S3 Ep384: Elizabeth Smart | A Prophet in Prison (Part 4)

Crime Weekly

True Crime

4.7 • 10.7K Ratings

🗓️ 27 February 2026

⏱️ 119 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In June of 2002, a 14-year-old girl was taken from her bedroom in the middle of the night, from a quiet home in one of the safest neighborhoods in one of the safest cities in America. Her name was Elizabeth Smart. This case has endured for more than two decades, not only because of what happened to Elizabeth, but because of how it happened. It forces us to confront uncomfortable questions about trust, faith, and what happens when deeply held beliefs collide with someone willing to exploit them.Elizabeth wasn't held for hours or days. She was a prisoner for nine months, subjected to repeated trauma and torture that would have broken most adults. But Elizabeth's story is not just about what happened to her. It's also about survival and strength. It's about a young girl who would later turn the unimaginable into advocacy and support for victims of kidnapping and sexual violence. Try our coffee! - www.CriminalCoffeeCo.comBecome a Patreon member -- > ï½¿ https://www.patreon.com/CrimeWeeklyShop for your Crime Weekly gear here --> ï½¿ https://crimeweeklypodcast.com/shopYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/c/CrimeWeeklyPodcastWebsite: CrimeWeeklyPodcast.comInstagram: @CrimeWeeklyPodTwitter: @CrimeWeeklyPodFacebook: @CrimeWeeklyPodADS:1. https://www.MintMobile.com/CrimeWeekly - Get UNLIMITED premium wireless for just $15 a month!2. https://www.HelloFresh.com/CrimeWeekly10FM - Get 10 FREE meals and a FREE zwilling knife on your third box!3. https://www.Rula.com/CrimeWeekly - Connect with quality therapists TODAY!4. https://www.OneSkin.co/CrimeWeekly - Use code CRIMEWEEKLY for 15% off your order!

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, everybody. Welcome back to Crime Weekly. I'm Stephanie Harlow. And I'm Derek Lavascer.
0:16.4	I am sick. And we've been filming for a few hours already doing crime weekly news and ads and stuff So my voice- According on Sunday, because there's a blizzard coming this week and we wanted to make sure we had an episode for you guys. The only way to do it was to come in on Sunday, record it. And that way, if we get trapped inside, you guys still have an episode. Yeah, I've been getting sick, but I was hoping that by Monday when we filmed my voice,
0:37.7	but, you know, it's doing okay. In fairness, Stephanie is always sick. I've been sick since November. It's not my phone. I honestly, in the five years we've been together, I want someone to put a montage of all the episodes where you've been like, I'm a little under the weather. I'm sick.
0:51.2	It's because I don't sleep, man.
0:52.7	It's because I don't sleep.
0:53.5	I would say at least 50 episodes.
0:55.4	Guys, sleep is so key.
0:57.2	When it comes to your immune system, there's nothing better you can do than to get a good night's sleep. Because I can't. I have work to do and files that have been released to look through. My God. That's been keeping me up for multiple reasons. Those files alone would take you 10 years to go through.
1:12.5	I mean, I've been making pretty good headway, actually. You sent me a couple of text messages. There was a couple text messages I sent you of things we saw in there that I don't think a lot of people have seen. There's stuff I've seen in there that I will never be able to say out loud to you or anyone else. that I will never be able to vocalize out into the world.
1:28.7	Okay, so let's dive in.
1:30.0	I'm actually really looking forward to talking about be able to say out loud to you or anyone else that I will never be able to vocalize out into the world.
1:28.7	Okay, so let's dive in. I'm actually really looking forward to talking about this episode because
1:32.3	this is the episode where finally movement is made and we've got somebody, two people taken into
1:41.0	custody, the two people who have had Elizabeth. So this is where things are going to happen and Elizabeth's going to get to go back home. But before that, a bunch of other
1:48.1	stuff has to happen. So we're going to get right in today. We talked about how in the last
1:53.8	episode, Richard Recy had been not arrested for Elizabeth's abduction, arrested for a parole violation
2:00.1	that we kind of both agreed was just a strategic way to get him behind bars so they could question him and start searching for his home and his vehicle.
2:07.6	And they really did think it was him. The police did. Even when he died in prison, the police still thought that it was him.
2:14.6	But there was plenty of things that should have told the police that
2:19.9	they could have kept looking and there was other investigative paths to follow. And one of those
2:24.8	things that happened at the time when Elizabeth was missing that should have suggested
2:29.8	Richard Recy was not the one responsible for Elizabeth's kidnapping, happened on July 24, 2002.
	...

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