[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 4]
[House]
[Pages 5935-5936]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            ELIZABETH SMART

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Poe) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, several years ago in Salt Lake City, 
Utah, there was a happy family--a mom and a dad, six kids--happy as 
they could be. On the typical summer day of June 5, 2002, the kids and 
the family had their

[[Page 5936]]

prayers. Two of the girls went up to their room. The older girl read to 
the younger girl. They went to sleep.
  And then the nightmare began.
  In the middle of the night, the older girl, who was a 14-year-old 
child, was awakened. The man who woke her up had a knife to her throat. 
The younger girl woke up, too, but was in fear and shock and terror and 
could not physically even move. So the kidnapper took the 14-year-old 
girl, climbed out the window with her, and at knifepoint, they left in 
the middle of the night. Finally, the younger girl was able to get some 
type of composure and tell her parents what had happened.
  The police get involved, and they start looking for Elizabeth Smart, 
but they didn't find her that night, and they didn't find her the next 
day because Elizabeth Smart had been kidnapped by an individual who 
took her to a secluded place. The first thing he wanted to do, of 
course, was to abuse her--and he did. He sexually assaulted her, and he 
sexually assaulted her, and he sexually assaulted her. He tied her 
between two trees, Mr. Speaker, and sexually assaulted her. He did 
everything he wanted to do to her for 9 months.
  That 14-year-old girl was gone, kidnapped--parents scared to death 
and worried about one of their six children. The police were looking, 
but they never found her, not for 9 months.
  This evil person who kidnapped Elizabeth arranged a fake marriage to 
try to marry her even though he was married to another individual 
lawfully. So the wife, the abuser, and Elizabeth Smart stayed in hiding 
in the Salt Lake City area. The abuser occasionally would leave and 
take Elizabeth Smart with him, but he would tell her, ``If you ever 
scream and tell anybody, I will kill your family.''
  She believed that. A 14-year-old girl obviously would believe that, 
so she never cried out because she didn't want anything bad to happen 
to her wonderful family. Meanwhile, Mom and Dad and the brothers and 
the sisters every day hoped--but no results in finding her.
  When she would go out with the evildoer, forcibly, he would even put 
a wig over her head and a veil. He would disguise her so that, if 
people in the Salt Lake City area knew Elizabeth Smart, they wouldn't 
recognize her.
  Finally, after 9 months, Elizabeth Smart was with the evildoer who 
sexually assaulted her--and with his wife--and a police car stopped. 
The police officer started questioning Elizabeth Smart. She didn't say 
anything because she remembered that the evildoer said he would kill 
her family. Unbeknownst to Elizabeth, her sister had given the police a 
sketch of the person who had kidnapped her. The police took Elizabeth 
Smart to the police station, and after a few minutes, in comes her 
father.
  She was rescued after 9 months--The criminals went to prison.
  Elizabeth Smart is now 27 years of age, and she has used this awful 
tragedy of being kidnapped and sexually assaulted as a child in order 
to help other sexual assault victims in this country. She started the 
Elizabeth Smart Foundation. A couple of weeks ago, she was in Houston. 
She spoke very forcefully to a group of women--several hundred--about 
being abused.
  So, this Victims' Rights Week, Mr. Speaker, I want to honor Elizabeth 
Smart and all of those other sexual assault victims--especially 
children--who have been assaulted by evil people in this country, and 
let us remember to support them totally in their recovery.
  And that's just the way it is.

                          ____________________