Janice
10-24-2003, 12:10 PM
10:00PM--NBC
Oct. 24
Elizabeth Smart interviewed for TV special
Elizabeth Smart said she's "still pretty much the same person," after her nine-month kidnapping ordeal.
She also told Katie Couric in her first television interview that her experience made her more compassionate toward the homeless, according to NBC.
Couric interviewed the 15-year-old high school freshman Tuesday at her family's ranch near Salt Lake City. The network did not pay for the interview, said NBC spokeswoman Caryn Mautner.
Ed and Lois Smart talked about the police investigation and how their faith helped them during the nine months Elizabeth was gone.
"It was a miracle that we could function as a family together because these ... types of things can wreck marriages and pull families apart, and I think we've become stronger and closer as a family," Ed Smart told Couric.
Brian David Mitchell, 50, and his wife Wanda Barzee, 57, are charged with aggravated kidnapping, aggravated sexual assault and aggravated burglary in Elizabeth's June 5, 2002, abduction.
The homeless couple allegedly kept Elizabeth as Mitchell's second wife for nine months in Utah and California. They were found March 12 in Sandy, a suburb about 15 miles south of Salt Lake City, nine months after Elizabeth disappeared.
Oct. 24
Elizabeth Smart interviewed for TV special
Elizabeth Smart said she's "still pretty much the same person," after her nine-month kidnapping ordeal.
She also told Katie Couric in her first television interview that her experience made her more compassionate toward the homeless, according to NBC.
Couric interviewed the 15-year-old high school freshman Tuesday at her family's ranch near Salt Lake City. The network did not pay for the interview, said NBC spokeswoman Caryn Mautner.
Ed and Lois Smart talked about the police investigation and how their faith helped them during the nine months Elizabeth was gone.
"It was a miracle that we could function as a family together because these ... types of things can wreck marriages and pull families apart, and I think we've become stronger and closer as a family," Ed Smart told Couric.
Brian David Mitchell, 50, and his wife Wanda Barzee, 57, are charged with aggravated kidnapping, aggravated sexual assault and aggravated burglary in Elizabeth's June 5, 2002, abduction.
The homeless couple allegedly kept Elizabeth as Mitchell's second wife for nine months in Utah and California. They were found March 12 in Sandy, a suburb about 15 miles south of Salt Lake City, nine months after Elizabeth disappeared.