Elizabeth Smart: 'What a miracle!!! Jayme Closs has been found'

Elizabeth Smart, an outspoken advocate on kidnapping after her much publicized captivity in 2002 shook the nation, called it a miracle Friday that Wisconsin teen Jayme Closs has been found alive. 

Smart posted on Instagram: "What a brave, strong, and powerful survivor!!!! No matter what may unfold in her story let’s all try to remember that this young woman has SURVIVED and whatever other details may surface the most important will still remain that she is alive."

Jayme was found in the town of Gordon, Wisconsin, at 4:43 p.m. on Thursday, according to the Douglas County Sheriff's Office. She had been missing since Oct. 15. A nation-wide search had been launched for Jayme after her parents were shot dead in their Wisconsin home. 

The details of Jayme's kidnapping are still sparse. 

More:Missing Wisconsin teen Jayme Closs found alive: What we know about how she escaped

Smart was kidnapped at age 14 on June 5, 2002, by Brian David Mitchell from her home in the Federal Heights neighborhood of Salt Lake City, Utah. She was found in 2003. Since her abduction, Smart has written several books about survival and her personal story as a victim of kidnapping. 

“When I look in the mirror, I also see a mother and a wife, and someone I am proud to be,” she said in an interview in March. “I see an advocate. I see a survivor.”

Even with all the terrible things that happened to her, Smart told the Arizona Republic that in many ways, she was lucky.

Smart concluded her Instagram post with a powerful message: "May god bless you Jayme Closs and may we all continue to search for every missing child."

More:Kidnapped at 14, held captive and raped, Elizabeth Smart says now: I was lucky

Contributing: Karina Bland, Arizona Republic