ConvictedAmerican
Wanda Barzee
Accomplice in the kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart
1 case·0 media appearances
Profile
RoleConvicted
BornNovember 6, 1945
NationalityAmerican
Role detailAccomplice in the kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart
Legal statusReleased from prison (September 2018); registered sex offender in Utah
About
Wanda Eileen Barzee was born on November 6, 1945, in Salt Lake City, Utah. A divorcee with six children from a previous marriage, she met Brian David Mitchell in the late 1980s, and the two married in 1985. Under Mitchell's influence, Barzee became deeply immersed in his extreme religious ideology, adopting his belief that he was a divinely appointed prophet with a mandate to take multiple wives. Together they lived as itinerant street preachers in the Salt Lake City area. [1]
On June 5, 2002, Barzee aided Mitchell in the kidnapping of fourteen-year-old Elizabeth Smart from her Salt Lake City bedroom. During the nine months Smart was held captive at a remote campsite in the Wasatch Mountains and at other locations, Barzee played an active and cruel role. According to Smart's testimony, Barzee encouraged Mitchell during sexual assaults and treated Smart as a "handmaiden" and slave. Smart later recalled that Barzee would sit beside her and urge her husband to continue the abuse.
