Kidnap Survivor Has Baby: Elizabeth Smart Becomes A Mommy
Kidnap survivor Elizabeth Smart had a baby. Smart was kidnapped from her home in Utah when she was 14. She went on to become an advocate for missing children as a young adult.
The kidnap survivor gave birth to her first child in February. The news of the arrival of the bundle of joy was announced just recently by Ed Smart, the father of Elizabeth Smart.
“Elizabeth is great. She just had a little baby girl about three months ago. Chloe. We’re just so excited,” Ed Smart told the media. Little Chloe is the third grandchild to be welcomed into the Smart family.
Elizabeth Smart did not want news about Chloe’s arrival to be revealed in the days or weeks following the birth.
“It is totally private. This is something she is keeping to herself and not trying to have out there,” her father added. The kidnap survivor, 27, is married to Matthew Gilmour. Smart met the Scottish man when on a mission with the LDS church. The couple wed in a small ceremony held at the Mormon temple in Hawaii in 2012.
Elizabeth Smart was abducted from her parents’ home 13 years ago. A homeless street preacher, Brian David Mitchell, kidnapped the young teen and subjected her to repeated sexual assault during the nine months he held her captive. Smarts was forced to wear a disguise in public and “wander” the region with both her kidnapper and his wife, Wanda Barzee.
She was freed only after a couple happened to recognize her from missing child poster and news coverage when they encountered the trio in Salt Lake City.
Brian David Mitchell was sentenced to life in prison for kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor across state lines for the purpose of engaging in sexual activity. Wanda Barzee was given a 15-year prison sentence.
The kidnapping of Smart inspired The Elizabeth Smart Story television movie in 2003. The kidnap survivor started the Elizabeth Smart Foundation, to offer help in locating missing children and to help end the sex trafficking of children.
“We want all of those people that have been victimized out there to be survivors,” Ed Smart said when talking about the Elizabeth Smart Foundation and helping survivors. “We want them to find their dreams and find that new hope in life that helps them become the best and the most they can be.”
[Image via: George Frey / Getty Images]
