Kidnapper Who Held Elizabeth Smart Captive for 9 Months Arrested After Police Say Sex Offender Visited Salt Lake City Parks

• Wanda Barzee allegedly visited two parks in Salt Lake City in April
• Police charged her on Thursday, May 1, with violating the terms of her parole as a sex offender
• Barzee held Elizabeth Smart captive for nine months and was released from prison in 2018

The woman who held Elizabeth Smart captive for nine months and facilitated her husband’s sexual assaults of the teenager has been arrested and charged with violating the conditions of her release.

Wanda Barzee, 79, was taken into custody on the morning of Thursday, May 1, by Salt Lake City Police after it was allegedly discovered she had visited local parks.

Brent Weisberg, a spokesperson for the Salt Lake City Police Department, tells PEOPLE that Barzee was booked into Salt Lake County Metro Jail on “one count of violating Utah’s law restricting registered sex offenders from entering protected areas, including public parks.”

That arrest came after “detectives developed information that Barzee had allegedly visited at least two parks in Salt Lake City, including Liberty Park and Sugar House Park, in violation of state law,” Weisberg said.

Barzee is no longer in custody, with court records showing that her release came on judicial orders.

She and her husband Brian David Mitchell kidnapped Smart in 2002 and held her captive for close to a year, moving between rundown houses and abandoned campsites in Utah and the San Diego area.

The pair were arrested in 2003 and a judge ruled that Barzee could be released from prison in 2018.

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That decision did not sit well with Smart, who was very vocal about the fact that she viewed Barzee to be just as culpable for what happened to her as her husband and a threat to society.

She said in multiple interviews around that time that Barzee was an “evil woman.”

Mitchell abducted Smart at knifepoint from her home in Salt Lake City after climbing through her bedroom window.

For the next nine months, Smart was held captive by Mitchell and Barzee and subjected to near-daily sexual assaults.

Smart has previously discussed Barzee’s participation in the assaults, saying she would encourage her husband and often be present while the teenager was being abused by Mitchell.

The public was alerted to Mitchell and Barzee’s identities after Smart’s sister, who witnessed the kidnapping, recalled that the man whose voice she heard that night was the same man who had previously been hired to do work at the family’s home.

Photos of Mitchell and Barzee then ran on America’s Most Wanted around the same time the two started appearing in public with Smart, which eventually led to a person recognizing the pair and contacting authorities.

Smart was rescued on March 12, 2003, just over nine months after she was taken from her bedroom on June 5, 2002.

Mitchell was sentenced to life in federal prison while Barzee served 15 years for her role in the operation.

SLCP says it will continue to monitor this situation moving forward as part of a joint effort with other agencies.

“While the criminal prosecution in this matter remains our priority, our SLCPD social workers and crisis intervention detectives will continue utilizing our co-response model to help ensure that appropriate resources and safety plans are made available as the case progresses through the justice system,” Weisberg said.