Monday, February 20, 2012

Elizabeth Smart Gets Married

Elizabeth Smart Gets Married
Elizabeth Smart, who was kidnapped at age 14 from her Salt Lake City home, married her fiancĂ© in Hawaii on Saturday. Smart, 24, and Matthew Gilmour became engaged in January, initially announcing a summer wedding. Those plans changed a week ago in order to avoid attention to the unscheduled ceremony in the Laie Hawaii Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Oahu. The couple and family celebrated with a private reception and luau, after which Smart and Gilmour left for an extended honeymoon. Smart was kidnapped at knifepoint in June 2002 from her parents’ home by Brian David Mitchell. Smart was held captive and sexually abused for nine months and forced to wander with her captor from town to town for nine months. In March 2003, Smart was rescued when passersby spotted her with Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Barzee, in a Salt Lake suburb. Mitchell was convicted of kidnapping and rape in 2010. He is serving a life sentence and Barzee is serving 15 years in federal prison. Smart is an activist for children who suffer abuse and has formed a foundation on their behalf. She has worked as a commentator for ABC News. Gilmour is from Scotland. The two apparently met while Smart was serving an LDS mission in France last year.