One of Elizabeth Smart’s abductors has been arrested for violating the conditions of her release by visiting multiple parks in Utah.
79-year-old Wanda Barzee was taken into custody by the Salt Lake City Police on Thursday. Authorities informed PEOPLE that Barzee faces a charge of breaking Utah’s law that prohibits registered sex offenders from entering designated areas, such as public parks.
It is claimed that Barzee went to two parks in Salt Lake City – Liberty Park and Sugar House Park. According to Salt Lake City Police spokesperson Brent Weisberg, this action violates state regulations because of Barzee’s previous criminal conviction.
As noted by CrimeOnline in an earlier report, Barzee collaborated with her husband, Brian David Mitchell, who abducted Elizabeth Smart from her Salt Lake City residence in 2002. Mitchell, holding Smart, then a 14-year-old, at knifepoint in her bedroom, coerced her to leave her house in the dead of night.
Barzee not only helped kidnap Elizabeth Smart, but she also stood by as the girl was sexually assaulted by her husband.
On September 19, 2018, Barzee, then 72, was released from Utah State Prison in the Salt Lake City suburb of Draper after serving only 15 years.
Court records reviewed by PEOPLE show that Barzee is no longer in custody for her recent violation and that her release came on judicial orders.
[Feature Photo via Utah Department of Corrections]
