The Kidnapping of Jaycee Lee Dugard

Jaycee Lee Dugard was born on May 3, 1980, to Terry Probyn and Kenneth Slayton. Until Jaycee was 29 years old, Kenneth never showed any interest in her life and was divorced from her mother. Terry eventually got remarried to Carl Probyn, who would become one of the very few known witnesses to the kidnapping of his stepdaughter. Eleven years, one month, and seven days after her birth, Jaycee was kidnapped by Phillip Craig Garrido and his wife, Nancy.

Jaycee was walking to school one morning when a car pulled up close to the sidewalk. Jaycee thought the person in the car was going to ask for directions, so she stopped to wait. However, the person rolled down the window, revealing himself to be Phillip Garrido. Phillip also revealed a stun gun and shocked Jaycee, knocking her out. Phillip abducted Jaycee and put her in his car. She was held down and handcuffed by Phillip’s wife, Nancy. The only time Jaycee spoke during her abduction, was when she told them that her family could not afford a ransom.

Jaycee’s stepfather Carl witnessed the abduction from his garage. He saw Jaycee being forced into a gray Sedan, and the car making a U-turn where Jaycee had been waiting. He attempted to catch the kidnappers on his bicycle, but failed. Some of Jaycee’s classmates also witnessed her kidnapping, but were not helpful in the investigation. The initial suspects in the investigation were Jaycee’s biological father, and her stepfather, neither of which were found guilty.

By the time the Garridos arrived at their home with Jaycee, she had been completely undressed, minus a butterfly shaped ring she had on. She kept the ring hidden from the Garridos for the next eighteen years. Phillip put a blanket over Jaycee’s head and led her into his backyard. He put her in a soundproof shed and bolted it shut. He then warned her that Doberman Pinschers were outside, and they were trained to attack her if she tried to escape. Phillip brought her food and milkshakes during her time in the shed.

Within the first hours of Jaycee’s abduction, the police and news teams were searching for Jaycee. The teams exhausted nearly every resource in the community, but didn’t locate Jaycee or clues pointing to her location. Thousands of fliers were sent to businesses across the United States, promoting more searches for Jaycee. Her hometown, Lake Tahoe, was covered in pink in honor of Jaycee, because it was her favorite color. The community was extremely supportive of her family, helping in the search and comforting her parents.

During Jaycee’s first week of captivity, her only contact with the outside world was with her kidnapper Phillip. He brought her food and drinks, and often told her amusing stories. He also provided her with a bucket to relieve herself in. At one point he provided her with a TV, but she wasn’t allowed to watch the news, so she had no idea that people were looking for her. During her entire first week, Jaycee always remained handcuffed.

Almost a month and a half after her kidnapping, Jaycee was moved indoors to a bedroom where she was handcuffed to the bed. In here Phillip explained that the fictional demon angels he believed in allowed him to take her so that she could help him with his problems because society had ignored him. Phillip also took a kind of drug that caused him to dress Jaycee in special clothing, and make her cut images out of adult magazines with him. He made her listen for the voices that he believed he could hear in the walls. Phillip also talked to her about how he believed he was a chosen servant of God. These talks would end with Phillip bawling and apologizing for everything he had done to Jaycee, but quickly changing his mood so that he threatened to sell Jaycee to people that would put her in a cage.

Eventually, Phillip was arrested and sent to jail after he failed a drug test. He was released some time after, but his wife, Nancy, became Jaycee’s full time jailer while he was in prison. Nancy pretended to act as a mother for Jaycee, but would quickly turn cruel due to her apparent jealousy of Jaycee. At one point she presented Jaycee with two kittens. Some time after, the kittens would mysteriously vanish. When the Garridos discovered that Jaycee was  writing her name in a journal she had kept on the kittens, the page with her name was thrown out. That was the last time Jaycee wrote, or spoke, her name for the rest of her captivity.

Thirty-four months into her captivity, the Garridos released Jaycee from her handcuffs, and allowed her to move around the room, which was bolted shut by Phillip. On April 3, 1994, which was Easter Sunday of that year, the Garridos gave Jaycee cooked food for the first time. While she ate, they informed Jaycee that they believed she was pregnant due to the fact that Phillip had already raped Jaycee several times.

At age 13, Jaycee was four-and-a-half months pregnant. She had learned about the link between sex and pregnancy from watching the television. Jaycee watched programs to prepare for the birth of her first child, which occurred on August 18, 1994. Jaycee’s second daughter was born on November 13, 1997. Jaycee took care of her daughters by learning from the television. At the same time she protected her daughters from Phillip’s moments of violence and rage.

On August 24, 2009, Phillip visited a college to discuss his ideas on religion. He brought Jaycee’s two daughters with him, where they met a man the girls described as being extremely pale. The man asked Phillip to leave his name so they could discuss his ideas later. Phillip did as the man asked, and then left the college. The man researched Phillip’s name online, and discovered that he was a registered sex offender and child abductor. He also discovered that Phillip wasn’t allowed to be near minors, even though he had two children with him on the day of his college visit. The man from the college sent police officers to Phillip’s house. They asked Phillip why he had two minors with him. He claimed that they were a family member’s daughters, and that he was taking care of them. The officers searched the house, but didn’t find Jaycee or her daughters. Phillip was told to bring his “family members” and their mother with him the next morning to the police station.

The next day, Phillip did as he was asked, and he brought Jaycee and her daughters as well as Nancy, with him to the police station. Officers questioned first Phillip, and then Jaycee, who acted as if everything Phillip had said was true, due to the Garridos’ manipulation. A police sergeant arrived, and began questioning Jaycee. She eventually confessed that Phillip had kidnapped and raped her. When questioned, Phillip admitted to his crimes. He and Nancy were arrested on the spot by FBI investigators. Jaycee was put on the phone with her mother, Terry Probyn. She returned to her mother, and was allowed to keep custody of her daughters.

When Jaycee was first kidnapped, she was 11 years old. Eighteen years later she was found as a 29 year old woman with two daughters. She published a memoir in 2011, detailing her time in captivity. She wrote this book as part of her therapy during her time of healing after she was released from Phillip Garrido. Today, Jaycee spends time with her family, as well as speaking to the public to ensure that what happened to her, never happens to anyone else.