{"id":54066,"date":"2025-11-27T13:58:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T13:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/54066\/"},"modified":"2025-11-27T13:58:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T13:58:11","slug":"utah-dad-micah-smith-charged-with-child-torture-after-taking-children-hiking-resulting-in-them-missing-and-hospitalized","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/54066\/","title":{"rendered":"Utah dad Micah Smith charged with child torture after taking children hiking, resulting in them missing and hospitalized"},"content":{"rendered":"

A \u201cselfish\u201d Utah dad allegedly tortured his three young children by taking them on a difficult hike before going missing, as cellphone footage captured his daughter asking if they were \u201cgoing to freeze to death.\u201d<\/p>\n

Micah Smith was arrested and charged with aggravated child abuse and child torture for taking his 2-, 4-, and 8-year-olds on a brutal hike in Big Cottonwood Canyon on Oct. 11.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat seemed like an innocent hike with his three children quickly turned into a nightmare when the defendant chose to summit a mountain over the safety of the kids,\u201d the indictment read.<\/p>\n

Micah Smith was arrested and charged with aggravated child abuse and child torture for taking his 2-, 4-, and 8-year-olds on a brutal hike in Big Cottonwood Canyon on Oct. 11. Facebook<\/p>\n

The 31-year-old father told his children they were doing the Broads Fork Trail, with his daughter hearing it was either a 9-mile or 9-hour hike, but she couldn\u2019t remember which, according to an indictment obtained by Fox13.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cNot an easy hike that you would take a child upon,\u201d said Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said.<\/p>\n

The trail is a \u201cstrenuous\u201d five-mile round-trip hike that features a 2,100 ft elevation change and is rated as difficult, according to online guides.<\/a><\/p>\n

Family and friends reported the father and his children missing after failing to return.<\/p>\n

Rescuers found the family about 600 feet from the top, where they had taken shelter, because Smith\u2019s youngest reportedly fell and hit his head and appeared dazed, officials said.<\/p>\n

The makeshift structure included a boulder and a few sticks to block the wind.<\/p>\n

Smith with his wife and three young children before his arrest on Nov. 25, 2025. Facebook<\/p>\n

Rescuers found Smith\u2019s 4-year-old son lying on top of the 2-year-old, unconscious and not appearing to be breathing.<\/p>\n

The father revealed he performed CPR on his youngest two children after they had fallen unconscious and weren\u2019t breathing.<\/p>\n

Both of the younger kids were not wearing a lot of clothing, the indictment said. <\/p>\n

At one point during the night, Smith taught his daughter how to perform CPR before heading down the mountain by himself, Fox 13 reported.<\/p>\n

First responders rushed the family of four down the mountain and performed 25 minutes of CPR on the 4-year-old.<\/p>\n

By the time the group was two-miles from the top, Smith\u2019s daughter began warning him about turning back, but was quickly shot down by her father for missing out on the experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a once-in-a-lifetime thing,\u201d the young girl recalled her father saying, before stopping her from going back down.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou shall not pass,\u201d he allegedly said.<\/p>\n

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During the investigation, officials found Smith had been texting his wife who had asked if their children were safe.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, [the 4-year-old] is exhausted,\u201d Smith said at around 5:18 p.m. \u201cWe\u2019re almost to the very top, but everyone is starting to fail and it\u2019s starting to rain. I\u2019m getting tired of carrying [2-year-old]. It\u2019s tough with three children and no second parent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith also recorded a video from the mountain, capturing his daughter as storm clouds moved in.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre we going to freeze to death, daddy?\u201d the little girl asked. <\/p>\n

Smith and his three children were hospitalized after being rescued.<\/p>\n

The father was reported in mild condition, with his daughter listed as stable.<\/p>\n

The two youngest children were both in critical condition.<\/p>\n

The four-year-old remains in the hospital after suffering a stroke, requiring surgery to remove a portion of his skull.<\/p>\n

When he arrived to the hospital his body temperature measured at 62.6 degrees, KTVX reported.<\/a><\/p>\n

Smith was booked into jail in Salt Lake County on Nov. 25.<\/p>\n

The four-year-old remains in the hospital after suffering a stroke, requiring surgery to remove a portion of his skull. Facebook<\/p>\n

He is being held bond, according to online jail records viewed by The Post. <\/p>\n

Smith has had previous encounters with police, including a month before the hiking incident where he was found with two guns and an axe attempting to locate a mountain after expressing suicidal intentions.<\/p>\n

He told officers that he was \u201cgoing through a really hard time\u201d and wanted \u201chike up to the top of the mountain.<\/p>\n

Smith said he wasn\u2019t going to harm himself despite the weapons in his car.<\/p>\n

On Nov. 10, a month after he was rescued, Smith was accused of trespassing at Primary Children\u2019s Hospital, attempting to interfere with his 4-year-old son\u2019s care and tampering with equipment, the Fox 13 reported.<\/p>\n

He was later arrested for domestic violence for the <\/p>\n

\u201cThe defendant\u2019s behavior is clearly spiraling, and he\u2019s not only a danger to himself, but he is a danger to these victims,\u201d the indictment read.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A \u201cselfish\u201d Utah dad allegedly tortured his three young children by taking them on a difficult hike before…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":54067,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3283,8301,29796,9,11,10,19170,58,1844],"class_list":{"0":"post-54066","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-arrests","9":"tag-child-abuse","10":"tag-hiking","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-headlines","13":"tag-new-york-news","14":"tag-torture","15":"tag-us-news","16":"tag-utah"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54066\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}