Elizabeth Smart’s Abductor To Be Released

I had the pleasure of meeting Elizabeth Smart a few years ago when she spoke at my sorority’s national convention.

Look. I’ve got proof:

I know that’s an awful picture of me. But that’s not the point. The point is I love this picture – because I was truly moved by what she had to say. She’s an incredibly inspiring woman, and her words really stuck with me.

Which is why this news feels slightly personal. I don’t “know” Elizabeth Smart, but I care about her. She is a wonderful, smart, brave, caring woman…. and I hate this.

Wanda Barzee, the woman who helped her husband kidnap Smart from her BEDROOM n 2002 is being set fee.

Smart, then 14, was found nine months later while walking with Barzee and Mitchell on a street in the suburb of Sandy, Utah, by people who recognized the couple from media reports.

The couple was arrested in 2003 and Barzee pleaded guilty in federal court in November 2009. Three months later, she pled guilty to state charges for attempted kidnapping in connection to a plot to kidnap Smart’s cousin in July 2003 – about a month after Barzee and Mitchell nabbed Smart.

This woman is a MONSTER.

Now she’s being set free.

I don’t know how Elizabeth feels about it yet – she hasn’t commented – but I know how I feel, after hearing first-hand what these monsters put her through: horrified.

I feel horrified.

According to Fox News:

Wanda Barzee, the woman convicted for her role in the kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart, will be released from a Utah prison on Sept. 19.

Barzee, 72, will be released because the parole board failed to give her credit for time served in federal prison, the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole announced Tuesday.

It’s a surprise reversal by the board, which denied Barzee an early release date in July. At the time, the parole board declined to include her eight years in federal prison as time served on state charges.

“Upon further review and advice from legal counsel, the board must count time spent in federal custody toward Ms. Barzee’s state sentence,” Greg Johnson of the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole said in a letter, according to Fox 13.

As in… the woman who helped abduct Elizabeth Smart will be free in TWO DAYS.

Elizabeth’s dad revealed his concerns:

Smar’s father, Ed Smart, told the Salt Lake Tribune on Tuesday that the family was still processing the news. He said the family began hearing about the possibility of an early release just last week.

“We’re certainly surprised,” he said, “because were told she was getting out in 2022.”

Can you even imagine?

Can you imagine being afraid of running into the person who kidnapped you?

He also told KSL that his daughter’s biggest concern is that “she doesn’t want Wanda coming around her or her children.”

I hate this so much.