Plot Summary: In June 2002, fourteen-year-old Elizabeth Smart was abducted from her Salt Lake City bedroom at knifepoint by self-proclaimed prophet Brian David Mitchell and his wife Wanda Barzee. Held captive and repeatedly assaulted for nine months, Elizabeth was finally recognized and rescued in March 2003. This documentary chronicles the kidnapping, the botched investigation, the Richard Ricci detour, and Elizabeth's extraordinary road to becoming a survivor and advocate.
Director: Benedict Sanderson
Platform: Netflix
Genre: Documentary / True Crime
Year: 2026
Featured:
Elizabeth Smart as herself
Ed Smart as himself (Elizabeth's father)
Brian David Mitchell (subject)
Wanda Barzee (subject)
⚠️ SPOILER ALERT ⚠️
A Powerful Survivor Trapped in a Draggy Documentary
So I decided it was time to watch a documentary since it's been a while since I've checked one out. What better place than Netflix to pick from? I'm just kidding... no I'm not. I picked a totally random documentary from this year and this is what I got. Kidnapping, of course. The only real interest I had in this was that, as a father with daughters, I thought I might learn something to prevent a nasty situation. But since I live in an apartment on a high floor, very little from this doc applies to my life (lol). Hope you've noticed the pumping red spoiler alert up there, because Elizabeth is alive. She was taken by a f**ked up psycho who thought he was "chosen by God" so he could rape her in the woods while his wife watched. Before going any further, I want to express my warmest feelings towards the Smart family. I can't grasp the pain they went through, and I wish them all the best. Elizabeth is now a powerful survivor who empowers other girls and women with what she learned from her horrific experience. As for the documentary itself, it's very long and draggy. It builds curiosity right at the start, but come on, get on with it, there is way too much drama and lame sentimental music.
Watch the clip below of Elizabeth talking about how she battled what happened to her and came through to lead a happy life.
Unanswered Questions and the Richard Ricci Detour
There are a couple of things in this film that are just terribly explained. First, the attempted kidnapping of Elizabeth's cousin, Olivia. Brian David Mitchell stalked the home, dragged a chair to the window, and tried to climb in. He knocked over some trinkets on the windowsill, which woke up the uncle. He ran into the room screaming in panic, which foiled the attempt. Maybe I wasn't paying attention, but I don't remember the doc explaining this sequence of events very well. Then there's the abduction itself. From what I understood, Elizabeth was taken on foot through the backyard and straight into the woods. Unless this is an illustration error by the documentary team, how the hell didn't anyone pick up the trail or put the tracking dogs right there on day one? And this completely made me think about the Richard Ricci detour. Where the f**k did this guy go? Why was he so reluctant to say what he was doing before dying of a brain hemorrhage in jail in August 2002? Was he killing someone else? Hiding drugs? Meeting a gay prostitute? Dancing and killing chickens in the woods? Raping chipmunks?! What?! Why the hell didn't this guy just clear his name? The doc also completely misses that Ricci's widow, Angela, later filed a lawsuit alleging cops used "Gestapo-style" interviews and solitary confinement to force a confession. The $150,000 settlement Utah paid her serves as a tacit acknowledgment of investigative overreach. It's a classic case of tunnel vision, they went after an "easy target" instead of looking at the weirdo in white robes.
Watch the clip below of Elizabeth detailing the terrifying reality of Day 1.
Detective Fails and a Missed Opportunity
Then there's the most infuriating moment in the entire documentary for me: when a detective actually confronts the motherf**ker Brian David Mitchell and his monster of a wife at a public library. Because of "religion," the cop didn't check the face under the veil! He even suspected it was Elizabeth but just left it at that. Come on, detective, I'm sorry, but you completely failed. Could that library moment have been any more suspicious? It is totally f**ked up how this guy just casually walked around Salt Lake City with Elizabeth and his psycho wife, even going to parties at night. How, man?! Ultimately, I found this to be a weak documentary. It focuses way too much on sentimentality instead of the cold, hard facts, and it completely fails to explore the criminal duo in any real depth. (That's why I've left a bit more information about the low-scum human being that is Brian David Mitchell below the final score).
Check out the library footage below and see the moment the police missed their chance.
Freddy's Final Rating
52
Long, draggy, and way too sentimental — but Elizabeth Smart's story and the monster who almost broke her are absolutely worth knowing
Biographical Antecedents and the Descent of Brian David Mitchell
The criminal trajectory of Brian David Mitchell was brought trough a progressive deterioration of mental stability and social integration that spanned nearly five decades. Born in 1953 in Salt Lake City, Utah, Mitchell was raised in an environment described by his father, Shirl Mitchell, as one of religious intensity. However, the young Mitchell exhibited early signs of pathological deviance. At sixteen, following chronic conflict and physical altercations with his mother, Irene, he was sent to live with his grandmother; during this same developmental period, he was arrested for exposing himself to a four-year-old child.
Mitchell's early adult life was characterized by a cyclical pattern of drug abuse, erratic religious shifts, and predatory behavior within his domestic spheres. Following an LSD-induced vision in his late twenties, he transitioned from professing atheism to an extreme, idiosyncratic interpretation of Mormonism. This religious "reawakening" did not, however, curb his predatory instincts. During his second marriage to Debbie Mitchell, he was alleged to have sexually abused his stepdaughter from the age of eight to twelve. Although medical confirmation was lacking at the time, his subsequent visitations were strictly supervised by the Division of Child and Family Services, a critical detail that suggests a documented history of risk to minors long before the Smart kidnapping.
The Radicalization of the "Davidic Servant"
By the mid-1990s, Mitchell's alienation from the mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) was complete. Despite having served as a high councilor and temple worker, he was excommunicated for "activity promoting bizarre teachings and lifestyle far afield from the principles and doctrines of the church". Mitchell adopted the messianic persona of "Immanuel David Isaiah," a name rooted in a Hebrew-centric, apocalyptic worldview. This transition was marked by a total rejection of material society. In 1995, Mitchell and his third wife, Wanda Barzee, sold their possessions and embraced a nomadic, panhandling existence, hitchhiking across the country before returning to Salt Lake City in 1997 to "preach to the homeless". This period of transience allowed Mitchell to hone a "street preacher" aesthetic — white robes, unkempt hair, and a staff — which functioned as a psychological shield, allowing him to navigate urban spaces while being dismissed as a harmless eccentric.
Wanda Barzee: The Mechanics of Shared Delusion
The role of Wanda Barzee in the Smart kidnapping is frequently scrutinized through the lens of folie à deux, or shared psychotic disorder. Experts who assessed Barzee during her 2007 competency hearings noted that she shared and actively reinforced Mitchell's delusional system. Under Mitchell's influence, Barzee transformed from a mother of six into "Hephzibah," a high priestess figure who validated Mitchell's "revelations". While Mitchell was the primary aggressor, Barzee provided the logistical and domestic framework that allowed the kidnapping to persist. She was responsible for the initial "ritual washing" of Elizabeth Smart's feet — a biblical tradition Mitchell used to symbolize the girl's transition into his "sister-wife". Smart later testified that Barzee was "evil and twisted," noting that Barzee would actively encourage Mitchell to rape her and would use physical intimidation, such as clamping her hand down on Smart's leg, to prevent her from seeking help in public.
The psychological bond between Mitchell and Barzee was fortified by social isolation. Their life on the streets and in remote canyons removed external reality-testing, allowing Mitchell's 27-page manifesto, The Book of Immanuel David Isaiah, to become their absolute moral and legal authority. This document, transcribed by Barzee herself on April 6, 2002, outlined Mitchell's intent to restore polygamy and battle the Antichrist, providing a pre-ordained justification for the abduction that would occur two months later.
The prosecution of Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Barzee was one of the most protracted legal battles in Utah history, largely due to the question of Mitchell's competency. For years, Mitchell successfully disrupted court proceedings by singing religious hymns, such as "Oh Come, Oh Come, Emmanuel," during hearings.
| Legal Milestone | Date | Significance |
|---|---|---|
| Initial Competency Ruling | July 26, 2005 | Mitchell found incompetent in state court; case stalled. |
| Utah Medication Bill | 2006 | Legal pathway created to restore competency via antipsychotics. |
| Barzee Plea Deal | Nov 16, 2009 | Barzee pleads guilty to federal charges; agrees to testify against Mitchell. |
| Mitchell Conviction | Dec 10, 2010 | Federal jury finds Mitchell guilty of kidnapping and sexual assault. |
| Mitchell Sentencing | May 25, 2011 | Mitchell sentenced to two life terms in federal prison. |
Hope you've enjoyed this review and you can also check out the book written by Elizabeth if you are interested in knowing more about her experience.
📚 Further Reading & Viewing
This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
📖 Elizabeth Smart's book — Detours: Hope & Growth After Life's Hardest Turns
If you want to know more about her experience straight from the source, this is the place to go.
View on Amazon
🎬 I Am Elizabeth Smart — available on Amazon Prime
Seems like there is also a movie adaptation you can find on Amazon Prime if Netflix isn't your thing.
View on Amazon Prime
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