Elizabeth Smart looks back at her dramatic rescue | Nightline — Transcript

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1. 0:00thank you
2. 0:01captivated a nation Whoever has her
3. 0:04please let her go well this is every
4. 0:06parent's nightmare 14 year old Elizabeth
5. 0:08Smart ripped from her bedroom in the
6. 0:11middle of the night missing for nine
7. 0:12months until a remarkable turn of events
8. 0:15it is a miracle Elizabeth Smart has been
9. 0:19found alive
10. 0:2120 years after that dramatic Rescue
11. 0:23Elizabeth Smart has turned her trauma
12. 0:25into Triumph a powerful activist who
13. 0:28lives a refreshingly normal life a wife
14. 0:31a mom refusing to let her present be
15. 0:34defined by her past
16. 0:36to those who may not know your story
17. 0:38what would you tell them I'm a Survivor
18. 0:40of a kidnapping and was held hostage for
19. 0:42nine months but that I have
20. 0:47never allowed that to stand in my way of
21. 0:50trying to make the world a better place
22. 0:53for having me in it than not but also at
23. 0:57heart like I am
24. 1:00just I'm just me I'm a mom I have three
25. 1:04kids and
26. 1:06I hate laundry and don't we all hate
27. 1:10like good food and I like being at home
28. 1:13it was at her family's home in June 2002
29. 1:16an affluent neighborhood in Salt Lake
30. 1:18City where she slept in a room she
31. 1:20shared with her younger sister Mary
32. 1:22Catherine I remember was hearing a voice
33. 1:24it was a man's voice saying I have a
34. 1:27knife at your neck don't make a sound
35. 1:29get up and come with me just nothing in
36. 1:31my life had prepared me for an
37. 1:34experience like that I mean the thought
38. 1:36that someone could
39. 1:38penetrate my home my safe place just
40. 1:42seemed impossible
41. 1:44she says she remembers being taken by
42. 1:45her captors Brian Mitchell and his wife
43. 1:47Wanda barzi into the mountains high
44. 1:50above Salt Lake City not far from her
45. 1:52home where Mitchell had once worked as a
46. 1:54day laborer for nine months smart was
47. 1:56held captive and tortured the abuse at
48. 1:59times she says unbearable I did get to a
49. 2:02point where I was like well if he is
50. 2:04really going to rape and kill me like I
51. 2:06need it to happen close to my house so
52. 2:08that so that my parents know what
53. 2:10happened to me
54. 2:11so that you know like they they don't
55. 2:13just think I ran away so when there were
56. 2:15close brushes with Rescuers who were
57. 2:17shouting your name in earshot you
58. 2:20couldn't speak I mean there wasn't a day
59. 2:22that went by that he wasn't telling me
60. 2:25that he would kill me if that he would
61. 2:28kill my family if I didn't do what he
62. 2:30wanted me to do there was a lot of
63. 2:32sexual assault and where I'd grown up
64. 2:35and
65. 2:36a loving environment it was also very
66. 2:38conservative environment and there was a
67. 2:42lot of emphasis always put on you know
68. 2:44staying pure physically yes I was in a
69. 2:48lot of pain but I mean
70. 2:50there was like this mental and emotional
71. 2:53and spiritual aspect as well that just I
72. 2:57mean it was crushing it was suffocating
73. 2:59it really made me question if would I be
74. 3:02better dead than alive I've interviewed
75. 3:04sexual assault survivors who say it's it
76. 3:07has an impact on their intimacy and on
77. 3:09the way they approach intimacy I wonder
78. 3:13if it's had an impact on your life in
79. 3:15that way
80. 3:16if we could help
81. 3:19better educate on the difference between
82. 3:22you know what rape is versus what you
83. 3:26know wholehearted consensual Sexes then
84. 3:30then I think I think that for me makes
85. 3:33all the difference it might be the same
86. 3:35physical act but I mean the emotion
87. 3:37behind it is
88. 3:39couldn't be any more different her
89. 3:41family never giving up hope pleading
90. 3:43through the media for Elizabeth's return
91. 3:45every chance they got Chris Thomas was
92. 3:48the family spokesperson there were 70 to
93. 3:5080 cameras showing up I was working 20
94. 3:53plus hour days I logged somewhere around
95. 3:5510 000 phone calls Thomas writing about
96. 3:58the Relentless media frenzy in his
97. 4:00forthcoming book unexpected what
98. 4:02explains the media fascination with
99. 4:05Elizabeth's story this was a case unlike
100. 4:07Annie that had ever been seen a child
101. 4:09being abducted from their own room in in
102. 4:13an influent suburb in conservative Salt
103. 4:15Lake City I mean that just doesn't
104. 4:17happen months after the abduction
105. 4:19Elizabeth's sister managed to provide
106. 4:21key details about the suspect but Thomas
107. 4:24says he couldn't release the sketch or
108. 4:26the new Clues over several months the
109. 4:29police did not want that coming out and
110. 4:31so at that point the national media
111. 4:33completely panned the story locally they
112. 4:35buried that story and really America's
113. 4:37Most Wanted was the only one who who
114. 4:39gave it real Credence now we've got
115. 4:41breaking news on the Elizabeth Smart
116. 4:43abduction case the program aired the
117. 4:46sketch and asked for help just a few
118. 4:48days after the sketch was shown on
119. 4:50America's Most Wanted in March 2023
120. 4:53eyewitnesses spotted Brian Mitchell
121. 4:55walking down a street in Sandy Utah they
122. 4:58called police we were walking up State
123. 5:00Street in Salt Lake City and I remember
124. 5:03a police car pulling up he was just like
125. 5:05you know there's this girl and she's
126. 5:07been missing now for a very long time
127. 5:09and her family has never stopped
128. 5:11searching for her like they love her
129. 5:14more than anything and so at that point
130. 5:15I was like
131. 5:17oh my gosh she knows and the officer's
132. 5:19like he's like I'm sorry you need to say
133. 5:21the words and I mean he had to ask me a
134. 5:24few times before I finally said that yes
135. 5:26I was Elizabeth Smart finally after nine
136. 5:28long months the nightmare was over Chris
137. 5:31remembers breaking the news to
138. 5:33Elizabeth's dad Ed smart we called Ed
139. 5:36and he was out in the parking lot pacing
140. 5:38he said I'm too afraid to go inside and
141. 5:40we said Elizabeth's in there she's alive
142. 5:42she's waiting for you and the phone line
143. 5:45went dead what was that like when your
144. 5:47father walked in that room it really was
145. 5:49the first time that I felt safe in nine
146. 5:52months and that I knew that no matter
147. 5:55what lay ahead it was going to be okay
148. 5:58because my dad was there he was not
149. 6:02going to let anyone else hurt me
150. 6:04both of Elizabeth captors were sentenced
151. 6:06to federal prison on kidnapping charges
152. 6:08Elizabeth testified at Mitchell's trial
153. 6:10he's currently serving a life sentence
154. 6:13barzi was sentenced to 15 years and has
155. 6:16since been released in the 20 years
156. 6:18since her rescue she's become an
157. 6:20activist launching the Elizabeth Smart
158. 6:22foundation with her father you are
159. 6:24stronger than you think you are and you
160. 6:26have the right to defend yourselves
161. 6:28there's one program she says she's
162. 6:30particularly proud of smart defense
163. 6:33which is a trauma-informed self-defense
164. 6:36program which has just been incredible
165. 6:39it's the combination of Brazilian Jiu
166. 6:42Jitsu Krav Maga and Muay Thai teaching
167. 6:45people to defend themselves advice she
168. 6:48gives to her own daughter yes you can
169. 6:50fight to defend yourself yes you can
170. 6:52scream yes please bite anyone who tries
171. 6:55to touch you like please take care of
172. 6:58yourself when you look back it's been 20
173. 7:00years what lessons do you think we can
174. 7:03all learn I don't think that if you took
175. 7:07all the media attention any other
176. 7:10Survivor or victim has ever gone it
177. 7:12would match the amount of attention my
178. 7:14story got
179. 7:16and I feel heartbroken about that
180. 7:19because every missing child deserves to
181. 7:23be found
182. 7:24[Music]
183. 7:27hi everyone George Stephanopoulos here
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