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Elizabeth Smart: I Know How Bad It Is To Be Abused

Posted at 9:16 PM, Oct 24, 2013
and last updated 2013-10-25 07:37:01-04

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. — It was one of the most notorious kidnapping cases in our country. This week, survivor Elizabeth Smart visited a women’s benefit in Metro Detroit.

WJBK reports that on Wednesday, the 25-year-old spoke out about abuse and victim support at the Women of Vision benefit in Southfield, which was hosted by the National Council of Jewish Women.

“I want to share a part of my story because what I experienced is not so different from what so many other women and children experience,” says Smart.

Smart was kidnapped from her home in Utah back in 2002 at the age of 14. Her captors abused and raped her for nine months before she was found. David Mitchell and Wanda Barzee are now in prison serving time for those crimes.

Elizabeth Smart is now an activist and author, who’s working to support and inspire others.

“No child, no person, no human being ever deserves to feel that way. So if there’s something I can do to prevent that from happening to other children, other women, other people – then that’s what I want to do,” says Smart.

Elizabeth says she’s hoping for more happy endings in stories like hers, and is educating children on how to escape dangerous situations through the Elizabeth Smart Foundation.

For more information on that, click here.

To watch WJBK’s original report, visit their website.