Wanda Barzee's children speak on Oprah Winfrey call mother a monster (photos, video)

Wanda Barzee’s children speak on Oprah Winfrey call Elizabeth Smart’s kidnapper a monster (photos, videos)

Wanda Barzee is one of the people accused of kidnapping Elizabeth Smart on June 5, 2002 in Sandy, Utah. The other, is her husband Brian David Mitchell. Elizabeth was missing for nine months before she was found alive on March 12, 2003. Today, Wanda Barzee’s children appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show and discussed what life was like with their mother, and their step-father, Brian David Mitchell.

Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Barzee have been charged with federal kidnapping. Wanda Barzee plead guilty to federal charges and still face state charges. She is currently in a mental institution awaiting the state’s trial and federal sentencing. Brian David Mitchell has plead not guilty in the case.
Wanda Barzee and Brian David Mitchell have been married for seventeen years. Four of Wanda Barzee’s six children appeared on the Oprah show today: Andrea, Derrick, LouRee, and Rhonda, the eldest.

LouRee referred to her mother as a ‘monster’ and Andrea said that Wanda was being portrayed as a victim of Brian David Mitchell; an assumption that she disagreed with. Andrea remembered her mother’s emotional abuse and said that she repeatedly brainwashed and emotionally abused the children. Andrea disagreed with her siblings as they remembered their father as being the physically abusive one. Andrea remembered accounts of her mother and biological father beating her. Wanda Barzee and the children’s biological father divorced in 1984. She married Brian David Mitchell in 1985.

LouRee detailed one of the most shocking stories and told of how her mother and Brian David Mitchell tormented her when she was 14. She said, “I asked what we were having for dinner, and my mom said chicken. During that meal, she and Brian were not touching their plates really, but they were kind of picking at a salad that they had, and she had a smile on her face the whole time," she says. "[The next day], I went to go feed my rabbit and the cage was empty, and I said, 'What happened to Peaches?' And she said, 'You had her for dinner last night.'" LouRee moved out of Wanda and Brian’s home shortly afterwards.

Rhonda held a different view of her mother than her siblings. She remembered her mother cooking, baking, sewing and doting on her like a loving mother. She also said that she couldn’t believe that Wanda was guilty of kidnapping Elizabeth Smart until her mother confessed to the crime. As for what Wanda’s punishment should be, the children held different views. All, however, believed that Wanda Barzee is mentally unstable and should never be allowed unsupervised freedom again.

Wanda Barzee enters Judge Judith Atherton's distirct court in Salt Lake City, Utah, Wednesday Jan. 6, 2010 for a competency review hearing. (AP Photo/Al Hartmann, Pool)

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