Our homes. They're comfortable, relaxing, and safe. It's our place where we can be ourselves and hide from the outside world. Let our guard down today. Our story will start with a loving family in their home and a wide open window, which left fourteen year old Elizabeth Smart very vulnerable, and soon her parents would find out that their child was no longer in the protection of their home, but rather in the unforgiving grasp of her kidnapper.
Warning.
The following podcast contains graphic content and material intended for a mature audience. Listener discretion is advised.
Well, hello there, my name's Ben, I'm Nicole, and you're listening to Wicked and Grim.
A true crime podcast. Hello, Hello, welcome back to Wicked and Grim. It has to happen.
So we all just get to now be afraid of never sleeping with our windows open.
Essentially that's how we roll.
Ye. Well, yeah, so we now like we we have to lock our doors and now we can't leave our windows open pretty much.
That's that's exactly how it's gonna happen.
Oh boy, oh boy.
If there's anything you should learn from a true crime podcast, it's probably that you should lock your doors.
Even if you live on a balcony exactly, even if you live on a balcony, please.
Because we've talked before some dudes scaling about a freaking apartment building. Yeah, what was it like the fifth or sixth floor?
Wasn't I have seven or eight?
I think my multiple floors?
That is insane and terrifying.
Into someone's place. So lock your shit, hid your kids. Hi'd your wife.
Just become a hermit? Eh?
Pretty much in the woods.
But something bad could still happen to you.
But being a hermit in the woods, Okay, how awesome would that be? Especially this day and age with society? How it is the basic recession that is apparently predicted to come upon us because look at gas prices, everything is skyrocketing.
Thess of living is insane right now?
Would eight and I don't care how big it is? A twelve by twelve cabin, like, not even a bedroom, just a twelve by twelve cabin out in the woods. You're isolated on your own little property. How incredible would that be?
Ritten? Oh yeah, I dream of that shit often.
Please let's make it out and we.
Could still bring our WiFi with us. We could podcast, Yeah, so like we'd be fine.
Oh shit, we'd be like fucking handsome.
We would have to be I guess growing our own food and stuff though, like next level. And then we'd have to come into town every once in a while, maybe get a new animal, may have animals. Ben won't let me get a new kitten.
We live in a tiny home and we have two giant huskies and a Kiwi cat.
I know, and I'm just I'm torturing myself. I literally have gone and visited them twice.
Sorry, I should clarify Kiwi cat. Kiwis the name of our cat. So if you don't know a Kiwi cat, that's just our cat.
Oh what did you say? I didn't, I said a Kiwi cat, a Kiwi cat. Yeah, two huskies and a Kiwi Yeah. But yeah, and I just go and snuggle the shit out of these kittens.
Yeah, that's dangerous.
Oh and I look into their eyeballs and they want to come home with me.
But can't be doing all that all the time.
I know, I know they'll go to good homes.
They will.
Yeah.
But moving on from cutesy little animals and living at bitch cabins, I did want to talk about our cool new design that we have for merch.
Yeah, exclusive merch, very exclusive, like about as exclusive as it gets.
So we have an account over on red Bubble where an incredible amount of people have purchased our merch t shirts, stickers, water bottles, blankets, even socks. Socks, yeah, lots of socks. But we decided, you know what, We've done some giveaways where we give away some of our merch, but what if we create a cool design. And I think we've talked about this in the last episode, what if we create a cool design that is specifically only four giveaways.
So you did it. I did it. I did some doodling on my digital art painting thing and came up with a design.
Yeah, it's awesome. It's so good.
So if you want to see it, you can head over and check us out on Instagram and Facebook. We'll post a picture there.
Patreon or patrons have already seen it.
Patrons, Yeah, heads up on that.
People have said it's your favor their favorite design.
So far exactly, So I'm glad they like it. And the only way you're going to ever be able to get this design on any sort of merch is winning a giveaway of sorts from us. So I feel like we're.
Gonna able to do some like a few giveaways now, I think. So I got to get this design out there of a few.
Giveaways before we get to this case. One last thing I want to drop. We were just talking about doing a big old.
Giveaway, a massive giveaway, so.
It's going to be really cool. There will be only one winner for it. It will be some real cool like epic package deal thing, so watch out for that. That's going to be coming soon, you good bro.
A mosquito just landed on my mic. I wanted to kill it, but I couldn't.
Pretty sure you went cross eyed steering.
I know, I was like mosquitos are I said, did I say that to you the other day? Basically? The only animal'll ever.
Kill fair enough? I mean they're not really an animal or an insect.
Class the only other living being there. You go, I don't know, Okay, yeah, no, this giveaway is going to be so cool. So I was very distracted by the mosquito.
So if you want to heads up on all these sort of things, because we talk to our patrons about all this sort of good stuff, you can head over to Patreon sign up over there. And speaking of Patreon. We have a patron who signed up this week, actually signed they signed up just like an hour today prior to recording.
So cool.
So, Matthew Rolu, I really hope I said your name right? Thank you so much for signing up. You amazing, you wicked.
Thank you so much, Matthew exactly. So how do you sell the last name? Oh?
I turned my phone off? Oh shoot, I think it was ro Ul Eau.
Okay, yeah, okay, right on, cool.
Last name it is? So without further ado, you ready to get into this case?
I am yeah, now that you've really piqued her interest there well.
As I mentioned in the intro of this whole story, it revolves around a fourteen year old girl and that girl's name is Elizabeth.
Smart, which is sad as hell.
So Elizabeth was born on November third, nineteen eighty seven, in Salt Lake City, Utah. She was born into a loving family that found a lot of pride in their Mormon belief and Elizabeth was the second oldest child in the family where she had four brothers and one sister. Now, clearly that's a busy home with six children, right, that's a lot of children. But each of them were loved and cared for by their parents, Ed and Lois Smart. Each of them were loved and cared for just as
much as the next one beside them. So it was a very loving home, great place for kids to be good.
I love that. Now.
Elizabeth was looking forward to her middle school, graduation from Bryant Middle School and moving into East High School in Salt Lake City. But soon young Elizabeth would be worrying about much different things, things that would let's say, dwarf her thoughts about, say church, her heart lessons. Oh oh, the main thing on her mind would be turned to survival. Dundunay.
I know, I was like, really wondering where you're with that. I was like wondering if someone she was like chatting with someone or something.
So, uh, what do you mean by chatting with someone?
Well, I don't know. Sometimes kids get into things that they're not sup sed to get, or talk to people that they shouldn't be talking to, or hanging out with the wrong crowd or something, and then their life takes a turn.
Not Elizabeth, Okay, No, she was not in any sort of online chat rooms. There was no like a weird boyfriend or anything like that. She had her little group of friends, and they were tight. They were good kids. She was quite quiet and reserved. She was just all around like a picture perfect, cute fourteen year old girl. Oh my god, doing what fourteen year old girls should be doing, and being a good kid. Like you couldn't ask for a better daughter. Essentially as far as I can.
Find, Oh my gosh, my heart. Okay.
So with that being said, in the early morning hours of June fifth in two thousand and two, Elizabeth's nine year old sister, Mary Catherine, who shared her room with Elizabeth, would make her way into her parents' bedroom. She would walk over to her mom's side of the bed and wake her up. And she looked at her mom and she said, Mom, somebody has taken Elizabeth.
Oh my goodness. Could you imagine that's one way to be woken up?
That would be scary. Yeah, But now, not realizing the severity of the situation, both parents got out of bed and began searching the kid's room. I think more specifically, the father went down began searching first, while the mom stayed back.
Well, yeah, you could honestly think, oh, maybe she's just somewhere in the house, right, Like, I don't exactly should be taken.
They brushed it off at first, thinking that, you know, maybe this daughter had a bit of a nightmare and didn't realize, you know, maybe Elizabeth was just out of bed.
Somewhere in the house, right exactly.
So the father began looking and searching, and then the mother came down with Mary Catherine later a few moments later. Sorry, and Mary Catherine would speak up as she came down, and she would tell her parents as they were searching the house, you're not going to find her. A man has taken her.
Oh my gosh.
And then they turned on the light in the kitchen and that's when they saw that a kitchen window had been opened and a screen was sliced large enough for someone to fit through.
Wow.
And in that moment they realized the severity.
Of this, since you realize, some shit had gone down exactly so brutal.
So this is where we start off with clos your fucking windows. Lock those doors.
Well, like their window could technically have maybe even been closed.
I believe it was left open. Oh there's no I couldn't find any certain evidence or certain statements saying it was left open.
Yeah, but I mean some windows you could probably open, oh, for sure, from the outside. Like I mean, I think a lot of the newer ones you lock them from the inside now a little bit, right, But I bet you there's a lot of windows out there where you.
Don't well, I dear remember in elementary school, I would come home from school before my parents did. We live out in the sticks. There's no neighbors really around anywhere. And I lost the key to get inside, or I
left it in home or something like. I didn't have a key, So I broke into my parents' house and I broke in via prying open a window, and my parents noticed damage to the window later, and I didn't speak up about it, being me seriously, Yeah, there wasn't much damage, Like they just know, why is this chipped?
Oh my goodness, So they're going to maybe listen to this like months down the road and be like.
Maybe then, yeah, surprise, Mom and dad, it was me all along.
Oh my gosh. On the things were your child, and you just must have been so I was a good boy. Yeah, that's one way of putting it, eh.
Back to Elizabeth though, back to the story. Immediately, of course, the Smart family phoned the police, and the police immediately locked down the neighborhood and began in their search. They searched the scene and found the cut open screen in the kitchen window and two chairs sitting at the bottom of the outside of this window. They were sitting back to back, which provided the intruder enough height to gain
access to the window to gain the entrance. Okay, Now, evidence such as fingerprints or DNA were unfortunately not found anywhere on the scene, and searches using bloodhounds were used and they were even unsuccessful.
Wow. Hey, so this person was probably wearing gloves.
I'm assuming there was some statements about it being a contaminated crime scene. I'm not too certain how that would be if the police got in there prior to and searched around before locking it down and understanding. I'm not certain, but it could have been gloves, could have been the contaminated crime scene, could have been a combination. Now, the only evidence they had to go on was that of the witness, Mary Catherine, who shared the bedroom with Elizabeth. Is,
of course, what did she see? What does she know? So the police talked to her and asked her her recount of what had happened, and she told them very consistently the same story, exactly what she had seen. She said, she woke up as a man had crept into their bedroom. Oh my gosh, and as many kids would do, frightened into this sort of catatonic state. Yeah, she pretended to
be asleep. Oh no, she watched the man approach Elizabeth, wake her up and threaten her with what she thought was a gun, but later on we would discover was a knife, and he would say that I will hurt you. Don't make a sound, just come with me.
Holy hack.
Yeah, and then he ushered her out of the bedroom, and moments later that both of them were gone, leaving Mary Catherine to wake up her parents.
Oh wow.
So yeah, that is the whole beginning of this story, this whole debacle that we are about to unfold.
That is a lot like I can't even imagine this. What would be going through this little nine year old girl's brain too? Like should I do something like, oh my goodness, how can you do anything? You couldn't? She did the right thing, probably right.
Well, if she said anything.
Or someone could have gotten really hurt exactly.
Could have been her, could have been Elizabeth, You don't know.
So the guy could have killed the whole family exactly.
Really, yeah, so the police actually they did ask Elizabeth if she knew the man though, and more specifically, since it was dark and she couldn't see, they did ask if she recognized the voice as the man spoke to Elizabeth.
Sorry, they asked Mary Catherine.
I was going to say that, yeah.
Yeah, So they asked Mary Catherine if she recognized the voice, and she said she wasn't able to identify the man visually, but she did recognize the voice, though she wasn't sure from where.
Oh my goodness, okay.
Yeah, so familiar voice, huh. Now. The following day, reward for her rescue was publicly set at or two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and the police were on lookout for the perpetrator.
That's a lot.
And they knew it wasn't a random attack, or they pretty much guaranteed knew it wasn't a random attack.
I mean, it definitely already sounds very much like it was planned.
It sounds very targeted. Yeah, cutting off the screen to a kitchen window and making their way into the specific girl's bedroom, which one yeah, selecting Elizabeth seemed very targeted all around you know, going in specifically to this fourteen year old room, not stealing anything, taking the girl and leaving like that.
That's it sounds very thought through and it's not a crime riddeness they knew what they were doing.
Yeah, it's a very well established neighborhood, no low crime rate. It's just very very very fishy all around. Now, of course, the first seventy two hours are the most crucial, according to anyone, but mostly investigators. Each hour that goes by with a missing person in them not being found increases the chance of harm to the victim and also increases the chance of the perpetrator getting farther and farther away,
making them harder and harder to locate. So investigators were trying to move as quick as possible.
And it's seventy two hours.
You said, the first seventy two hours are the most crucial.
Yes, okay, so like three days basically.
Yes. The response in the community to Elizabeth missing was absolutely out of this world. Almost eighteen hundred people turned up to volunteer to look for her, and her case began to be followed worldwide.
Right on. That is so good though, Yeah, people stepping up like that.
I love that and it could very well be that a lot of people were able to relate to this because Elizabeth was just this picture perfect little girl who was just stolen from her bedroom while family's just trying to sleep. So this could have quite literally.
Have been any anyone's kid, super relatable. Really, yeah, yeah.
So, and that very well could be why this was the case, because it's not like, oh, she was specifically doing this or specifically talking to them. It was she had no relation to anything, but yet she was still selected.
What if it happened to me, Well, then it sounds like the family too, is also pretty involved in that community themselves and stuff, right they were, Yeah, yeah.
So understandably, police began by eliminating, eliminating the first suspect that is always underneath the microscope initially in any case, which.
Is the parents. The parents, Okay, yes.
The family, Yeah, I got it right, ed smart being the father was suspect number one, and his brothers were also taken in by FBI for questioning, and they performed a polygraph test. Now the test would actually come back inconclusive.
Well yeah, because those tests I need to do more research on them, but they just seem like a kind of a joke.
Yeah. Well, the smarts also argue the validity of the tests. They said that these tests went on for hours on end. They were stressed out of their minds from this whole case. They're running on very little sleep over the last few days, yep, And so they were just like these tests like, there's no way, like, we did not do this, we have nothing to do with it. This is basically bullshit. When they called to these polygraph.
Tests, I'm very much so a person probably would be innocent and take one of those tests and be shown as skelty.
Yeah, because it just it tests stress levels. Oh test truth or lie.
And my stress is always like through the roof, no matter what, And in that s the situation, I would be innocent and probably just be stressed, like, oh my gosh, did I actually do this?
Is your name Nicole? Yes, I think so. It looks like she's lying, sir. But the inconclusive tests didn't stump the authorities though it was obvious a family wasn't responsible, They were merely going through procedures to rule them out as suspects officially, which they did so the family wouldn't end up being the only suspects under the scrutiny of authorities.
Though a lead the authorities were able to follow were that of a local milkman who reported seeing a suspicious individual only a few blocks away from the Smart's family home. That man identified as twenty six year old Brett Michael Edmunds. Now the police were able to find him and question him easily enough due to his criminal warrants for fraud
and assaulting a police officer the last month. Oh They went on to question him and they were quickly able to rule him out as a suspect as well, primarily due to the description of the individual and the description of this Brett Edmunds, because Brett was much taller, being he's six foot two two hundred and thirty five pounds, did not fit the description of the perpetrator, and of course, among other things, but that was a prime one. Now
Special Agent Mick Fernerdi was an FBI's invested gator. In fact, he happened to be the lead investigator on this case, and he was able to drum up their next suspect. The Smarts were having some renovations done on their home over the course of the past few months, and on the list of the contractors who had been working on the place was a man by the name of Richard Reese, a man who had a criminal history including attempted homicide and burglary.
Duh, Okay, that's actually very good suspect material. Hey, yes, would have known the house known the family.
Oh and by the way, lois Smart. The mother also brought forward that while he was working at the house, she suspected he stole some jewelry oh outside the house, though I couldn't find anything about the jewelry specifically. When police went to actually arrest Richard, they found items in his home that did in fact belong to the Smarts previously that he had stolen o sh showing that he was in there and did steal from them.
I can't believe they just let that go. Hey, yeah, because they would kind of know who it was, you would think, so you'm surprisingly insane.
Yeah, well, this family seems like to picture perfect. I think they're just like, it's okay sort of thing.
You know. We had people come in here and we thought they like stole our baker's chocolate, and I was like so confused.
Where did that go? Though I never found it.
I think we did end up finding it in the cupboard.
I don't know had we found it.
It was like the weirdest thing because I also don't think that would taste good to just like eat as a chocolate.
No, but it just didn't make sense because chocolate just goes missing. It was on or counter and then it was gone. I don't think we found it.
I don't know. I mean, it was just it's just yeah, it costs like four dollars, like yeah, But I was just like it was just so random and funny. They must have been like really.
Hungry maybe I don't know, or they were really wanting to do some baking when they got home. I guess, I don't know. All the power to them regardless. So the theory the police came up with regarding Richard REESI was this now being a burglar that he is. He knew the inside of the family home since he had worked there previously. Yeah, he targeted them. He went there
and broke in to steal from them again. And when he realized that Elizabeth had woken up and seen him, he knew that he would be recognized by her as he had been there previously. She knew who he was, and he didn't want to get caught, so he took the witness out of the equation.
Oh, like they're thinking he was in there to steal that night and then didn't plan to take Elizabeth, but then just took her.
They thought he went in to do some burglary stuff, stealing things, but Elizabeth saw him come in, so he left with Elizabeth thinking that she would turn him in.
Okay, I don't know. I don't know if I really that theory seems interesting to me.
So that's the police's current theory.
Because like, he wouldn't have been trying to steal shit from the kids' rooms, don't. Like, I don't think that she would have saw him. That's just my opinion, but I don't know.
Yeah, it doesn't quite line up with Mary.
Catherine's exactly because they were both in bed sleeping, it seemed like exactly, and the person breaking in woke her up right yep, according to the little sister.
According to the little girl, yes so. Richard, while he in custody, endured tough questioning from the authorities, and he would admit to previously stealing from the Smart Home while he was there, and he admitted to hearing about Elizabeth's kidnapping on the news, but he was adamant that he
had absolutely nothing to do with her disappearance. Now, I wasn't able to find full video of his interrogation, but there are some clips and some documentaries that I watched, and he's getting quite angry at the police, like why aren't you, like, why are you guys targeting me? Why aren't you looking at someone else? Like someone's out there with her, Like what the fuck are you doing? Like he's very adamant he has nothing to do with it,
getting very upset. Now though he wasn't admitting anything to the FBI and being very adamant that he didn't do it, authorities were certain that they did have their guy, and it was only a matter of time until they were able to prove it. At least that's what they thought. Meanwhile, his face was getting plastered all over the news, and the Smart family knew that he was now suspect number one.
And when I say Smart Family, I also mean Mary Catherine, who was watching the news and saw his face on TV. And she was very confused when she saw his face on TV because she turned to her dad and said, it wasn't him. Why do they have him.
Oh geez, I just hate that because then it's like they almost lose their oomph to try to find someone because they think they have it, like in the bag, you know exactly.
I just hate that, And that's definitely what happens.
Yes, case great, So.
The investigation continued, and now, on July twenty fourth, something else happened that would put everyone on edge just a little bit more. Elizabeth's cousin heard a loud bang one night outside her bedroom window while she slept, and she woke up to a knife cutting through the screen in her bedroom window. Now, of course, she screamed, called her parents and the individual whoever it was right away. The
cops recalled, and thankfully everyone was fine. But outside her bedroom police found the cut screen and two chairs placed back to back just like it had been outside Elizabeth's room.
And this is what is the guy? Who was the other guy? Brent?
Brent, No, that was the milkman identified that guy. That guy's already who's.
The other woman?
Richard?
Reci Okay, So, and this Richard guy's in jail right now, probably right when that happened.
It all happened while Richard is still in custody. So who did this? Then now the cops said they don't know who did it. It could have been just kids playing now copycat of some sort. No so, but there's definitely some turbulence around that. So time kept ticking and the authorities kept trying to prove their theory that Richard was one responsible and kept pressuring him to admit it, and time again he denied having anything to do with it. In fact, he denied it until the day he died.
On August thirtieth, two thousand and two, two months after Elizabeth's disappearance. He died of a brain hemorrhage from an aneurysm while still in police custody.
Oh my gosh.
Yes, arguably from the stress that the police were putting him through. Yike.
Okay, this is just getting to be a next level. Yes, and that's awful.
Richard's case is that's a whole other case. There's a legal thing all about that.
But do we know we get to know if he dies, if he did do it or not, Like I'm assuming he didn't do it.
Right, We get to know if he did it or not.
Yes, Okay, because in my head I'm thinking he didn't do it. So I'm very curious to know what the fuck.
Okay, So that's your gut that Richard did not do it? Yes, correct, Okay, So what do you what's your running theory currently?
Just that Richard didn't do it.
That Richard didn't do it, Okay.
I know I don't have well, because he also wasn't known to the family.
Correct Richard, Yes, he was, he was the contractor.
Oh shit, right, Okay, I'm getting all these Oh no, I don't think he did because I think that that little girl, like just being Mary, being so confused seeing him and stuff. I don't think he did it, Okay, But I don't have any other theories of who did it.
But I don't think it was That's fine. We've only introduced two suspects so far. The one suspect who the police quickly ruled out that was identified by the milkman as being a suspicious individual.
In neighborhood, and then the parents doing it.
And the parents himself, sorry, right, and Richard Reesi, who has now passed away with his custody.
Okay, if he didn't do it, that's so sad.
Well. For many reasons, the passing of Richard would mean that the story would end here with Richard's passing. How would they find out what happened where Elizabeth was? How would they find out what he did? They wouldn't be able to get a confession, you know, all those sort of questions would now be unanswered for the family, though they weren't convinced it was him, especially Mary Catherine. One day in October, Mary Catherine approached her dad and she said, Dad,
I know who it is. I know who took Elizabeth.
My gosh, yeah, this is like and that's two months later, yeah, right, yeah, okay.
So she was reading a book when suddenly it came flooding back to her, like the same way when you know, like you're having a conversation with someone, you forget a piece of information, you know, name of a TV show, singer or something. Yeah, then like, I don't know, a little while later, a couple days later, you have that like Eureka moment where it just, for whatever reason, pops into your mind. Same thing. She suddenly remembered the name. She looked up her dad and she said, Emmanuel. Gosh,
the man's name is Emmanuel. Now it took her dad a moment to really process this and think back to who Emmanuel was. Yah, but months prior, Emmanuel was a homeless religious or homeless sorry, homeless religious there we go, preacher man who had been to their house before Lois. Their mother had given some pocket money and invited him back to their place to do some renovation work, as
he was a handyman pert time work. Yep, Okay, so Mary Catherine would have only met this man for a couple minutes at most, and somehow she recalled voice.
Wow.
Yeah. Investigators, though, were still pursuing the idea of Richard holy shit, and they were trying to prove that he was the one involved, and mostly brushed off the idea of this little girl suddenly remembering some homeless man and pulling the name out of thin air.
Okay, this is starting to make me a little angry, but okay, rightfully, so well, yeah, and then I'm just so curious what this dad does, Like he's going to take matters in his own hands here. I feel like I would be.
Pretty much We're almost there, give me one sec but yeah. Instead of following the evidence, they were stuck on trying to make this whole Richard Guifil and the family. However, after months, months so this is now months later after she identified this namest, so months of them not following this lead, the family went to the new source on their own and released a sketch and a description of the individual, and they begged for the public's help and said this immanual guy is who we're looking for.
Then they did this on their own without the police.
Correct However, the sketch wouldn't help. The man by the name of Manuel was no longer clean cut and shaven. He was shaggy, longer hair and a beard, which we would find out later. But luckily, the description of a preaching, homeless wanderer who went by the name of Emmanuel and did handiwork on the side would catch the attention of a very key individual, Emmanuel's sister. She identified Emmanuel as her brother and by it the name of David, Sorry, Brian, David Mitchell.
Wow.
Yep, Now a bit on Brian. I'm not going to talk about him a whole lot, But Brian was a boy who grew up in a strict religious household and had some sexual perversions about him at a very young age and would be carried through to his adult years, along with to varying degrees of substance abuse now in counseling. Later on in his life, Brian would meet and marry
a woman by the name of Wanda Berez. Together, the two of them were extremely religious, and Brian found, you know, the church's teachings weren't quite to his liking, so he began perceiving himself as a savior and gave himself the title of like almost a deity, like he's kind of like a Jesus sort of individual, and gave him the right to take multiple wives. As such, him and his wife would dress in a very cult like fashion, in long white robes and Wanda wearing a Burca like veil
over her face. The family and now authorities who are pretty much publicly forced to look after and investigate the name of this Emmanuel individual.
Good.
Yeah, And from here on out, for Emmanuel, I'm going to actually refer to him as his real name, Brian, because I don't want to dignify him with his chosen deity name. That's fair, so Brian. Anyways, a man dressed in white robes or some described dressed like Jesus is a fairly hard to miss individual when they're walking aroudtown. Right. So as everyone began to start the investigation, it was pretty easy to find eyewitness reports on seeing this individual
and he and popping up all over the place. Here we seen at cafes, at restaurants, walking down the streets, showing up at random house parties, trying to preach to the people there, all while being accompanied by two women in white robes and veils.
Okay, no, I just had a terrible thought.
What's that?
Did he literally take this little girl to be his wife? Like? This is just disgusting. I don't know if I want to listen anymore. This is so brutal.
Hey spoiler alert, Yes.
Shit, I'm sorry, but like, oh no, okay, ah, you're good. Yeah, this is just exactly what I did not think was happening or going to happen.
It's exactly what is happening.
Though, Okay. Like, honestly, if I could have thought of the most wildest theory in my fucking head, it would not have been this one. No, Like, I just don't think I would have thought that she'd be stolen to become some weird person's wife.
Well, I mean, in all honesty, any normal right person in their right mind would not do that, so I would not thought of someone doing that would be as far fetched as you could think.
Kay. And also another super side one, it's always like wild to me to think when I, like a family member, like a sibling or something, turns someone in. Hey, what do you mean, like the sister? Oh?
Oh sorry, yeah, I was thinking Mary Catherine.
Yeah, I know, like the sister. You know, oh, this could be my brother, Like yeah, I don't know. I feel like my sister would have to do some really crazy shit for me to end up turning her in. You're welcome.
Well, I mean if your sibling kidnapped a teenage.
Child to be their wife, Yeah, that would probably be something.
Yeah. Yeah, you break the fucking law to a severe degree where it's going to hurt another individual. Yeah, you're probably gonna get snitched.
On just saying yeah, well, especially a child.
I mean, I wouldn't turn nobody in. Snitches get stitches. So fuck that, my lips are sealed. Loose slips sink ships. Oh fuck that?
Oh my gosh. Wow.
So anyways, that little ranticide. As it turns out, though, days after all this went public, you know, the name, the sketch everything, The San Diego Police department actually had Brian in custody for breaking into a church, and in three days he was in the system and he was in court for breaking in and causing damage to the church window. He was charged with the damages and released as San Diego was not yet aware that he was a wanted man in Salt Lake.
Shit, of course just.
Slipped through their fingers.
Yeah.
Now, luckily, after the incident in San Diego, Brian thought it was, you know, an absolutely great idea to travel back to Salt Lake City with his two though we identified to have it written here unidentified wives. But once they got off the bus back in Salt Lake, they were quickly recognized from all the publicity surrounding the case.
And they probably didn't know no. Brian didn't know no.
So the kid at the citizen who quickly recognized them, called authorities and let them know exactly where they were. Yes, very soon cops arrived on the scene and approached the three individuals, one of them, a veiled woman, was wearing
a very obvious disguise, a gray wig and sunglasses. Brian presented false names for all three of them, but the police knew right away it was a lie, and they knew they had found Elizabeth, in fact, quite literally holding up a picture beside her face saying, this is you.
Oh my gosh.
Now, it wasn't a fantastical moment like you would think where Elizabeth ran to the cops arms to safety. No one was hurt, mind you, there wasn't a fight put up or anything like that.
That's serious trauma.
She actually initially denied her identity, saying I know who you think I am, and I'm not that girl.
Really, hey, really? And how long at this point had she been missing from her family?
I believe nine months?
Okay, that is quite a long time.
However, once alone with police, she broke down and admitted who she was, and she was very concerned for her captor's safety as well.
Now, so this frigging nasty motherfucker has like just brainwashed the shit out of her.
I feel like pretty much now Elizabeth is the only one who can really attest to why she did this. But I do want to mention a certain condition that very well could be what is at play here. It's called Stockholm syndrome. This is a coping mechanism that captives or abuse victims eventually develop over time. They began to establish positive feelings towards their captor or abuser, which could very well be why Elizabeth was concerned for their well being and acted this way.
Well, and she's very young, she depended on this person for nine months, right.
Exactly, so, regardless of regardless, sorry, Elizabeth was safe and she was reunited with her family. She was home, happy and began to share her story. What she told everyone was this. She was held at knife point that night by Brian. He took her up the mountain behind her family's home, where they walked several miles and crested over the peak and back down the other side. They came to a small grove of trees where Brian had been
living with his wife Wanda. They had cleared a small spot and did some structure work with dirt and little logs, and there was a tent sitting there on that spot. There. Inside the tent, she was forced to remove her pajamas and bathed with a sponge in a kind of cleansing ceremony type thing. Then she was forced to don the white robes. After that, she was then presented to Brian, where he began to explain to her that they are
now married and she is his wife. Oh no, and it was time to consummate their marriage.
Oh, it gets worse, It just keeps getting worse.
So there that night, in that tent, she was sexually assaulted by Brian.
Gosh, that's freaking disgusting.
Yes, And the whole time she was being threatened, and she had gone to say that she had wished for it to all to end. In that moment she had sympathized with other victims who weren't suffering. She kind of wished she wasn't suffering too, which is extremely sad to hear. But after that moment, when she was having those thoughts,
she made a decision. She kind of flipped. She said that she would do anything it took to stay alive, even if it meant doing what she was told and outliving her captors in the end.
Oh wow.
Yes, so she was prepared, looking very for she was prepared to be a long time huh.
And to think though, this is all because her mom and like family were being super kind to someone exactly, So this is sometimes why the world is full of assholes. Yeah, because this makes me feel like I would never want to be bring someone into my house to help them.
Yeah, who can you trust? Right?
Yeah?
It took several years for a court case to occur, as it was a debate over the competency of Brian and Wanda, whether it was an act of legitimate mental issues or they were being what's the best way to put this, they were keeping up an appearance in front of the judge, making themselves seem mentally ill. Is in question, sorry Brian and Wanda. Yes, once they were in custody. So it took several years before a court case it
occurred because of their mental capacity or what could have been. So, whether it was an act or legitimate now, eventually they would find themselves in court regardless. It was in two thousand and nine, and in October of two thousand and nine, Elizabeth would bravely take the stand against their captors.
Wow.
The then twenty one year old Elizabeth would go on to describe what she had happened to her, and she would begin to describe Brian as quote smart, articulate, evil, wicked, manipulative, sneaky, slimy, selfish, greedy, not spiritual, not religious, and not close to God.
So some powerful descriptions.
Yes, this right here is where I want to go on and name Elizabeth our badass of the day.
Well, yeah, we haven't had one for a while, but she seems like, yes, really badass. Unbelievable.
So in the court, Wanda Burrez would eventually plead guilty to her role in kidnapping and was sentenced to fifteen years in prison, where she has now been since released.
So she's in on this. She was in on this.
She was Brian's other wife. Yes, she took part in.
This, I mean, but did she willingly take part or was she just following Brian's orders?
Okay, that's kind of up for debate too. I'm sure she had some part in it. She didn't turn anyone in, she didn't say anything, she didn't fight like you know.
She could have potentially stopped it.
Yes. So now, as for Brian, his defense in court acknowledged that he was indeed responsible for the crimes he was being accused of, but they argued he was legally insane at the time of the crimes, and because of this, they stated that he should therefore be found not guilty by reason of insanity. The defense would reject this idea on December eleventh, in twenty ten, when the jury found him guilty of kidnapping and transporting a minor across state
lines with intent to engage in sexual activity. Thank goodness, Brian David Mitchell was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, and he is currently serving a sentence at a high security federal prison in Indiana.
Good good. I was so worry that something like that was not going to end up happening.
Yeah, so he is behind bars for life now that being said, Elizabeth's story isn't over. In fact, at the age of third thirty four right now, I would say it's probably just begun. She's gone through to do some incredible things in her life already, including public speaking on many amazing platforms such as ted X.
Nice.
But I don't think I can put it into any better words than directly from the source, taken right from Elizabeth's website, elizabethsmart dot com. I believe it is. Here is what it has to say about Elizabeth. Through this traumatic experience, Elizabeth has become an advocate for change related
to child abduction, recovery programs and national legislation. Elizabeths triumphantly testified before her captors and the world about the very private nightmare she suffered during her abduction, which led to conviction. The founder of Elizabeth's Smart Foundation, Elizabeth has also helped promote the National Amber Alert, the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, and other legislation to help prevent abductions. Elizabeth attended Brigham Young University studying music as a harp
performance major. She married her husband, Matthew, in twenty twelve, and they now have two beautiful children. Elizabeth's example is a daily demonstration that there really is life after tragedy. That's awesome, that is wow credible, And I can't imagine the horrors as she went through that night and the following nine months.
That is a very long time. But it's like, yeah, all these survive okays, It's like they make a choice, right they do.
You're very much so, right. Yeah, there's usually a moment when they when they're talking about it, they say they're not giving up. They can remember that distinct moment where it's like it's not ending here.
Yeah, it's fight or flight, I know. And like it's like anyone can be making a choice like that every day, and it's just that's just powerful. That just makes you just rethink things so many things.
Well, like you say every day, it could be something as simple as maybe weight loss. Maybe you're struggling and you should put down that bag of chips. I know, heaven forbid, I should be doing that the Tim Tams. I just ate a bunch of Tim Tam cookies before this. Or it could be quitting smoking, or it could be heaven forbid, you're in a situation where you need to leave an abusive relationship.
Yeah, you know, addiction of sorts.
Yeah, and it's not always that easy, it's not understan. Yeah, but there is that moment where you have to decide if you're going to fight for yourself.
Yeah, and yeah, it's always there's always this this definitive moment and it's just like that is just so powerful that they step back and we're just like, I'm going to live kind of thing. And she did, which is amazing, amazing person.
There are a multitude of documentaries, movies, and books all written about Elizabeth's story. And there is one little tiny detail I want to add to this. I wasn't quite sure where to put it in, but there was a situation before Brian was actually identified as an individual in question, as a suspect where a police officer had actually approached them for aggressive panhandling. I believe it was, and Brian again produced false names for all three of them. Wearing
a veil. The officer wasn't able to really identify them. They don't have IDs on them, especially considering, you know, the panhandling individuals inside of the street. But he said there was some small suspicion that, you know, this could have been someone that we're looking for. But they have no right to remove a veil or any sort of questioning like that. They had, no, no, nothing.
They were in a that's a very tough position be in.
And Elizabeth actually recounts that incident. She said, it was just like her hope was walking away when the police officer left.
Oh no, that makes my eyes well, holy heck, that's.
So Thankfully it came back around and she was found, and she was found relatively unharmed.
Yeah. Well, it's honestly like her family didn't give up, which is also incredible. Yeah, so I've heard her name, but I have not heard the story.
So well, now you have. It's a powerful.
Story, very much so.
So, Elizabeth. I don't know if you can listen to our podcast. But if you ever do, just know you're an absolute badass.
Unbelievable. Yeah, well done, like amazing.
Cheers, cheers for a badass of the day, and of course makes you checks out. On all our platforms Instagram, Facebook, Patreon, you can sign up for some exclusive content. We have Twitter, we have read it, we have our website. We got lots, we got it all. We appreciate your support one way or the other. We appreciate you being here and of course, as always, make sure well done, make sure ye stay wicked.
I threw it back to you.
That was that was different.
H