Elizabeth Smart, The TV Movie?

The story of kidnapped teenager Elizabeth Smart is producing a frenzy to create television movies -- with at least one network exploring the possibility of racing to complete a film in time for the May ratings sweeps, the Los Angeles Times reports in its Saturday editions.

NBC, CBS and ABC are said to be interested in a Smart project, along with the USA and Lifetime cable networks.

Several producers and talent agencies have dispatched representatives to Utah seeking to obtain story rights from the Smart family as well as from investigators and journalists, the Times says.

"It's one of those brush-fire situations," one TV agent, who asked not to be identified, told the newspaper.

At this point, adds the Times, it's not clear whether the Smarts will agree to a deal, and some networks are reluctant to proceed without their cooperation. The family's spokesman, Chris Thomas, didn't return a Times phone call seeking comment.

Times sources said Vivendi Universal's USA, which has enjoyed success with true-crime movies, is committed to going forward, but Jeff Wachtel, the channel's executive vice president, would say only that "inasmuch as it has been brought to us by a variety of producers, we are actively considering it."

A wild card in the negotiations, the Times points out, could be John Walsh, host of "America's Most Wanted," who became close to Elizabeth's father, Ed Smart, during the nine months the 15-year-old was missing. Her recovery was attributed in part to a tip generated by the long-running Fox program, and sources say Walsh could serve as producer on a movie involving the Smarts.

Networks were reluctant to discuss the matter with the newspaper.

Meanwhile, with questions mounting about Smart's nine-month ordeal with a religious fanatic and his wife, investigators may have to grill the teen about details of her captivity - including any allegations of sexual abuse or assault.

Brian Mitchell, the self-styled prophet accused of snatching the teen from her home at knifepoint, wrote in a 27-page manifesto last year about taking multiple wives. Authorities say he may have taken Elizabeth for that reason and then tried to kidnap her 18-year-old cousin, as well.

Investigators have refused to say whether Elizabeth had been abused or assaulted.

A mental health worker who spoke to Mitchell's wife, Wanda Barzee, in jail said Saturday that Barzee told her Mitchell had a revelation instructing him to take seven more wives.

Asked about that possibility Saturday, Smart family spokesman Chris Thomas said, "Elizabeth did what she had to do in this situation, and had she not done that, the outcome would be completely different."

Thomas said Smart "is a little distracted" but getting used to life at home again. He said Elizabeth had a bubble bath and got a visit from her best friend from California on Friday. She also talked with investigators.

Thomas adds that Smart is "overwhelmed by the cards and flowers" sent by well-wishers.

Salt Lake County Sheriff Aaron Kennard said Friday, "I'm hoping that all investigative leads are being looked at, from the very obvious to the very worst-case scenario that people don't want to look at."

That includes any allegations of sexual abuse or assault that may arise, Kennard said. And to properly investigate, "we have to ask (Elizabeth) the same questions we put to women. Hard-nosed questions need to be asked. Put her through it, and then get on with life.

"Elizabeth is a victim. How did she become that?" Kennard said. "Who's the next victim? There are going to be other Brian Mitchells out there."

Late Friday, several thousand people gathered at a midtown park to celebrate Elizabeth's return. The teenager did not attend, but sent an autographed poster thanking the public for their support.

"I'm the luckiest girl in the world! Thank you for your love and prayers. It's a wish come true!! I'm home! I love you all," Elizabeth wrote - her first public comments since returning home.

Police found the girl Wednesday walking in a Salt Lake City suburb with Mitchell, a shaggy-haired vagabond who once did handiwork in the Smart home. With them was his wife, Wanda Barzee. Authorities said the three had been living under bridges and in tents in Utah and California, apparently panhandling to eat.

Prosecutors said aggravated kidnapping and other charges from the Smart case would probably be filed against Mitchell and Barzee on Monday.

Officials said Mitchell may have tried to abduct Elizabeth's 18-year-old cousin seven weeks after Elizabeth's disappearance, and that he could faces charges in that case as well.

According to a July 24 sheriff's report, the screen on Jessica Wright's bedroom window was cut and a chair was found beneath it. The would-be intruder fled when the family heard noises in the night and called authorities.

A chair was similarly found under the kitchen window at the Smarts' home after Elizabeth disappeared. The screen was reported cut from the outside.

"It's more than a coincidence," said Kennard. "You have this cousin who looks like Elizabeth and is good friends with Elizabeth."

Kennard said his investigators had evidence linking the two incidents that would be provided to prosecutors for possible attempted kidnapping charges, which could come early next week.

Jessica Wright has been described as Elizabeth's favorite cousin.

Vicki Cottrell, who has known Barzee for 28 years and is executive director of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill of Utah, met with Barzee in jail Friday.
In an interview Saturday, she said Barzee told her that on Thanksgiving Day 2000, the couple received a revelation that Mitchell was to have seven more wives. Barzee spoke about the need to take younger wives because older women would not be submissive enough to marry him, she said.

"That's the very saddest part of this whole thing - they picked and they chose, and they didn't ask permission," Cottrell said. "They just took someone that was very innocent."

Barzee also told Cottrell that the couple heard revelations about where to stay, including an area in the mountains above San Diego, where Mitchell pleaded guilty to vandalizing a church. He served less than a week in jail.

In a later revelation, Cottrell said, Barzee was told by God that the trio needed to return to Salt Lake City. Cottrell said she hoped Barzee had "maybe some glimpses of something they had done that was very wrong and needed to be dealt with."

Barzee told Cottrell that during prayer during Mitchell's jail time, it was revealed to her that when the group returned to Salt Lake City they would be picked up and "put in jail by the evildoers of the world."

"She said that she realized that taking six more wives would not be possible," Cottrell said.

As police piece together more about the nine months that Elizabeth was away, the man who led Salt Lake City police in the search for her clearly regrets that the investigation was not more aggressive, reports CBS News Correspondent Jane Clayson.

"At the time, I thought I was making the best choice, but now in hindsight I wasn't," says retired police investigator Corey Lyman. "And so, absolutely, I have regrets."

Lyman says, "I wish I could do it over. I kind of go through this emotional 'Could this have been over so much sooner?'"

Police have acknowledged that they made mistakes in their nine-month effort to find Elizabeth, fixing on the wrong suspects and withholding a composite sketch of the man now being held in her abduction.

"Hindsight is 20-20 vision. If we had to go back over it again, I think every one of (our investigators) would say, 'I wish we had gone public with that ... earlier,'" Salt Lake Police Chief Rick Dinse said Thursday.

Family members and police have not disclosed details of Elizabeth's ordeal but have indicated her captors gained a hold over her psychologically. Her father, Ed Smart, said he fears she was brainwashed.

Police have said Mitchell was excommunicated from the Mormon Church, the religion of the Smart family, and considered himself a polygamist. The practice has long been outlawed in Utah.

Asked whether Elizabeth may have been taken to be a wife, the girl's aunt, Angela Dumke, said, "You never know. He's nuts."

"This guy's probably involved in polygamy," said Dumke, Ed Smart's sister.

Dumke said another theory is that Barzee considered Elizabeth to be her child. Relatives of the 57-year-old woman said she fled a violent marriage years ago, leaving behind six children.

Barzee's family says she once decorated cakes professionally and worked as a beautician, but she began wearing odd robes and panhandling after she married Brian Mitchell.

Barzee, 57, became devoted to the self-proclaimed prophet, relatives said, and the couple sold their belongings and were often seen begging at Mormon church headquarters.

"They went all crazy and homeless," said Mark Thompson, one of Barzee's children from the earlier marriage.

Mitchell was arrested twice during the time police say Elizabeth was with the couple - once in Salt Lake City on suspicion of shoplifting Sept. 27 and another time for trying to break into a San Diego County church, apparently in search of a place to sleep.

Mitchell pleaded innocent to charges in the shoplifting case Friday.