Nancy Grace interviewed Elizabeth Smart, the young girl who was abducted from her bedroom when she was fourteen years old and couldn't have been more
July 18, 2006

NG_Smart.jpg Nancy Grace interviewed Elizabeth Smart, the young girl who was abducted from her bedroom when she was fourteen years old and couldn't have been more insensitive to her feelings on the topic of her abduction. Elizabeth is trying to help get a new sex offender bill passed through the House and Senate so she agreed to be on the show to promote the bill.

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Grace did her best to act overwrought with anguish and kept reminding Elizabeth how victims don't like to talk about what happened to them. What does she do then? Nancy keeps asking her what happened and uses some of the most inane questions I've heard. At one point Smart looked over to the left as if Grace was out of her mind. Finally she told Grace to back off.

SMART: You know, I`m really not going to talk about this at this time. I mean, that`s something I just don`t even look back at. And I really — I really — to be frankly honest, I really don`t appreciate you bringing all this up.

transcript:

GRACE: Oh, Elizabeth, you know, you can never know how intensely you were searched for and prayed for during all of that time. Do you let yourself think back on it, or do you try not to think about -- like a lot of crime victims, we try not to think of it sometimes.

ELIZABETH SMART: Well, you know, I said earlier today, I have so much -- so much to look forward to. I have a whole life ahead of me. It`s just not even worth looking back.

GRACE: Elizabeth, I remember when you first went missing and literally hundreds of people were out looking for you. Now we know you were being held captive not very far away from your home at all. Did you ever hear people calling out your name, trying to find you?

ELIZABETH SMART: There was one time.

GRACE: At that moment, did you want to scream out, Here I am, help me?

ELIZABETH SMART: I mean, of course. Who wouldn`t?

GRACE: At that moment, when you knew people were looking for you, your parents were there. They were trying to find you. How did that make you feel?

ELIZABETH SMART: You know, I didn`t know how big it was. And it was -- it was good to know people were looking for me, but I -- I felt so far away, you know, I just -- it didn`t really connect at that time. And you know, and I think that...

GRACE: And you were such a little girl, Elizabeth. I mean, you were just 14 years old.

ELIZABETH SMART: Yes.

GRACE: It`s hard to expect a little 14-year-old girl to react the way an adult might imagine they would react under those circumstances. You were afraid, I assume.

ELIZABETH SMART: Yes.

GRACE: Did your kidnappers tell you they would hurt you or your family if you tried to get away?

ELIZABETH SMART: You know, they did. And I really am here to support the bill and not to go into what -- you know, what happened to me, what the whole -- like, what is in my past because I`m not here to give an interview on that. I`m here to help push this bill through.

GRACE: And I want you to push the bill through and I want people to hear your voice.

When we take a look back, there`s a shot of Elizabeth Smart, and here she is, four years later. And frankly, it`s a miracle that she was ever found. You know, a lot of people have seen shots of you wearing a burqa. How did you see out of that thing?

ELIZABETH SMART: You know, I`m really not going to talk about this at this time. I mean, that`s something I just don`t even look back at. And I really -- I really -- to be frankly honest, I really don`t appreciate you bringing all this up.

GRACE: I`m sorry, dear. I thought that you would speak out to other victims. But you know what? I completely understand. A lot of victims don`t want to talk about it and don`t feel like talking about it.

Can you help us out?

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