by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright March 15, 2003
All Rights Reserved.

fter nine months incognito, missing Salt Lake City teenager Elizabeth Smart was miraculously returned to her family in one piece, thanks to the keen observations of two couples in the suburb of Sandy, only 15 miles south of the affluent neighborhood where she was kidnapped at knifepoint June 5. Her abductor, Brian David Mitchell—known on the street as the prophet "Emmanuel"—was noticed by two couples who identified a police composite, recently publicized in newspapers and on TV. "She is well and healthy," said Salt Lake City Police Chief Rick Dinse, elated about recovering the blonde-haired teenager after months of criticism and futility. After nabbing the wrong suspect, petty criminal Richard Allen Ricci, the police failed to turn up Mitchell until the Smart family announced at an October news conference that Elizabeth's 9-year-old sister Mary Katherine positively identified Mitchell and disseminated his picture.

      Despite the intense dragnet, the Salt Lake Police acknowledged Elizabeth was held in the foothills only minutes from the Smart's family home in Dry Creek Canyon. After eluding the police, Mitchell and Barzee took Elizabeth on bus to San Diego where they lived as vagabonds for several months until eventually returning to Salt Lake. Finally tipped off, Elizabeth was found with Mitchell and Barzee, disguised by a wig, veil and sunglasses. When confronted by the police, Elizabeth exhibited peculiar behavior. "I know you guys think I'm that Elizabeth Smart girl who ran away," said Sandy Police Department Officer Troy Rasmussen, giving the first X-ray into Elizabeth's crushed personality, after dragged through polygamy hell by a sexual predator. Speaking about the girl once called "Elizabeth Smart," gives the first glimpse how her personality disintegrated under intolerable stress.

      Dragged away at knifepoint and forced to endure God-knows-what, Elizabeth's young identity was no doubt shattered, taking a new identity as "Augustine Marshall, a child of God." Confirming the worst nightmare, Chief Dinse called Mitchell a "self-proclaimed polygamist," implying that the middle-aged panhandler might have taken Elizabeth as his new wife. "There is clearly a psychological impact that occurred at some point," said Dinse, understating the obvious that the 15-year-old suffered debilitating emotional trauma, leaving her disoriented and confused. Elizabeth referred to herself as "the girl that ran away," adopting the twisted reality given by captors, placing the guilt squarely on her. Whipsawed by mixed emotions, Elizabeth's father Edward Smart said his daughter went through "hell" and had been "brainwashed" by Mitchell, despite asserting that "she's well, she's healthy and she's happy."

      Giving more clues about Elizabeth's mental state, Chief Dinse refused to say whether she had been sexually assaulted. "That is something else were not going to talk about, what physically happened to her," said Dinse, acknowledging by omission that the angelic-looking teenager was dragged through a knothole." Ed Smart's denial was also evident, "I haven't gone there yet. I can't bear to go there yet. I don't want to traumatize her more than she's already been," realizing his teenager seemed different, somehow more grown up. Whether disclosed or not, Elizabeth grew up quickly becoming a perverted sex object to Mitchell, despite presenting as his daughter to police. In reality, she was methodically brainwashed, ruthlessly deflowered and exploited as a sex slave, all in the name of polygamy and Mitchell's delusions. Innocent youth need to watch their backs where religion and perversion merge together.

      Unlike Patty Hearst, Elizabeth Smart was a vulnerable teenager who lost her innocence to a raving lunatic justifying perversity and child sexual abuse under the guise of polygamy. "I think there must have been a lot of brainwashing to begin with. I know that's how he worked in our marriage. I know how controlling he was," said Mitchell's former wife Debbie Mitchell, acknowledging her ex-husband's manipulation and sickness. When the community stops celebrating, they must admit and deal with Elizabeth's unmistakable psychological damage. "Elizabeth is happy, she is well and we are so happy to have her back in our arms," said Smart, acknowledging his elation but ignoring Elizabeth's urgent need for deprogramming, commonly known as critical incident debriefing. Buying Elizabeth new toys or clothing won't undo the potentially irreversible psychological damage from her ordeal.

      Victims of abduction and ritualistic sexual abuse make no distinction of whether or not it's under the guise of age-old practices like polygamy. While the current Mormon Church repudiates polygamy, renegade cults still exist attracting mentally disordered sex offenders like magnets. Some estimates place Utah's polygamy community at over 50,000. When police discovered Mitchell's 27-page polygamy manifesto, it became abundantly clear that Elizabeth was abducted into a ritualistic polygamy cult. Now that Elizabeth is back in her parent's custody, Salt Lake authorities must make sure she receives appropriate treatment for her traumatic wounds. Without seeing physical damage, it's tempting to gloss over serious potentially life-threatening psychological injuries. While rape victims typically receive urgent medical care, it's a different story for victims of polygamy and ritualistic sexual abuse.

About the Author

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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