Witness Recalls Garecht Kidnapping

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- After more than 20 years, the only witness to the Hayward kidnapping of Michaela Garecht has come forward to tell her story.

Michaela's friend Katrina was there when Michaela was abducted in 1988 by a man whose description matches that of Phillip Garrido, now charged with the Jaycee Dugard kidnapping.

Katrina is now 29-years-old, but the kidnapping has haunted her to this day, so much so that the mother of two does not want to reveal her full name or where she lives.

Wednesday was the first time she had given a television news interview in 21 years.

"My first hope would be that she's alive and that I can meet her again," Katrina said.

Katrina says she and Michaela Garecht were 9-years-old when they walked back to a neighborhood market in Hayward to retrieve their scooters when Michaela was abducted.

"That's when I heard a scream, I looked and I saw a man putting her into his car and the screaming continued," Katrina said.

Katrina watched that man drive off with Michaela. She was the sole witness.

Twenty-one years later, Jaycee Dugard, who was kidnapped in 1992, was found, and her accused abductor, Phillip Garrido, and his car were suddenly on national TV.

"Oh, it put a pit right in my stomach. I called Michaela's mother right away and I told her, 'this could be the car, have we thought of him as a suspect,'" Katrina said.

In 1988, Katrina helped detectives put together a composite sketch of Michaela's abductor. The sketch resembles a photo of Garrido taken in 1976.

"I have not seen a photo that looks more like Michaela's kidnapper than his," Katrina said.

Garrido served 10 years and six months for a violent sex offense and was paroled early, about a year before Michaela was kidnapped. Over the years, Katrina says the kidnapping continued to haunt her.

"I won't deny that there's some feelings of guilt there, that it's her and not me, but most of all I'm just sad," Katrina said.

The discovery of Jaycee Dugard has Michaela's friends and family hoping it will lead to another miracle, this time for them.

Dogs Sense Remains on Garrido Property

ANTIOCH, California (CNN) -- Two cadaver dogs working separately each showed interest in the same area of property belonging to kidnapping suspects Phillip and Nancy Garrido, a possible indication of human remains, police said Thursday.

Authorities will use ground-penetrating radar equipment on Friday to examine the area, and "we will eventually be digging in that location," said Hayward police Lt. Chris Orrey.

The Garridos face a combined 29 felony counts in the 1991 kidnapping of Jaycee Dugard, then 11, from South Lake Tahoe, California. Authorities believe the couple held Dugard in a hidden compound behind their home for 18 years and have said Phillip Garrido, a registered sex offender, fathered her two children.

On Tuesday, police from Hayward and Dublin, California, began executing search warrants simultaneously on the Garrido property and an adjacent property to which Garrido had access.

They are seeking any evidence in the 1988 abduction of 9-year-old Michaela Garecht of Hayward and the 1989 disappearance of 13-year-old Ilene Misheloff of Dublin. Both agencies have said that while Garrido has not been named a suspect in either case, he cannot be eliminated as a suspect.

On Wednesday, authorities said they had found bones on the Garrido property as well as the adjacent property but do not know whether they are animal or human. The bones are being analyzed, Orrey said on Thursday, and no new information was available about them.

In addition, a bone fragment was found on the adjacent property last week. Police said it was probably human, and it is being tested at the state DNA lab.

Police said the spot that the dogs showed interest in was in "open ground" on the Garrido property. The first dog gave a tentative indication of something there, so the second dog was brought in and made a more definite indication, said Sgt. J.D. Nelson of Alameda County Sheriff's Office. The dogs, which undergo between six months and a year of training, are trained to find human remains.

It is possible for the dogs to give "false positives," Nelson said -- a reason why the second dog was brought in. However, since both dogs showed interest, going forward with the other methods is recommended, he said.

Orrey said the digging could begin as soon as Friday, but was not sure when it would occur.

Police have disassembled some horse sheds and a deck on the properties, Orrey said, and plan to overturn the concrete slabs they were built on in order to have the dogs check the spots out. There are other slabs on the property as well, she said, some of which are "randomly placed" and "piqued our interest," she said.

Authorities have seized documents from the home, apparently some writings by Garrido -- "it appears he was a pretty prolific writer," Orrey said.

Police also have taken some things for Jaycee and her family, and "a few things we want to take a second look at," she said, adding, "nothing compelling so far has been taken." Officers are "doing a lot of photo-documentation" in case anything turns out to be connected to another case, she said.

The operation may wrap up midweek next week, Orrey said. The home is in unincorporated Contra Costa County, near Antioch, California.

Meanwhile, officials at Contra Costa County Animal Services Department said Dugard and her daughters will be reunited with pets taken from the Garrido home after he and his wife were arrested in late August -- five cats, two dogs, three cockatiels, a pigeon, a white mouse and a parakeet.

Officials said the animals appeared to be well cared-for. It was unclear when Dugard would get them back.

Police: Bones Found on Garrido Property

ANTIOCH, California (CNN) -- Investigators have found bones on the property where kidnapping suspects Phillip and Nancy Garrido lived for 18 years with Jaycee Dugard and her two daughters, police said Wednesday.

More bones of undetermined origin also were found on property adjacent to the home, Lt. Chris Orrey of the Hayward Police Department said.

"We have located what appear to be bones on both properties," Orrey told reporters. "We can't tell at this point if those bones are human or animal."

The evidence has been sent to a laboratory for analysis, Orrey said.

Searchers were looking for evidence linking the Garridos to the disappearances of Michaela Garecht in 1988 and Ilene Misheloff in 1989.

Hayward Police executed a search warrant Tuesday in connection Garecht's case. She was 9 when she was last seen, police said.

In addition, police in Dublin, California, obtained a search warrant for the same locations in their investigation of the 1989 disappearance of 13-year-old Misheloff, police said.

Both warrants were executed simultaneously Tuesday, near Antioch, California, in unincorporated Contra Costa County, east of San Francisco.

Investigators will continue Thursday to remove debris in anticipation of using search dogs and ground-penetrating radar, Orrey said.

About 75 percent of the debris on the Garrido property has been searched for possible evidence, she said. Three truckloads of trash, debris and trees have been carted away, but another eight to 15 truckloads remain, she said.

"We haven't found anything that breaks open our case," she said.

Garecht's mother said Tuesday that she holds out hope that her daughter will be found alive.

"I know that if Jaycee Dugard can be found alive and come home after 18 years, then my daughter can be found alive and come home," Sharon Murch told reporters at a news conference.

The Garridos face a combined 29 felony counts in connection with the 1991 kidnapping of Dugard, then 11, from South Lake Tahoe, California.

Authorities believe the couple held Dugard in a well-hidden compound behind their home for 18 years and have said Phillip Garrido, a registered sex offender, fathered two children with Dugard. The Garridos live near Antioch, California, in unincorporated Contra Costa County, east of San Francisco.

Police from both agencies said that while Garrido has not been named a suspect in the other abductions, he cannot be eliminated as a suspect in either case. Neither police department has interviewed Dugard, police said.

Garecht was abducted by a stranger in front of a market in south Hayward on November 19, 1988, according to Murch's Web site on her missing daughter, MissingMichaela.com.

Over the past two decades, police have followed some 13,000 tips in investigating her disappearance, Orrey said.

She said Hayward police have also noted similarities between the Garecht and Dugard cases. The victims were similar in age and appearance, Orrey said, and both were abducted in daylight, in a "brazen" manner.

The suspect vehicle in the Garecht case is also similar to the sedan found on the Garrido property, she added, and in pictures from that time, Garrido appears to resemble a sketch of a suspect based on a witness description.

Murch said she also noticed the similarities in their cases and thought it could lead to finding her daughter.

"My first thought when I heard Jaycee was found was please, God, let Michaela be with her," Murch said.

Misheloff failed to make it home from school on January 30, 1989, Dublin Police Lt. Kurt von Savoye said.

"For 20 years, we have been attempting to determine what happened." There is no eyewitness that could say with certainty she was abducted, and evidence in the case was limited, he said.

A witness did report seeing Misheloff getting into a vehicle, a sedan similar to one found on the Garrido property, at the time of her disappearance, von Savoye said. Garrido "has demonstrated a propensity to abduct young girls," police said in a statement, and he was released from prison a few months before Misheloff disappeared. Dublin is about 40 miles from Antioch.

Misheloff's family is aware of the search warrant execution but are out of town on a family emergency, von Savoye said.

In the property search, there are no current plans in place to raze structures, Orrey said, but "we are very interested in what might be behind walls, under flooring, under the ground." Authorities are prepared to disassemble structures if needed, she said.

California Police Take New Look at 1980s Missing Girl Cases

ANTIOCH, CA (CNN) -- Authorities in two San Francisco Bay-area cities are investigating whether disappearances dating back to the late 1980s could be connected to Phillip Garrido, the man suspected of keeping Jaycee Dugard captive behind his house for 18 years.

Police in Hayward, California, about 20 miles south of Oakland, say they are investigating whether he is connected to the disappearance of Michaela Garecht, last seen in 1988 at age 9.

Hayward Police Lt. Chris Orrey said there are similarities between Garecht's disappearance and Dugard's. They are similar in age and appearance, both were abducted in daylight and a sketch of a suspect resembles Garrido, she said.

Orrey said there were differences, as well, though she would not elaborate. She said Hayward police have been in contact with Garecht's family and witnesses since Dugard was found alive last week.

And in Dublin, California, about 25 miles east of Oakland, police are looking into whether Garrido is connected to the 1989 disappearance of Ilene Misheloff. Ilene was 13 when she was abducted, investigators said.

Investigators announced Saturday that they were looking into whether Garrido may have been behind other unsolved crimes.

Contra Costa County Sheriff's Lt. Steve Simpkins said police in Antioch and neighboring Pittsburg were searching Garrido's property "for evidence relating to open cases."

Authorities brought cadaver dogs to search the property next door to the Garridos as they tried to determine whether Garrido was connected to a string of unsolved slayings of prostitutes in the 1990s. Several of the women's bodies were dumped near a park where Garrido worked at the time.

"What we also know is that Phillip Garrido had access to that property," said Jimmie Lee, spokesman for the Contra Costa Sheriff's Department. "He used that property, and it looks like he lived on that property in a shed."

A bone fragment was found on the neighbor's property in an area that Garrido had access to, authorities said.

"It was a small bone fragment," said Jimmy Lee, a spokesman for the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Department. "We don't know if it's human or animal, and we're going to take it back for further testing and analysis."

Garrido kidnapped Dugard 18 years ago in South Lake Tahoe, California, fathered two daughters with her and held her captive in a well-hidden backyard compound, authorities said.

Dugard's real identity was discovered last week and her alleged kidnappers -- Garrido, a registered sex offender, and his 55-year-old wife, Nancy -- were arrested. They face 29 felony charges, including rape and kidnapping, and both have pleaded not guilty.

Meanwhile, Dugard and her mother and daughters have moved to an undisclosed location as they try to get reacquainted, said Carl Probyn, Dugard's stepfather. A team of psychologists and several law enforcement officers are with them, he said.

Probyn, who watched helplessly as his stepdaughter was kidnapped near their home in 1991, observes at arm's length as Dugard reunites with her mother. He has not seen or spoken to her, but he said family members told him Dugard looked well.

"She's with a group and they're taking care of her and they're getting adjusted. And my wife and daughter are up there. And it's going real slow. I mean, I don't need to be involved in this and disrupt anything," he told CNN's Larry King on Monday.

Probyn, who is separated from Dugard's mother, said Dugard's personality will help her deal with the years of trauma.

"I know Jaycee very well. She's a mellow person. She was just a sweet kid. She never got mad. She doesn't -- she's not angry, you know. ... That's why she's alive," he said.