"The numerous missed opportunities to locate Elizabeth and her captors make for agonizing reading." —Publishers Weekly
"Tom Smart provides a fascinating look at the intimate experience of a crime victim under the cloud of suspicion. He takes us through a most riveting case which shows how the police, media, and society interact in a high-profile crime case." —Dr. Henry C. Lee, author, Cracking More Cases, and leading forensic scientist in the O.J. Simpson, JonBenet Ramsey, and Elizabeth Smart investigations
"An important book that does far more than just chronicle the facts of one of the most electrifying, terrifying child abduction cases in U.S. history." —Ernie Allen, president and CEO, National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
"A compelling account of Elizabeth's ordeal, and the search for her that gripped a nation, replete with never-before-told details that only an insider could know." —John Hughes, Pulitzer prize-winning journalist and former editor of the Christian Science Monitor
"Through the eyes of Tom Smart, we are finally inside a story that none of us will ever forget. Amazing.” —Nancy Grace, anchor, Court TV
"An insightful and harrowing memoir. . . . This book of behind-the-scene dramas of a family in grief and a community in solidarity reads like a true crime novel. It is a story of obsessions, denials, and quiet revelations.” --Terry Tempest Williams, author, Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place
"Provides the only new information about the case in months." —The Salt Lake Tribune
This riveting inside story of the intense search for the Salt Lake City teenager who was kidnapped from her bed reveals never-before-told details of the largest investigation in Utah state history. Paced like a thriller, this true account moves between the parallel stories of the searchers and the abductor. The firsthand account of Tom Smart, Elizabeth's uncle and one-time suspect, reveals the details of the flawed police investigation, the media's manipulation of the family, and the eyewitness account of nine-year-old Mary Katherine Smart that went largely ignored by investigators. New research is presented on the family background of disturbed street preacher Brian David Mitchell, who kidnapped Elizabeth as part of a bizarre polygamous plot. Also examined is the critical role of the media, revealing the essential part played by John Walsh and others in facilitating Elizabeth's safe return, and the manipulative influence of Fox News and Bill O'Reilly. Going beyond a mere eyewitness account, the book includes information culled from interviews with more than 150 people involved in the search and investigation, notes from family meetings, and memos from law enforcement officials.
Tom Smart, Elizabeth Smart's uncle, is a veteran photojournalist for the Deseret Morning News in Salt Lake City, as well as an award-winning features writer. Lee Benson is an award-winning journalist with 30 years of experience as a newspaper writer, columnist, and author. He is currently a metro columnist for the Deseret Morning News and wrote numerous columns about the case as it was unfolding.
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The Smart family (85K)
True Crime
400 pages, Cloth, 6 x 9
32 Color Photos
Distribution Rights: WOR
$24.95 (CAN $34.95)
9781556525797 (1556525796) Pub Date: April 2005
Chicago Review Press