Elizabeth Smart captor Brian Mitchell planned to kidnap 7 girls as ‘wives’

Elizabeth Smart’s kidnapper was already planning his next crime: kidnapping her teenage cousin and declaring her his new “wife.”

“I remember him saying to me, ‘She’s going to be the next wife,'” Smart, 38, told Fox News Digital. “He had a plan to kidnap seven young girls, and we were all going to be his wives. I was the first girl he kidnapped.”

“When he said that, my stomach turned,” he recalled. “It felt like I had led him on. He had a whole plan for how to kidnap her; on July 24th, a public holiday in Utah. He thought it would be a great day because everyone would be busy with fireworks and barbecues.”

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“I felt so bad because I didn’t want anyone else to go through what I went through.”

Smart, one of America’s best-known child abduction victims, is now a child safety activist who regularly speaks on behalf of missing and exploited children. The Utah native and now-married mother of three tells her story in Netflix’s documentary “Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart.”

In the documentary, Elizabeth Smart recalled hearing a search party looking for her. “[Mitchell] He took me into the tent, took out his knife [and said] ‘If anyone comes to this camp, this is the knife I will use to kill them, and it will be your fault.'” (Netflix)

Smart also recently wrote a book. “Winding Roads: Hope and Growth After Life’s Hardest Facts” It explores how trauma can derail a person’s life.

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Smart learned that Brian David Mitchell had been stalking his cousin’s house and hanging around the property. Smart “constantly prayed” for his safety. Mitchell once worked as a mechanic for the Smart family and was familiar with the neighborhood.

Smart said that throughout the week, Mitchell was preparing to kidnap Olivia Wright and insisted it was an order from God. After scouting the property and noticing an opening, he dragged a chair to the back of the house and climbed up to the window. The curtains were drawn. He tried to get in by pressuring them.

Street preacher Brian David Mitchell was working as a handyman at the Smart House. (Smart Family/Salt Lake City Police Department/Getty Images)

“What he was actually trying to go through was my older cousin’s bedroom window,” Smart said.

“There were trinkets on the windowsill and some had fallen. He stopped and heard nothing, then he pushed further and more trinkets fell. My uncle woke up, heard the sounds and ran into the room, screaming at my cousin in complete panic and fear. This was enough to thwart my kidnapper’s attempt to kidnap her.”

Elizabeth Smart (left) was 14 when she was kidnapped at knifepoint from her bedroom in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Netflix)

On June 5, 2002, Smart, then 14, was kidnapped at knifepoint from his home in Salt Lake City by Mitchell, a self-proclaimed prophet who called himself Immanuel David Isaiah. He dragged her to a remote, dilapidated campsite in the woods, where his wife and accomplice Wanda Barzee, who passed by Hephzibah, were waiting.

Elizabeth Smart’s younger sister, Mary Katherine Smart, pretended to sleep out of fear. She later became a key eyewitness and told police that the man who kidnapped her sister had long hair, a beard, and wore a robe. (Netflix)

Barzee washed Smart’s feet, then tried to take off his pajamas. In the darkness, Mitchell said: “I hereby seal you as my wife before God and His angels as my witnesses.” When Smart screamed, Mitchell threatened to kill her.

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Elizabeth Smart said she was forced to wear long, white, robe-like clothing and a veil while she was held captive. (Netflix)

“He told me that God commanded them to kidnap seven young girls,” he said in the documentary. “I was the first of seven. He said my sister would probably be one of his wives. Or my cousin Olivia. I was terrified.”

For nine excruciating months, Smart was tied up, repeatedly raped, kept in a dark hole and fed garbage. He was forced to look at pornography, drink alcohol until he vomited, and then lie.

Elizabeth Smart told Fox News Digital that she never gave up hope of being found. (Netflix)

One day in July, Mitchell chattered about his mother’s house when Smart let it slip that Wright lived in the same neighborhood. Smart described the young man’s yellow house and the swing in his front yard.

Elizabeth Smart felt guilty for blurting out her cousin’s name and making him a target. (Netflix)

Talking about her loved ones gave Smart a sense of relief. Every night he dreamed of being rescued and returning to the arms of his family. She desperately missed Wright – her best friend – and clung to the hope that one day she could escape and see him again.

Comfort is gone. Fear followed him as he realized the mistake he had made.

Richard Albert Ricci, a 50-year-old handyman who worked at Elizabeth Smart’s home, was considered a person of interest. He died in police custody on August 30, 2002, months before Smart was rescued. It turned out that he had nothing to do with Ricci’s kidnapping. (Utah Department of Corrections/Getty Images)

“I wasn’t allowed to talk about my family,” Smart told Fox News Digital. “While I was in captivity, I was not allowed to talk about my life before I was kidnapped. My captors were very, very strict about this.

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Elizabeth Smart was abused in a tent that Brian David Mitchell called the Immanuel Altar. (Netflix)

“They tried to deprive me of everything; my name, my identity, my family. I wasn’t even allowed to talk much because they talked too much. When I mentioned my cousin, [Mitchell] It didn’t stop me right away. I felt like there was a connection between me and my family. It helped me to talk about them.”

“This made me feel like I wasn’t as alone as I usually felt,” Smart said. “I mentioned my cousin Olivia. She came back later and said, ‘I think she should be the next wife.'”

The Smart family before Elizabeth Smart’s kidnapping. (Netflix)

Smart wrote in his book that Mitchell’s break-in attempt failed. He returned to the campsite alone, believing that he was not yet ready to take another virgin bride.

“Winding Roads: Hope and Growth After Life’s Toughest Turns” by Elizabeth Smart is out now. (Post Hill Press)

“I was alone, scared and hurting,” Smart said. “And I remember feeling so guilty, not only for leading him on Olivia, but also because there was a little part of me that wanted him to be successful in kidnapping her. Because then I wouldn’t be alone. And maybe we could run away together. But I also felt bad for feeling that way.”

Smart wrote in his book that he struggled with guilt and was convinced Mitchell would find a way to hurt Wright.

Elizabeth Smart (left) seen today with her younger sister, Mary Katherine Smart. (Netflix)

“How careless could I be, putting him in front of a monster like Mitchell?” he wrote. “How could I forgive myself if something happened to him?”

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In the documentary, Ed Smart recalled the pain of being considered a suspect in his daughter’s disappearance. “I was so overwhelmed that I was shaking,” he said in the film. “And I couldn’t stop shaking. I had absolutely nothing to do with this. And my father said, ‘If you don’t calm down, I’m going to turn you in.’ “He took me to the hospital and put me in the psych ward and I cried all night.” (Netflix)

Smart said every decision he made was about survival. He knew that if he resisted, Mitchell would break his promise and kill him.

“My captor was controlling me with fear, afraid that he would end my life or come after my family,” the woman told Fox News Digital. “He wanted complete power and control over me.”

A family photo shows 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart before she was kidnapped. (George Frey/Getty Images)

“I always wanted someone to find me,” he said. “My kidnappers threaten me all the time. The threat that they would kill me was always a very real threat. The threat that they would come after my family if I didn’t obey? That seems like a very real threat for a 14-year-old boy.”

Elizabeth Smart (seen here with her father as a child) told Fox News Digital that she feared her captor would kill her family if she fought back. (Netflix)

“So not only did I feel like I had to survive, but I also felt the weight of responsibility to protect my family. I was telling myself, ‘I have to do what they tell me to do until the perfect opportunity comes along.’ I didn’t know exactly when that would happen, but I felt like someone had to see me and take me away.”

Elizabeth Smart is the founder of the Elizabeth Smart Foundation, which works to promote social change in the fight against sexual violence. (Megan Turley)

“But if I appeared to run away,” Smart said after a pause, “the threat to my life and the life of my family seemed too great a risk to take.”

The author said he continues to struggle with shame.

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Brian David Mitchell is seen making frequent destructive outbursts as he appears in court on July 7, 2005, in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Ravell Call Pool/Getty Images)

“He wasn’t even close to Olivia,” she wrote. “He was safe. The weight of my gratitude could have swept me off my feet.”

“I did my best to ignore the other feeling, that little thing from before, bubbling up again. I pushed it down, I pushed it down, but eventually I had to accept it. A broken part of me was disappointed he didn’t bring Olivia back. That part of me wanted her there with me.”

Elizabeth Smart’s aunt, Cynthia Smart-Owens, carries a photo of her niece at a press conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, June 18, 2002. (Mauricio Menjivar/Getty Images)

“America’s Most Wanted” aired an episode about Smart’s kidnapping, leading to him being recognized by a couple who saw him walking with his kidnappers. He was rescued on March 12, 2003.

Wanda Barzee was released from prison on September 19, 2018. (Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Department/Getty Images)

Mitchell, now 72, was convicted of kidnapping Smart in 2010 and sentenced to life in prison. Barzee, 80, admitted his role in the crimes and was released from prison in 2018.

Today, Elizabeth Smart is married and the mother of three children. (Megan Turley)

“You never know how strong you are until you experience something terrible,” Smart reflected. “You can never lose hope. You can never give up on yourself. Despite our worst experience, there are still good things ahead of you. And life is still worth living.”

“Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart” is now streaming.