Girl's rescue hailed as 'miracle'

Girl's rescue hailed as 'miracle'

Police say they think Elizabeth was held against her will

An American teenage girl abducted from her bedroom nine months ago has been found safe and well in what her family has called "a miracle".

Elizabeth Smart, now 15, was discovered around 10 miles (15 kilometres) from her home in Salt Lake City, Utah, in the company of an itinerant street preacher who had worked as a handyman at her family home.

"It's a miracle," Ed Smart, Elizabeth's tearful father, told reporters.

Police have not yet explained what Elizabeth was doing during the time after her abduction in June last year, but stress they believe she was held against her will.

Elizabeth's kidnapping was among a spate of child abductions which shocked the US and prompted huge amounts of media interest.

Drifter recognised

She was reunited with her family after a member of the public recognised drifter Brian Mitchell, who had been featured on a television crime series.

Police were called and the blonde teenager - wearing a dark wig and a veil - was found with Mitchell and a female companion identified as Wanda Barzee.

Elizabeth was then brought home for a tearful reunion with her family.

Brian Mitchell worked briefly at the Smart's home

In an interview with a local television station, Ed Smart said it was too early to know whether his daughter had been brainwashed or turned against her family.

"I don't know," Mr Smart said.

"I am just praying she will be OK. You just can't imagine what this type of person might make her think or believe."

A family spokesman added that it appeared Elizabeth had had no chance to escape.

"She said there was no way, she had two people with her at all times," said Chris Thomas.

Night-time abduction

Elizabeth was snatched from the room she shared with her nine-year-old sister as the family slept at their home in an affluent suburb of Salt Lake City.

The sister, who pretended to be asleep during the abduction, said Elizabeth was taken by a man who threatened to hurt the elder girl if she did not keep quiet.

Mitchell, who is described as a beggar and self-appointed prophet for the homeless, had been hired by the Smarts to help work on their roof for one day in late 2001, according to the family.

He and Barzee are being held by police on suspicion of kidnapping.

Criticism of police

The Smart family have repeatedly criticised police for not spending enough time looking for Mitchell.

Elizabeth Smart: Abducted when she was 14

Through much of their investigation, Salt Lake City detectives focused on Richard Ricci, a handyman with a previous criminal record who had also worked at the Smart home.

Among the few details of the Elizabeth's ordeal revealed, police said she had travelled to outside of Utah and had often camped out.

Video footage broadcast on Utah television showed Elizabeth apparently attending a party with her two alleged abductors in September last year.

The party-goer who shot the footage only realised her identity after hearing news of her release.

Despite Elizabeth's long captivity, her family said the teenager looked healthy and her father said he was surprised how much she had grown in the past nine months.

The vast majority of the 4,000-plus children abducted by strangers in the US each year are returned safely, according to experts.

However most of these are held only very briefly.