More than 20 years ago, the kidnapping of a 14-year-old girl from her Salt Lake City bedroom had many Americans glued to the news, hoping to learn who was to blame and whether she'd ever be found alive. On, Wednesday, Netflix's new documentary, Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart offers a behind-the-scenes look at the search for and eventual rescue of the teen.
The documentary, from director Benedict Sanderson, explores Smart's story from her own perspective through interviews with her, her family and those involved in the investigation. The film also includes what Netflix describes as never-before-seen archival materials from the case.
Now 38, Smart said she wasn't prepared to tell the full story of what happened to her when she was a teen.
"After I was rescued, when I first got home, I did not want to talk about what happened with anyone," she told Tudum. "And when the trial finally happened, I remember sitting up on the stand, giving these answers, and feeling like there was no context around them.
"I remember thinking that if all of this was going to be out there anyway, I wanted it to have some meaning, and for it to serve a purpose. I wanted to have some ownership over my story. That helped me decide to share it."
With this new look at a case that gripped Americans for months, let's take a look back at a timeline of what happened.
The kidnapping
Elizabeth was taken from the bedroom she shared with her 9-year-old sister, Mary Katherine, in the early hours of June 5, 2002, at her family home in Salt Lake City.
The younger girl was awake at the time of Elizabeth's abduction, but feigned sleeping while observing the suspect. She later told police she saw a man with dark hair and a familiar voice in their room, taking her sister from an open window. She said she didn't get a good look at his face in the dark room.
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Mary Katherine waited a couple hours to tell her parents what she saw out of fear of being spotted by the man. Initially, Ed and Lois thought their younger daughter had been dreaming, but when they saw the torn screen on the girls' window, they called police.
Elizabeth later told police the kidnapper -- later determined to be Brian David Mitchell -- hiked her several miles away from her home to a campsite. They hid out at the site near the Smart home for multiple days after the kidnapping along with Wanda Barzee.
Mitchell professed to be an angel who would ultimately kill the antichrist. He performed a so-called wedding ritual with Elizabeth, saying his brides would help him in his mission.
Over the course of Elizabeth's abduction, Mitchell and Barzee kept her shackled at various campsites both in Utah and in California, where they traveled in September. They forced her to consume alcohol and drugs to keep her compliant, and starved her. Mitchell repeated raped her, as well.
The search
As soon as Elizabeth's parents discovered that she was missing, the search was on. One day after her kidnapping, Ed and Lois took to television to appeal for help finding her, offering a $250,000 reward for her rescue.
They also harnessed the power of the Internet, still a somewhat new technique in 2002, to coordinate with hundreds volunteer searchers and provide updates on the efforts to find Elizabeth.
During the course of the investigation, police considered a number of suspects, including Elizabeth's parents. They conducted a a polygraph test on Ed, but ultimately ruled the family out as being involved.
Another early person of interest was Richard Ricci, who worked as a handyman for the Smart family. He had a long criminal record and history of drug use. Ricci had been jailed on separate charges and died in August from a brain hemorrhage.
Police also sought to question Bret Edmunds, a man living in his car, which had been spotted near the Smart home. They questioned him after a nine-day manhunt and also ruled him out.
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A Salt Lake City detective unknowingly confronted Mitchell and Barzee, who had Elizabeth with them at a library. Unable to positively identify the teen because of the face covering she wore, the detective ultimately let the party go.
In October, Mary Katherine finally remembered why the kidnapper's voice sounded familiar. She told police he sounded like the man known as Emmanuel whom her parents had hired to do some work around the house.
The family released a sketch of the man based on their memories of him in February 2003. Family members of the suspect told police the sketch looked like Mitchell, sparking a search for the man. Mitchell, Barzee and Elizabeth returned to Utah in March and less than a week later, citizens notified police they saw a man matching the sketch of Mitchell.
The aftermath
Elizabeth was found in Sandy, Utah, on March 12, 2003, nine months and a week after she was abducted. She was wearing a blonde wig and dressed in an overcoat and a white, burqa-like covering.
After being reunited with her family, the length prosecutions of Mitchell and Barzee began. After more than seven years of court hearings over Mitchell's competency, he was convicted of kidnapping and transporting a minor across state lines in order to engage in sexual activity. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in May 2011.
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Barzee, meanwhile, pleaded guilty but mentally ill to charges related not to Elizabeth's abduction but the attempted abduction of Elizabeth's cousin weeks after her own kidnapping. Barzee was sentenced to 15 years in prison. She was released in September 2018. Smart asked prison officials not to allow Barzee out of prison, saying she was personally familiar with the depth of her "depravity."
"She is a woman who had six children and yet could co-conspire to kidnap a 14-year-old girl and not only sit next to her while being raped but encourage her husband to continue to rape me," Smart said at a news conference.
Smart, now 38, has since become an activist for child safety and works as a commentator for ABC News. She has taken opportunities to share her story in an effort to advocate for victims of kidnapping and sexual abuse.
She married in 2012 and has three children.