BY BROOKE ADAMS
THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
The future for Elizabeth Smart is, in one regard, no mystery.
She will always be "The Girl Who," an unwitting celebrity forever recognizable, her life story now woven into our own.
The media spotlight her family so desperately sought to aid in her recovery will be difficult to dim.
There will be seemingly endless interviews of family -- perhaps, some day, even of Elizabeth herself. There will be anniversary stories, the "Where Are They Now" clips, the made-for-TV and straight-to-video movies and books.
Perhaps, as in the case of "Baby Jessica" McClure, as she is still referred to nearly 16 years after she fell down a Texas well, there will be a song.
"Everybody's Baby" has a new sibling: "Everybody's Daughter."
Already, there are signs of the media deluge sweeping the Smarts. Family spokesman Chris Thomas has a new greeting on his cell phone, saying the family will not be granting additional interviews until Monday at the earliest. He then asks film and literary agents to send movie and book proposals in writing.
The Los Angeles Times reports that NBC, CBS and ABC are all said to be interested in the Smart story, as are USA and Lifetime cable networks. At least one network may attempt to rush a movie through in time for the May rating sweeps, the newspaper said.
Tom Smart, Elizabeth's uncle, said while he understands the public has a vested interest in Elizabeth and her well-being, it is the family's job to protect their daughter.
"We don't want [the exposure] to hurt Elizabeth," he said.
The McClures have tried to create the same protective envelope around their daughter Jessica.
Jessica McClure was just 18 months old when she tumbled down an 8-inch well behind a relative's Midland, Texas, home on Oct. 14, 1987. For 58 hours, the world was transfixed by the desperate, round-the-clock rescue operation. Thanks to TV, the world was ringside when jubilant rescuers finally freed the tot.
There was a national outpouring of joy and good will -- flowers, cards, toys and money (most put in a trust fund estimated at more than $700,000 that Jessica will receive when she turns 25). The public wrapped its arms around Jessica and her parents, Chip and Cissy McClure.
The McClures, who divorced and have each remarried, shielded Jessica over the years from the public and from media hungry for details of her life. Still, the stories have come, with headlines such as "Baby Jessica is now 'Lady' Jessica," "Baby Jessica, All Grown Up" and "Fame Lingers for Now-Grown 'Baby Jessica.' "
According to the Pew Center for People and the Press, "Jessica McClure is the only other individual to have ranked with [Princess] Diana in news interest" in a survey of top most closely followed news between 1987 and 1997.
Patty Duke and Beau Bridges starred in the movie "The Rescue of Jessica McClure," released two years after the drama unfolded. Chip McClure's story was told in the 1997 book, Halo Above the City.
On the Internet, there are dozens of Web pages chronicling the saga, including one by Bill Bentley, who participated in the rescue. A police officer who was a key player in the rescue, Andy Glasscock, reportedly remains a close friend and spokesman for family members to this day.
The media crush, the public adulation, proved too much for one rescuer. Paramedic Robert O'Donnell, who pulled Jessica from the well, at first reveled in the attention, and then couldn't move beyond that moment of stardom. He committed suicide in 1995.
Jessica now lives with her father and stepmother in Tyler, Texas. The family declined an interview with The Salt Lake Tribune. Susan McClure, Chip's wife, said after the initial wave of interviews and the movie, some of the media attention turned tabloidish and ugly. They retreated and "basically discontinued speaking to the press," Susan McClure said.
The family has granted just a few recent interviews -- one to Ladies Home Journal in November; one to KETK, an NBC affiliate in Texas in December; another, in what would be a thrill to most teens, to the cable music video channel VH1's "Where Are They Now?" show.
Jessica told one television interviewer she tries to be just a typical teenager, but can't imagine life without being Baby Jessica.
Asked by Ladies Home Journal if she had achieved a normal life, Jessica put it simply:
"Yes. And no," she said.
That is much the same answer Jessyca Mullenberg of Eau Claire, Wis., gives when asked about living life in the wake of a widely publicized, traumatic event.
In 1995, Mullenberg, then 13, was kidnapped by a male neighbor who had essentially stalked the family for years. She was held captive for 3 1/2 months.
Like the Smarts, Mullenberg's family launched a huge search that included distribution of an estimated 1 million fliers and a segment on "America's Most Wanted." The abductor and Mullenberg, whose hair had been chopped and dyed, were found in a Texas motel.
"She had endured a lot of bad, bad things," said her mother, Monica Lukasavige of Junction City, Wis.
Her recovery triggered a media frenzy and community celebration.
"It was a good news story, just like Elizabeth's, and everyone wanted to report on it," Lukasavige said.
Mullenberg returned to her 30,000-population community very much a public figure.
"It was a wonderful feeling knowing that I was being welcomed home and they cared for me," said Mullenberg, now 20 and a student at Mid-State Technical College in Wisconsin Rapids.
Lukasavige said the family was torn about how to handle the deluge of interview requests. "You want to have your privacy but you also want to shout out your victory, too," she said. "It sends shock waves to abductors that people are caught and prosecuted."
The family settled on a compromise: Lukasavige, in much the same role as Ed Smart is now cast, did most of the speaking for her daughter.
"She did some interviews, but they were very short and they had specific instructions about what and what not to ask her," Lukasavige said. "I guarded her as much as I possibly could. I feel it was the best decision because it gave her a chance to speak, rather than hold it all in. It showed to other kids that have had this happen that there is a way out of it."
Mullenberg returned to school within several weeks. Despite the best efforts of family and school officials, catching up with her studies and easing back into her old world were rough.
She had changed, and so had many of her friends. Reactions ran the gamut from people who were afraid to talk to her to those who accused her of being a willing participant in the abduction.
"People would ask 'Why didn't you run away?' If they are not in the situation they don't understand," Mullenberg said.
There were even envious comments from people along the lines of, "I wish I got kidnapped and got presents," she said.
"It wasn't easy at all that year. It was really bad," Mullenberg said. "It wasn't fun. I got into fights at school."
The trial, which took place about a year later, reignited the media attention and was "very hard," Lukasavige said. "I feel so much for Elizabeth and her family about what they are going to go through now, but there is no other way."
The challenges of Mullenberg's public status followed her through high school and even into college. She receives both empathy and skepticism, she said.
"She's very much a realist," said Lukasavige. "That's the way it is and she can't change it. She'd prefer to be more anonymous but she can't and she understands that."
The media continue to mark milestone events in her life; there were stories, for instance, as she entered college. And Elizabeth's story has renewed interest in her case. On Saturday, she and her family appeared on ABC News, and Monday they will be on "Good Morning America."
The waves of coverage renew public recognition.
"It's an everyday thing," said Mullenberg. "At first it's really weird to have people come up to you. Now, I'm used to it.
"You're never going to be normal, to go back to a normal life," she said.
What has helped most, Mullenberg said, is a positive attitude and support of family and a few close friends.
"I didn't want him [her abductor] to ruin my future because he already ruined my past," said Mullenberg.
She has poured herself into school, sports and part-time jobs. She speaks regularly to school children and other groups about her experience. Mullenberg is completing a two-year degree in criminal justice and law enforcement and plans to get a bachelor's degree in psychology, a background that will prepare her for a desired career working with crime victims.
Mullenberg is carving the kind of future one expert on child victims suggests may be an example of how Elizabeth might retake control of her life. Mullenberg is facing her experience head on, talking about it and doing what she can to understand she had no part in creating the hellish episode.
It's about reclaiming personal power, said Anne Alper, a south Florida attorney who specializes in child abuse cases and is a court advocate for children's rights. Elizabeth Smart's life has "been defined, and not just outlined," Alper said.
She is now part of a small coterie of young people involved in traumatic events -- besides Jessica McClure, Elian Gonzalez comes to mind -- subjected to intense, global multimedia attention. The ultimate effect of that has yet to be measured in any of these lives.
"It could turn out to be a positive thing," Alper said of Elizabeth's new status. "Her future could be extraordinarily optimistic as long as somebody who is with her surrounds her with enough information and power to say, 'OK, you can make decisions.' I'm hopeful about how her life will be again if she's given some control about how she'll be able to deal with being a celebrity."
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Tribune reporter Kirsten Stewart contributed to this story.