Kidnapped, impregnated and forced to live alone in a shed for 18 years

Published on Friday 28 August 2009 00:52

A WOMAN snatched from a bus stop as an 11-year-old child in 1991 has turned up at a California police station with her alleged kidnapper after 18 years, it emerged last night.

Jaycee Lee Dugard was kept in complete isolation in sheds and tents in a back yard and had two daughters by her alleged kidnapper, the first when she was only 14.

Jaycee, now 29, walked into a police station with her two daughters, aged 15 and 11, Phillip Garrido, 58, a convicted sex attacker, and his wife Nancy after he had been asked to comply with a parole requirement.

Garrido one of Jaycee's alleged captors, has been arrested along with his wife Nancy Garrido, 54, on grounds of kidnapping and conspiracy.

Police said Nancy Garrido is said to fit the description of a woman who was in the car involved in the kidnapping.

Jaycee was snatched as she walked to a school bus stop on 10 June 1991 near her South Lake Tahoe home in the east of San Francisco by a man and a woman in a grey saloon car.

Details of the case which has been one of the biggest kidnap mysteries in the US and which has featured twice on "America's Most Wanted" crime programme, emerged last night at a police conference held by police in California.

A police spokesman said that Mr Garrido had attracted the suspicion of a female police officer on Tuesday 25 August when he was giving out religious literature on the University of California, Berkeley campus with two young children.

"She thought there was something suspicious about the interaction between them and asked for a background check to be carried out with the federal parole office.

"Part of the rules about being giving out information involves background checks."

It emerged that Garrido has a conviction for rape by force or fear and was paroled from a Nevada state prison in 1999. He was on lifetime supervised parole and had had his parole moved from Nevada to California.

The next day Garrido went to a parole office bringing with him his wife Nancy, "Alicia" and two young children.

During the interview at the parole office "Alicia" was ID'd as Jaycee.

"The diligent questioning and follow-up by the parolee's agent of record led to Garrido revealing his kidnapping of the adult female," the department said.

"It was further revealed by Garrido that she was Jaycee Lee Dugard, and that the children were his."

"There was sufficient information that it purported to be Jaycee," a police official said.

The official said that Mr Garrido had been on parole but that although a parole officer had visited his home on a number of occasions he had never set eyes on Jaycee or the children.

El Dorado County Undersheriff Fred Kollar said Jaycee and her two girls were kept in complete isolation in a compound of sheds and tents at the rear of the house in Antioch, California, where Mr and Mrs Garrido lived.

They appeared to be in good health, but added that "living in a backyard for 18 years had taken its toll" on Jaycee.

The children have never been to school and never been to the doctor, he said.

The back yard had a 6ft-high fence backed up with heavy discarded items such as a dishwasher to form a barrier.

The sheds were equipped with basic "camping" facilities and had showers and electricity.

Police said there had been no known attempts by Jaycee to seek help.

An FBI spokesman said Jaycee, who has her two daughters with her, has been reunited with her mother.

The suspects were being held in El Dorado County.

A house in the city of Antioch was cordoned off with police tape as it was searched by FBI agents.

Carl Probyn, Jaycee's stepfather, told television that "we both cried for about 10 minutes" after he and her mother were alerted by authorities that she had been found alive."

Jaycee Lee's family have spoken to her and are travelling to San Francisco to be reunited with her.

Mr Probyn, who was treated like a suspect is now separated from her mother, described it as "like winning the lottery".

"To have this happen where we get her back alive, and where she remembers things from the past, and to have people in custody is a triple win."

Mr Probyn, 60, witnessed his stepdaughter's kidnapping 18 years ago from the drive of their home.

She was bundled screaming into a car and driven away. He gave chase on his bicycle but failed to catch the vehicle.

Mr Probyn eventually lost hope that he would ever see his stepdaughter alive. He said he was struggling to understand why Dugard didn't come forward earlier.

"I have a million questions, but I'm just delighted," he said.

Mr Lovell said investigators had been working on the case since the abduction.