TIMELINE ELIZABETH SMART ABDUCTION

Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Barzee say they received a revelation on Thanksgiving Day in 2000: Mitchell was to have seven wives. The following November, Lois Smart and several of her children encountered the homeless Mitchell in downtown Salt Lake City. They gave him $5 and Lois hired him to help husband Ed with roof repairs at their Federal Heights home. Mitchell spent about ve hours at the Smarts home. These events led to a fateful day in June 2002 when Elizabeth Smart was taken from her home.
June

2002

Sometime between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. Elizabeth Smart, who was then 14 years old, recounts that she was taken at knifepoint from her bedroom in her Federal Heights home by Brian David Mitchell and taken to a campsite up Dry Creek Canyon, just three The Smarts Federal Heights home where Brian miles from the Smart home. Mitchells wife, David Mitchell worked for a few hours. Wanda Eileen Barzee, is also there. 3:58 a.m. Nine-year-old Mary Katherine Smart feigns sleep as Elizabeth is taken from their bed. She then waits in fear before waking parents Ed and Lois. 4:01 a.m. After Lois notices the kitchen window screen has been cut, Ed Smart calls police and alerts neighbors. Within the next half hour he calls relatives and neighbors for help. 7:21 a.m. Utahs rst Rachael alert (later renamed Amber Alert) is issued. By afternoon, more than 1,000 volunteers swarm the foothills behind the Smart home as Ed Smart appears on television and pleads for his daughters return. Shelter in Dry Creek Canyon Searchers fan out The reward for Elizabeths return swells from $10,000 to $250,000 as tips pour in. At the camp, Smart is often tethered with a cable, is raped repeatedly and Mitchell threatens to kill her if she tries to escape. Police looking for Bret Michael Edmunds, whose green Saturn was seen in the neighborhood. Edmunds relatives contact police after he checks himself into a Martinsburg, W. Va., hospital under a false name after a drug overdose. Police later say he is not a suspect. Police Chief Rick Dinse says police questioned Richard Ricci, an ex-convict who worked on the Smart home in 2001 and is in jail on an unrelated parole violation. Ricci denies involvement in the kidnapping. He takes two polygraphs; one is inconclusive. He passes the other.

July

Richard Ricci

About 3 a.m., July 24 Mitchell allegedly tries to break into the Steven Wright home in the Holladay area through a window in the bedroom once occupied by his 15-year-old daughter, a cousin of Elizabeths. Jessica Wright, 18, asleep in the room, awakens and alerts the family. Mitchell is not spotted; police dismiss the incident. Daniel Trotta, an acquaintance of MItchells, takes him, Elizabeth and Barzee to a party in east-side Salt Lake City. Dan Gorder snaps photos of the trio. The three stay four of the ve nights at Trottas apartment a block from the Salt Lake City Police Department. The robed trio Elizabeth, Mitchell and Barzee are spotted dining at Chuck-O-Rama, 744 E. 400 South. Several recreationists also see the three at their canyon camp in August, but they dont make a connection with the missing girl.

Aug

Mitchell, Barzee and Mitchell at an east-side party in Salt Lake City.

Sep

In late August, a police ofcer responded to the Salt Lake City Main Library on an Elizabeth Smart sighting. But Elizabeth parried his questions by laughing. Mitchell said that for religious reasons, she could not remove the coverings. Ricci dies after being hospitalized for a brain hemmorrhage he suffered in his prison cell. Police Chief Dinse says he remains the primary suspect. After 8 p.m., Sept. 1 Nanda Sookhai videotapes the trio at a picnic table in Liberty Park. Mitchell is arrested for shoplifting batteries, gum, a ashlight and beer worth $52.39 from a downtown grocery store and is cited for a class B misdemeanor and released.

Oct

Mitchell, Barzee and Smart stayed in this abandoned trailer in Lakeside, Calif.
Nov

A judge issues a bench warrant for Mitchell after he fails to show up for arraignment on the shoplifting charge. Meanwhile, Elizabeth, Mitchell and Barzee hop a bus to Lakeside, Calif., a San Diego suburb. The trio stays at a hillside camp, in a dry river bed and in an abandoned trailer and are sighted in town in robes and veils shopping for food and handing out religious leaets.

As she sits reading the Guinness Book of World Records, Mary Katherine recalls that her sisters kidnapper resembles Immanuel, a drifter the Smarts hired to work on their home in November 2001. She tells her parents. Walter Kenneth Holloway, 18, of Charleston, S.C., is charged with extortion and threatening communications after sending emails demanding $3 million for Elizabeths safe return.

Dec

Mitchell, posing as someone interested in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and clad in blue jeans and a plaid shirt, attends all three services at the Santee Third Ward in Lakeside and has dinner with a ward member. Americas Most Wanted host John Walsh appears on CNNs Larry King Live and says Mary Katherine believes a homeless drifter named Immanuel may have kidnapped her sister.

Jan

2003

Mayor Rocky Anderson says the reward from the city, FBI and police will be increased from $25,000 to $45,000 for information in Elizabeths kidnapping.

Immanuel

The Smart family offers $10,000 to anyone who can bump Richard Ricci from the top of the list of potential suspects. The Smarts also release a sketch of Immanuel. San Diego County sheriffs deputies arrest Mitchell after he breaks into the Lakeside Presbyterian Church at 6:50 a.m. Mitchell tells police his name is Michael Jerry Jenson. He is booked into the San Diego County Jail for burglary and vandalism and held six days. Americas Most Wanted features a story on Elizabeths disappearance and the possible involvement of Mitchell, a.k.a. Immanuel. The show airs a sketch of him. Mitchells sister contacts police and says the sketch resembles her brother. Mitchell pleads guilty to burglary, gets three years proebation, is ned $150 and released. Americas Most Wanted runs a second segment on Mitchell with photos supplied by his sister.
Mar

Feb

Elizabeth, Mitchell and Barzee are stopped and questioned by North Las Vegas police outside a restaurant but give false names: Peter Marshall, Juliette Marshall and Augustine Marshall. Ryan Johnson spots the three near a McDonalds in Springville and offers a ride to Provo. He drops them at a bus stop and gives Mitchell $5. Johnson cant reach Provo police by phone. 12:52 p.m. Rudy and Nancy Montoya are driving along State Street in Sandy when they spot three people clad in robes sitting on a bus bench. The man looks a lot like the guy on Americas Most Wanted, they decide, and call police. One minute later, Alvin and Anita Dickerson walk out of a Kinkos store on State Street in Sandy and spot the trio. They call police, too. 1 p.m. As the three walk along State Street near 10200 South, police pull up. When the police ask who they are, they claim to be Peter, Juliette and Augustine. Elizabeth denies she is the girl who ran away but police see she is alarmed. They tell her they know who she is. For Elizabeth, the nightmare is over. Mitchell Barzee