailed on $10 million bail.

Yocom also is seeking a gag order for the couple's lawyers, saying evidence that will be provided to them could be sensitive in nature.

Attorney David Biggs, whose office is representing the suspects, declined comment. Calls to Yocom's office were not answered.

The girl was taken at knifepoint from her bedroom June 5. She turned up March 12 in the Salt Lake City suburb of Sandy walking alongside Mitchell and Barzee.

In an affidavit, an investigator said the blood, hair and writing samples were needed to identify evidence seized by police.

Police took knives, clothing and other items from makeshift camps where Smart said she was held captive for her first two months. Investigators have also focused on a 27-page religious tract written by Mitchell that claims God commanded him to take seven wives.

Documents filed by prosecutors earlier this month indicate Elizabeth was sexually assaulted at least three times during her nine-month ordeal.

Mitchell was motivated by a "revelation from God" to take and detain Elizabeth in the foothills near the Smart house, Barzee told a Salt Lake City police detective, according to another affidavit.

"Barzee indicated that she believed that Mitchell was a prophet and was acting on God's instructions," according to an affidavit filed by FBI agent Jeffrey Ross.

Mitchell reportedly has refused to discuss his beliefs with police, telling them to read his religious manifesto.

[Palladin]

We are beginning to see some of what went on behind the scenes. If these friends were interviewed early on, why would the PD pursue Ricci so relentlessly?

The accounts coming out now give some insight into the bad feelings between the Smarts and the PD. It seems they were at loggerheads over the "abduction" story.

[Palladin]

There's Smart case news here in the Smokey Back Room.

Why do you armchair detectives think they have taken blood, hair, and writing samples?

[Neenah]

Kind of makes sense now of all those "meaningful" talks to Elizabeth on camera by the Aunt, and the talks to the person that had her "You can't give her what she needs" (paraphrased). And the words of the song Lois brought to Elizabeth's attention.

That song was not about the loving God sheltering her, it was a song about someone who had gone astray.

I don't have at my fingertips all the quotes now...but it is coming together. Thanks for the ping, Palladin.

[varina davis]

But why didn't they speak up before now?

I think they probably did, or at least hinted at who it might be. That would account for the "messages" mom and dad made via TV early on, messages that sounded like they were speaking to someone in particular.

[varina davis]

And because she was so brainwashed by her kidnappers, she is even concerned for them. "She keeps asking, "What are they going to do to them?" the insider says.

Actually, it's not beyond reality that she IS concerned for them.

[Palladin]

Neenah, I remember your pointing out that the mother's cryptic comments in the beginning indicated that she might believe Elizabeth had run away with someone.

How many times did Elizabeth actually meet with him? I think it was more than six. She was being slowly indoctrinated into Mitchell's crazy old/new version of Mormonism.

It's hard to believe that none of these girlfriends told the police about Mitchell early on. Girls that age love to gossip about each other.

As you always said...there is more....much more to this ongoing story.

Remember Uncle Tom's comment..."It is a wonderful story". Maybe more than one Smart was being proselytized and converted by nutty Mitchell.

[Palladin]

Many things are starting to make sense now.

[Neenah]

Also, Palladin, I never believed she was taken by gunpoint..er, knife point. This would explain the millions of questions why no one SCREAMED !!

I also never believed the MK story. That little girl was told by her close sister about this prophet, I bet.( And now if you piece what we have followed, it makes sense the Smart family KNEW about this "prophet" all along. ) She listened to Elizabeth and was quiet. I hate this story so much. Why? Because young, beautiful girls, Elizabeth and Mary K. were USED.

I sincerely hope the lawyers lose their attempt to plead Insanity ! And I pray this is televised if it goes to court. But, alas, I am sure the POWER will prevent that. It would screw up the Amber Alert.

And if the Smarts USED the Govt. by phoning in an abduction to use the Amber Alert..I hope it comes out. Maybe it is good that legislation is stalled of the Bill at this point. The Amber Alert can be used in a wrong way. Something is still wrong !

A word about the teen aged friends of Elizabeth. If I was their Mother, I am afraid I would not want them broadcasting it then or now. Why? Think about it.Think what they are in for !

Thanks for being on the ball with this Palladin.

[lakey]

Obviously, Ed & Lois knew, or at least suspected all along, who took her. Just because media is saying Elizabeth's girlfriends kept her secret, doesn't mean all of them did.

[drstevej]

ping