Elizabeth Smart

On the night of June 5, 2002, 14-year-old Elizabeth Ann Smart was taken at knifepoint from the bedroom she shared with her younger sister Mary Katherine in the family's Federal Heights home in Salt Lake City, Utah. Mary Katherine, pretending to be asleep, witnessed the abduction but was too terrified to alert her parents for several hours.

The abduction launched one of the most publicized missing child searches in American history. The Smart family held press conferences and organized massive volunteer search efforts. America's Most Wanted featured the case repeatedly. Suspicion initially fell on handyman Richard Ricci, who had worked at the Smart home and had a criminal record. Ricci died of a brain hemorrhage in prison while in custody on unrelated charges.

Months later, Mary Katherine told her family she believed the kidnapper was a man who had done work at their home, known to them as 'Emmanuel.' This was identified as Brian David Mitchell, a self-proclaimed prophet and street preacher. Mitchell and his wife Wanda Barzee had kept Elizabeth captive in a camp in the mountains above Salt Lake City, subjecting her to daily sexual assault and tethering her with a cable.

On March 12, 2003, nine months after the abduction, Elizabeth was found alive in Sandy, Utah after being recognized by passersby who had seen the America's Most Wanted broadcast. Mitchell was wearing a wig and robes and was walking with Elizabeth and Barzee in public. Mitchell was convicted of kidnapping and sexual assault in 2011 and sentenced to life in prison. Elizabeth Smart became a prominent advocate for child safety and victims' rights.