Brian David Mitchell: The Elizabeth Smart Kidnapping and Trial

Brian David Mitchell is the self-styled religious prophet who kidnapped 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart from her Salt Lake City bedroom on June 5, 2002, held her captive for nine months, and raped her almost daily until police recovered her in March 2003. After a long fight over his mental competency, a federal jury convicted him in December 2010, and he is serving two life sentences without the possibility of parole. He is now 72 and incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.¹

Who Mitchell Was Before the Kidnapping

Mitchell was born in 1953 and raised in a Mormon household in Salt Lake City.² At 16 he was arrested for exposing himself to an eight-year-old girl.³ He married three times; his second marriage ended amid allegations of sexual abuse against his wife’s children. On the day that divorce became final in November 1985, he married Wanda Barzee.

Through the 1990s, Mitchell transformed into a self-declared prophet he called “Immanuel.” He quit his job, stopped paying taxes, grew his hair and beard, put on flowing robes, and began panhandling on the streets of Salt Lake City with Barzee.² He lived in a teepee, pushed a custom-built handcart, and expected acquaintances to address him by his prophetic name.⁴

He formalized his beliefs in a 27-page manifesto titled The Book of Immanuel David Isaiah, transcribed by Barzee and completed on April 6, 2002. Written as though God were speaking through him, it declared the LDS Church apostate and named Mitchell the divinely appointed successor to Joseph Smith. A central theme was the restoration of polygamy, and the text commanded Barzee to welcome “seven times seven plural wives.”⁵ According to trial testimony, on November 23, 2000, Mitchell told Barzee he had received a revelation to take seven new brides between the ages of 10 and 14.²

How He Chose Elizabeth Smart

In November 2001, the Smart family hired Mitchell for a day’s work on their roof after he approached them while panhandling. It was during that visit that he identified 14-year-old Elizabeth as a target.⁶

In the early morning hours of June 5, 2002, Mitchell broke into the family’s home in Salt Lake City’s Federal Heights neighborhood. He woke Elizabeth by pressing a knife to her throat, told her he was taking her “hostage for ransom,” and forced her out at knifepoint while her nine-year-old sister Mary Katherine lay frozen in the same room.⁷ He marched her on a grueling hike into the foothills behind her home to a hidden campsite where Barzee waited. Barzee performed a mock “marriage” ceremony, stripped Smart of her pajamas, and put her in a robe.⁶

Nine Months of Captivity

For the first six weeks, Smart was tethered to trees by steel cables at a campsite only a few miles from her family home.⁸ Mitchell raped her daily. She later testified that she begged him to stop, telling him, “I was just a little girl,” but her pleas had no effect.⁹ He forced her to drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes, telling her that “in order to rise above all things, I had to sink below all things first.” He threatened to kill her and her entire family if she tried to escape.

Barzee treated Smart as a “slave,” according to Smart’s later account.¹⁰ When the three left the campsite for provisions, Smart was disguised in a dirty robe, face veil, grey wig, and dark sunglasses. On multiple occasions she could hear searchers calling her name but was too frightened to respond.¹¹

In September 2002, Mitchell took Smart and Barzee by bus to the San Diego area, where they moved between campsites and homeless shelters for several months.¹¹ That interstate travel later formed the basis for the federal charges against him. While in California, Mitchell attempted to kidnap another girl.⁶

The Rescue

The break in the case came from Elizabeth’s sister. In October 2002, Mary Katherine was looking through a Guinness Book of World Records when the associations clicked: the kidnapper’s voice belonged to the drifter who had worked on the family roof, the man the family knew as “Emmanuel.”¹² The family pushed police to publicize a sketch of Mitchell, which was released on February 3, 2003, and later featured on America’s Most Wanted. Mitchell’s stepson recognized him.¹¹

Smart then helped set the stage for rescue by convincing Mitchell that God wanted them to return to Salt Lake City. The three hitchhiked back to Utah. On March 12, 2003, police spotted them walking on a street in Sandy, Utah, about 20 miles from Smart’s home. Officers confirmed her identity and arrested Mitchell and Barzee. Smart was reunited with her family that day.¹¹

Why the Trial Took Seven Years

The prosecution stalled almost immediately over Mitchell’s mental state. In 2003, he was charged in Utah state court with eight felonies, including aggravated kidnapping, aggravated burglary, and aggravated sexual assault.¹³ Court-appointed psychiatrists split: Dr. Stephen Golding found him incompetent, Dr. Noel Gardner found him competent.¹⁴

Mitchell made a spectacle of every court appearance, repeatedly singing hymns loud enough to force his removal from the courtroom. In 2005, Third District Judge Judith Atherton ruled him incompetent, finding that his belief he was the “Davidic King” impaired his ability to work with his lawyers.¹⁴ He was sent to the Utah State Hospital, refused treatment, and in 2008 Judge Atherton denied a prosecution motion to forcibly medicate him, effectively dead-ending the state case.¹³

Federal prosecutors intervened in March 2008, indicting Mitchell on charges of interstate kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor across state lines for illegal sexual activity.¹⁵ The case was assigned to U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball. Federal prison psychologist Dr. Richart DeMier diagnosed Mitchell as a paranoid schizophrenic and concluded he was unfit for trial.¹⁶ The government’s own expert, forensic psychiatrist Dr. Michael Welner, reached the opposite conclusion after a 206-page evaluation: Mitchell had antisocial personality disorder, narcissistic personality disorder, and pedophilia, but no severe mental illness. Welner characterized the hymn-singing and religious grandstanding as deliberate tactics to derail proceedings.¹⁷ In March 2010, Judge Kimball ruled Mitchell competent to stand trial.

The Federal Trial and Verdict

The four-week trial began in November 2010 in the Frank E. Moss Federal Courthouse in Salt Lake City before Judge Kimball. Both sides agreed on the core facts. The sole issue was whether Mitchell was legally insane at the time.¹⁸

Elizabeth Smart, then 23 and serving an LDS mission in Paris, returned to testify over three days beginning November 8, 2010.¹⁹ “I had been tethered to trees, like an animal,” she told the jury. “My self-value had dropped. I felt like I was nothing.”⁸ She also told the court that Mitchell’s religious posturing was largely a tool to control Barzee, saying his claims were an effort to “placate his wife.”²⁰

Prosecutors argued Mitchell was an “antisocial psychopath” who hid behind the “illusion of mental illness.”¹⁸ They pointed to evidence he knew how to evade police, when to stay silent during interrogation, and when to stop wearing his prophet robes out of fear of being recognized. FBI Agent George Dougherty testified that during questioning, Mitchell “knew when to be quiet” and “when not to say things that might incriminate himself.”⁴ The defense did not contest the facts but argued Mitchell suffered from a delusional disorder that prevented him from distinguishing right from wrong.⁸

Mitchell was removed from the courtroom on the first morning for singing hymns and watched much of his trial via closed-circuit television from an annex room.⁸ On December 10, 2010, after less than 12 hours of deliberation, the jury rejected the insanity defense and found him guilty on both counts.¹⁸

Sentencing

On May 25, 2011, Judge Kimball sentenced Mitchell, then 57, to two life sentences without the possibility of parole.²¹ Mitchell sang hymns softly with his eyes closed as the sentence was read.

Smart addressed him directly: “I know exactly what you did. You did it with full knowledge. But I have a wonderful life now and no matter what you do, you will never affect me again.”²¹

Mitchell did not appeal. His attorneys confirmed before the July 11, 2011, deadline that he did not wish to continue the fight. That same month, Judge Atherton signed an order dismissing the original state charges. Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said pursuing a state conviction would produce “no additional measure of justice.”¹³

Where Mitchell Is Now

Mitchell, now 72, is serving his life sentences at the Federal Correctional Institution in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. He was transferred there in October 2025 from the United States Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, after being attacked at least twice by fellow inmates.¹ The first assault occurred on May 26, 2025, when an inmate lured Mitchell into a common area under the pretext of studying the Book of Mormon. He was found kneeling on the ground with blood pouring from his head.²² After being moved to a secure confinement unit for protection, he was attacked again by a cellmate and was discovered lying in a pool of blood.²³ Witnesses described Mitchell as “uniquely vulnerable” due to his age and small stature. He reportedly refused to report either attack, calling the violence “divine judgement.”

What Happened to Wanda Barzee

Barzee’s path diverged from Mitchell’s. In November 2009 she pleaded guilty to federal charges of kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor and agreed to cooperate against him. She also pleaded guilty in state court to aggravated kidnapping and was sentenced to one to 15 years.²⁴ She was originally scheduled for release in 2024, but in September 2018 the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole recalculated her sentence after her attorney argued that time served in federal prison should count toward her state term. She was released on September 19, 2018, after 15 years in custody.²⁵ Elizabeth Smart publicly expressed “shock and disappointment” at the early release.

In May 2025, Barzee was arrested for violating the terms of her sex-offender registration by visiting two Salt Lake City parks. She told police she had been “commanded to by the Lord” to go feed ducks.²⁶

1
People. Where Are Elizabeth Smart’s Kidnappers Now
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CNN. Brian David Mitchell Trial
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Deseret News. Parents Describe Struggles During Brian David Mitchell’s Childhood
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Deseret News. Brian David Mitchell Had Strong Religious Beliefs Before Kidnapping Elizabeth Smart, Witnesses Say
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Sunstone. The Book of Immanuel David Isaiah
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Biography. Elizabeth Smart Timeline
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Deseret News. Elizabeth Smart Testimony
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Courthouse News Service. Elizabeth Smart Testifies as Trial Resumes
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ABC News. Elizabeth Smart Testifies to Indescribable Fear at Abductor’s Trial
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CBC News. Elizabeth Smart Recounts 9 Months of Hell in Kidnapping Memoir
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CNN. Elizabeth Smart Fast Facts
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ABC News. Elizabeth Smart Kidnapping
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Salt Lake Tribune. State Charges Dismissed Against Brian David Mitchell
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Karen Franklin. Mitchell Competency Ruling
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FBI. Brian David Mitchell Sentenced to Life in Federal Prison
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CBS News. Psychiatric Evaluators Testify in Brian Mitchell’s Defense
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ABC News. Inside the Mind of Elizabeth Smart’s Kidnapper
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CBS News. Jury Finds Brian David Mitchell Guilty
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Salt Lake Tribune. Elizabeth Smart Testimony
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BBC News. Elizabeth Smart Kidnapper Brian David Mitchell Convicted
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Times Union. Smart Has Last Say for Captor
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IPM. Elizabeth Smart Kidnapper Transferred From Federal Prison
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Tribune-Star. Elizabeth Smart Kidnapper Attacked in Federal Prison in Terre Haute
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KUTV. Timeline: Wanda Barzee From Elizabeth Smart Kidnapping to Parole Violation Arrest
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ABC News. Elizabeth Smart’s Captor Wanda Barzee Released From Prison
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Biography. Elizabeth Smart Kidnapper Wanda Barzee Now