First Photo! Elizabeth Smart Kidnapper Wanda Barzee Old & Haggard After Release
Sep. 20 2018, Updated 5:32 p.m. ET
Wanda Barzee, who helped her husband Brian David Mitchell kidnap then 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart in 2002, was released from a Utah prison on Wednesday, September 19. As RadarOnline.com's photo shows, Barzee, now 72, completed her sentence and went to a halfway house. It was the day Smart had long feared as she's candidly revealed how monster Barzee encouraged Mitchell to rape her! Scroll through RadarOnline.com's gallery for more!
Barzee looked old and tired as she left the Timpanogos Women’s Facility in Utah. She arrived at her halfway house holding a salad and a banana.
To victim Smart's shock and outrage, the Board of Pardons and Parole had moved up Barzee's release date. It was originally expected to be in 2024.
Smart, now 30, wanted authorities to reconsider their plan to release Barzee, saying she is still a threat to the community. The conditions of Barzee's release include mental health monitoring and treatment if necessary. Officials have said Barzee is to have "absolutely no contact directly or indirectly with any member of the Smart family."
Barzee's lawyer said she'd done her time and deserves a chance. Smart was held captive for nine months and the world was stunned when the beautiful blonde Mormon girl was found walking down a street with kidnappers Mitchell and Barzee in Sandy, Utah, five miles from her home, in March 2003.
As RadarOnline.com exclusively learned, Barzee did not get special treatment when she was released from prison on Wednesday. Her legal eagle has said Barzee wants "to be left alone." But RadarOnline.com discovered she had written a disturbing prison letter about Smart!
Smart was devastated when she found out Barzee would be released, recalling how she helped her spouse Mitchell assault her during the nine months she was held captive. "She would encourage him to rape me," Smart shuddered to CBS This Morning. "She would sit right next to me. Like, the side of her body would be touching me." Mitchell is serving life in prison without the possibility of parole at the United States Penitentiary in Tucson, Arizona. We pay for juicy info! Do you have a story for RadarOnline.com? Email us at tips@radaronline.com, or call us at (866) ON-RADAR (667-2327) any time, day or night.