Elizabeth Smart Reveals Three Important Things All Parents Should Tell Their Children

In 2002, 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped from her home in Salt Lake City, Utah by Brian Mitchell and Wanda Barzee.  Smart was held captive as a sexual slave for nine months before she was rescued.  Now, 15 years later, Smart is continuing to share her story and to spread awareness, and hopefully, the prevention of other child abductions.  Smart has offered three important things that all parents should tell their children based on her own harrowing experience.

Elizabeth Smart. Elizabeth Smart was one of six children. She grew up in an upper-middle class suburb of Salt Lake City.

June 5, 2002. On June 5, 2002, the alarm went off at the Smart residence. Elizabeth's parents, Edward and Lois ignored the alarm; with six kids in the house, the alarm was accidentally set off all the time. What actually tripped the alarm was Brian David Mitchell breaking into the home.

Brian David Mitchell. Mitchell crept into the bedroom shared by Elizabeth and her sister, Mary Katherine. Mitchell forced Elizabeth out of bed at knifepoint, and whispered to her to keep quiet. Mary Katherine pretended to be asleep, terrified of being abducted as well. At the same time, she tried to get a good look at Mitchell.

Mary Katherine tried to help. When Mary Katherine thought the coast was clear, she tiptoed into the hallway to alert her parents, and almost ran into Mitchell and Elizabeth head on. Terrified, she ran back into her bedroom. When she knew for sure that it was safe, she ran into her parents' room and told them what happened.

Mary Katherine's statement. Mary Katherine tried to give as much information to police as possible. However, she was only nine years old at the time and it was dark in her room. She didn't get a good look at Mitchell's face. As a result, she was unable to provide investigators with much information to identify Elizabeth's captor.

Emmanuel. One day, a revelation hit Mary Katherine; she remembered seeing Elizabeth's captor before. He had done some work at the Smarts' property, and had used the name Emmanuel.

The sketch. The Smart family described "Emmanuel" from memory to a sketch artist. The composite sketch was circulated by law enforcement and the media. It was even shared by John Walsh and Larry King.

Identified. It was a member of Mitchell's own family who called the police and identified "Emmanuel"as Brian Mitchell. This ultimately led to a manhunt and the arrests of Mitchell and his wife/accomplice, Wanda Barzee.

Nine months of hell. For nine months, Elizabeth had been tortured, drugged and raped. Mitchell terrified Smart with constant death threats.

The veil. There were a few times when Mitchell and Barzee took Smart out in public. They made her cover her face with a veil and called her a different name.

First point of advice. "Make sure your child knows that they are loved unconditionally, and make sure your child knows what unconditionally means." Source: mirror.co.uk.

Second point of advice. "Make sure that your child understands that no one has the right to hurt them or scare them in any way. It doesn’t matter what that person may be: family, friend, religious leader, community leader, it doesn’t matter." Source: mirror.co.uk.

Third point of advice. "Should anyone hurt your child or threaten them in anyway, they need to tell you." Source: mirror.co.uk.

Encouragement. Elizabeth also urges parents to encourage their children to fight back when they are in danger. She also recommends practicing screaming, to draw attention to the situation.

Lucky to be alive. Elizabeth considers herself lucky to be alive. Wanda Barzee was sentenced to 15 years for aggravated kidnapping. Mitchell is serving a life sentence.