Netflix has released a new true crime documentary, Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart, revisiting the 2002 abduction of Elizabeth Smart from her home in Salt Lake City, Utah. The documentary features Elizabeth recounting the traumatic events, including her kidnapping at knifepoint witnessed by her sister, Mary Katherine.
In the aftermath, police questioned Richard Ricci, a handyman who had worked in the Smart home. Ricci, who had a criminal record unrelated to the case, denied any involvement. While being held at Utah State Prison for a parole violation, he died in August 2002 at age 48 from a spontaneous brain haemorrhage after emergency surgery.
Ricci's wife, Angela, told ABC News that her husband was 'devastated' by Elizabeth's disappearance. Elizabeth's father, Edward Smart, stated he was unaware of Ricci's criminal record and had hired him through another contractor. The Salt Lake County Sheriff's Department found no indication of foul play in Ricci's death.
The actual kidnappers, Brian David Mitchell and his wife Wanda Barzee, were caught nine months later. Mitchell was sentenced to life in prison without parole for kidnapping and transporting a minor across state lines. In October 2025, the 72-year-old was transferred from a US Penitentiary in Indiana to a federal correctional institution in Pennsylvania.
Elizabeth Smart married Matthew Gilmour, a Scottish native, in 2012. The couple, who have three children, reside in Utah. Elizabeth has spoken about how her husband's lack of knowledge about her past allowed for an honest relationship, stating, 'I appreciate that I’m not my past [with him].'
