Where is Elizabeth now, 23 years after her kidnapping? Inside her life today

When Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped by Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Barzee in June 2002, she made national news.

During the nine-month ordeal, the then 14-year-old boy was raped daily and endured physical abuse and starvation. She was reunited with her family in March 2003 when authorities found her walking on a street in Utah.

“After I was rescued, I felt so ashamed of what happened to me,” Smart told PEOPLE in January 2026 while discussing her new Netflix documentary, “Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart.” “Even though I knew in my head that it wasn’t my fault, I couldn’t feel the same way in my heart.”

But since her rescue, Ms. Smart has built a legacy for herself as a survivor and an advocate for others. She is also married and the mother of three children. Still, the horror she experienced still haunts her even after all these years.

“I have great days and bad days. I have three kids that I love, and it drives me crazy,” she told PEOPLE with a laugh in June 2024. “No, it’s the best part of life.”

Smart also considers March 12, the day he was rescued, a “happy day.” She added: “March 12th is a reminder that miracles happen to me and there are so many good things to be thankful for. And it’s a bright moment in the boring month of March.”

Here’s a look at Elizabeth Smart’s life over the 20 years since her kidnapping.

Who is Elizabeth Smart?

In June 2002, 14-year-old Smart was abducted from his bedroom in Salt Lake City by Mitchell and Barzee. Her sister Mary Catherine was the only witness to her abduction. The incident attracted national attention.

After returning home, Smart became active, advocating for the AMBER Alert System and supporting recovery programs.

Smart founded the Elizabeth Smart Foundation in 2011. The organization works to end sexual assault and victimization. Her kidnapping was the inspiration for several TV movies and a memoir was published in 2013.

When was Elizabeth Smart kidnapped?

Ms. Smart was abducted from her home in Utah on June 5, 2002, but Ms. Mitchell and Mr. Barzee eventually took her to California. She later told ABC News that the night she was kidnapped was strange.

“It can’t actually be real,” she explained.

Smart added that Mitchell said he would kill his family if he tried to escape.

Ms. Smart’s captors raped her daily, which drove her to the point of considering suicide. In a 2017 interview with fellow survivor Daisy Coleman, she explained: “For me, growing up in a very conservative Christian neighborhood, I remember being devastated the first time I was raped.”

“I felt like I was better off dead than continuing to live as a rape victim and rape victim,” she added. “At that moment, I felt like if there was an easy way out, I probably would have taken it.”

She was eventually found on March 12, 2003, just a few miles from her home in Sandy, Utah.

How was Elizabeth Smart discovered?

Smart was eventually found on March 12, 2003, just a few miles from his home in Sandy, Utah.

A couple spotted Mitchell walking down a Sandy street with two women and alerted authorities to her whereabouts.

Smart was forced to wear a veil over her face, but pedestrians recognized her from a composite sketch shared on America’s Most Wanted.

“I think we found a homeless girl who might be Elizabeth,” Smart’s father, Ed, recalled police telling him in his 2003 book.

“She looked like a homeless girl…I wasn’t sure it was her at first. I walked up to her and put my arms around her and just started crying. I held her back, looked her in the eye and said, ‘Is it really you, Elizabeth?’ ”

Where is Elizabeth Smart now?

After returning home, Smart attended high school the following fall and later graduated from Brigham Young University.

Ms. Smart is now married and the mother of three children. She and her husband, Matthew Gilmore, reportedly met in Paris in 2009 as missionaries for the LDS Church. Gilmore later said that he did not know who Smart was when they met, as he is from Scotland.

He told PEOPLE in 2012, “What attracted me most to her, both in the beginning and now, is how confident she is, especially given everything she’s been through.” Gilmore proposed in 2012.

After their wedding, the couple moved to Park City, Utah, and have three children, daughters Chloe and Olivia, and son James.

“My children have brought me so much happiness and joy. To me, they are the definition of love,” she told PEOPLE shortly after welcoming her son.

After her kidnapping, Smart made a Lifetime film about her ordeal, “I Am Elizabeth Smart.” She has also published a second book, Where There’s Hope, about what happened to her.

Smart also continues to speak out against the punishment of prisoners of war. Mitchell is currently serving a life sentence, but a judge ruled that Barzee could be released in 2018.

“To my knowledge, she has not complied with medication or treatment. As someone who has experienced firsthand how depraved she really is, I believe she is a threat and a danger, not only to me, but to the community and to all vulnerable people,” Smart said of the ruling at the time.

In May 2025, Barzee was arrested for visiting two Salt Lake City parks in April. A week after her arrest, Smart broke her silence on Instagram, saying in a video: “Wanda Barzee was recently arrested for entering a park in Salt Lake City that she was legally prohibited from entering as she is a registered sex offender. Her justification was that it was an order from the Lord. Unfortunately, that is all too familiar to me and probably the most concerning thing, because that’s how they justified their kidnapping of me.”

If you or someone you know is a victim of sexual abuse, please text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line (741-741). Connect with a certified crisis counselor.