The twisted case of Jaycee Dugard, captive for 18 long
years, is one of the most chilling missing person cases.
How it was solved boiled down to one person's intuition...
June 2006.
Officer Lisa Campbell, in charge of screening
people for event coordination at UC Berkeley,
sits at her desk, flipping through paperwork.
There’s a knock at the door.
A wide-eyed, bearded man barely able to keep still
appears with two teenage girls slightly behind him.
They don’t share his excitement, but
rather seem to be on another planet.
Something about this man is off, and years of
law enforcement has polished Lisa’s intuition—
a hunch that something wasn’t quite right.
1991, 11-year old Jaycee Dugard was on her
way to school on her bike on a chilly morning.
That night she planned on asking her mother if she
could shave her legs for the big trip to the waterpark.
After all, she didn’t want to be made fun of.
She was stopped in her tracks when a car pulled up beside her.
Assuming the driver was looking for directions,
young Jaycee sided up to the window.
Her mother had always taught her to be kind to others.
Before she could think, a hand
jolted out of the driver’s window.
She felt a spark and could barely move.
Frantically pushing herself back onto the grass, her hand
brushed against something hard and sticky— a pine cone.
She grabbed ahold of it but eventually had to let go when
she was picked up by the stranger and shoved into the car.
This pine cone was her last connection to freedom.
Jaycee’s step father, Carl Probyn, was following
not far behind after seeing what happened, but
quickly lost the captor’s car never to be seen again.
Jaycee’s mother Terry Probyn was
devastated when she heard the news.
She immediately called the police and alerted her
neighbours, asking them to keep their porch lights
on in case Jaycee was able to find her way back home.
But Jaycee didn’t return home that night.
Later that year, Jaycee was featured on Missing:
Reward and on America’s Most Wanted Trading Cards.
In 1992, local band Perfect Circle recorded a song called
“Jaycee Lee”, which featured a spoken message from her mother.
On her birthday, a tree was planted in her honour.
In 1993, her mother Terry appeared on the Geraldo Rivera
Show to discuss the disappearance and effect on the family.
In 1995, a short film was used as a
pilot for a show called Stolen Lives.
In 1996, a shrine was erected at a spot where she
was abducted to mark 5 years of disappearance.
In 1998, Terry told the story for a video called A Child’s
Life hosted by Ken Bowers, which taught children how
to avoid kidnapping, and in 2001, she created a school
program called A Fighting Chance to keep children safe.
Despite everything, authorities were unable to find Jaycee.
The only basis the police had to go by was the
vehicle— a late model 1980 gray Ford Sedan, and one
of the abductors, described as a 32 year old woman,
5”5’, with long dark hair and a dark complexion.
This unfortunately wasn’t enough to find Jaycee.
1991, pushed into the backseat of a
car, a blanket was pulled over Jaycee.
Where were they taking her?
Why her of all people?
Who was this man?
Was he her real father, here to finally meet her?
The car stopped abruptly and the captor let her out.
Now able to get a better look at him, she saw he
was an older, tall man, wearing a long, unkempt
beard but had a friendly demeanor about him.
Nevertheless, she was still scared.
“Would you like some water?” he asked.
She nodded.
He brought her into the house and she was greeted by two cats.
As an animal lover, Jaycee really wanted to pet them.
Would he let her?
He took her to the bathroom and had her
shower, it was extremely uncomfortable.
She wanted to be anywhere but there.
On went the blanket once again and she was
brought to a shed where he handcuffed her.
A train sounded, a racket she would be sure to remember.
They were by a train station.
She should have been at school by now.
Her teachers were definitely worried.
Over the next 18 years, Jaycee would be
assaulted, sometimes several times a day
while her captor would be on his “drug runs”.
To hide from the pain, she would make up stories
in her head, disconnect to a different world.
To make her feel better, he would tell her
that she was preventing other girls from being
hurt and was helping him with his problem.
He would also try to comfort her by hugging her and feeding
her fast food, a tactic often used to gr—m children.
She learned his name was Phillip Garrido and
begrudgingly enjoyed the little company she was given.
When she told him she was lonely, he got her a cat
that she named Tigger, but he was shortly taken away.
Throughout the years, she had other
cats that mysteriously disappeared.
In her journal, she wrote about her cat Eclipse
adoringly, who would comfort her when she was sad.
Jaycee would spend her time writing in her journal about
her cat, but made the mistake of writing her own name.
Phillip angrily ripped it off the page and
told her that she no longer was Jaycee.
She decided to go by Allissa, after
her favourite actress, Alyssa Milano.
Sadly, Eclipse was also taken away after a few months.
She was moved between two buildings and
eventually, Phillip’s wife Nancy revealed herself.
Jaycee spent an Easter with her because apparently
Phillip was on an island with his friends.
She later learned this was a lie, however,
and that Phillip had broken his parole for
failing a drug test and was in jail that month.
When he came back from jail, he was becoming even
more erratic, claiming to hear voices in the wall,
and that the angels were to blame for his wrongdoings.
Shortly before Easter of 1994, Jaycee started to feel weird.
She was bloated and began waddling instead of walking.
She associated the weight gain with all the fast food she
was being fed, but Phillip and Nancy knew something was wrong.
Jaycee was scared to find out she was pregnant.
Phillip spent the next few months watching
birthing videos he rented from the library.
He would perform the birth himself.
Jaycee was worried at the thought of giving the baby up, how
lonely she already was, and how lonely that would make her.
But she was comforted when Phillip told
her they would be keeping the baby.
1996, when the baby girl turned two, Phillip
had a more stable job and decided to fence
in the backyard for more space to play.
While the tiny baby was allowed in the backyard,
but to avoid prying eyes, Jaycee wasn’t.
Not long after, 17-year-old Jaycee fell pregnant again.
She was ready for the pregnancy this time,
and was a lot happier in her environment.
Phillip had started his own business card printing
company and Jaycee would design and print the cards.
The job was time-consuming and she didn’t feel as lonely.
In November 1997, Jaycee gave birth to her second child.
Nancy felt jealous as she was unable to
conceive, so the daughters were to call Nancy
their mother, and call Jaycee their sister.
Jaycee would spend her days working on Phillip’s
business or teaching her children from worksheets.
Strangely enough, Jaycee was allowed on outings with the
family and would sometimes go out to do her nails with Nancy.
She never thought to ask for help, always in constant
fear that nobody would want to help, or even be able to.
Phillip Garrido was a known s*x offender
who was let out of prison on an early bail.
He was in his late thirties when he kidnapped
young Jaycee Dugard with his wife Nancy Garrido.
The couple met in 1976, when Nancy was visiting a
family member who was in jail, and fell for Phillip.
He was serving 50 years for as—ing Catherine
Hall, but it wouldn’t be long until he was
out on parole, only serving 11 of the years.
This wasn’t his first misdemeanor, as he had
ab—ed a m—or only four years earlier but was
let out early because she refused to testify.
Scarily enough, video footage was uncovered of Nancy
pretending to record Phillip playing music in a park,
but instead filming little girls who were playing.
An eerie comment could be heard from Phillip
when he asks his wife if the focus was good.
A paranoid man, Phillip was fixated on religion.
He was convinced that he was in communication with angels
and even had a blog where he would write his findings.
“THIS WITNESS IS TO GAIN THE ATTENTION OF UNBELIEVERS
WORLD WIDE, INCLUDING SCIENTIST, PHYSICIST AND EDUCATORS.
WHY?
TO BEGIN A MAJOR WAKE UP CALL THAT ALLOWS THE
REST OF THE WORLD TO TURN AND KNOW THAT HE EXISTS
AND IS DESIRING THAT EVERYONE COME TO KNOW HIM.
THE CREATOR'S WORK IS ALL OVER THE WORLD AND BELONGS
TO HIM ALONE, TO SPEAK FOR HIMSELF, AND NOT FOR ME,
OR ANY ONE PERSON TO ACT AS THOUGH WE SPEAK FOR HIM.”
In this chilling and twisted blog, he also has several
scanned “declaration of affirmations” that he allegedly had
people sign, affirming he was able to control sound with
his mind, something he would often use to manipulate Jaycee.
Over the course of her 18 years of captivity,
Phillip’s parole officers visited his house 30 times,
but Jaycee and her daughters were not discovered.
In a video released by the El Dorado District Attorney’s
Office, Nancy is seen recording Phillip and the parole
officer—it appears that Phillip is guiding the officer
through the house, who never thinks to look at the backyard.
On one occasion, an officer even spoke to Jaycee,
making her think “he didn’t really care”, even
when the ankle bracelet Phillip was issued showed
that he spent a long time in the backyard.
Home videos recovered showed the children playing
outside in plain sight, and being out in public.
Phillip Garrido was never reported to have any children and
was a s*x offender, yet when a neighbour reported seeing
children in tents in the backyard, there was no investigation.
Jaycee Dugard eventually attempted to sue the federal parole
officials under the Federal Tort Claims Act who failed to
report these violations, but the court ruled against her.
Despite the fact that there were 70 undocumented
cases of him breaking his parole due to drugs, Judge
Owens explained that “While our hearts are with Ms.
Dugard, the law is not.” It was argued that
rehabilitation programs have no obligation to the
welfare of private citizens when regulating parolees.
Instead, the government paid her a settlement of $20 million.
Entering Officer Lisa Campbell’s office on June 25th,
2006, Phillip Garrido was excited for his scheduled meeting.
He would tell her all about his black box
project and how he would save the world.
He dragged his two daughters behind,
who didn’t seem to share his enthusiasm.
Officer Allie Jacobs was asked by
Officer Lisa to join in the meeting.
The first thing she noticed was
the distant looks the girls wore.
She had children of her own, and these girls
were not acting like typical teenagers.
The night before when Lisa had approached her, Allie decided
to run a criminal record check on Phillip, and learned
that he was on federal parole for abduction and r—e.
Showing up with a couple of teenagers
was a red flag for both of them.
While Lisa listened to Phillip’s nonsensical ramblings,
Allie took the chance to speak with the girls.
They were pale, their responses robotic,
and their outfits were out-dated.
They told her they were homeschooled and had an older sister.
When the three left, she made a call to Phillip’s parole
officer, who told her that he didn’t have any daughters.
Not much later, she would receive a frantic phone call
from the parole officer about some kind of kidnapping.
Meanwhile, at the Garrido residence, Nancy was
running around in a panic, Phillip had been arrested.
A parole agent from the Concord Parole Office visited
the next morning, requesting they go down to the office.
Taken into questioning, Jaycee kept repeating what
Phillip wanted her to say, that her name was Allissa,
the children were hers, and it was consensual—
but the officers knew something was wrong.
Phillip had told them an entirely different story,
that the girls were his brothers’ daughters.
The inconsistency in stories scared Jaycee, so she began
telling the officers that she was running away from an
abusive husband and that Phillip was just covering for her.
After an officer threatened to get her
fingerprinted, she finally revealed the truth.
She still wouldn’t say her name, but told the officer
she was kidnapped at 11 and that she was now 29.
She then wrote down her name for the first time in 18 years.
Jaycee’s mother’s house was called and
her baby sister, now an adult, picked up.
Scared that her mother would learn of her children,
and not want anything to do with her Jaycee was
relieved to find out that a mother’s love knows no
bounds, taking her granddaughters in with open arms.
But Jaycee couldn’t go home just yet.
Jaycee and her girls were brought to a hotel
until a house was found for them by the National
Centre for Missing and Exploited Children.
Jaycee Dugard has been out of captivity for 12 years now
With the help of her therapists and the National Center
for Missing and Exploited Children, Jaycee and her
daughters were able to transition to the real world.
A huge part of her rehabilitation was working with animals.
She was also provided a personal chef who would
focus on making healthy meals for a healthy mind,
rather than the fast food she lived on for 18 years.
To her former captors, Jaycee has this
to say, “Phillip Garrido, you are wrong.
I have the freedom now and all of
your so-called theories are wrong.
Everything you have ever done to me has been
wrong and someday I hope you can see that.
What you and Nancy did was reprehensible.
You called yourself an "honest man"
but these are just words to you.
They were your tools of choice and
you wielded them with brute force.
To you, Phillip, I say that I have always
been a thing for your own amusement.
I hated every second of everyday of 18 years
because of you and the s—al p—on you forced on me.
To you, Nancy, I have nothing to say.
Both of you can save your apologies and empty words.
For all the crimes you have both committed I
hope you have as many sleepless nights as I did.
I am angry because you stole my life and that of my family.
Thankfully I am doing well now
and no longer live in a nightmare.
You do not matter any more.”
After being hounded by the press for photos and to
prevent rumours of her trying to hide her daughters,
Jaycee allowed People magazine to take a photo of
her and her girls with their backs to the camera.
Jaycee has since written two books, “A Stolen Life:
A Memoir” and “Freedom: My Book of Firsts” she hopes
to help other survivors of s—al abu— and abduction.
Jaycee has even started her own charity organization
called the JAYC Foundation, providing counseling and
protected housing for victims and families who have
dealt with traumatic situations, creating successful
school programs, and workshops for law enforcement.
A lesson learned from this case: If
you see something, say something.
Thanks to the heroics of two police officers,
three lives were saved who now in turn save more.
The last thing Jaycee reached for before her
childhood ended, a pine cone, has become her
symbol of freedom, a part of nature that connects
the victims to the very roots of humanity.
It can also be a reminder of how quickly your life
can change in the hands of a twisted individual.