Kidnap survivor Elizabeth Smart: 'Miracles do happen'
By Emily Schettler, The Des Moines Register
DES MOINES, Iowa -- Elizabeth Smart, one of the nation's most recognized kidnapping survivors, has a message for those searching and praying for the return of two missing Iowa girls: "Miracles do happen."
"For as many bad things that we hear about that happen, for as many kidnappings and terrible stories about finding the remains of children, why can't these girls be the exception?" Smart said during an interview with The Des Moines Register.
"There's always hope."
Smart, now 24, and her family know that as well as anyone.
She was 14 when she was kidnapped at knife point from her suburban Salt Lake City home on June 5, 2002. She was held captive for nine months. Her abductor tied her up and raped her repeatedly.
She was discovered and reunited with her family on March 12, 2003, after a tip from the public led police to her kidnapper, Brian Mitchell, and his wife.
In the 10 years since her abduction, Smart has become a vocal advocate for preventing crimes against children.
Iowans have become acutely aware of such crimes in recent weeks after the disappearance of Elizabeth Collins, then 8, and Lyric Cook-Morrissey, 10, who went missing while riding their bikes on July 13.
As was the case in Smart's abduction, authorities have found little to indicate what may have happened to Elizabeth and Lyric.
"It makes me sick that there are people out there who have a total lack of feeling, total lack of conscience that they would go out and not only kidnap these innocent young children -- but take their innocence away, steal their childhoods away and hurt so many families," Smart said.
She has talked to countless kidnapping survivors and families who've suffered similar tragedies. She has advice for those involved.
To Elizabeth and Lyric: "I would say think of that thing that is worth living for, whether it's a parent's love, a friend, a sibling, some sort of passion in your life. Find what it is and make up your mind that you're going to do whatever it takes to survive, because whatever that sort of anchor is, it will be worth it in the end."
To the public: "Certainly never forget about it. Always keep your eyes open and alert, and if something seems even just a little bit fishy, like not quite right, don't be scared to report it. The worst that can happen is that there's nothing wrong. The other possibility is that something bad is going on, and whether it has something to do with those girls or just someone completely different, you could have just saved a life."
And to the families, Smart says to keep the public and authorities focused on their children and do whatever it takes to bring them home.
"I know it is incredibly difficult to go out and face the media when you've had a tragedy happen, and you just want to sort of recoil back to your family, but keeping the story alive and keeping it out there is so important."
After Smart was kidnapped, she worried at times that her family had given up hope of finding her alive.
"Nine months is a long time," she said. "It's not uncommon for every average person to think after the first 24 hours, if you don't find them that they're dead. So yes, absolutely, there did come a point where I was like, 'You know, chances are they probably think I'm dead.'"
Her family even talked about the possibility of holding a funeral or a memorial service, but "never could end up bringing themselves to do that because they just couldn't give up," she said.
The families of Lyric and Elizabeth aren't giving up either.
Elizabeth's mother, Heather Collins, has been at the Iowa State Fair with friends since last Thursday, sharing information about the girls and their disappearance.
"It's draining a little because you're talking about your daughter, and your missing child," she said. "But it's better than being at home not doing anything."
The Collinses say they've gained encouragement from talking with other families who have gone through similar tragedies.
Collins has been in close contact with Noreen Gosch, whose 12-year-old son, Johnny, disappeared 30 years ago while delivering newspapers in West Des Moines.
Gosch has "given us some good information on what to do," Collins said.
Smart testified against Mitchell during his trial and spoke again at his sentencing last year, when he was ordered to spend the rest of his life in prison.
She says she has forgiven him and moved on with her life.
"I've been able to forgive him, but that doesn't mean that I need to think about him daily or keep him in my thoughts, so I don't," she said. "I mean, there's so much more to my life than just him. He's not a part of my life anymore, and he never will be again."
Smart got married a few months ago and is studying music at Brigham Young University.
Last year, she and her father, Ed, started the Elizabeth Smart Foundation with the intention of helping prevent child crimes.
Smart draws motivation from cases like Elizabeth and Lyric's to work even harder to help educate parents and children on the importance of knowing what to do in dangerous situations.
"It makes me want all the more for parents to talk with their children, work with their children, help their children realize that they are the most important thing in the world and if anyone tries to take them away, there is nothing that is off limits for them to do," she said. "They can kick, scream, bite, yell, do whatever they have to do to feel safe, to get away."
Smart believes such training could have helped her.
"My teachers at school, they never told me anything. My parents, sure, they told me, 'Don't talk to strangers, don't get in the stranger's car,' but what could possibly ever prepare you for being kidnapped out of your own bed next to your sister at knife point in the middle of the night?" she said. "It may not have prevented me from being kidnapped, but yes, it would have made a difference to me."
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