EVIL IS RELEASEDLEASE
The woman who kidnapped Elizabeth Smart and stood by as her husband repeatedly raped the girl walked out of prison a free woman Wednesday
Wanda Barzee was sprung from Utah State Prison just after 8 a.m., the state’s Department of Corrections said.
Between federal and state prisons, she spent 15 years behind bars for the infamous 2002 kidnapping of then-14year-old Smart.
Barzee, 72, was expected to be released from custody after Utah’s Board of Pardons and Parole admitted last week that it miscalculated her sentence.
Under conditions of her release, Barzee will be under federal supervision and have to undergo mental-health treatment for five years, the Salt Lake Tribune reported.
She also registered as a sex offender and is prohibited from contacting Smart or her family.
Smart, now 30, married and expecting her third child, on Tuesday blasted Barzee’s release as “incomprehensible,” saying she believes her abductor is still a danger to society.
On Wednesday, Smart thanked her supporters on Instagram and called the last few weeks a “roller coaster of emotion.”
“May we all remain vigilant in watching over our families, friends and community from anyone who would seek to hurt or take advantage. I truly believe life is meant to be happy and beautiful, and no matter what happens that will remain my goal,”. she said.
In an interview that aired Wednesday on “CBS This Morning,” Smart also ripped Barzee’s court-ordered apology as half-hearted.
“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-year-old girl and . . . 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.”
Barzee and her self-proclaimed-prophet husband Brian David Mitchell kidnapped Smart at knifepoint from her Salt Lake City home.
Mitchell raped the teen nearly every day for nine months, while Barzee sat next to her, Smart says.
Barzee had been locked up since she and Mitchell were nabbed in 2003.
She pleaded guilty to federal kidnapping charges in 2009 and the following year copped to state charges for attempting to abduct Smart’s cousin.
Mitchell is serving a life sentence without parole.