'Eye-popping' look at Smart case

In August 2002, two months after 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart disappeared, Salt Lake police were called to the downtown library to check out a homeless man wearing robes and his two female companions.

"Are you Elizabeth Smart?" the officer asked the young girl with the man.

"No, I'm Augustine Marshall," the girl replied.

The officer took no further action.

Tom Smart, Elizabeth's uncle, said that incident was just one of the many "eye-popping" moments he writes about in his new book, "In Plain Sight: The Startling Truth Behind the Elizabeth Smart Investigation."

The book, written by Tom Smart and Lee Benson, both Deseret Morning News employees, is available nationwide beginning today. Benson writes a column for the newspaper, and Smart is a longtime member of the photo department. His photos illustrated many of the stories the newspaper printed during the high-profile case.

Tom Smart calls his niece's abduction one of the most incredible stories he's ever been a part of or seen. But the majority of the public doesn't know the whole story, according to Smart.

"There's so little that people really knew about what happened behind the scenes," Smart said. "There are a lot of head-slapping moments in the book. Sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction."

Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped in June 2002. She was found nine months later in Sandy, walking down State Street with Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Barzee.

A state grand jury charged both Mitchell and Barzee with aggravated kidnapping, two counts of aggravated sexual assault, two counts of aggravated burglary and conspiracy to commit aggravated kidnapping. All of the charges are first-degree felonies except for the last one, which is a second-degree felony.

Barzee, 59, was ruled incompetent to stand trial. But the state now seeks to have her forcibly medicated. A hearing on that issue has not been set.

Mitchell, 51, is in the middle of his second competency hearing. He was found competent to stand trial after his first hearing. His second hearing is scheduled to resume in May.

The book looks at what the Smart family was doing during those rare moments when the eyes of the media weren't on them and also how Salt Lake police handled, or allegedly mishandled, the investigation.

" 'In Plain Sight' details how the Salt Lake police bungled the case from beginning to end," according to a news release distributed by Chicago Review Press.