Rescued kidnapping victim Elizabeth Smart marries at Hawaii Mormon temple
SALT LAKE CITY - Elizabeth Smart, the young woman from Utah who was kidnapped at knifepoint at 14 and held captive for nine months by an itinerant street preacher, married her Scottish fiance Saturday at a Mormon temple in Hawaii.
A family spokesman said she married Matthew Gilmour, of Aberdeen, Scotland, on Oahu's North Shore.
The 24-year-old Smart is in her last year at Brigham Young University. She met Gilmour while doing Mormon missionary work in Paris.
The couple wed at the Laie Hawaii Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in front of a small group of family members, spokesman Chris Thomas said in a statement. The group then celebrated at a private reception and luau.
Smart and Gilmour got engaged last month and made plans to wed this summer. However, Smart opted to move up the ceremony because of the media attention her engagement was getting, Thomas said.
"She decided, about a week ago, the best way to avoid significant distraction was to change her wedding plans and to get married in an unscheduled ceremony outside of Utah," he said. Thomas added the couple will go on an extended honeymoon in an undisclosed location.
Brian David Mitchell was convicted in 2010 of Smart's 2002 kidnapping and sexual assault. He is serving a life prison sentence.
Smart's disappearance led to a massive search across Utah. She testified during Mitchell's five-week trial, calling her kidnapping "nine months of hell."
Smart said that within hours of the kidnapping she was forced into a polygamous marriage with Mitchell and raped. She said she endured daily rapes, lived homeless and was forced to use drugs and alcohol.
