Rhune
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Interview with the Smarts
« on: Oct 30th, 2003, 1:45pm » |
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NEW YORK (CNN) -- In a much-publicized case, Utah teenager Elizabeth Smart was reunited with her family in March, nine months after being kidnapped from her home. While Elizabeth returns to normalcy, her alleged abductors, Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Ilene Barzee, await trial in Salt Lake City.
Elizabeth's parents, Ed and Lois Smart, are sharing their story in a book called "Bringing Elizabeth Home: A Legacy of Faith" (Doubleday). They joined CNN Anchor Soledad O'Brien on Thursday to talk about why they wrote a book.
O'BRIEN: In a way, I was sort of surprised that you'd want to write a book after having lived through the experience.
ED SMART: You're right. You're right.
O'BRIEN: But there was -- there are things that you felt were inaccurate that you wanted to set straight.
ED SMART: Well, for one thing, there were so many people that said, "Well, we're going to write a book, and, you know, if you don't, it's going to happen anyway." And with everything that happened through the whole nine-month period, there were so many things that could be twisted and made so salacious that we just felt that, you know, I'd rather be doing it than having somebody else do it.
O'BRIEN: Did it feel better at the end? Now, some people write books, and they say, you know, I'm just glad to get it out on paper. It was a healing process. And other people say that was a really bad experience reliving it. Where did you fall in this?
LOIS SMART: I think we actually, both -- it was a hard experience to relive it, but it's been a good experience to put it down on paper and to, you know, put this behind us, and we're going to move on. And that's exactly what the children and Elizabeth want to do.
O'BRIEN: I remember the day that we heard that Elizabeth had been found. People in the newsroom were crying. ... Every other news story was so bad, and that was like the only little glimmer of hope. You write in the book about getting the phone -- you got the phone call, and you turned the phone over.
LOIS SMART: Yes, they asked for Ed, and I gave it to Ed. But we didn't know he was going out there to get her.
O'BRIEN: In fact, they didn't tell you.
LOIS SMART: No, they didn't.
O'BRIEN: As a mother, I mean, are you sort of bitter about the fact that they had your husband come?
LOIS SMART: Of course, I do. And, I mean, I would have crawled on my hands and knees to get there to see her, but it didn't happen. And, you know, I eventually did get to see her, and it was a great reunion, and now it's even better.
O'BRIEN: For those of us who didn't know Elizabeth at all, except from the poster that had been put up, to see her totally changed. In only nine months, I mean, she went from being a girl to being a young woman. How has she changed? How is she now?
LOIS SMART: Well, I think she's very age appropriate. I mean, she's interested in dating and being with friends and talking on the telephone and, you know, doing all the things a teenager wants to do.
O'BRIEN: Parents whose children have not been kidnapped have a hard time letting them out of their sight at that age anyway. ... How do you do that when you've had the most horrific thing that could ever happen to a parent happen to your child?
ED SMART: I think that, you know, Elizabeth for nine months had no control over her life. I mean, it was just -- she was captive. And so, as hard as it is for us to -- I mean, you want to just hold her there and not let her go anywhere, but you've got to. I mean, for her to reclaim her life and feel empowered that she can do what she wants to and that she is back in control, you have to get to a point where, as hard as it may be -- it's harder for us than it is for her.
LOIS SMART: But, of course, we believe strongly in the buddy system. You know, all of the children, take somebody with you. You know, go with a group. Don't ever go by yourself.
O'BRIEN: When you saw Elizabeth, she was in the police station, and you write about listening in as the police officers had to question her about fairly graphic details about what happened to her. How hard was that to deal with? And what's the strategy now? I mean, are these things that you discuss with her? Because other people, I think, might say, "Well, you know, the best thing is to forget it, let's move on." Where do you fall in that?
LOIS SMART: Well, certainly if she wants to talk about it, we certainly do. But, you know, we're all receiving help. And part of the help that she's receiving is discussing it and going through it. But she's doing great. I mean, she's just really doing great.
O'BRIEN: She took you back up to the location.
LOIS SMART: She did.
O'BRIEN: Which the description of it is just horrible, and I'm sure that only captures a tiny portion what have it was really like.
LOIS SMART: Yes.
O'BRIEN: And she wanted to show you where she had been chained.
LOIS SMART: Yes, she did.
O'BRIEN: Did she talk then about her escape attempt?
LOIS SMART: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Tell me a little bit about that, because for me that was sort of new information, because people had asked, I mean, why did she not run away? I mean, I think a viewer -- a listener and a viewer called in on "Larry King Live" and said, you know, "Why didn't she run away?"
LOIS SMART: Right.
O'BRIEN: And she had tried to escape.
LOIS SMART: She did. For two months, as you said, she was on a cord, never was off of it. And then, I guess he would let her off a little bit at a time. And one time she was off, and she tried to slip away. They were arguing and, you know, were a distance away.
And as she left, he came running after her and said, "What do you think you're doing or where are you going?" And, of course, she always had that constant threat of him being able to take her life or to hurt her family, and so that was a constant threat for her always.
O'BRIEN: How is your young daughter doing, Mary Katherine? I remember thinking of her as the one who was sort of the witness to all of this and could only remember bits and pieces and yet sort of came through with the crucial information at the end.
ED SMART: Yes, she did.
O'BRIEN: And I remember thinking, you know, to feel the burden of that must be so hard. How's she doing now?
LOIS SMART: She's doing great, and to see them both play the harp again together makes my heart sing. And to -- I mean, there is such a bond between them. They no longer share the same room, but that's understandable. Elizabeth is 16, and she wants to do other things.
O'BRIEN: Yes, my sister didn't want to share her room with me either.
ED SMART: She wants to be on that phone all night long.
O'BRIEN: She's become a truly normal teenager, even in spite of the past life that she's had.
LOIS SMART: Yes.
ED SMART: And, you know, it has been seven months, and it has taken some time for her to come back. But she is doing so well.
O'BRIEN: Do you follow the trial at all -- I mean, the run-up to the trial?
LOIS SMART: You know, I hear bits and pieces, but you know. ...
ED SMART: You can't live for the trial. ... I mean, everyone said this is going to be a much harder experience than anything that you've been through, and, you know, whether it materializes or whether they're found incompetent, we don't know, but we can't live our life waiting on that.
O'BRIEN: It's remarkable to see the hope that you held out all along. It really was just a thrill to find her. ...
ED SMART: Well, you know, everyone prayed, and, I mean, we just feel like it was such a tremendous blessing to have the support that we did from everyone.
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