Elizabeth Smart will be telling her story in front of a jury as she begins giving testimony about her experiences
Many of us remember how the whole thing played out. Girl snatched from her room in the middle of the night and the only one that saw anything at all was Elizabeth Smart’s little sister.
They blamed the handyman that they had hired for odd jobs around the place. Yet there was no sign of him and clearly no sign of Smart.
One thing was for sure. Smart was taken from her home, the window in the kitchen was open and the screen was taken out. Panicked, the family started what would be 9 months of searching for their daughter.
At just 14, Smart was forced to be another wife to Brian David Mitchell. He threatened to kill her and her family if she made any sudden moves. She immediately thought about ways she would escape, but she awoke being chained to a bed.
Just 2 months into the ordeal, Mitchell took Smart and his other wife into Salt Lake City. She was covered with a veil. When authorities approached and asked to look, Mitchell told him that with his religion only those wed to this woman could look at her face. After a few attempts, the cop left.
The question remains, why didn’t she speak up? According to psychologists, many kidnap and rape victims do what Smart did. They keep quiet. Knowing that Mitchell was calling all the shots and was constantly threatening her family, Smart kept quiet. He had already proved to her that her home was not safe, and now her family wasn’t either.
Another phenomenon also took place. It’s a bonding that happens between kidnappers and their victims known as Stockholm Syndrome. Because life depends so much on the person in control, they become attached to them just to stay alive.
Smart’s actions were of no surprise to psychologists, who say she just went into survival mode.
This case becomes very complex as there are many documents that show the motivations of rapists. It’s all about power and sex is used as a weapon. Most rapists never get caught or cases get disposed. Rape cases drag on for months. This one has taken nearly a decade.
Now Smart finally gets her chance to talk. It’s personal and it’s very hard, but her side will be told.
