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Netflix Revisits Elizabeth Smart Case With New Documentary Debuting Today

The film foregrounds Smart’s voice to advance survivor awareness using fresh interviews and previously unseen archives.

This police composite sketch shows a man wanted for information in the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping case on February 3, 2003.
Volunteers search the banks of the Jordan River for clues about missing 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart on June 12, 2002, in Salt Lake City.
A police cruiser sits in front of the Smart house in Salt Lake City, Utah, on June 6, 2002.
Wanda Barzee, estranged wife of Brian David Mitchell, enters court in Salt Lake City, Utah, on November 18, 2010.

Overview

  • Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart premieres January 21 on Netflix, revisiting the 2002 abduction and 2003 recovery with new on-camera accounts and archival material.
  • Smart, abducted at knifepoint from her Salt Lake City home at age 14, was found nine months later walking with Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Barzee after a viewer recognized a police sketch from America’s Most Wanted.
  • Mitchell was convicted in 2010 and sentenced in 2011 to life in prison, while Barzee pleaded guilty in 2010, was released in 2018, and was arrested last May for visiting parks barred to registered sex offenders.
  • The documentary includes perspectives from Smart and relatives, with filmmakers highlighting her reflections on healing and purpose without rehashing graphic details.
  • Now 38, Smart leads the Elizabeth Smart Foundation, promotes prevention and survivor support through Smart Defense and Smart Talks, and has advocated for measures such as AMBER Alert and the Adam Walsh Act.