SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, May 10, 2025 (Gephardt Daily) — Wanda Barzee, convicted in the 2002 kidnapping and abuse of then-14-year-old Elizabeth Smart, has been formally charged for allegedly entering two Salt Lake City parks considered protected public spaces off limits to convicted sex offenders.
Court documents, filed Friday by the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office, show Barzee is now facing two class A misdemeanor counts of “violations by a sex offender of a protected space.”
Barzee made national headlines one week ago after she was arrested for allegedly entering both Liberty Park and Sugarhouse Park.
She was taken into custody by Salt Lake City police Thursday, May 1, after a detective was informed by a social worker that Barzee “had been at local parks around Salt Lake County,” court documents say. Barzee was jailed overnight and released last Friday, while the DA’s office decided whether to press charges.
Her trial is now scheduled for June 6, and she remains free on monitored pre-trial release.
Two SLCPD detectives went to Barzee’s residence on May 1 to conduct a welfare check. Court documents indicate Barzee admitted that she went to Liberty Park on or about April 9, 2025, sat on a bench and fed the ducks because “she was commanded to by the lord.” Barzee also allegedly admitted she walked around Sugarhouse Park.
Elizabeth Smart responded to news of Barzee’s arrest Thursday, May 8, with a video posted on the Elizabeth Smart Foundation’s Instagram page.
“I’m sure many of you heard, Wanda Barzee was recently arrested for entering a public park in Salt Lake City—a place where she’s legally barred from going because she’s a registered sex offender.
“Her justification was that she was ‘commanded by the Lord,’ which, unfortunately, is very familiar to me and is probably the most concerning thing, because that’s how they justified kidnapping me,” Smart said.
“I feel like I’ve been vocal about my concerns since Barzee’s initial release, and this incident confirms exactly why. I am so grateful to the Salt Lake Police Department and Chief Redd for their quick and professional response. They handled the situation with a trauma-informed approach, which means so much to me personally. When authorities take these situations—these violations—seriously, it sends a very powerful message that survivor safety matters.”
Mug shots of Wanda Barzee and Brian David Mitchell following their arrest in Sandy, Utah, in March 2003. Photo: Salt Lake County Jail.
Smart was 14 years old when she was kidnapped at knifepoint from her family’s Federal Heights home by Barzee’s then-husband, Brian David Mitchell.
Smart was initially held captive by Mitchell and Barzee in a hidden campsite just three miles from her home in the foothills above Salt Lake City. It was there that she was brutalized and forced to endure what would become months of daily sexual assaults involving Mitchell and Barzee, she testified at trial.
After weeks of public strolls in Salt Lake City, where their identities were hidden by robes and masks, the three of them ultimately made their way to San Diego by bus, where they lived as vagrants in a series of homeless encampments.
Nine months later, they returned to the Salt Lake Valley, where Smart was rescued by police on March 12, 2003, after passersby recognized Barzee and Mitchell as they walked with a disguised Elizabeth on State Street in Sandy.
A police sketch of Mitchell had been made public after Elizabeth’s sister, Mary Katherine, the lone witness to the kidnapping, recognized him as a handyman who had worked for a short time at the family’s home.
Barzee and Mitchell were originally deemed mentally incompetent to stand trial, but after years of treatment, including forced medication, both had their day in court.
In 2009, Barzee pleaded guilty to federal charges of kidnapping and enticement of a minor and was ultimately sentenced to 15 years in prison.
In a separate state trial, she pleaded guilty to the attempted kidnapping of Elizabeth’s cousin, also in 2002, and received another 15-year term, which she served concurrently with the federal sentence. She agreed to testify against Mitchell as part of the plea.
After her release from a federal prison in Texas in 2016, Barzee was returned to Utah, where she was incarcerated until her controversial parole in September 2018, when she received credit for time served.
Mitchell was ruled competent to stand trial in March 2010 and was convicted in federal court in Salt Lake City in December of that year. Smart testified in the dramatic four-week trial, which was marked by Mitchell’s frequent outbursts, including singing hymns in open court
Elizabeth Smart addressing the media outside federal court in Salt Lake City after Brian David Mitchell’s conviction on charges of interstate kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor, December 11, 2010. Photo: Patrick Benedict
On May 25, 2011, Mitchell, now 71, was sentenced to life in prison by U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball and is serving time without the possibility of parole at the U.S. Penitentiary outside Tucson, Arizona. Utah opted to avoid trying him on state charges where another prolonged legal battle over his mental competency was expected.
Prior to sentencing, Smart took the stand and addressed Mitchell directly.
“I don’t have very much to say to you,” Smart said. “I know exactly what you did. I know that you know what you did was wrong. You did it with a full knowledge. I also want you to know that I have a wonderful life now, that no matter what you do it will never affect me again. You took away nine months of my life that can never be returned, but in this life or next, you will have to be held responsible for those actions, and I hope you are ready for when that time comes.”
Elizabeth Smart, along with father, Ed Smart, outside federal court in downtown Salt Lake City in the aftermath of Brian David Mitchell’s sentencing to life in prison for interstate kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor, May 25, 2011. Photo: Patrick Benedict
In the video posted to Instagram last week, Smart — a married mother of three and fierce advocate for victims of sexual abuse — addressed the personal impact Barzee’s recent arrest has had on her, saying she continues to live her life and is unafraid.
“I turned back to the advice my own mother gave me the day after I was rescued, where she said, ‘They’ve already stolen nine months of your life away from you. Do not let them steal another second. You need to move forward with your life, and you need to be happy.’ And I have always tried to follow that advice to the best of my ability. So, although this situation has arisen, I refuse to live my life in fear. I refuse to allow anyone to stop me from living.”
