This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2010, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
An apparently down-on-his-luck Brian David Mitchell first connected with the family of Elizabeth Smart in fall 2001 outside a downtown Salt Lake City shopping mall.
Lois Smart was waiting for a light to change on the street between the Crossroads and ZCMI malls when her children noticed "a clean-cut, well-kept man who needed some help to get along with his life," the mother said.
"My children told me to give him some money," Smart testified Monday. "I was taken aback. Normally my children don't say to give money to someone else."
Smart said she gave Mitchell $5 after talking with him, as well as her husband's name and phone number to contact about doing odd jobs at their home.
Mitchell didn't mention religion or pay special attention to daughter Elizabeth, she said.
"I thought he was a man down on luck. He just lost his job, looked young enough that maybe he had a family, people he was responsible for," Smart said.
Mitchell, who called himself Immanuel, raked leaves and worked on the roof, she said. He did not appear bizarre or paranoid, she testified, and never claimed to be a prophet.
On the night of June 4, 2002, Smart said, she burned potatoes while making dinner and opened a window to air out the kitchen. Smart said later that night, her then-9-year-old daughter, Mary Katherine, came into her bedroom to tell her Elizabeth was gone.
"She reminded me of a scared rabbit," said Smart of her daughter's demeanor. "She said a man had taken Elizabeth … and that we wouldn't find her."
Smart said the family called 911 after she saw the screen on their open kitchen window had been cut and Elizabeth was nowhere to be found.
When asked what she felt then, Smart replied: "It was utter terror. It was the worst feeling knowing that I didn't know where my child was. It was … I was helpless."