Hi, crime junkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers, and I'm Brett. And this week's story, well,

it's a story that most crime junkies have probably heard before, or at least one that

you'll be familiar with. But even if you have heard this one before, even if you think

that you know it, it is worth tuning in to our version for something very different

in the second half of this episode. It's an episode about a 14 year old girl who is

abducted in the middle of the night from the bedroom she shares with her sister, the

bed she shares with her sister. And it rocks her family and her community and echoes

across the country and around the world. The person responsible for her disappearance

left behind no clues and no one, not detectives, not her family, her friends, no one seemed

to be able to make sense of how this sweet, shy, innocent girl found herself the target

of the worst kind of predator, the kind who was able to keep a little girl hidden in plain

sight. This is the story of Elizabeth Smart.

It's just before 4 in the morning on June 5th, 2002, when Ed Smart is jolted away by his

nine year old daughter Mary Catherine, who is absolutely frantic, saying someone took

Elizabeth. Now it takes Ed a second to kind of shake off the sleep and at first, he's

like, what the heck is happening here? But Mary Catherine just says it again, a man came

in and took Elizabeth, a man with a gun. Initially, Ed is like, this can't possibly be right.

Mary Catherine must have had a bad dream. They're going to find Elizabeth. Here's somewhere

in the house. I mean, it wasn't that uncommon actually for Elizabeth, who is five years

older to get fed up with Mary Catherine's kicking or tossing and turning, whatever and

find another spot to sleep for the rest of the night, usually the couch. But Ed checks

the couch and she's not there. Ed checks all through their Utah home, the living room,

...