People Want to Know More About Elizabeth Smart's Siblings

Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped from Salt Lake City, Utah, in June of 2002 by a man named Brian David Mitchell and a woman named Wanda Barzee.

The couple took the teenager from her bed in the middle of the night, and Mitchell raped the teenager for nine months as Barzee watched. The first break in the case came after Mary Katherine Smart, Elizabeth's sister, told her parents that she remembered who kidnapped her. Mary Katherine said she remembered the voice as a worker named “Immanuel,” a man who had worked on the family's roof. She was eventually rescued. Now, people want to know more about Elizabeth's siblings.

Elizabeth recalled Mitchell telling her that she was going to be his child bride in a new documentary, Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart.

"I was in shock,” she said. "I thought, ‘He can't be serious.’ You can't just kidnap a child and then say, you're my wife now. It's not legal. It's not OK. I never said yes. I never said I do. None of this is OK.”

The teenager was kept in a dark hole, fed garbage, and raped four times daily, and she revealed that it was her sister, Mary Katherine, who rescued her.

Elizabeth told the Today show, "She’s my hero. She saved me." Mary Katherine was just 9 when she heard Mitchell in the room, kidnapping her sister, and he threatened to hurt their family if they made any noise. She later remembered his voice and recognized him.

"Had she not remembered who had kidnapped me, who’s to say that I would be here today? The police all had their suspects, and my captor, I don’t even think was on their radar at all," said Elizabeth. "So she is my hero.”

Mary Katherine is Elizabeth's only sister, and she also has four brothers, Charles, Andrew, Edward Smart Jr., and William. They live their lives out of the public eye, but Elizabeth's father, Ed, and Mary Katherine both appear in the new documentary. Mary Katherine received a bachelor's degree and a master's degree and now teaches special education.

"I don’t want to say she puts me in my place all the time, but she educates me all the time,” said Elizabeth to Tudum.

Mitchell was convicted and sentenced to life in prison, while his wife, Barzee, was sentenced to 15 years. She was released from prison in 2018, but was arrested in 2025 for violating the rules for registered sex offenders and visiting two Utah parks. Elizabeth is married and the mother of three, and she also founded the Elizabeth Smart Foundation, an organization that advocates for victims of sexual violence.