Elizabeth Smart remembers not being able to make out the threat, only the feel of cold knife at her neck.
As the then-14-year-old lay in bed alongside her baby sister, the man repeated: "Don't make a sound. It was just indescribable fear," Smart, now 23, told jurors Monday on the first day of testimony in the federal trial of Brian David Mitchell, the man accused of kidnapping her in June 2002.
"It was utter terror," their mother, Lois Smart, testified earlier Monday. Nine months later, motorists spotted "Elizabeth Smart" walking in a Salt Lake City suburb with Mitchell.
Elizabeth Smart mother testified that she and her children ran into Mitchell downtown and that she offered him a job doing handyman work at the family's home. Later, the family hired Mitchell to help fix a leaky roof, Lois Smart said. Elizabeth Smart described how Mitchell came into her bedroom. "The name Immanuel just came to me," Smart said.
At the campsite, Mitchell's now-estranged wife, Wanda Eileen Barzee, embraced Smart, took her into a tent, sat her down on a bucket and washed her feet.
Elizabeth Smart said Mitchell entered the tent wearing a similar robe and married them by twisting lines from a Mormon religious rites into a marriage ceremony, known a sealing.
Lois Smart said she was awakened by daughter Mary Katherine, who was 9 at the time and slept with Elizabeth. The morning after the kidnapping, Smart said she cried and Mitchell explained to her that he had been planning the abduction since first meeting the family. Mitchell, 57, faces life in prison if he is convicted of kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor across state lines with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity.
Mitchell was indicted in federal court in 2008. Mitchell, however, was ruled competent for a trial in federal court.
Elizabeth Smart Testifies About Kidnapping, Reveals New Details Of Ordeal
“I could feel something cold across my neck,” Elizabeth Smart testified.
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Brian David Mitchell is accused of kidnapping and sexually assaulting Smart for nine months before she was rescued and returned to her family.
The victim’s mother, Lois Smart, also testified about the night her daughter was kidnapped.
“It was utter terror,” she said.
Elizabeth Smart testified very softly and matter of factly Monday, directing everything she said toward the jury of nine men and five women. The courtroom seemed to stand still as Elizabeth testified about the humiliation she was required to endure. Elizabeth had a red sweater jacket on with black turtleneck and black and white skirt. Mitchell did not begin to sing this morning until he entered the courtroom. With no defendant in the courtroom, it was Elizabeth Smart who identified the defendant, Brian David Mitchell, from a picture that was displayed on the court’s large projection screen. She testified Mitchell was the man who had abducted her out of her bedroom.
The day began with Assistant Federal Defender Parker Douglas delivering his opening statement to the jury. Poster boards of pictures showing Mitchell in various stages of life were exhibited for the jury to see during that opening statement.
Elizabeth Smart will return to the stand on Tuesday.
