Salt Lake City—Wanda Barzee, the woman who helped snatch a 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart from her bedroom in 2002, landed back in cuffs on April 16. Her crime this time? Strolling through two Utah parks she wasn’t supposed to set foot in. The 79-year-old, still on probation as a registered sex offender, got nabbed after cops caught wind of her visits to Liberty Park and Sugar House Park, both less than a ten-mile jaunt from her Salt Lake City home.
Barzee, alongside her then-husband Brian David Mitchell, made headlines over two decades ago when they broke into the Smart family’s house through an open window, held a knife to Elizabeth’s throat, and dragged her off into a nightmare that lasted nine months. The pair kept the teenager chained, raped her near-daily, and shuffled her between grimy campsites and rundown homes in Utah and San Diego. Smart was finally freed in March 2003 when a sharp-eyed passerby spotted the trio in Sandy, Utah, and tipped off police.
This latest arrest stems from Barzee’s probation terms, which bar her from public parks due to her sex offender status. Court records show she admitted to police she felt “God” told her to go to the parks, sit on benches, and feed ducks. That didn’t sit well with authorities, who hauled her in for violating her supervised release. Barzee, who served 15 years behind bars before her release in 2018, now faces a judge again to answer for her park visits.
Mitchell, her accomplice in the kidnapping, remains locked up for life, convicted of kidnapping and rape. Barzee’s recent arrest adds another chapter to a case that gripped the nation and turned Elizabeth Smart into a symbol of survival. The Salt Lake City Police Department confirmed the arrest but offered no further comment on pending court proceedings.
Barzee’s next court date is pending. She remains in custody.