Elizabeth Smart -- kidnapping survivor -- getting married

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Elizabeth Smart is getting married. And when she does, she’ll have a nation wishing her happily ever after.

Smart was a Salt Lake City 14-year-old when she was kidnapped from her home in the middle of the night by a self-proclaimed prophet and street preacher, and then raped repeatedly during nine months of captivity.

The nation was first riveted by the news of her rescue, then by her poise as the teenager testified against the captors who had threatened to kill her and her family if she did not comply with their demands.

Smart’s testimony led to lengthy prison terms for the man who abducted her, Brian David Mitchell, and his companion who helped cover it up, Wanda Barzee.

Smart, a senior at Brigham Young University, has become an outspoken advocate for kidnap victims.

Her father confirmed the engagement to People magazine, but refused to divulge a wedding date, the name of the groom or other details, saying that the family wanted privacy.

(Note to the soon-to-be newlyweds: If you want privacy, don’t register at Pottery Barn and Williams-Sonoma under your real names. Or else the Salt Lake Tribune will write about it, with a story that starts, ‘Break out the Martinelli’s’ because Smart is a devout Mormon.)

ALSO:

‘Remorseful’ man says fireplace ashes may have caused Nevada fire

U.S. military: Suicides level off overall; sexual assaults are up

Band hazing: 4 more charged at Florida A&M; none linked to death

--Rene Lynch
Twitter / renelynch

File photo: Elizabeth Smart on the steps of the state Capitol building in Salt Lake City. Credit: Kristin Murphy / Deseret News