Elizabeth Smart kidnapper out of prison after 15 years
She’s out.
One of two people who kidnapped Elizabeth Smart from her home in 2002 was released from prison Wednesday.
Wanda Barzee had been expected to serve several more years, but Utah officials said this month that they miscalculated the amount of time she should serve.
Barzee’s husband Brian Mitchell took Smart from her Salt Lake City home at knifepoint June 5, 2002. Smart, 14 at the time, said she was raped every day, sometimes more than once a day, during the nine months she was held.
Mitchell is serving life in prison, but the 72-year-old Barzee was able to get a plea deal and avoided a longer sentence. She was released from Utah State Prison after serving 15 years.
Smart criticized officials for letting Barzee out of prison, saying she believes that her captor is still a “threat.”
She said in a CBS News interview Wednesday that Barzee was required to write an apology as part of her deal.
“But it was just a very brief, ‘I’m sorry for what I’ve done, the end,’ kind of thing,” Smart said. “I don’t think you can just kidnap a 14-yearold girl and, you know, not only sit by her while she’s being raped but encourage the rapist to continue … then just at the end of it say, ‘I’m sorry,’ and really mean it.”
Smart told CBS News that Barzee would “sit right next to me” as her husband repeatedly raped her.
Barzee will be supervised for five years following her release. Family members have distanced themselves from her, and residents in the Salt Lake City area have expressed concern about where she will end up.
She was denied parole earlier this year for the second time because she would not let a prison psychologist examine her, according to CBS News.
“She’s got nowhere to go,” Smart told the network. “She’s mentally ill, terribly mentally ill, and she’s very manipulative.”