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SALT LAKE CITY — Elizabeth Smart's kidnapping and recovery, and subsequent trial of Brian David Mitchell, captured national, even worldwide attention. It is a story KSL News has covered intensely for nearly a decade.
March 12, 2003 - Elizabeth Smart found alive
July 26, 2005 - Brian David Mitchell found incompetent to stand trial
Feb. 12, 2008 - Judge orders Smart suspect, Wanda Barzee, to be medicated
March 5, 2008 - Accused Elizabeth Smart kidnappers indicted
March 11, 2008 - Utah Supreme Court stops Barzee's forced medication
Oct. 9, 2008 - Judge denies forced medication request for Mitchell
Oct. 17, 2008 - Mitchell's case moves to federal court
May 1, 2009 - Elizabeth Smart talks about months in captivity
Oct. 1, 2009- Elizabeth Smart relives kidnapping ordeal at Mitchell hearing
Nov. 17, 2009 - Barzee pleads guilty to federal charges in Smart kidnapping
Nov. 29, 2009 - Competency hearing set in Smart abduction case
Nov. 30, 2009 - Testimony begins in Mitchell's 10-day competency hearing
March 1, 2010 - Mitchell found competent for trial
March 12, 2010 - Federal judge sets Smart kidnapping trial date
Aug. 16, 2010 - Judge denies motion to move Mitchell trial out of state
Sept. 9, 2010 - Rules proposed for jury selection in Mitchell's upcoming trial
Oct. 24, 2010 - Judge: Mitchell trial to stay in Utah
Oct. 25, 2010 - Elizabeth Smart returning home to testify in Mitchell trial
Oct. 26, 2010 - Judge denies motion to delay Mitchell trial
Oct. 28, 2010 - Appeals court denies venue change in Mitchell trial
Nov. 1, 2010 - 9 possible jurors retained in Mitchell trial
Nov. 3, 2010 - Defense seeks delay of Smart kidnapping trial
Nov. 4, 2010 - Appeals court stays Mitchell trial
Dec. 10, 2010 - Mitchell convicted of kidnapping Smart
May 25, 2011 - Mitchell receives life sentence
Many Utahns became emotionally involved, watching the Smart family's anguish turn to joy, and then feeling confused at who was arrested and horrified during the trial of Brian David Mitchell.
Early on the morning of June 5, 2002, Ed and Lois Smart alerted police that their 14-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, had been kidnapped from their Salt Lake City home.
"Both myself and my wife are just praying that something will happen and we'll find her," Ed Smart told reporters.
Hundreds volunteered to search the hills above the house, flyers went up throughout the city, and then the case drew national media attention.
Nine months later, on March 12, 2003, Utahns who had watched "America's Most Wanted" spotted a curious threesome in Sandy, dressed in white robes.
"When I took a closer look at her, I recognized her as possibly resembling Elizabeth smart," Sandy Police Officer Troy Rasmussen said in a 2003 interview.
The joyous family reunion then became a community celebration.
Soon, attention turned to the arrest of her accused captors: Brian David Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Barzee. Several times, they were declared incompetent to stand trial.
Barzee was forcibly medicated and on November 17, 2009. She was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
In November of 2010, Elizabeth Smart interrupted her Latter-day Saint mission to testify against Mitchell, calmly telling a chilling story of daily rape.
On December 10, 2010, Mitchell was convicted and Elizabeth Smart spoke. "It is possible to move on after something terrible has happened," she declared.
Elizabeth Smart's focus now is a new initiative: teaching children to fight back against their kidnappers. "If we could cut down all kidnappings by 50 percent, what a miracle that would be," she said in an interview conducted shortly before Wednesday's sentencing.
Mitchell's sentence will likely keep him rotating through the federal prison. Elizabeth Smart says she will return to BYU to complete her degree this fall.
Email: cmikita@ksl.com
