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GONE, BUT NOT FOR GOOD
Salt Lake City, Utah teenager, Elizabeth
Smart, then 14, disappeared in June 2002. She was gone – and no-one knew
where. In March 2003 she turned up again. But she had never been too
far away. Disguised and in the company of her polygamous ‘husband’
and his ‘other’ wife, the teenager had made no effort to run away back to
her own family.
When the police caught up with the three
walking along a road in a town just south of Salt Lake City, Elizabeth
three times denied her identity before acknowledging the police were
correct. With Elizabeth were 49-year-old Brian David Mitchell and
his partner, Wanda Barzee (57). After the two adults were arrested,
the story of Elizabeth Smart’s strange disappearance and reappearance
captivated media attention from Salt Lake City to Sydney and elsewhere
around the world.
On the evening of June 5, 2002, Elizabeth
was kidnapped at knifepoint from the bedroom she shared with her sister.
Her kidnapper, David Mitchell had come to know the devout Mormon family
sometime before.
While experts have been puzzling about
the emotional psychological effects of Elizabeth Smart’s kidnapping, which
left her so willing to stay with Mitchell and Barzee without running away
while they lived so near, part of the strange story hinges on Mitchell and
his background.
Mitchell was born, and grew up, in Salt
Lake City some kilometres from Elizabeth Smart. After somewhat mediocre
and rebellious teen years, including alcohol and other drugs, Mitchell
married a girl called Karen and fathered two children. The marriage
didn’t last long. After this break-up Mitchell became an active
Mormon. In the LDS Church Mitchell met and married Debbie. That
marriage also ended after a few years when Debbie divorced him, claiming
he had changed from a deeply devout and gentle man to a very controlling
person – banning her from wearing bright coloured clothing and imposing
other restrictions. In interviews, following the recent March arrest,
Debbie claimed that Mitchell also sexually abused her children.
Not long after the break-up with Debbie,
Mitchell met Wanda Barzee at a LDS Church function and soon after moved in
with her and her three children. Not long after moving in with
Barzee Mitchell began to claim (and perhaps believe?) that he was having
visions and visitations of angels – just like Joseph Smith almost 200
years ago. His step children couldn’t handle his sermonising claims
and departed.
It was somewhere around this time that
the LDS Church excommunicated Mitchell and Barzee.
Then Mitchell claimed that that he had
received divine guidance to sell off all their belongings and live by
faith and dependence on the goodwill and support of others. Mitchell
grew a beard and wore robes. He made an elaborate cart to carry
their few belongings – on the style of the handcarts involved in the great
Westward trek of early Mormons – and the two of them became familiar
sights in the streets. They slept where they could, including in basements
offered to them. He preached when and where he could with claims of divine
and angelic authorisation – somewhat like Joseph Smith must have done in
the beginning. He was described by several as a gentle and affable
preacher.
In September 1997 Mitchell and Barzee
started the ‘The Seven Diamonds Plus One - Testaments of Jesus Christ –
Study and Fellowship Society’. Its purpose was to study the covenants
between God and man as contained in the ‘Testaments of Jesus Christ’
– Mitchell and Barzee claimed that the:
‘Testaments of Jesus
Christ are as follows:
1. The Holy Bible—King James Version
2. The Book of
Mormons—translated by Joseph Smith
3. The inspired words
of the prophets of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
4. “The Golden Seven
Plus One” by Dr. C. Samuel West
5. “Embraced By The
Light” by Betty J. Eadie
6. “The Literacy
Message” of Isaiah by Avraham Gileadi
7. “The Final Quest” by
Rick Joyner
Plus One
1. Inspired sacred music and song and the testimonies of all the humble
followers of Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Ghost.
These Seven Diamonds Plus One—Testaments of Jesus Christ together form a
brilliant shining diadem of truth that reveals, on one hand, that awful
hell and misery that awaits. All those who have known Christ in their
hearts and have rejected Him in their hearts; and on the other hand, the
crowning glory, eternal life, and great joy that Jesus Christ bestows upon
all of His humble and faithful followers to the end—those who have His
heart. They are His royal heirs; for truly He is King of Kings and Lord of
Lords. All praise and honor and glory be unto Him, even Jesus Christ, our
Savior, our Redeemer, our righteous judge and our wise eternal friend.’
At the time Mitchell and Barzee stated
their names were Immanuel David Isaiah and Hephzibah [also spelled ‘Haphzibah’]
Eladah Isaiah, and proclaimed that they were a King and Queen in God’s
eyes and heart.
Mitchell apparently began to express the
virtues and blessings of polygamy or plural marriage during the 1990s, and
then in another claimed major revelation, dated 27 February 2002, he
claimed to have been directed to gather to himself ‘seven young wives’.
He later wrote the details of this, and
other various claimed divine revelations, in a 27-page document he
entitled: ‘The Book of Immanuel David Isaiah’ (dated 6 April
2002) in which he described himself as ‘just and mighty’. Throughout his
rambling (and poorly written and spelled) booklet of ‘revelations’
Mitchell proclaims the virtues and significance of Joseph Smith and the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a true Prophet and a true
Church.
Some commentators have described
Mitchell’s book as his ‘Manifesto’ and have compared it to Joseph Smith’s
Book of Mormon. We believe that a better comparison is
to be made between Mitchell’s booklet and Smith’s Doctrine and
Covenants.
In the lengthy section ‘Plus One’ [placed
between sections 6 and 7] (dated 12 March 2002, pp.20-24) of his
‘Book of Immanuel David Isaiah’ Mitchell has God declaring (p.23):
‘Therefore, Hephzibah Eladah
Isaiah, thou art called and chosen to be a helpmeet unto my servant
Immanuel David Isaiah, and to be his wise counselor and best friend, and
to be submissive and obedient unto thy husband in all righteousness, and
to be a comfort and a strength and a companion to thy husband in every
time of trial and affliction unto the end. And all this that thou mayest
receive glory and honor in serving thy husband, as unto thy Lord. This is
the perfect order of heaven inasmuch as all things are done in pure love,
and in obedience to the Holy Spirit, and in obedience to all my
commandments. Wherefore, Hephzibah, my most cherished angel, thou wilt
take into thy heart and home seven sisters, and thou wilt recognize them
through the spirit as thy dearest and choicest friends from all eternity,
and they shall bring thee great joy, even a multiplicity and an eternal
weight of blessings and glory and eternal happiness. And lo, thou shalt be
healed and made whole every whit, and thine own womb shall be opened and
thou shalt bring forth a son to sit upon the throne of his father David.
And thou shalt take into thy heart and home seven times seven sisters, to
love and care for; forty-nine precious jewels in thy crown, and thou art
the jubilee of them all, first and last, for all are given unto thee for
thy glory and honor and exaltation, even as thou art given unto them, for
thou art a Queen, Oh Hephzibah!’
This ‘revelation’ is dated some three
months before Mitchell broke into the Smart home and kidnapped 14-year-old
Elizabeth to be the first of his ‘Queen’s’
‘seven times seven
sisters’ –
‘forty-nine precious
jewels’ – his young brides.
There is evidence to show that he had planned (even started) to kidnap the
younger sister of Jessica Wright, an 18-year-old cousin of Elizabeth
Smart, to join his group of teenage brides, but went to Jessica’s bedroom
by mistake and was scared away by the older girl waking and calling for
help.
The above ‘Plus One’ section of
‘The Book of Immanuel David Isaiah’ is very similar to what Joseph
Smith wrote in his book of claimed revelations, The Doctrine
and Covenants, (D&C) Section 132 (dated July 12, 1843) which
proclaims plural marriage or polygamy as a command of God and an eternal
covenant. It tells Joseph Smith’s wife, Emma, to be obedient to the
new covenant of polygamy or face punishment and states that she must
accept all the women Joseph brings home to be his wives.
D&C 132:1 ‘Verily, thus saith
the Lord unto you my servant Joseph, that inasmuch as you have inquired of
my hand to know and understand wherein I, the Lord, justified my servants
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as also Moses, David and Solomon, my servants,
as touching the principle and doctrine of their having many wives and
concubines— 2 Behold, and lo, I am the Lord thy God, and will answer thee
as touching this matter. 3 Therefore, prepare thy heart to receive
and obey the instructions which I am about to give unto you; for all those
who have this law revealed unto them must obey the same. 4 For behold, I
reveal unto you a new and an everlasting covenant; and if ye abide not
that covenant, then are ye damned; for no one can reject this covenant and
be permitted to enter into my glory… 6 And as pertaining to the new and
everlasting covenant, it was instituted for the fulness of my glory; and
he that receiveth a fulness thereof must and shall abide the law, or he
shall be damned, saith the Lord God… 52 And let mine handmaid, Emma Smith,
receive all those that have been given unto my servant Joseph, and who are
virtuous and pure before me; and those who are not pure, and have said
they were pure, shall be destroyed, saith the Lord God… 54 And I command
mine handmaid, Emma Smith, to abide and cleave unto my servant Joseph, and
to none else. But if she will not abide this commandment she shall be
destroyed, saith the Lord; for I am the Lord thy God, and will destroy her
if she abide not in my law. 55 But if she will not abide this commandment,
then shall my servant Joseph do all things for her, even as he hath said;
and I will bless him and multiply him and give unto him an hundredfold in
this world, of fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, houses and
lands, wives and children, and crowns of eternal lives in the eternal
worlds. 56 And again, verily I say, let mine handmaid forgive my servant
Joseph his trespasses; and then shall she be forgiven her trespasses,
wherein she has trespassed against me; and I, the Lord thy God, will bless
her, and multiply her, and make her heart to rejoice… 61 And again, as
pertaining to the law of the priesthood—if any man espouse a virgin, and
desire to espouse another, and the first give her consent, and if he
espouse the second, and they are virgins, and have vowed to no other man,
then is he justified; he cannot commit adultery for they are given unto
him; for he cannot commit adultery with that that belongeth unto him and
to no one else. 62 And if he have ten virgins given unto him by this law,
he cannot commit adultery, for they belong to him, and they are given unto
him; therefore is he justified. 63 But if one or either of the ten
virgins, after she is espoused, shall be with another man, she has
committed adultery, and shall be destroyed; for they are given unto him to
multiply and replenish the earth, according to my commandment, and to
fulfil the promise which was given by my Father before the foundation of
the world, and for their exaltation in the eternal worlds, that they may
bear the souls of men; for herein is the work of my Father continued, that
he may be glorified. 64 And again, verily, verily, I say unto you, if any
man have a wife, who holds the keys of this power, and he teaches unto her
the law of my priesthood, as pertaining to these things, then shall she
believe and administer unto him, or she shall be destroyed, saith the Lord
your God; for I will destroy her; for I will magnify my name upon all
those who receive and abide in my law. 65 Therefore, it shall be lawful in
me, if she receive not this law, for him to receive all things whatsoever
I, the Lord his God, will give unto him, because she did not believe and
administer unto him according to my word; and she then becomes the
transgressor; and he is exempt from the law of Sarah, who administered
unto Abraham according to the law when I commanded Abraham to take Hagar
to wife. 66 And now, as pertaining to this law, verily, verily, I say unto
you, I will reveal more unto you, hereafter; therefore, let this suffice
for the present. Behold, I am Alpha and Omega. Amen.’
The Salt Lake City based LDS Church has
never repudiated, declared invalid, or treated as a false prophecy, D&C
Section 132. They have added a ‘manifesto’ to the D&C declaring they
would obey the laws of the land (in preference to obeying what they
had declared to be God’s eternal covenant, revelation and command –
compare this with Peter’s statement in Acts 4:1-20). They cannot
remove D&C Section 132 because it also contains the teachings justifying
Mormon belief in eternal marriage and men becoming gods. The fact
that they have retained Section 132 has provided a major source of trouble
from polygamous or ‘Fundamentalist’ Mormons who claim they want to be
obedient to God’s commands as given to Joseph Smith and revealed in D&C
Section 132.
Some months before Mitchell kidnapped
Elizabeth Smart he had done some odd-jobs for her parents. Her
mother Lois had met Mitchell and given him some money when he asked for a
handout. She had then offered him some work repairing the family
home roof. Elizabeth’s father, Ed Smart had met and worked with
Mitchell on a roof project and had regarded him as a soft-spoken genial
man.
That was before.
Now Mitchell and Barzee are in jail
charged with aggravated kidnapping, aggravated sexual assault and
aggravated burglary. They were each jailed to await full trial and
sentencing on bail of $10 million each.
And the teenage girl who disappeared is
back with her parents and five siblings. Life for her will never be the
same. As the news papers reported:
‘SALT LAKE CITY (March 14) -
After nine months of shabby living under bridges and in tents with a
self-styled prophet and his wife, Elizabeth Smart returned to her
million-dollar home alive - but not unchanged.’
She, and her family, will have to go
through a vast range of emotions and intense debriefings to work through
her traumatic experiences.
In the meantime the experts argue about
whether Elizabeth Smart was brainwashed or behaved out of character from
fear and survival – whether or not she suffered from the Stockholm
Syndrome, as an explanation for the teen’s total compliance and submission
to Mitchell to the point where she was left alone for a whole day but
didn’t attempt to run away.
Serious questions have been asked about
the police and FBI handling of the Smart case, a couple of journalists
have been sacked over inappropriate and sensationalist reporting, and the
family has had to content with the ongoing media circus that surrounded
them for almost two months.
Two journalists, Maggie Haberman and
Jeane MacIntosh, who respectively wrote on the case for the New York
Post and New York Daily News, have already gone to
press with an Avon published book: ‘Held Captive: The Kidnapping and
Rescue of Elizabeth Smart.’
The
Smart family has also been negotiating for book rights and also been
looking at movie rights. As the official LDS Church newspaper, the
Deseret News, reported on April 9, 2003:
‘The Smart family, meanwhile,
is continuing discussions with a number of “reputable publishers” who will
print a book with “the most detailed and accurate account of the story,”
Thomas said.
A book and/or movie deal with
the family’s approval could be finalized in a week, he said.
Thomas said it was his
understanding that the book published by Avon would be released in
paperback and would be based on interviews and news conferences held when
Elizabeth was abducted and after she was found. The authors did not do any
one-on-one interviews with Ed or Lois Smart, Elizabeth’s parents, since
the kidnapping ordeal ended, Thomas said.
The Smarts have signed with
California entertainment lawyer and BYU graduate Kelly Crabb to help
negotiate with Hollywood. Industry sources speculate the Smart family
could make about $500,000 to sell their rights for a movie.’
Much to the Mormon Church’s
consternation, the Smart case has, once again, highlighted the problem of
Mormon-related polygamy, sexual abuse of young girls, incest and related
problems. Young teenage brides are still common and especially so
amongst ‘Fundamentalist’ or polygamous Mormons. As a spokesman for
the Utah Attorney General’s Office has stated:
‘We’ve repeatedly heard
evidence of older men marrying young girls and taking them into polygamy,’ noting that the girls are often between 13 and
16 years of age.
Australians have seen links
between the Elizabeth Smart abduction and the case of Natasha Ryan (now
18) who disappeared as a young teen in September 1998. Her disappearance
was complete, and after intensive police investigation it was believed
that she had been murdered. Serial killer Leonard John Fraser was charged
with her murder and was about to go on trial for her murder when Natasha
reappeared in April 2003. She had run off with her boyfriend, Scott Black
(now 27) and had remained housebound and in almost total seclusion for the
four and a half years. There appear to be no religious connections in the
Ryan/Black case.
As with the Smart case in Utah,
there have been questions on Black’s control and deliberate hiding of
Natasha, regardless of others’ desperate search for the girl; her
compliance and submission; the police handling of the case, and more.
The Australian media circus has also been at full performance over her
disappearance and reappearance. Rival media groups made bids for
exclusive story rights, before Kerry Packer's media network, which owns
and operates Channel 9, Women's Weekly and
Woman's Day, secured exclusive access to Natasha Ryan and her
family for a rumoured $200 000.
As
at early June 2003 the Ryan/Black case was far from over.
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