A woman who held Elizabeth Smart hostage for months after she was abducted by her husband been arrested in Utah for breaking the terms of her sex offender status.
Wanda Barzee, 79 – who was involved in the horrific kidnapping that terrified the nation in 2002 – was picked up by Salt Lake City Police Department after allegedly visiting two parks, NBC reports.
Utah law forbids sex offenders from entering or being near public places such as schools and parks.
Police said Barzee was spotted at Liberty Park and Sugar House Park last month. She is currently not listed as in custody.
Barzee and her husband Brian David Mitchell kidnapped Smart for nine months when she was just 14-years-old.
Street preacher Mitchell abducted the teen at knife point after climbing into her Salt Lake City room through an open window.
Smart was subjected to brutal abuse including daily rapes and being forced to consume alcohol and drugs at the depraved couple’s woodland compound.
The teen was eventually rescued after a couple recognized Mitchell and Barzee from an episode of America’s Most Wanted as they walked down the street with the teen.
Mitchell was sentenced to life in jail in 2010 and his wife was due to remain behind bars until 2024. However, she was unexpectedly released in 2018.
One of the conditions of her release was that she become a registered sex offender for the rest of her life.
Violating the terms of her sex offender status could mean that Barzee winds up back in jail.
The sick offender had served 15 years in prison for abducting Smart in 2002 when she was released.
Smart testified that she had stood by as her husband raped her and even encouraged him to continue the heinous acts.
The girl was held captive for nine months in a camp in the woods, where Mitchell performed a mock wedding ceremony before raping her for the first time.
To keep her from escaping, she was tied up with steel cables in a dugout filled with mice and spiders.
Smart was forced to take drugs and drink alcohol, she testified in 2009, and was raped daily — as often as four times a day.
She previously called Barzee’s release ‘incomprehensible’ and said she was ‘surprised and disappointed’ by the decision.
Now aged 37, Smart has become an advocate for women and children’s safety.
The married mom-of-three has written a book about the harrowing ordeal and helped make a Lifetime movie and documentary about the crime and her life.
Elizabeth admitted that when she first returned home after her traumatic kidnapping, she ‘didn’t want to speak about what happened with anyone.’
‘I wanted to hide those nine months away, and pretend they didn’t happen,’ she shared.
Elizabeth continued writing she knew in her head that none of the kidnapping was her fault.
‘My heart still felt embarrassment and shame over the vast amounts of sexual abuse I experienced,’ she admitted in the gut-wrenching post.
‘At the time, I didn’t know anyone else who openly shared they had been raped or violated, and no one took the time to explain to me that there is a difference between sexual abuse/rape versus enthusiastic consenting intimacy.’