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Elizabeth Smart kidnapper now lives near elementary school

Posted at 1:25 PM, Dec 31, 2018
and last updated 2018-12-31 15:25:26-05

SALT LAKE CITY — A woman who helped kidnap Utah's Elizabeth Smart is living several blocks away from a Salt Lake City elementary school following her release from prison in September.

Utah's sex-offender registry lists 73-year-old Wanda Barzee as living in a house near the school.

She was initially placed in a halfway house after her release. Barzee pleaded guilty to helping her husband, street preacher Brian David Mitchell.

He abducted Smart at knifepoint in 2002 when she was 14 and repeatedly raped her.

Barzee is serving five years of federal supervised release.

Federal probation officers didn't return a phone message Monday seeking comment.

Barzee's supervised release guidelines don't seem to set limits on how close she can live to a school.

Sex offenders in Utah are prohibited from going on school grounds.