Thaindian News

ANTIOCH, California (BNO NEWS) — Jaycee Lee Dugard, an 11-year-old California girl who was abducted in 1991, was found safely in the greater Bay Area of California on Wednesday, officials said on Thursday. Two people have been arrested and charged in connection with the case.

The case began to unravel when Phillip Garrido, 58 years old, was seen with two children on the University of California Berkeley campus, officials said at a news conference. Garrido has been convicted of rape by force in the past, and is under supervision.

A state parole agent asked Garrido to come in for questioning at the parole office in Concord, where he showed up with two women and two girls. The parole agent called Concord police to help him with the investigation and found that one of the women was Garrido’s wife, 54-year-old Nancy Garrido, and the other was missing Jaycee Dugard.

Garrido has since admitted to fathering the two young girls with Dugard. The girls, who are 11 and 15 years old, had been living in a compound hidden in Garrido’s backyard. “None of the children had ever gone to school, they had never been to a doctor, they were in complete isolation,” said Undersheriff Fred Kollar of the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office. Kollar added the children were born in the hidden compound.

Garrido’s wife, Nancy, is suspected to have assisted Phillip with the abduction in South Lake Tahoe, California on June 10, 1991. At the time, her stepfather said that a vehicle occupied by two individuals, a man and a woman, drove up to the 11-year-old girl at a school bus stop and abducted her in front of him.

Phillip and Nancy Garrido are being held at the El Dorado County Jail in Placerville on numerous charges. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Phillip Garrido was being held on $1 million bail on suspicion of kidnapping, rape by force, lewd and lascivious acts with a minor, sexual penetration and conspiracy. The paper reported that Nancy Garrido was also being held on $1 million bail, on suspicion of conspiracy and kidnapping.

Phillip Garrido was described as a 58-year-old male in the state’s Megan’s Law register, he was born on April 5, 1951. Phillip has blue eyes, brown hair and is 6′4″. He and his wife currently live at 1554 Walnut Avenue in Antioch, California.

Phillip also ran a website on which he claimed to have the ability to “control sound with my mind.” Over a year ago, Phillip hired a private investigator from Antioch to prove that certain documents, which he provided on his website, were authentic. “This document is to affirm that I, Phillip Garrido, have clearly demonstrated the ability to control sound with my mind and have developed a device for others to witness this phenomena,” one document, which was signed by a small number of people, read. Private investigator and consultant Ralph Hernandez confirmed to BNO News that Phillip was his client in the past. Phillip’s website can be found here.

Officials said that Jaycee Dugard is in “good health” but that the isolation and abuse for more than 18 years had “taken its toll.” The woman has been reunited with her parents, who gave up on ever finding her alive. More details will be released on Friday.