Shivangi Sinha
In June 2002, Brian David Mitchell forced his way into the Smart family home in Salt Lake City, Utah, and abducted Elizabeth Smart from her bedroom. Over the months that followed, Mitchell and his then-wife, Wanda Barzee, held her captive, subjecting her to abuse, isolation, and constant control. Even after the pair were arrested, years passed before the case fully moved through the courts, and accountability was achieved. Netflix’s ‘Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart’ revisits the case and examines the crime, the investigation, and the long path to justice.
Brian Mitchell and Wanda Barzee Were Removed From the LDS Church For Their Proclamations
Brian David Mitchell was born on October 18, 1953, in Salt Lake City, Utah, and grew up in a household connected to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was the third of six children. His mother was a teacher, while his father worked in social services. From a young age, the then-teenager had encounters with the juvenile justice system. When he was 16, he was convicted of indecent exposure and spent time in juvenile detention. He was 19 when he married Karen Minor, and the couple had two children before separating, with custody awarded to Minor. However, Mitchell took the kids with him before they were returned to their mother.
After the divorce, Mitchell left Utah for New Hampshire, where he spent several years living communally and even joined the Hare Krishnas. He later returned to Utah and married Debbie. They made a large family with two of their own kids and Debbie’s three kids from a previous relationship. That marriage ended in 1984, followed by court-ordered limits on his contact with the children. One of his stepdaughters accused him of sexually assaulting her for years. Immediately after that, the divorce was finalized, and Mitchell married Wanda Elaine Barzee, a divorced mother of six. In the years that followed, Mitchell and Barzee became active in the LDS community and adopted the names Immanuel David Isaiah and Hephzibah Eladah Isaiah, respectively.
Mitchell’s religious fanaticism grew during this time, and he claimed that he was a prophet of God. He changed his appearance as well and roamed in a white robe with long hair and a beard. It was for this reason that they were formally expelled from the LDS Church in absentia in 2002. Both Mitchell and Barzee stayed in Salt Lake City, and while it was still dark in the early morning of June 5, 2002, he broke into a home in the Federal Heights neighborhood. From there, he kidnapped fourteen-year-old Elizabeth Smart. He held her at knifepoint, walked her through the woods, threatened to kill her, and brought her to an encampment just outside the city. He told her about his plan to marry many more girls who would stand by him while he fulfilled his religious prophecies.
Brian Mitchell and Wanda Barzee Were Arrested When They Brought Elizabeth Smart Back to Utah
At the encampment, Elizabeth Smart encountered Wanda Barzee, who was already present. Elizabeth later recounted that Barzee washed her feet and instructed her to change into robes similar to her own. When she resisted, Barzee warned her that Brian Mitchell would forcefully remove her clothing if she refused. Mitchell then conducted a ritual in which he declared Elizabeth to be his wife and subsequently sexually abused her repeatedly. She was held captive by both of them and was at times restrained to prevent her from escaping. Despite her captivity, the pair took Elizabeth into public spaces, disguising her in layered robes and a face-covering headdress.
On one occasion, they encountered a police officer at the Salt Lake City Public Library, where Mitchell falsely claimed Elizabeth was his daughter and refused to uncover their faces, citing religious beliefs. The group later even attended a public gathering, moving through the city while concealing her identity. In September 2002, Mitchell and Barzee took Elizabeth to San Diego County, California, where she was held captive in a dry creek bed near Lakeside. Reports later noted that in February 2003, Mitchell was briefly jailed after being arrested for breaking into a church.
Shortly afterward, the pair returned to Salt Lake City with Elizabeth. On March 12, 2003, members of the public recognized Mitchell from a police sketch created with the help of Elizabeth’s sister, Mary Katherine, who had witnessed the abduction and later identified his voice. Mitchell had previously worked at the Smart family home for a short time during renovations. That same day, Mitchell and Barzee were arrested and charged with aggravated kidnapping, aggravated sexual assault, and aggravated burglary.
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Wanda Barzee Has Been Re-arrested and Brian Mitchell is Incarcerated in a Utah Facility Today
Following his arrest, Brian Mitchell was committed to the Utah State Hospital for a competency evaluation. Although mental health professionals initially concluded that he was not competent to stand trial, the court rejected that finding and ruled in 2004 that he was fit to proceed. That same year, a proposed plea agreement that would have dropped the sexual assault charges collapsed after prosecutors declined to move forward. Mitchell repeatedly disrupted court proceedings, and after another request for a competency review, he was readmitted to the Utah State Hospital, where he remained from August 2005 until 2008. Wanda Barzee was also undergoing evaluations related to her mental competency. In June 2006, a Utah judge authorized involuntary medication so that she could be deemed competent to face trial.
In October 2008, Brian Mitchell’s case was moved to the federal district court. Competency hearings continued into late 2009, and by March 2010, he was officially deemed capable of standing trial. By that time, Barzee had already reached a plea agreement. In November 2009, she pled guilty to one federal count of kidnapping and one count of transporting a minor across state lines for unlawful purposes. She also agreed to testify against Mitchell in both federal and state proceedings. In May 2010, Barzee was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison. Mitchell’s trial began in November 2010, and in December, he was convicted on federal charges of kidnapping and unlawful interstate transportation of a minor with the intent to commit sexual offenses.
In May 2011, Brian Mitchell was sentenced to two consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole. Wanda Barzee became eligible for parole in September 2018 after the court recognized that she had not received credit for time already served. Shortly afterward, she was released under federally supervised parole for five years and registered as a sex offender, settling in Salt Lake City, Utah. In May 2025, Barzee was arrested for visiting public parks, violating Utah’s restrictions on sex offenders. No further details have been publicly released. Mitchell remains incarcerated at the Central Utah Correctional Facility in Gunnison, Utah, where he will spend the remainder of his life.
