ABC News is enlisting the help of Elizabeth Smart to report on missing person cases.
The network confirmed Thursday that the 23-year-old Smart, who as a young teenager was abducted from the Utah home of her parents, will be a contributor on various ABC News programs.
“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,” Townsend said.
Smart has not been afraid in the past to share her story on national television and appeared on “Oprah” and “Larry King Live.” The Smart family also published a book about her experience.
Smart will be “looking ahead, not looking back at her own story” during her time at ABC News, spokesperson Julie Townsend told The Hollywood Reporter.
Smart is an undergraduate at Brigham Young University. ABC would not disclose whether or not Smart would relocate to New York City, however, it did say that she will start her work soon, possibly within the next few weeks. (James Spader joins ‘The Office’)
Bryan David Mitchell kidnapped 14-year-old Smart in 2002, she was later found 18 miles away from her home nine months after the initial crime.