Elizabeth Smart joins ABC News as contributor

Abducted as teen, she'll comment on missing persons cases

Jim Urquhart / AP file

Elizabeth Smart, who was held captive at age 14 by a Salt Lake City street preacher, is taking a job as a commentator for ABC News.

Hollywood Reporter

updated 7/7/2011 11:54:50 AM ET

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ABC News has hired Elizabeth Smart as a contributor, the network confirmed.

Smart — who was abducted in 2002 from her Salt Lake City home and held for eight months — will appear across ABC News platforms to comment on missing persons cases.

"She’ll help our viewers better understand missing person stories from someone with the perspective to know what a family experiences when a loved one goes missing," said ABC News spokesperson Julie Townsend.

Townsend stressed that Smart, who has become an advocate for tougher missing persons legislation, will be focused on "looking ahead, not looking back at her own story."

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Indeed, Smart's story has been well-told. Her family published a book about her ordeal. She was interviewed by former NBC News anchor Katie Couric for a Dateline NBC special soon after she was found. She went on Oprah, Larry King Live and even E! for a special called "Young, Beautiful & Vanished: 15 Unthinkable Crimes." And CBS adapted Smart's book for a TV movie in 2003.

Timeline: Elizabeth Smart case

Townsend said that the news division has been in discussions with Smart for some time. She would not say whether Smart, 23, would relocate to New York from Utah, where she attends Brigham Young University.

Smart is expected to make her debut on ABC News in the next couple weeks. But Townsend said she will not appear in ABC News' two-hour special about another famous kidnap victim: Jaycee Dugard.

Dugard was kidnapped in California in 1991. She was held hostage for 18 years and bore two children by her kidnapper.

Jaycee Dugard: I stayed with captor to keep kids safe

Dugard's interview with Diane Sawyer will air Sunday. It is timed to the release of Dugard's memoir, "A Stolen Life," from Simon & Schuster, which is a division of CBS Corp.

Townsend said that ABC News several years ago paid a license fee to Dugard for photos and videos. But Sawyer's interview did not come with a new licensing agreement.

Video: Jaycee Dugard tells of horrific ordeal

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Closed captioning of: Jaycee Dugard tells of horrific ordeal

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>>> dugard,he califnia woman, spent 18 years in captivity at the hands of phillip and anthony garrido is revealing her horrific ordeal in her own words. with get more about the memoir.

>>> jaycee dugard is now living in northern california with her mother and half sister . in her new book, jaycee said she's healing from the years of abuse she endured from the garridos. four weeks ago, with the sentencing of phillip and nancy garrido , jaycee dugard closed a da chapter in her life.

>> i think it's fair to say a nightmare has come to an end.

>> reporter: behd her now, the terror that began when she was 11, kidnapped by the garridos, and forced to live in a maze of rickty she and tents in the back yard of their california home. in her new book, jaycee chronicled the horror she experienced, beginning with her first night icaptivity. experts say writing about her past will help jaycee heal.

>> she gets to put an end to the very dark passage. there are no secrets.

>> she sparps no details -- she endures years of sexual abuse by garrido who fathered two daughters with jaycee . at first, garrido handcuffed jaycee to keep her from escaping. later he used other measures. but in august of 2009 , everything changed. phillip and nancy were questioned by police and jaycee , afraid to even utter her real name, wrote it down for a policewoman. it was like breaking an evil spell. i looked at her and said, i can see my mom? she said, yes. that was her moment of freedom. while others have reported her ordeal since then, it's jaycee turn to tell her story in her own words. david?

>> thank you very much.

Show transcript

Photos: Captive’s tale

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After being held against her will for 18 years, Jaycee Dugard told 'People' magazine that she's "so happy to be back with my family." In addition to the interview, the magazine featured on Oct. 14 the first photo of Dugard as a 29-year-old. She now lives in seclusion with her mom, Terry Probyn, 50, and the two daughters – Angel, 15, and Starlit, 11 – fathered by her alleged kidnapper, Phillip Garrido. (People) Share Back to slideshow navigation

Related video Spokeswoman: Dugard photos a thank-you
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Related video New details in 18-year abduction case
In this 1991 photo, an El Dorado County sheriff's deputy holds a photograph of Jaycee Lee Dugard, shortly after her kidnapping, in South Lake Tahoe, Calif. Authorities say Phillip Garrido and his wife Nancy Garrido confessed to snatching Dugard from a South Lake Tahoe bus stop in 1991; both were arrested. Dugard was reunited with her mother, sister and another relative on Aug. 27. (Ivor Markman / AP) Share Back to slideshow navigation
In this June 10, 1991, photo, Terry Probyn, mother of Jaycee Dugard, fights back tears before cutting a cake on Jaycee Lee's birthday just a few days after Jaycee was kidnapped in front of her stepfather, Carl Probyn, near their home in South Lake Tahoe, Calif. (Ivor Markman / AP) Share Back to slideshow navigation

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In this 1991 photo, FBI agents speak to passing motorists while investigating the kidnapping of Jaycee Lee Dugard in South Lake Tahoe, Calif. (Ivor Markman / AP) Share Back to slideshow navigation
Related video Kidnapped child found 18 years later
These undated handout photos show Jaycee Dugard, who was kidnapped in 1991 at the age of 11 from near her home in South Lake Tahoe, Calif. On Aug. 28, her stepfather described her as a "mellow" kid. (Child Quest via Reuters, AP) Share Back to slideshow navigation
Nancy Garrido, second from left, and her husband Phillip, far right, are with their court-appointed attorneys, Gilbert Maines, left, and Susan Gellman, right, during their Aug. 28 arraignment on 29 felony counts stemming from the 1991 abduction of Jaycee Dugard, in the El Dorado Superior Court in Placerville, Calif. The couple pleaded not guilty to charges including forcible abduction, rape, sexual assault and false imprisonment. (Rich Pedroncelli / AP) Share Back to slideshow navigation
Related video Suspect: 'It's a powerful heartwarming story'
Mugshot photos of Phillip and Nancy Garrido, who were arrested Aug. 27 in the case of Jaycee Lee Dugard. Phillip Garrido is a registered sex offender who has served prison time for kidnapping and rape. (Dorado County Sheriff's Office via AFP - Getty Images) Share Back to slideshow navigation
Makeshift tents and other structures fill the backyard where authorities say kidnap victim Jaycee Lee Dugard spent 18 years in Antioch, Calif. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images) Share Back to slideshow navigation
An FBI agent carries a bag of evidence from the Garrido home in Antioch, Calif., on Aug. 27. (Paul Sakuma / AP) Share Back to slideshow navigation

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An FBI agent inspects the car that was reportedly used in the kidnapping of Jaycee Dugard as it is being impounded from the home of Phillip Garrido and his wife, Nancy Garrido, in Antioch, Calif. (Monica M. Davey / EPA) Share Back to slideshow navigation
Jaycee Dugard was waiting for a school bus on June 10, 1991, on this road in South Lake Tahoe when she was abducted by a couple driving a gray sedan. (David B. Parker / Reno Gazette-Journal via AP) Share Back to slideshow navigation
Carl Probyn, 60, stepfather of Jaycee Dugard, holds a photo of his stepdaughter at his home in Orange, Calif. (Nick Ut / AP) Share Back to slideshow navigation

Related video Stepfather: Girl's return is a 'miracle'

Elizabeth Smart joins ABC News as contributor

Abducted as teen, she'll comment on missing persons cases

Below:

Jump to video Jaycee Dugard tells of horrific ordeal

Jump to photos Captive’s tale

Video: Jaycee Dugard tells of horrific ordeal

Closed captioning of: Jaycee Dugard tells of horrific ordeal

Photos: Captive’s tale

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