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Hi everyone, this is Deb from Dying to be Found. Before we get started, I just wanted to say that

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episodes contain disturbing discussions on harmful acts and crimes against animals and or humankind.

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Recordings are not intended for young or sensitive audiences due to the content nature of this podcast.

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Listener discretion is strongly advised.

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Hi everybody, this is Deb and I'm Beth.

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And we want to welcome you to episode number 17 of Dying to be Found. We are so glad you are

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joining us today. Before we get started, gonna check in with Beth. How are you doing, Beth? What's

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going on in your neck of the woods? Not too much today. I just worked on some cards and

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Christmas cards, I might add. Wow, you are too organized for me, but that's awesome. That's a

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good deal. So what's going on with you? Well, I wanted to just kind of check in and let you know

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what some of the things are that I'm looking at. I was looking at our stats and I wanted to just

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put out a big thank you to some of the hot spots that I'm seeing lighting up our maps and a big

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hello to everybody in the UK, Beth. Oh, we have taken over North America, but we are already over

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in the UK. So hello to you listeners. We're excited that you're here. Excited, excited. Yep. So I just

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wanted to say hello to you guys and we appreciate you checking in. So anything else you want to talk

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about before we get started, Beth? No, but you were going to talk about what you were up to today.

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Oh, yes. Okay. So I had my birthday week, you know, that always comes around once a year.

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John and I went shopping today and I don't know if you have a Pandora bracelet jewelry shop near you.

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Sure do. I love that place. It's always my go-to when John's like, what do you want for Christmas?

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What do you want for your birthday? And so we went to Pandora today and I saw the cutest charm that

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we got for my bracelet. It is a pink set of earphones like you and I are wearing right now.

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That is too cool. So random. Why would they have that? I know. I made the salesperson move a couple

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trays because they were kind of stacked on top of each other on some shelves and I really didn't

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like everything on the top shelf. So I was like, Hey, can I see the next shelf down? And she pulled

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that up and I looked through both trays and oh my gosh, I stopped at the pink headphones. And yeah,

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that's the one that we picked out. Oh, for goodness sakes. I was excited. I couldn't wait to tell you.

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Yeah, that was very exciting. Neat. Yeah. All right. We're going to get started. Now,

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if you have not listened to part one or part two of the Elizabeth smart case, we highly recommend

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that you do so because in part one, we gave the family's perspective on Elizabeth smarts abduction

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back in 2002. And in part two, we talked about Brian Mitchell, also known as Emmanuel. We're doing

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our best to really break things down and give everybody in the family the attention it deserves.

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Beth, I'm not going to lie. Last session, I really got a little bit emotional there towards the end.

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I am just overwhelmed with the fact that Elizabeth smart came out of this as a survivor. Today,

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we are actually going to talk about her personal ordeal through this entire nine months. Well,

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I'm very interested in hearing about that because I never really heard much about her after she was

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found. So I'm kind of interested to hear what's going on during the kidnapping and after I'd like

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to know how she's doing. Well, here we go. All right. Hey, before we get started, I just wanted

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to say that I always have that disclaimer at the very beginning of our episodes, but I did want to

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give a trigger warning throughout this episode. We will be talking directly about some of the things

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that occurred during Elizabeth smarts abduction, specifically rape. And that's always a hard topic

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to discuss. We wanted to give just an extra disclaimer that we do have some sensitive material.

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Today, we're going to give Elizabeth's personal account of everything that occurred during her

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nine month ordeal living with Emmanuel and Wanda, where she was forced to live with these captors

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and begging the streets basically for food and money every day. We had mentioned that during the

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middle of the night, an intruder entered Elizabeth's home, came into her bedroom and abducted her from

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her room that she shared with her younger sister, Mary Catherine. And in later interviews, Elizabeth

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said that she remembers a stranger saying, I have a knife to your neck. Don't make a sound, get up

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and come with me. Now, Elizabeth being 14 years old, immediately thought about her sister that was

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sharing her bed with her. I'm sure there's a ton of people that can relate to this. I personally

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shared a bedroom with one of my sisters, my entire childhood until she went off to college. And I even

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shared the bedroom with her when she came home from college on the weekends. So I know what it's like

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to share small spaces. In this instance, Elizabeth did not hesitate to leave Beth with the intruder

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because she felt the need to protect her family. That's awful sweet of her. Yeah. So as she was

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being led through her dark house, Elizabeth prayed that her parents would wake up, but unfortunately

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they never did. In the meantime, I had told you that Mary Catherine had woken up. She also heard

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somebody saying something in the dark and she knew her sister had been taken from beside her right

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out of her bed. Now, Mary Catherine was trying to figure out the best time to go to her parents

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to tell them what had happened. Some reports that I saw said that she may have waited as long as two

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hours because one, I would say that she was probably Beth too scared to move. She's nine years old.

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She knows what just happened. He may have threatened her more. So she was just scared to move. Or in

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some reports, I heard that she had said that she may have thought it was just a dream. So regardless

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on if she was too scared or thought it was a dream, the abduction occurred somewhere between

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2 a.m. and 2 30. And Mary Catherine ended up waking her parents up say about four o'clock in

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the morning to tell them what had happened. So that's kind of where we go from there. That's

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just a small little recap on everything we've talked about in the first couple of sessions,

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but I'm going to go on and start talking about the camp that Elizabeth was taken to in the middle of

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the night. So while the Smart family began searching that house for Elizabeth and calling

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the police and other family members, Elizabeth recalls being taken into some woods surrounding

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her house. You remember that I had mentioned that the Smart's home was surrounded in trees,

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but you would really need to go look that up Beth to see what the Federal Heights neighborhood

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looked like in Salt Lake City to get a full picture on the forestry in that area. Because

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when Elizabeth and Emmanuel had left her home, they began this journey into a thick of these

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woods where Emmanuel and Wanda had lived as survivalists. While they were making their way

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through the woods, a car's headlights came directly towards the two Beth and Elizabeth was

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instructed to duck. Emmanuel threatened her again and said, one tiny peek and you know what I will

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do. So once the car was gone, they both began running all while Elizabeth continued to be held

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at knife point. That has got to be terrifying for this poor girl. Yes. Yes. Well, Elizabeth straight

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up told him, if you're going to rape and kill me, do it now. Well, this person at the time,

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Elizabeth didn't even know who he was. In her eyes, the intruder just looked at her and said,

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I'm not going to do that to you yet. I'm just going to hold you for ransom. Well, Elizabeth tried to

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reason with him, telling him that her parents would absolutely pay the ransom. And she reminded him

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that he could go to prison for this, but Beth, nothing phased him. He just kept her on her path

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and took her into the woods. That's very strange. Well, remember his mentality to when we talked

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about him in part two and where he was at and what his beliefs were. Yeah. And by 6 30 in the morning,

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the sun was coming up and Emmanuel began getting a little antsy because he needed to get Elizabeth

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across the mountain because he was pretty much worried they were going to be seen since Elizabeth

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was wearing red pajamas. Now, remember I had told you that there were some trails in the neighborhood

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where bikers and hikers could go. And so that's where he was leading her. And Emmanuel was a little

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worried that they were going to be seen since the sun was coming up. And Elizabeth was forced to

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climb up into the woods, which took hours to reach where they were headed. And she remembers how

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Emmanuel had forced her to walk ahead of him so that she couldn't run down the mountain and,

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you know, make a break for it. She also remembers that there was no way that she could run uphill

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to get away from him either. And when the two got close to the camp, Emmanuel called out to his wife.

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And if you remember, I'm going to call her Wanda because she went by several names, but again,

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I'm not always good at pronunciation. So we're just going to call her Wanda. Elizabeth was

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terrified just from the look of this woman sitting in the woods when they came upon her. In Elizabeth

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words, this woman was a scary witch and the woman came up to hug her. Elizabeth even felt more

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terrified just from that connection there. Yes, of course. Well, after they reached the camp,

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this woman also tried to take Elizabeth's clothes off and even attempted to bathe her. But of course,

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Elizabeth is going to resist, right? She had told the couple that she was very shy, but that didn't

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do very much because they went ahead and disrobed her and burned her clothes very quickly and

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eventually got a long robe on her that she could wear instead. Elizabeth was shackled to a tree

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in the thick brush and even heard search parties calling her name at this hour, Beth. Oh my gosh.

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Wow. To be hearing her name called and not being able to say anything. I will say this. When they

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got to the camp, Elizabeth had noticed that it was set up for true survival in the wilderness.

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Elizabeth was very well versed in her Bible and quickly turned to her faith and even prayed daily

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for ways to escape. Wanda had told Elizabeth that she should be happy because Beth, it was her

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wedding day. What? Yep. Wanda went on to say, go ahead though. It's okay to cry only today. Wow.

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You know, they gave her a moment to allow things to sink in. I'm not going to take that as a

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sign that they had any sympathy for her, but this is when Elizabeth was told that Emmanuel knew he

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was going to kidnap her the day they were out with her mother and they gave him $5 in the streets,

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the day he came to work on their roof. Wow. Emmanuel had scouted the house a couple of times

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before he made his move. The first time would have been when he was working on the roof, of course.

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And then I imagine that he probably drove by a few times to kind of see what the layout was,

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look at where all the windows were and who knows, he may have actually snuck up and that's how he

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was able to get into that house so easily by stacking those chairs, right? Yes. So with that

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being said, he was able to successfully make an escape route and that's how he was able to get

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away so quickly. Now, Emmanuel and Wanda held this marriage ceremony between Emmanuel and Elizabeth

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and during the ceremony, Emmanuel told Elizabeth that she was sealed with him and that she was now

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his wife. Well, that's a little freaky. It is. Can you imagine at her age, how terrifying? At 14.

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Yes. And I will say this, this is where we had talked about in our last episode where the

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fundamentalists beliefs come in and plural marriages. If you read that book that I had

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mentioned by John Krocauer, which is under the banner, son, you will learn a lot about that. And

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many times, wives are married or 14 year olds or very young women are sealed to their husband at

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a young age. Oh, I didn't know that. So after they were sealed, that's when he told her that they were

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going to consummate their marriage. He entered the tent where he had put her and of course,

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Elizabeth tried to scream. But again, Emmanuel began threatening to kill her, which Beth, this

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is a common theme, honestly, from here and throughout. So if I don't even say that he

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threatened her on a daily basis, just know that as we keep going through the story, you will

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understand why she didn't try to make a getaway because she was being threatened every day of her

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life. Well, Elizabeth was made into a personal slave to Emmanuel. And although she begged him

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daily to leave her alone, he just completely ignored her. And later that day,

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Emmanuel had chained Elizabeth to the wire cable to keep her from running. So she was able to

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walk a little freely, but she certainly couldn't go very far. And he made it very clear that he

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was a master. She was basically at his beck and call. Now, Emmanuel did use punishment on

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Elizabeth because of her spiritual beliefs and even used her Mormon religion against her.

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She was starved repeatedly and forbidden to drink water until she partook in drinking alcohol on

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demand. Elizabeth, of course, shunned it for as long as she could. But when she finally took a sip,

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Emmanuel forced her to drink the entire cup. Oh, that is awful. Especially since she was so young

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and never had a drink before. Yeah, that's sadistic. After that, he would rape her. And this just went on

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pretty much every day. That was pretty much what she was dealing with behind the scenes. So we know

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up until this point, everything that the public is aware of, but this is coming straight from

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Elizabeth in her ordeals and what she dealt with every day. Over the next several weeks, it was

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inevitable that Elizabeth eventually lost her own identity. I had told you in the last episode that

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Emmanuel and Wanda made her change her name. And in some reports, I did see that her new name was

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Augustine, but I also saw that she had picked her own name in which she chose the name Esther,

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which came from the Old Testament. Emmanuel did not fall short of abusing Elizabeth every day.

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He continuously told her that she was evil and he was going to kill her family if she ever tried to

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run away. Emmanuel also reminded Elizabeth daily that he knew where she lived. And if she was ever

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going to try to leave, he was going to go back to her house and kill her mother and her sister.

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Because remember, he knows pretty much everybody inside that family and Mary Catherine was in the

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room when he took Elizabeth. Well, three days into her capture, Elizabeth saw helicopters flying so

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low, Beth, over her camp that the tent was blown down. Oh my gosh, how could the helicopters not

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see? I guess those trees really had to be really dense. And the only thing I could say is I wish

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they might have gone in at night and used night vision goggles because they would have seen the

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body heat. Oh my. Yep. But they were looking during the day. And remember, this is like

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early 2000s and I can't imagine too much difference in search parties, but to sit there knowing that

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that helicopter was so low, Elizabeth heard who she thought was her uncle Dave calling out to her in

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the woods. But Emmanuel had told her to keep quiet and the voices eventually stopped. That is a sad

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time there for her because she would give up all hope. Yeah. And I'm sure the search party probably

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did their search in a grid. So if they had already checked that area, then I'm going to assume they

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just moved on to the next grid. And I don't really know on how big the search party was. So were there

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people on foot? She thought she heard her uncle Dave. So they had to have been close on foot.

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And then again, how thick was the brush? So many factors. Right. It must have been pretty thick.

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Well, Emmanuel and Wanda were pretty much invincible. They threatened Elizabeth's family

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repeatedly and they were getting away with it and everything that they had done. So that's where

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Elizabeth's mindset is. She's thinking nobody's going to come for me and they're getting away

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with this every day. So nobody's going to stop these people. And in that process, she slowly began

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losing any remaining hope that someone was going to come find her. As a matter of fact, she lost

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hope so quickly that she felt no one even cared. And she was already old news. So 14 years old,

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Beth, on day three of her capture, she's already thinking nobody's going to come looking for me.

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I'm old news. They've moved on. That is horrifying and sad and lots of mixed emotions there for her.

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Well, Elizabeth was told that she would never be allowed to even talk about her life and her family

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ever again. So they wanted her to wipe out all her memories of 14 years with her family,

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never say a word about her cousins, aunts, uncles, any of her relatives. However, there was a little

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problem with that because one night, Emmanuel began talking about his own mother and where she

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lived. Well, Elizabeth forgot about that rule to never talk about her family, Beth. And so in the

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conversation, she absentmindedly mentioned that her cousin lived very close to where Emmanuel's

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mother had lived. And Emmanuel did not say anything that day, but a couple days later,

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he received a revelation that Elizabeth's cousin, Olivia, would become his next wife. Oh my. And he

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would talk for hours about how he had planned to kidnap more girls and bring them back to

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the camp to make them his wives as well. Beth, do you remember in our last couple episodes,

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when we had mentioned that Elizabeth's cousin woke up listening to her dad talking to the police

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because somebody was trying to break in her house? Yes. That's the moment. That is how it occurred.

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I see how things are starting to connect here. Oh my gosh. Wow. Yeah, we got the behind the scenes.

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This go round. Yes. Well, in mid July of 2002, Elizabeth had been chained to her camp for

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somewhere around six weeks now until Emmanuel and Wanda got into an argument. And Wanda said she was

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not going to stay at the camp anymore. This is when the trio began moving around town with their

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robes on and their face covers on. This is when they were seen panhandling in the streets, going

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to the buffet restaurants, and even that party that we had talked about. Oh. On August 27th of 2002,

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the trio was seen at that public library. And this is where they were going to look up places to go

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move to Southern California. And this is also where the police officers had questioned the group

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and asked Elizabeth to remove her veil. But remember that I had mentioned how Emmanuel went

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ballistic and said only he was allowed to look at his wife's and daughter's face. Is this starting

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to add up? Yes, it is. Well, Emmanuel panhandled for somewhere around three weeks before he was

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able to save up enough money for this trip. And Elizabeth describes setting up a new camp in

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Southern California where she thought it looked like the fire swamp in The Princess Bride. Have

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you ever seen that movie, Beth? I think I did so many years ago. It was a long time ago. Mitchell

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insisted that everyone drink alcohol to celebrate their new location. And Elizabeth agreed this time

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but not to celebrate, but instead to numb her trauma. So she was at this point partaking in

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alcohol to numb her feelings, Beth. That is really sad. This poor girl. Yeah. But you know what,

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she's a survivor. And I don't know, I have no words. I have a lot of goosebumps, but I have no

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words. September of 2002, this is when Emmanuel was invited to that party and he went ahead and

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went and took Wanda and Elizabeth with him. And this is that party where those pictures are that

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I had talked about where Elizabeth was in the middle of the crowd. She was wearing that robe

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and she had that face veil on. And the party itself was very culturally diverse. So when the

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trio came in, no one really put any thought to it about how they were dressed. I had mentioned

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before, some people thought they were just coming in costume. And again, the area that they were

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living in, it was not highly unusual to see people wearing different outfits. Emmanuel at some point

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became very unruly at the party and he got kicked out. No one at that party at the time put two and

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two together to make a connection between Elizabeth's disappearance and her being seen around town.

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So it was still kind of early in the game, September of 2002. I don't think everything was

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highly publicized just yet because Ed Smart went to the news somewhere around February of 2003.

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And that's where he began to publicize his sketch. So between September and February, there was not a

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ton of information that was out there. Yes, the community and the world was on the lookout for her,

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but they just didn't have a ton to go by. So I'm sure people at the party didn't give it a lot of

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thought. Now, Ed did go to the news media to put out that sketch. And remember, it was that of a

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clean shaven man. Within two weeks, Emmanuel's sister had told the police that they believed the

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person the Smarts were looking for was her brother, Brian Mitchell. Police went to his sister's house

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with a picture and she positively identified this as her brother. The detectives placed a wanted

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poster around the precinct for Emmanuel's arrest in the connection to Elizabeth Smart's abduction,

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but Beth, the higher ups made them take the posters down. Oh my gosh. Would you like to know why?

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Why? They still believed that Richard Reesey was their number one suspect. I wonder why?

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I don't know. The posters were taken down from public view, but they were relocated to the

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detective's department of the building. The higher ups made them change the name from wanted to

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wanted for questioning. Okay, we're just going to ask this guy a couple of questions, but we know

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Richard Reesey is our number one suspect. So we're not going to put a lot of effort into this.

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When the detectives realized that nothing was going to be done about going after Emmanuel,

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besides just questioning Mick Fennerty, the chief FBI investigator sent the wanted poster photos

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to the news media himself, Beth, and to John Walsh with America's Most Wanted. Good for you, Mick.

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Yeah, for sure. So Debbie Mitchell, if you remember, was Brian Mitchell's ex-wife. She ended up

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calling America's Most Wanted to pretty much give the T on her ex-husband and how he had molested

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her daughter, how he was abusive and so on. Do you remember me telling you how Mitchell had fed

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the rabbit to his stepdaughter for dinner one night? Yes. So she was the one to call America's

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Most Wanted to at least give them a tip on his behavior and abuse. Good, good. Well, all that

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was happening at the beginning of February and by February 12th, the trio continued to be seen

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walking around town and around the wood line behind Elizabeth's home. Beth, I had mentioned

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before, I didn't understand why Emmanuel would ever go back to the area that he took her from.

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Yeah. Now he's seen directly walking around the wood line where Elizabeth's neighborhood is.

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That does not make any sense to me. Do you think it goes to the usual where the criminal always

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goes back to the crime scene? That's a good thought process. Yeah, because he's quite bold,

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isn't he? Very, very. And it's almost like he's taunting people. Yeah. So he's very sure of

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himself and it just sounds to me like he's taunting people. Well, Elizabeth states that

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Emmanuel said that going into town to preach was so demanding, yet the women of the camp,

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that would be Wanda and Elizabeth, they were blessed to have each other at that camp. He had

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left on February 12th and was gone for at least three days, leaving both women with no food and

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no water. How long can we live without food and water, Beth? I think it's around seven days for

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food, three days with no water. Three days comes to mind, so I'm thinking it is a three days without

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water. So these women had gone three days without water and you know that they are probably suffering

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from that. Yes. Well, on February 18th of 2003, Elizabeth was starting to feel the effects of no

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water and no food and she was becoming very lightheaded and said she was preparing herself

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to die at this point because she had gone so long without food and water. Well, guess what? It began

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to rain. There's always that blessing. She and Wanda collected the rainwater the best that they

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could and they were able to rehydrate themselves at least to hold on for another day until Emmanuel

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decided to show up. Look, I'm getting a little riled here. I really want to call him a name,

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but I'm trying not to swear on this podcast. So otherwise he would be reaching my level of

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swear words that we're going to hold off on. But anyway, along comes Emmanuel with the box of KFC,

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just singing. Come on. Yep. He's singing and dancing and just having a grand old time,

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making a grand entrance into the camp, telling stories of his arrest for breaking into churches

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while he was gone. And he was booked at that time, went before the judge and was released

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until his court date. My gosh. The nerve of him. All right. In early of March, 2003,

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Leeds started coming in heavily saying that the trio was seen at that super salad buffet restaurant.

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It was around this time that Emmanuel had told Wanda and Elizabeth that it was time to leave

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the area again. And maybe this time they would go to New York. Elizabeth began thinking of ways to

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convince him to go back to Salt Lake City. Believe it or not, Beth, this is months after her captivity

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and she's still thinking of ways to escape. She played reverse psychology on him. Now that's

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pretty smart for a 14 year old. She looked at Mitchell in the eye or Emmanuel in the eye and

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said, I know it sounds crazy, but I just have a feeling that we need to return to Salt Lake.

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Do you think if you could ask God if we are supposed to go back, I just know he will tell you

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because you're a prophet. So remember she's playing the game. Wow. And she's doing an amazing job.

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Gosh. Yes, she is. Because when you're dealing with that personality, when you're saying all

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these high and mighty things about them, you know that it's all about them. So he probably

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put some thought into that and said, Oh my gosh, you're right. Let's go back to Salt Lake City.

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So Beth, this is when she told him that she needed to experience hitchhiking and they also bought

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a $1 wig and a $1 pair of sunglasses and began hiking back to Salt Lake City. Wow. So that's when

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she had that gray wig on Beth. Oh yes. Yes. Yeah. Okay. Here comes the day of reckoning.

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Oh, this is just the amazing climactic moment of this entire series, Beth. I might get choked up

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again. So I'm going to try to hold it together. On March 12th of 2003, the trio boarded a bus to go

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back to Salt Lake City. And along the way, that passenger began questioning why this girl is

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wearing a disguise because obviously she didn't have gray hair. I've seen the pictures. It

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definitely looked like an old woman's wig and there's no way in heck that a 14 year old girl's

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going to have gray hair. No. Well, Emmanuel had brushed the guy off and they quickly exited the

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bus upon its arrival in Salt Lake City. However, calls immediately started coming into America's

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most wanted hotline with witnesses saying that they spotted Emmanuel, the person that they were

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looking for in Sandy, Utah. Police approached the trio very quickly, Beth, and began interrogating

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them. Emmanuel, of course, gave the police three fake names and the police were not able to find

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anything in their database. Because they were doing their job, police immediately separated

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the trio from one another. One of the police officers continued to question Emmanuel. Another

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took Wanda aside and a third officer began questioning Elizabeth. This is the officer

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that took notice that the girl he was talking to resembled Elizabeth Smart. Do you remember me

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talking about how he put that flyer up to her face and said, this is you, and she denied it?

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I sure do. Mm-hmm. Yep. So after nine months of torture, starvation, and brainwashing,

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Elizabeth remained on cue with the answers that she was groomed to say if anybody had asked her.

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Remember too how I had said, Emmanuel threatened Elizabeth every day for nine months that he was

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going to kill her and he was going to go after her family if she ever told anyone who she was.

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So instead of saying, I am Elizabeth, she told the police that she had been staying with her

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mother in Florida and had recently joined her father in Utah. This was a 45-minute conversation

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with the police, Beth. Elizabeth denied that she was the missing Elizabeth Smart for 45 minutes

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because of all those threats that she had been receiving against her and against her family.

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In addition to the fact that she thought Emmanuel was invincible because he had gotten away with

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this for so long, she kept looking over at him throughout the questioning and really believed

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that no one was going to stop him because he was a smooth talker. He was able to get away with it

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once or twice. He got away with it at the library. He got away with it at the buffet. And so Elizabeth

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really did not believe that anything was going to be any different this go-round. Wow. So in the

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meantime, Emmanuel, Wanda and Elizabeth were all handcuffed and put into separate cars as the police

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were trying to coax her into telling them that she was Elizabeth. And at one point, one of the

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police officers asked her if she was Elizabeth Smart and this is when she replied, thou sayeth.

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And he didn't quite understand if you remember, he didn't understand why she said that, but you

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have to remember why did she answer this way, thou sayeth, because this is how she and Emmanuel

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and Wanda had been talking. This is how the conversations went in the last nine months.

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They talked biblically. So what does thou sayeth mean? Thou, thee, you. Thou means you. Sayeth

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means say. You are saying I am Elizabeth. I am not disagreeing with you. Okay. Yeah. She was using

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more of a biblical language because that's how they had been talking in the camp for nine months.

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And at this point in time, she had broken down. Now here's why she didn't say who she was. And

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if you remember at the very end of part two, I had mentioned that Elizabeth showed outward concern

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toward her captors. A lot of people questioned was this Stockholm syndrome? If anybody remembers

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that case from the seventies with Patty Hearst, where you sympathize with your captors. Well,

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Elizabeth showed outward concern toward her captors because she believed that Emmanuel was

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within hearing distance. So if she answered, Elizabeth said in an interview that she believed

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Emmanuel was within hearing distance. So if she answered, thou sayeth, then maybe he wouldn't know

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what they were talking about. Oh, very smart girl. So there was no sympathizing with her captor.

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She was still trying to figure out every which way, but loose to get out of this situation.

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Yet she was still taking into consideration that he was going to harm her family. And so when she

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said, thou sayeth, she said it in a way so that if he did overhear anything, then he wouldn't have a

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clue as to what they were saying. Hallelujah. Now the police just looked at each other and

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said, okay, we're going to take that as a yes, you're Elizabeth Smart. And she did not deny it

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at that point. And that is when the world knew that Elizabeth Smart had been found. So after

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Elizabeth's accounts, Emmanuel and Wanda were arrested for aggravated kidnapping and child

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endangerment. And a short time later, Ed Smart walked into the precinct and was reunited with

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Elizabeth. She was quickly reunited with the rest of her family, her siblings, her uncles, her mother,

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everybody. And guess what? John Walsh even flew out the same day to give a heartfelt account

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on how much joy he felt by being able to bring back a family member alive to their loved ones.

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Oh, that is so nice. Isn't it? Oh, Beth, this has got to be one of the most emotional stories I've

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ever told. Yes. Now, even better, her first night back home, Lois, her mother had asked if she wanted

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to sleep in her room, you know, set up a palette on the floor, whatever, and they could have a big

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old slumber party. And Elizabeth said, No, I just want to sleep in my own bed. But don't worry,

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I'll be here in the morning. Oh, doesn't she have a sense of humor? Doesn't she though? Yes. Yep,

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she's a beautiful, beautiful girl. And I mean, I'm not gonna say she's a girl anymore, because

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this happened 20 years ago. That's hard to believe. My gosh, where does the time go? I know. Well,

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as she was healing from this ordeal, Elizabeth's family felt it was important to let Elizabeth

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make her own decisions on how to move forward. And she chose to receive support from her family

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over a therapist. You remember me telling you how close everybody was? Yes. So if you're going to

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look her up today, you would see that Elizabeth is married. She's got three beautiful children

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of her own. And she has chosen to share her story through public speaking and writing a book so that

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she could be a voice for those survivors who could not speak. And remember, Beth, she could not speak

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for nine months. Yeah. In the meantime, she's gotten laws into place. And she's now married

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with that family that I had mentioned. She met her husband Matthew at a missionary center who knew

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nothing about her ordeal because he's originally from Scotland. And that might be a good thing,

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the starting fresh. And I'm so happy to hear that the family is so close and good outcome.

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Well, Elizabeth found herself faced with the same questions that you and I just talked about

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a little while ago. Well, you were at the party, how come you didn't try to escape? And you were

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in town with your captors. Why didn't you run? And did you sympathize with your captors? And why

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didn't you try to save yourself? Well, Elizabeth stays strong and basically said that she made her

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own rescue possible. And I totally agree with that. And those were some of the things that John Walsh

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had said to that you cannot judge anybody because you do not know the shoes they're walking in. And

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I 100% agree with that. The news media just continued on though, because we know how the

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news media can be. They tried their best to get details out of Elizabeth. And I did watch

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one news report, it was probably on the bigger cable channels where Elizabeth was being questioned

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and anytime she tried to talk about saving other children, they kept coming back to her, but

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Elizabeth stuck to her guns and shut them down really quickly anytime that she was asked for

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details. That is pretty much what has happened up until this point. And there's a ton of information.

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I'll probably end up saying this in just a second. But I don't know if you are even interested

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to know what has happened to Emanuel and Wanda. I sure am. Okay. So remember in our earlier episode

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where Emanuel was identified as Brian Mitchell. So just for the duration of this episode, I will

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go ahead and call him Mitchell. And during his interrogation, his only confession to the entire

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situation is that he plundered Ed Smart, which means that he just pulled the wool over his eyes.

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That was his only confession. Crazy. Yep. It took eight years for Brian Mitchell and Wanda Barzei

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to make it to trial because both had to go through a competency evaluation at a state mental hospital.

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And some wondered if this was just a ruse as to keeping their case open or throwing it out of

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court. Because of Mitchell's deep belief system that he held, the state kept him there until they

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were both deemed competent to go to trial. During his court proceedings, Mitchell was nonviolent,

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but disruptive throughout the entire ordeal and even went through multiple legal counsel.

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Not surprised. Yeah, exactly. Well, John Walsh told Elizabeth to stand her ground and go head to

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head with Mitchell in court because he felt that Mitchell's mental state was all a charade due to

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the singing and dancing in court and all things considered to be an act or just simply bizarre behavior.

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Elizabeth said that when she saw Mitchell shackled, she knew that he no longer had a hold on her.

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And basically, Brian Mitchell in the end was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility

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of parole. My gosh, thank goodness. Absolutely. Now, Wanda Barzei was sentenced to 15 years in

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prison for kidnapping in child endangerment. And Beth, she's currently out on probation until 2024.

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Because according to the Associated Press, Wanda Barzei was released early from prison on September

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19th, 2018, after the Utah Board of Pardons and Paroles determined that they had miscalculated

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the times that she had previously served in federal custody. So she is out there living her life.

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I don't understand how that can be. Well, Elizabeth states that before her abduction,

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she grew up with a happily ever after mentality until Brian Mitchell took that away from her.

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However, she's doing amazing today and continues to be an amazing role model to young victims.

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Elizabeth is an advocate for child protection rights. She went to the White House when President

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George W. Bush was in office and signed the Adam Walsh Act, which requires all convicted sex

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offenders to register in a nationwide database. The SMARTS began the RAD Kids Program. And in

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2011, Elizabeth began the Elizabeth Smart Foundation, which provides assistance to

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victims and families. And you can visit that website at elizabethsmartfoundation.org to find

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out more information or to donate. And I just kind of wanted to end things here just to follow up

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with some of the other family members that we had talked about because they played a really heavy

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role in this. David and Tom Smart, Ed's brothers, they felt that life was hard after Elizabeth had

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returned. Tom had written a book about the police investigation and Ed just needed to heal privately.

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Well, in 2019, Ed Smart publicly announced that he is gay. He and Lois ended up getting a divorce,

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but still remain friends today. And Elizabeth stated that this is a private matter between

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her parents, but fully supports them both. Lois Smart, Elizabeth's mom, has come to terms with

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her relationship ending with Ed after 34 years of marriage, but she continues to reside in Utah and

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is an accomplished author. That's a nice ending knowing that the parents are happy and the mother

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is an accomplished author and Elizabeth is back home with her own family. Yeah, absolutely. And

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has a family of her own. And there we have it. That's three parts done. Wow. Do you have a teachable

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moment out of this, Deb? Well, Beth, I don't really have a full teachable moment from this other than

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to say that no matter where you are, who you are, how old you are, you are loved and you know that

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you have supporters out there. You have people in your lives that you may not even realize that

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are there for you and will be there for you. There is a song out there. It's actually rather

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old, Beth. It's called, Find Out Who Your Friends Are and it's by Tracy Lawrence. It also includes

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a couple other singers, Tim McGraw, Kenny Chesney. That's a great song to go listen to. Long story

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short, you've got people in your lives that you know you can count on, so don't ever think that

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you are dealing with things by yourself. Yes, never give up hope. Okay, I think we can end here. Do you

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want to add any more thoughts or? Nope, just to say that's a wrap. Okay, so we do want to thank

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you for listening to our episode and before we go, we would love for you to review on your favorite

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leave a comment on the page so that we know what we can do better. If you have a story you would

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like for us to cover, please visit our website at dying to be found.com just like you see it on our

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week. Bye.