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Elizabeth Smart to visit Wisconsin to help with kidnapping of Jayme Closs

Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped at the age of 14 in Utah

Wednesday 06 March 2019 18:20 EST
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Barron County Sheriff tells CNN kidnap suspect did not have contact with Jayme Closs online

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Kidnapping victim Elizabeth Smart is set to speak in Wisconsin next week to help with the kidnapping of Jayme Closs.

Jake Patterson, 21, is accused of abducting 13-year-old Jayme Closs' from her home just outside Barron, after killing her parents with a shotgun.

After taking her in October, prosecutors say Patterson held the young teenager in a cabin for 88 days before she escaped in January. She is now living with her aunt after the death of both her parents at their family home.

Elizabeth Smart was 14 when she was kidnapped from her Salt Lake City home in 2002.

The Barron County Sheriff's Department posted on Facebook on Wednesday saying Elizabeth Smart will speak at the Barron Area Community Center on 15 March.

As someone with an experience similar to Jayme Closs, Ms Smart is expected to talk about her own experience and how to move forward.

Ms Smart told The Associated Press in January that Jayme will struggle to regain a sense of normalcy.

Additional reporting by the Associated Press

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