Elizabeth Smart Kidnapping - Abduction Timeline

Abduction Timeline

• June 4, 2002 – Smart Family arrives late at the Bryant Middle School awards function Elizabeth receives awards in physical fitness and academics but does not play her harp as planned. Family returns home and retires to bed.
• June 5, 2002 – Elizabeth is abducted from her bedroom in the early hours of the morning. Mary Katherine, her sister, is a witness to the crime. Elizabeth is taken to a camp in Dry Creek Canyon, the entrance of which is a short distance from the Smart family house, where she is held prisoner.
• June 6, 2002 – Bounty for her rescue is at $250,000.
• June 7, 2002 – A milkman reports suspicious activities of Bret Michael Edmunds in neighborhood.
• June 9, 2002 – Ed Smart is questioned and polygraphed.
• June 12, 2002 – Manhunt for Bret Michael Edmunds.
• June 14, 2002 – Suspect Richard Ricci is arrested on unrelated charges.
• June 21, 2002 – Bret Michael Edmunds caught at City Hospital in Martinsburg, West Virginia and questioned the next day.
• June 24, 2002 – Richard Ricci arrest announced.
• July 11, 2002 – Richard Ricci charged with theft in the Smart home. Denies any involvement with Elizabeth's kidnapping.
• July 24, 2002 – Attempted kidnapping at Elizabeth's cousin's house.
• August 2002 - Salt Lake City Detective Richey, based on a tip, confronts Smart and her kidnappers at the City Library. He is deflected from examining Smart's face by a religious argument. Smart later testified "I felt like hope was walking out the door", as the detective accepted the argument and left.
• August 2002 – Mitchell, Barzee and Elizabeth leave Dry Creek Canyon and go to Salt Lake City.
• August 27, 2002 – Richard Ricci collapses.
• August 30, 2002 – Richard Ricci dies of brain hemorrhage.
• September 17, 2002 – Police suspend regular briefings with the Smart family.
• September 27, 2002 – Police arrest Mitchell for shoplifting and later release him.
• September 28, 2002 – Barzee and Elizabeth are spotted in the town of Lakeside, California, in San Diego County.
• October 12, 2002 – Mary Katherine remembers the voice of the kidnapper as that of the man they knew as "Emmanuel".
• February 3, 2003 – Smart family releases the sketch of the man known as Emmanuel.
• February 12, 2003 – Mitchell is arrested in El Cajon, California, in San Diego County, for breaking into a church. He was recognized as the criminal wanted in Utah.
• February 15, 2003 – America's Most Wanted features Emmanuel and requests responses.
• February 16, 2003 – Mitchell's family steps forward and identifies him as the man known as "Emmanuel".
• February 17, 2003 – Newly published, more recent photographs of Mitchell made available.
• March 5, 2003 – Mitchell, Barzee, and Elizabeth leave San Diego County, California.
• March 12, 2003 – Elizabeth Smart found alive in the city of Sandy, Utah.
• March 18, 2003 – Mitchell and Barzee charged with aggravated kidnapping, aggravated sexual assault and aggravated burglary.
• April 30, 2003 – Elizabeth makes her first public appearance after her return.
• October 27, 2003 – Dateline NBC interview with Elizabeth.
• July 26, 2005 – Mitchell declared mentally incompetent to stand trial.
• December 18, 2006 – Mitchell again declared unfit to stand trial.
• April 30, 2008 – Ed Smart appears on Madeline McCann One Year On.
• November 17, 2008 – People Magazine features Elizabeth Smart as one of their heroes of the year. In the article Elizabeth says she plans to live in England next year.
• October 2009 – In a court hearing Elizabeth Smart described Mitchell as "smart, articulate, evil, wicked, manipulative, sneaky, slimy, selfish, greedy, not spiritual, not religious, not close to God."
• November 17, 2009 – Wanda Barzee sentenced to 15 years for her role in the kidnapping.
• March 1, 2010 – Mitchell ruled competent to stand trial.
• December 10, 2010 – Mitchell convicted in Elizabeth Smart abduction.
• May 25, 2011 – Brian David Mitchell is sentenced to life in federal prison for the kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart.