Dad Says Utah Girl 'Brainwashed' by Alleged Captor

Reuters (via Netscape) ^ | 3/13/03 | Sue Pleming

[SarahW]

Dad Says Utah Girl 'Brainwashed' by Alleged Captor
By Sue Pleming

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The drifter suspected of snatching a 15-year-old Utah girl rescued after a nine-month ordeal was described on Thursday as a man who believed he was a prophet and who likely brainwashed the child.

Elizabeth Smart was found alive on Wednesday in what relatives described as a "miracle," and reunited with her family after police received a tip from two people in a store just miles from the girl's home where she was abducted from her bedroom last June.

The teen-ager's father, Ed Smart, told reporters he believed his daughter had been "brainwashed" by her alleged abductor, identified by police as Brian David Mitchell, a street preacher and itinerant who once did work around the Smart's home.

"I can just tell that he (Mitchell) did an absolute brainwashing job on her," Smart told ABC's "Good Morning America."

When police picked up the girl in a car in Sandy, Utah, on Wednesday, she was wearing a white veil. A woman identified as Wanda Barzee was also picked up by police.

No charges have been filed against Mitchell and Barzee and little information has been disclosed about the girl's ordeal.

Smart, who broke down at times, said the man had held his daughter at knifepoint until August in the mountains directly above their Salt Lake City home. Elizabeth heard rescuers calling her name but could not reply.

"It kills me she was there for three months, literally up in the hills (behind our house)," Smart told NBC's "Today" show.

Mitchell's stepsons, Mark and Derrick Thompson, told morning television that Mitchell and their mother, Barzee, had traded an "average life," started wearing white robes and sold their possessions to live on the street to preach and panhandle.

Mitchell's stepdaughter, Louree Gayler, said she moved out of their home in her early teens.

"Brian was always hugging me the wrong way and kissing on me and I just didn't like it over there. So I went and moved back with my dad and I haven't seen my mom since," Gayler said on morning television.

After hearing of Smart's disappearance and reports their stepfather might be involved, the Thompson brothers said they had a "gut feeling" Mitchell had taken the little girl and they scoured homeless shelters for them.

They described a bizarre life with their stepfather who had told them he was a prophet and spoke continuously of talking to angels.

Ed Smart said his daughter spent her first night back at home with family members holding them close and watching her favorite video, "The Trouble with Angels."

Investigators renewed their search for Mitchell last month based on descriptions by Elizabeth's younger sister, Mary Catherine, of the intruder who took Elizabeth away at gunpoint for their bedroom.

Smart said the reunion between the two sisters had been particularly poignant.

"It was just tears and hugs. As they fell asleep, they were hand in hand in bed. It was just the thing that I had hoped for and looked forward to," he told ABC.

[vnix]

you shouldn't tell those kinds of lies. If that kind of stuff really went on, it would be all over the media, even faster than you average child molesting preist

[asformeandformyhouse]

Read here about another lying runaway:

Truly disgusting. What is up with you? Because someone believes that this may be the case of a troubled girl being used by a ruthless predator, now all missing children are 'lying runaways'. Oh ye of little mind.

[george wythe]

Many rich kids live incredibly boring lives.

And if you add a very strict father who might blow a gasket every now and then, you have a recipe for disaster.

Mormon or Christadelphian or Voodoo religion does not matter.

It's the sense of alienation from real life that makes these girls to do this.

I taught tennis to rich ladies while in college, and I witness this situation first hand.

[MineralMan]

"Methinks your dislike for the Mormons has clouded your judgment."

It does seem that way, doesn't it. I can't believe the nonsense I'm reading in these threads. People who have no firsthand information whatever are posting detailed explanations of something they know nothing about. It's truly amazing.

Me? I'm going to wait and see what comes out about this case before I think a darned thing other than a young girl is now home with her family, and isn't that great?

[sharkhawk]

My first thought when I saw the picture was Charlie Manson. He got a lot of teenaged girls to follow him into the mountains, some of whom were not much older than Elizabeth.

[SarahW]

You are essentially calling the little sister a liar, and with no sound basis. In fact, he was into guns, those who knew him say he would have had no compunction holding one to her head. Also, before the abduction , he had confessed a desire to "take a new wife", and had a facination with the smart girl.

You need to catch up on Mitchell's background, I think you'll reconsider.

[TheClintons-STILLAnti-American]

"She has tasted the good life..."

Now THAT is what I would call jumping to conclusions.

[MineralMan]

"I taught tennis to rich ladies while in college, and I witness this situation first hand.
"

And that's the source of your expertise about 15 year old girls and whacko nutcases? Unbelievable!

[Fraulein]

That does happen. In fact, when I was an early teenager, I knew a rich girl who, at age 14, ran away from home to go hide/live in the attic of a punk rocker's house (he lived with his parents). His brother was in jail for murder, and his mother was a total whackjob. She, however, thought this guy was interesting and cool and real...

[SarahW]

There's been quite a bit of press about it. The short answer is yes, and some say it's endemic to the organization.

[Eva]

I agree, especially after reading this article. That poor girl is in big trouble. Mitchell claimed to be talking to angels all the time and she comes home and watches the video of Trouble with Angels? Whoa, that's not good.

[asformeandformyhouse]

My first thought when I saw the picture was Charlie Manson

Good point. When you think of many historical cult leaders they all weren't exactly male models.

[Utah Girl]

You may want to read some facts of the case. Mary Katherine remembered and did a sketch of Emmanual (Brian David Mitchell) in October, 2002. The police sat on the sketch until the Smarts persuaded (pestered) them to release the sketch. Mary Katherine kept insisting that Emmanual did it, the police thought Richard Ricci did it because of the overwhelming circumstantial evidence.

[Theophilus]

I agree with you.

I think she was "Brain Polished". She's been "Brain Washed" all along, by her parents and their religion but most people are too afraid to say it.

I indoctrinate my children too, but I don't tell them that makin babies is makin gods. She went like a lamb to the slaughter.

[Fitzcarraldo]

Why would a 14 year old girl leave voluntarily in the middle of the night with a drifter who had worked 1 day for her family over a year ago?

The parents seems to believe in the goodness of Man, and have not instilled in their child a fear of strangers.

Clearly, the Mom had no qualms about picking up a homeless man downtown and taking him home to do work.

Some people have to learn the hard way.

[Mfkmmof4]

I think some of you are going to find out she is the innocent. I hate the ... let's blame the victim. It is 9 months later and right off the bat she should have trusted the police and given her real identity.

We don't know what the captor threatened her with and ... I heard a great analogy today ... some folks wonder why she never tried to run away with the loser and his wife....abused wifes stay and continue to take abuse but yet some expect this child to have just left.

[Utah Girl]

Brian David Mitchell's family says he has great power over women and especially children.

[MineralMan]

"I think some of you are going to find out she is the innocent. I hate the ... let's blame the victim. It is 9 months later and right off the bat she should have trusted the police and given her real identity.
"

I agree with you. I can't believe what I'm reading here. The uninformed theories being presented here are completely off the wall. I think this is a very sad case of abduction that has now been resolved with the return of this young girl to her family.

Evil minds think evil thoughts, it seems to me.

[Utah Girl]

Brainwashed? Me? No. And your point would be???

[mel]

That's my thoughts exactly, perhaps if it was a young halfway decent guy but to think she ran off with this scumbag who probably hadn't had a bath in a year doesn't quite make any sense. Probably hadn't brushed his teeth either, disgusting