Eight years after Elizabeth Smart was abducted from her home in Salt Lake City, Utah, the trial for accused kidnapper Brian David Mitchell begins today in federal court.
Smart was 14 years old when she was kidnapped in 2002, taken from her home on the night of 5 June. She was missing until 12 March 2003, when she was found in a Salt Lake City suburb with Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Ilene Barzee.
Initially Mitchell was deemed mentally incompetent — that’s why it’s taken so long for the trial to get going. Now he’s in federal court, facing a variety of charges, including kidnapping and aggravated sexual assault.
Go here for an archive of news stories from the Salt Lake Tribune, which includes testimony Elizabeth Smart gave in federal court in October of last year