Thaindian News

By Samrat Banerjee

Aug 31 (IBNS) Lesser-known nondescript places sometimes have the habit of hogging limelight, not necessarily in a good way!

Jaycee Lee Dugard’s story has brought forth the city of Antioch, CA on the map, though not in a good way. She was kidnapped at age 11 in South Lake Tahoe. She was found on Wednesday in Antioch. She, now 29, saw her mother for the first time since June 1991 on Thursday. Can the reality show bestow her a normal life?

While imprisoned in the compound in the backyard of kidnapper Phillip Craig Garrido, 58, and his wife Nancy, 55, Jaycee Lee Dugard’s story includes giving birth to two daughters, now aged 11 and 15, fathered by Garrido.

Likely, she spent much of her life terrified and abused. When asked about the Jaycee Dugard story, Paula Fass, a history professor at UC Berkeley and author of the book “Kidnapped: Child Abduction in America” said: Someone asked me if I think she’ll ever have a normal life. I’m not sure ‘normal’ is the word. But let’s hope she can still live decently and reconnect with that earlier life. The challenge will be to try to integrate these two parts of her life - before she was taken, and her children now - in a way that can be meaningful.