Actress Accused of Snatching Baby from Casting Call

(CNN) -- An aspiring actress remained in jail in Canada on Friday, accused of faking a casting call for babies in an elaborate effort to snatch an infant.

The suspect, identified as Michelle Marie Gopaul, is facing charges of abduction of a minor, Toronto police said in a statement.

"The accused abducted a 1-month old girl from a casting audition," the statement said. "With the assistance of the public, police located the child."

Gopaul, a 24-year-old aspiring actress from New York, allegedly snatched the child on December 30, police said.

After moving to Canada, she allegedly placed an advertisement on Craigslist offering $15,000 for a newborn to act in a Bollywood-style film, CNN affiliate WABC reported.

She posed as a casting director and waited in a Toronto building for parents to arrive, the affiliate said.

Gopaul then allegedly abducted the young girl at the casting call after the girl's parents allowed her to take the child into another room. She fled with the child in a taxicab but the girl was found unharmed hours later, WABC said.

Gopaul's lawyer, Gary Batasar, said his client is supposed to be presumed innocent because the issue has not been decided in a courtroom.

"There is no evidence at this point that she did anything wrong," Batasar said.

Gopaul's next court appearance is scheduled for January 11.

A Familiar Method of Operation: Is a Convicted Killer Responsible for Several other Unsolved Murders?

From 1969 to 1970, there were four young girls missing from the Southern part of Connecticut. 14 year old Dawn Cave from Bethany, ten year old Mary Mount from New Canaan and eleven year old Diane Toney were all abducted during the last two weeks of May of 1969. Their bodies were found dumped in the woods, they had been bludgeoned to death with a rock. In September of 1970, five year old Jennifer Noon disappeared on her way home from school, eight days later her body was found in a section of woods in the town of Hamden. She was also beaten to death with rocks.

Police had no suspects in the case but noticed similarities to the August 1970, triple murder of three residents of a home for Mentally Disabled persons. The three individuals were all killed by being bludgeoned with rocks and dumped in wooded areas. In 1972, Harold Meade a truck driver in his twenties was convicted for the killing of the three mentally disabled victims.

Witnesses of some of the four girl's murders also identified him as being in the proximity of where the victims had last been seen alive. While Law Enforcement considered Meade a prime suspect they never had enough evidence to convict him of the other homicides. He was sentenced to life in prison and many figured that he would never be out in public again.

If it only were true.

In 1992, forty three year old Linda Rayner was visiting family in Connecticut when she went to Hammonasset Beach State Park in Madison. Her body was found the next day in a remote part of the beach. The Social Worker's skull was crushed by a rock and much of the physical evidence had been washed away by the ocean. Police have a prime suspect who was camping there that weekend who has a history of indecent exposure to women.

However, Harold Meade was in the area at the same time. According to statements from other prison inmates Meade confessed to Rayner's murder. The three time convicted murderer had been granted weekend furloughs for several years despite his violent past.

Even though he is not officially named as a suspect in the Rayner homicide, Meade no longer is granted access outside of prison. According to a Hartford Courant article, he has even made confessions to other people about some of the murders of the four young girls.

After a lengthy illness, Harold Meade died on December 9th of 2007. While there may never be closure on the cases of the four murdered girls, Meade will never hurt anyone again.

The Ravisher: Edward Haight

Not only was I shocked to learn of the Stamford "Bra Murders", I was shocked when I read about this Stamford teenager who became infamous in the 1940s: Edward Haight.

Accoring to Trutv, he is known as "One of the most reviled killers to ever sit on death row at Sing Sing". He was executed for his crimes, and here's why:

"His shocking story, which generated national headlines in the autumn of 1942, began in the tranquil village of Bedford in Westchester County. On September 15, 1942, two girls, Margaret Lynch, 7, and her sister Helen, 9 were seen getting into a Ford station wagon that was reported stolen in nearby Stamford, Connecticut. They were never seen alive again.

By late night, a massive search for the missing girls was conducted in New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts. Hundreds of cops and volunteers, armed with shotguns, rifles and clubs scoured the countryside. Police investigation revealed that several other children had observed the same station wagon cruising in the area.

Soon, police located a young woman who said she was driving on the Merritt Parkway earlier that day when she experienced a scary incident with another motorist. She told police that a young man who was driving a Ford station wagon had forced her over to the side of the road. When she asked him what he wanted. The man replied, "I want you!" As the suspect tried to assault her, the woman's dogs, who were in the back of her car, tried to bite him. The man jumped back into his car and sped away. But she was able to provide police with a description.

The very next day, a Connecticut state trooper was driving along a road in north Stamford when he observed Edward Haight, 16, drive by in a small truck. The Haight family was well known to the police since they had many run-ins with local cops. When Haight was pulled over, police found a gas ration book from the stolen Ford station wagon in his pocket. He was taken into custody and soon confessed to the murder of both Lynch sisters.

Edward Haight took cops to the place where he disposed of the little girls after he tried to rape them. Helen's body was fished out of the Kensico Reservoir. Margaret had been strangled and her body was located in the woods near the reservoir. "I put a handkerchief in Margaret's mouth to stop her from screaming," he said. When he tried to rape her, the little girl fought and Haight mutilated her with a large hunting knife. With the body still in his car and Helen tied up in the trunk, he cruised into the village of Bedford to get some food. Haight then drove to a deserted wooded area and sexually assaulted Helen. He then placed the terrified girl under the car and drove over her several times, killing her. "I threw her off the bridge into the creek," Haight said, just as an ambulance drove by on its way to an unrelated car accident. Then he abandoned the stolen car in nearby Stamford and walked home.

Haight was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and locked up in the Bedford jail. At his arraignment the next day, Haight smiled and showed no remorse. He was talkative to reporters and freely gave out details of the crimes. On September 24, Haight pleaded not guilty in White Plains County Court. "It was hard to believe that the coverall-clad, black-haired youth was Edward Haight, self-confessed ravisher and slayer of two small Bedford girls 10 days ago in brutal crimes that rocked the nation!" said a story in a local newspaper.

During the trial, which opened on October 29, both the prosecution and defense psychiatrists offered conflicting opinions on the defendant's sanity. Haight had a wretched upbringing and lived in a place that was "as bad as a shack on a public dump" said one attorney. Meanwhile, the teenage killer alternately grinned, smiled and twiddled his thumbs in the courtroom. When the prosecutor held up photographs of the dead girls for the jurors, Haight actually broke out into a laugh. On November 5, Haight was found guilty of first-degree murder. "Edward Haight, still amused and apparently proud of his brutal, cold-blooded murder of two little girls, started down the last mile of his short life," said the Citizen's Register newspaper. Deliberations lasted less than one hour. As the guilty verdict was read, Haight smiled broadly at the jury. When his father came over to talk to him, Edward shrugged his shoulders and said "So what?"

He was taken immediately over to death row in Sing Sing. Ironically, Edward's father, Arnold Haight, once did four years at Sing Sing for a burglary back in 1932. Over the next eight months, Edward maintained an ongoing attitude of bravado and indifference. He lay in his bunk most of the day and spoke to almost no one. He ate vigorously though and gained over 50 pounds on prison food. When asked if he wanted anything, Edward said to the guards, "I'm not asking for nothing!"

But when he was interviewed on the day of his execution, he told reporters: "I was a fool. I don't know why I did it. I'm pretty sure this is my last day. And I'm only 17!" On July 8, 1943, he became the youngest person to be executed in Sing Sing's electric chair. His father was unable to claim his body and Edward Haight was buried in a plot of quick lime in nearby Peekskill."

Vt. Police: Body Is Missing 78-Year-Old Woman's

WATERBURY, Vt. (Oct. 5) -- The curious disappearance of a 78-year-old grandmother is now a murder mystery: A body found in the woods by two bird hunters has been identified as hers, and police Tuesday called it a homicide.

Investigators used dental records to identify the remains of Pat O'Hagan, a vibrant widow who lived alone in rural Sheffield, a town of about 700 residents in Vermont's verdant northeastern corner that has no stores or stoplights. O'Hagan, who had nine grandchildren, was reported missing Sept. 11 after not appearing for a date with a friend to go to a rug-hooking session.

Tightlipped police investigators, who have said O'Hagan was forcibly abducted, said Tuesday they know the cause of death but won't divulge it, saying they want to preserve the integrity of the investigation.

They aren't sure where O'Hagan died, said Maj. Edward Ledo, chief of the state police's criminal investigations bureau, who announced the positive identification Tuesday but wouldn't comment on the condition of the body or whether there were suspects.

"This turns the investigation into a new phase," Ledo said. "The fact that her body was found is a start, and it's a good turn."

About 250 interviews have been conducted, and they are continuing, as is analysis of crime scene evidence recovered from the wooded area in Wheelock where the body was found Sunday, about 10 miles from O'Hagan's home. Crime scene investigators were still working the scene Tuesday.

Ledo wouldn't say how long the body had been there and said police don't know whether O'Hagan died at the spot or her body was moved there.

Police have said all along there was no reason to suspect O'Hagan wandered off on her own, but they won't say what led them to conclude she'd been "forcibly removed" from her home.

Her killer or killers are on the loose, Ledo said.

"At this point in time, someone is responsible for the murder of a 78-year-old woman, and they're still at large," Ledo said. "People should take precautions, as they normally should."

O'Hagan's five adult children, who have been fixtures at police briefings about her disappearance, were absent Tuesday when Ledo gave his briefing. Ledo read a statement on their behalf in which they called it "impossible to comprehend why someone would harm her."

"Now that Pat's been found, our family's hopeful that someone will provide information that will lead to the person or persons responsible for her murder and justice will be served," he said.

O'Hagan, who moved to Vermont 15 years ago from Chelmsford, Mass., was an active member of her town, serving as president of the Sheffield Historical Society, working a church's annual chicken dinner and volunteering at a food pantry.

She sometimes camped out alone and was an active kayaker.

The news about the discovery of her body hit Sheffield residents hard.

"We're just all very sad," said 47-year-old Greg Bryant, who worked with her at the food pantry. "There's a huge hole in the community. It's a small community, and she was a big part of it."

Neighbors Save Boy From Abduction

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - Newport News police arrested a 47-year-old man after they say he tried to kidnap a 3-year-old boy.

Police say the man, identified as Wesley Stuart Brown, approached the boy playing outside Thursday afternoon in Paul's Park Trailer Park off Warwick Boulevard. The suspect then put the child in a wagon and walked off right in front of the toddler's grandmother, Angie Craig.

The grandmother's screams got the neighborhood's attention and neighbors surrounded the man. Police say two women drove up and took the child from Brown and put him in their car until police arrived.

William Rhodes, on his way home from work, heard Brown say, "I'm not going to jail. Everything's ok. He wants to go with me! He wants to go with me!"

Officers got the young boy to safety and took the man into custody.

Craig said, "When [the neighbors] found out what was going on, they all came running because that's what they do here. And they do it every time, especially when it's a child."

Brown is charged with one count of Abduction.

The grandmother told police she did not know the suspect and did not know why he had taken the child.

Of the neighbors who helped protect her grandson, Craig said, "Words can't describe how much I appreciate what everyone did for me today."

Raped At 8 And Left For Dead, A Victim Raises Her Voice

(CNN) -- For nearly 20 years Jennifer Schuett has held onto every memory of the night she was abducted from her bedroom, raped and left for dead.

It was August 10, 1990. Schuett was 8 years old and lived alone with her mother in the first floor of an apartment complex in Dickinson, Texas. The bedroom windows faced the parking lot.

Investigators were never able to identify a suspect, but new DNA testing may change that.

CNN normally does not identify victims of sexual assaults. But Schuett wants to go public with her story-- and her name-- to increase the chances of finding and prosecuting her attacker.

"It's not about me anymore," she explained. "It's about all the little girls that go to sleep at night. I know there are so many girls out there who have been raped and hurt. You have to fight back."

For that, Schuett, 27, is relying on her voice, her memory and advances in DNA testing.

"I remember everything; I've always wanted to remember everything, so I can find the person that did this," Schuett told CNN during a phone interview. "If I had blocked this out of my memory, the investigation wouldn't have come this far. I'm a fighter."

Schuett says she was alone in her bed when a man came creeping in through the window. She remembers waking up in a stranger's arms as he carried her across a dark parking lot.

"When I opened my eyes, his face was the first thing I saw and he covered my face and mouth," she said. "He ran with me to his car. He told me he was an undercover cop and that he knew my family. He seemed calm -- not nervous, not aggressive."

After they left the parking lot, he drove her through the streets of Dickinson, Texas, pulling into a mechanic shop next to her elementary school.

"Watch the moon. The moon will change colors and that is when your mom will come to get you," she recalled him saying. "Oh, it looks like she is not coming."

Schuett said he drove her to an overgrown field next to the school and raped her.

"He had a knife to my throat and touched my face and offered me Reese's pieces," she said. "I was scared but I knew I couldn't be fast enough to get away. Cars would drive by but I couldn't get away to get help."

She believes she passed out. "I woke up to him dragging me by my ankles," she said. "I felt thorns ripping the skin off my back. I would see him turn to look at me and I would play dead."

She passed out again, and awoke at daybreak. "I remember feeling dew around me and I couldn't figure out why when I screamed I couldn't hear myself," said Schuett.

She lay naked on top on an ant hill with her throat slashed from ear to ear, and her voice box torn.

Much later, she said, "I heard children playing hide and seek. That is when one of the kids tripped over my foot," said Schuett.

She was found at 6 p.m. on a hot August day. She had been lying in the field for nearly 12 hours. She was rushed to the hospital in critical condition.

"Three days after the attack, I started giving a description. The doctors told me I would never be able to talk again, but I proved them all wrong," said Schuett. She believes she got her voice back so she could tell her story.

"I never wanted to play the victim role. I wanted to be a strong survivor," she said.

But the attack left its mark. "For the first two years, I had nightmares and was scared," she said. "But I never wanted sympathy. ... If I had given up, he would have won, and I wanted to show him: 'You didn't win.' "

Shuettt said she is now "on a manhunt."

Houston FBI Special Agent Richard Rennison is one of the lead investigators in the case, along with Dickinson police Detective Tim Cromie.

Both men were discussing the case, when Rinacin received a memo from the FBI's Child Abduction Rapid Deployment (CARD) Team, saying they were looking for cold child abduction cases that could be retested for DNA evidence. The Schuett case was one of the cases selected.

Rinacin, who has 10 years of experience in child abduction cases, said he has never seen a case like Schuett's.

"This is the only one that I can think of that the victim has suffered some traumatic injuries and survived," he said, "The main reason the CARD team picked this case was because she was alive. In cases of child abduction it is rare that the child is recovered alive. Frequently you recover a body and most times you never find them." Schuett is a living witness who can help put the pieces together.

The investigators found evidence collected 19 years ago, which can be retested. It includes the underwear and pajamas Schuett was wearing, as well as a man's underwear and T-shirt, which were found in the field where Schuett was left for dead.

The clothes were tested in 1990, but the sample wasn't large enough for conclusive results. But now, modern techniques allow DNA to be isolated from a single human cell.

Once they get back the DNA results -- "any time now," Schuett said -- they will run them through the FBI's criminal database and see if they get a match.

The FBI has also offered a $10,000 reward for information that could lead to a break in the case. And last weekend Schuett appeared in "America's Most Wanted," which resulted in several leads from viewers who called in with information.

"Someone might remember something about that night," Schuett said. "Dickinson is a really small community. Everybody knows everybody. I know someone in town knows something."

Garrido Associate's Properties Searched

PITTSBURG, CA (KGO) -- The investigation into the 1991 Jaycee Dugard kidnapping and sexual assault case expands as authorities comb three Contra Costa County properties in search for new evidence. Among the things police confiscated were DVDs and a computer. Whether they are connected to child pornography, police will not say.

Jim and Cheyvonne Molino have not been shy about their association with Phillip Garrido over the past several years, but they insist it was strictly business. On Wednesday, police conducted three aggressive searches of properties owned by the Molinos, who said they were shocked by the focus of those searches.

"They completely took my bedroom apart," said Cheyvonne Molino.
Cheyvonne said the Contra Costa sheriffs arrived at their Pleasant Hill home with no warning and searched room to room, looking for videos, photos, cameras. A tenant at the Bay Point location said the sheriffs were searching for anything that could be related to child pornography.

"They went through everything. They went through my drawers, they went through my garbage, everything personal. They just came out and violated my privacy, 15 police officers," she said.

She showed ABC7 the receipt for the property seized by sheriffs, which included her Apple computer, and about 20 VHS tapes and DVDs.

"Anything that looked like it was homemade, they took with them," she said.

Two other properties owned by the Molinos were also searched by sheriff's deputies. Besides the Pleasant Hill home, they searched the couple's business -- J.M. Auto Wreckers in Pittsburg. The third location police searched was the couple's rental home just outside of Pittsburg in Bay Point. The tenants say they took a video camera, DVDs and VHS tapes.

"I don't understand why they came here like that because there is no link between us and them, other than business and buying his printing products," said Jim Molino. "They took nothing from here. They looked around. It's absolutely ridiculous. We're a wrecking yard. We do cars. Why associate me with somebody who I just did business with on cards and printing? It's ridiculous."

"When you walk in, in full tactical gear and you draw guns on adults that have children, there was no need for that," said Cheyvonne.

Contra Costa County Sheriff's spokesman Jimmy Lee told ABC7, the visits to the Molino properties were probation searches. He said "It was all part of the larger Garrido investigation. If they felt it was heavy-handed, I'm sorry for that."

Lee would not confirm that investigators were looking specifically for anything related to child pornography.

The Molinos have done numerous media interviews since Phillip Garrido's arrest about their association with the accused rapist and kidnapper. Cheyvonne told ABC7 she saw Garrido, Jaycee Dugard, and her two daughters dozens of times over a 10 year period, including most recently at a birthday party the Molinos had for their teenage daughter. She also gave ABC7 the photos of two girls who are believed to be the daughters Garrido fathered with his kidnap victim Jaycee.

The couple believes Jaycee could clear their names.

"I'm pleading to Jaycee Dugard. Please step forward and tell the media, tell the government exactly what happened to you," said Cheyvonne.

Molino says she tried to contact investigators numerous times since Garrido's arrest, but never heard from them until Wednesday.

"So now I'm the bad person? I had four police officers today tell me why didn't I say something sooner. And I said, 'Well why didn't the parole officer do his job?'" she said.

Cheyvonne was referring to the numerous visits by the parole officer to the Garrido home without detecting the presence of Jaycee.

As for Wednesday's searches, there was one arrest at the location in Bay Point, but it was unrelated to the Garrido investigation. A man was arrested at one of the homes on an unrelated matter for failure to appear in court. Two young children at that location were also taken into protective custody by Child Protective Services because deputies thought that home was too squalid for the kids to remain there.

The Contra Costa Sheriff's Department would not say if they found any incriminating evidence from the day's searches.

Jaycee Dugard Trust Fund Checks only to:

Jaycee Dugard Trust Fund

c/o Viewtech Financial Services

P.O. Box 596Atwood, CA 92811

Garrido's Love Songs to Girls

SF Gate- Kidnap-rape suspect Phillip Craig Garrido recorded love songs featuring lyrics that appear to refer to young girls, a business acquaintance said Friday.

"For every little girl in the world, they want to be in love, yeah," Garrido sings in one song. "Please tell me that you want me."

In another song, Garrido croons, "The way she walks, yeah, subtle, sexy. What can I do? I fall victim too. A little child, yeah, look what you do."

Garrido told Marc Lister, a 15-year acquaintance, that he wrote the songs while serving time in federal prison in Leavenworth, Kan., for a 1976 kidnapping and rape, Lister said.

Garrido gave two CDs containing 20 songs several years ago to Lister, a former glass-shop owner who hired him to print his business cards and invoices and who knew people in the music business.

Lister said he believes some of the lyrics could reflect a predilection for young girls. Garrido, 58, who led a rock band and played bass as a teenager in Brentwood, is accused of kidnapping Jaycee Dugard, then 11, from South Lake Tahoe in 1991, raping her and keeping her imprisoned in a backyard compound at his home outside Antioch.

His wife, Nancy Garrido, 54, has also been charged with kidnapping and rape. Both have pleaded not guilty.

"The language, the lyrics, they're suggestive and they're provocative in a lot of the songs," Lister, 57, of Concord said Friday during an interview at the Walnut Creek office of his business attorney, Mark Mittelman.

Lister said he wanted to share the lyrics with law enforcement and raise money from the songs to benefit abused women, but not before he gets a chance to "sit down with Jaycee and make sure it is not going to impair or slow down, in any way, her going back into society, just starting out a normal life."

Garrido sought Lister's help to get his music released to raise money for a religious program to "let people hear the word of God in the way that he interpreted it," Lister said.

"When he gave me these, he said, 'Someday, these are going to be worth millions,' and I just thought, 'Well, Phil's just being weird again,' " Lister said.

He said he had listened to the music - which features Garrido playing bass - without fully comprehending the lyrics and had tossed the CDs into storage.

Lister said he had visited the Garridos' home on Walnut Avenue a number of times and had seen Dugard and her daughters, who authorities say were fathered by Garrido.

Garrido introduced the girls as "our daughters," Lister said, but it was unclear to him whether Dugard or Nancy Garrido was his wife.

Dugard "always looked healthy to me," Lister said. "There was absolutely nothing that I saw that would have raised suspicion."

Mittelman and Lister shared transcribed lyrics and played short snippets of some of the songs with reporters. They also displayed one of Garrido's business cards that they said showed a picture of Dugard several years ago.

The card, which they did not allow to be photographed, shows an attractive, smiling woman with flowing blond hair. Lister said the picture was clearly a "glamour shot" and that Dugard, who helped Garrido with his printing business, often wore her hair up in a bun.

Jaycee Lee Dugard's Father 'Wants to Kill Philip Garrido'

Mr Slayton, 64, said the man who kept his daughter as a sex slave for 18 years would be "begging for death" if they ever met.

"When I think about what she went through it's just horrible," Mr Slayton told the Mirror. "I'd love to get my hands on Garrido and kill him. I hope he rots in jail."

Mr Slayton is believed to have had a brief relationship with Miss Dugard's mother Terry three decades ago. It ended quickly and he has never seen or been in contact with the girl he is sure is his daughter.

He is now married and lives in Los Angeles, 500 miles from where Miss Dugard was kidnapped in South Lake Tahoe in 1991.

Miss Dugard's mother later married Carl Probyn. He became Miss Dugard's stepfather and has been the family's spokesman, conducting media interviews since she was found last week while Mr Slayton had remained silent.

Miss Dugard has been re-united with her mother. They and the two daughter's Miss Dugard had with Garrido are being kept at a secret FBI-guarded house near San Franciso.

Garrido and his wife Nancy have been charged with 29 counts including kidnapping, rape and false imprisonment.

Phillip Garrido's Past Reveals ANOTHER Rape Charge

In 1972, four years before being convicted of kidnapping and rape, the suspected captor of Jaycee Lee Dugard was arrested for allegedly drugging and raping a 14-year-old girl near Antioch, Calif.

San Francisco - Phillip Garrido, who was convicted in a 1976 kidnapping and rape, was arrested four years earlier for allegedly drugging and raping a 14-year-old girl near his hometown, police in Antioch, Calif., revealed Thursday for the first time.

Garrido was arrested last week on suspicion of kidnapping and raping Jaycee Lee Dugard, who was 11 when she was snatched from her street in South Lake Tahoe in 1991 and was allegedly kept in a hidden backyard warren of sheds and tents for 18 years.

At a news conference Thursday, Antioch police revealed previously unknown details of the 1972 arrest that they had learned from the alleged victim, who contacted police after Garrido's recent arrest.

"She has a lot of concern about the things Mr. Garrido has done since the time of the '72 incident," Antioch Police Lt. Leonard Orman said.

Also on Thursday, Dugard's aunt spoke at a news conference in Los Angeles about how her niece has fared since she turned herself in to Antioch police last week, prompting the arrest of Garrido, 58, and his wife, Nancy, 54.

"This is a joyful time for my family," said Tina Dugard, the sister of Dugard's mother.

Antioch police were aware of the 1972 arrest before the woman contacted them but needed to talk to her to verify information that had been lost or destroyed. "It's been 37 years and those reports have not been saved. The case was dead back then," Sgt. Steve Bias said. "A lot of the information came from the victim herself."

The victim, whose name was not released by police, was with a male friend at the Antioch Public Library in April 1972 when she encountered Garrido, Orman said. Garrido offered the pair a ride, then took them to a nearby motel, now called the Riverview Motel, where he supplied them with barbiturates.

The victim went willingly, although she did not know Garrido, Bias said. "It's our understanding that it was a let's-go-party situation," he said.

He said the victim passed out in the motel room. She awoke to discover that she had been raped by Garrido, who was still there, Bias said, adding that police believe the rape continued at that point.

The girl's parents later found her at the motel and called police, who responded and arrested Garrido, Orman said. Garrido was charged with rape, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and providing narcotics to a minor, but the charges were later dropped, Orman said.

Bias said the victim did not want to testify. "A lot of victims of sexual assault just don't want to get up there and go over the details," he said.

The victim also did not want to speak publicly, Bias said.

"She's very emotional about it," he said. "This lady wants to be left alone."

Riverview Motel owner Chetan Patel, 38, said his family bought the 64-year-old, 23-room, single-story motel in 1984. Although the low-cost motel is in a seedy area, Patel had never heard about sexual assaults there and said he was surprised to be inundated with calls and visits from reporters after the police announcement Thursday.

"We haven't had any situation like that ever since we've been here," Patel said.

Four years after Garrido's arrest in the rape of the 14-year-old, he was arrested again on charges of kidnapping and raping Katherine Callaway, 25, whom he abducted in South Lake Tahoe and held captive in a Reno storage shed.

Prosecutors tried to introduce evidence that, about an hour before Garrido abducted Callaway, he had attempted to abduct another woman. As he did with Callaway, Garrido had approached the woman for a ride, got in her car, directed her to another street, then grabbed and handcuffed one of her wrists, according to federal court documents. Before Garrido could handcuff the woman's other wrist, she jumped out of the car and escaped, court records show.

Garrido was sentenced to 50 years in federal prison in the 1976 case, but was paroled in 1988 and allegedly abducted Dugard in 1991. Police say she bore him two daughters, now 11 and 15.

Dugard and her daughters are now in seclusion at an unknown location with her mother. Tina Dugard, her aunt, said she recently visited with them.

"We spent time sharing memories and stories and getting to know each other again," she said. "Jaycee remembers all of us. She is especially enjoying getting to know her little sister, who was just a baby when Jaycee was taken."

Tina Dugard described Jaycee Dugard's daughters, who have never been to school, as "clever, articulate, curious girls" who were home-schooled by their mother during their captivity.

"We are so proud of her," Dugard said.

She said her sister has been savoring her time with her daughter and granddaughters.

"The smile on my sister's face is as wide as the sea," Dugard said. "Her oldest daughter is finally home."

Jaycee Dugard's Aunt: 'This is A Joyful Time'

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- A California woman who turned up alive 18 years after being kidnapped at age 11 is reconnecting with her family after nearly two decades apart, her aunt said Thursday.

Police said Thursday that the man charged with abducting and raping Jaycee Lee Dugard had been accused of raping a 14-year-old in 1972, but those charges were dropped for unknown reasons.

"I think there's a good chance of that, yes," Antioch Police Lt. Leonard Orman said when asked whether he believed that other victims would be found.

Dugard is spending time in "a secluded place, reconnecting" with her mother and younger sister, said Jaycee's aunt, Tina Dugard, who spent time with them.

The two children born to her during her captivity are "clever, articulate, curious girls," she said.

"This is a joyful time for my family," she said. "Jaycee remembers all of us."

Jaycee Lee Dugard was kidnapped in 1991 from a bus stop near her home in South Lake Tahoe, California, and discovered last week. Authorities say a couple kidnapped her and raised her in a compound of tents and outbuildings in the backyard of their Antioch, California, home for 18 years.

Nancy and Phillip Garrido have been charged with a total of 29 felonies, including the rape and kidnapping of Dugard, who police say gave birth to two daughters fathered by Garrido during her captivity. The Garridos have pleaded not guilty. Philip Garrido is a registered sex offender.

Tina Dugard appeared in Los Angeles on Thursday to read a statement on behalf of her family.

"Jaycee is a remarkable young woman who has raised two beautiful daughters," she said. "They are clever, articulate, curious girls who have a bright future ahead of them."

The girls are 11 and 15.

"Although they have no formal education, they are certainly educated," she said. "Jaycee did a truly amazing job with the limited resources and education that she herself had, and we are so proud of her."

Tina Dugard said Jaycee's mother's smile is "as wide as the sea."

"Her oldest daughter is finally home," she said.

Dugard, now 29, is enjoying catching up on the years missed with her family, Tina Dugard said.

"She is especially enjoying getting to know her little sister, who was just a baby when Jaycee was taken," she said. "Not only have we laughed and cried together, but we've spent time sitting quietly, taking pleasure in each other's company."

The Dugard family statement thanked the law enforcement and social agencies involved in reconnecting them. "Their support and professionalism have been invaluable," it said.

A trust fund has been established for donations to help Dugard, the aunt said.

"It has come to my family's attention that there may be unauthorized solicitation of funds to support Jaycee and the family," she said.

The family released three photos of a young Dugard. One was taken at her grandmother's home when she was 3. A second showed her dressed as a punk rocker the Halloween before her abduction.

Tina Dugard said she snapped the third photo at the 1991 Rose Bowl Parade when she asked her niece to "make a face for me, and she did."

Watch Jaycee's aunt speak to the media »

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.

Man Gets 95-Year Sentence In Son's Death, Abductions

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- A judge has given a 95-year prison sentence to a Terre Haute man for abducting his two young sons at knifepoint and killing one of them.

Prosecutors agreed to not seek the death penalty when Katron Walker, 36, pleaded guilty in June to charges of murder and attempted murder for fatally stabbing his 4-year-old son, Collin, and trying to kill his 2-year-old son, Monte.

The 2006 attack happened just days after Walker's wife told him she wanted a divorce.

Vigo County Judge David Bolk mostly dismissed defense arguments about Walker's mental health.

A psychologist testified that Walker believed he needed to protect his sons' spirits because they would be "corrupt" if his marriage were to end.

Walker pleaded guilty June 22 to murder and attempted murder in the case. He had marijuana and methamphetamine in his system at the time of his arrest, police said.

Previous Stories:
August 24, 2009: Judge Weighs Sentence For Man Who Killed Son
June 22, 2009: Man Pleads Guilty To Abducting Sons, Killing 1
August 23, 2007: Man Charged With Killing Son Plans Insanity Defense
June 26, 2006: Police: Careful Consideration Goes Into Amber Alert
June 26, 2006: Walker Makes Court Appearance
June 20, 2006: Friends, Family Remember Slain Boy
June 19, 2006: Man Police Say Killed Son Could Face Death Sentence
June 16, 2006: Man Charged In Son's Slaying Makes First Court Appearance
June 15, 2006: Death Penalty Could Be Sought For Suspect In Boy's Death
June 14, 2006: Alert Delay? Police Say Threat To Boys Wasn't Immediately Clear
June 14, 2006: Police: Man Killed Son, Injured Another After Divorce Threat
June 14, 2006: Police: Boys, Father 'Accounted For' After Amber Alert
June 14, 2006: Amber Alert Issued For Two Boys

Jaycee Lee Dugard's Prison in the Back Yard: The Soundproof Shed That Hid the Secret Kidnap Girl

(DailyMail.uk pictures, excellent article here)

(click pictures to enlarge)

Michael King- GUILTY!!

(CNN) -- A Florida plumber was found guilty Friday of kidnapping and murdering a police detective's daughter at a trial in which his victim's voice filled the courtroom as her desperate 911 call was played to the jury.

Jurors deliberated just two hours before finding Michael L. King, 38, guilty of first-degree murder, kidnapping and sexual battery in the January 17, 2008 abduction and slaying of Denise Amber Lee, a 21-year-old mother of two.

Lee's family, including her father, Charlotte County Sheriff's Det. Rick Goff, cried as the verdict was announced; King showed no reaction.

The jury must next decide whether King, who was a stranger to Lee, should be executed for his crimes.

According to testimony during the weeklong trial, Lee was taken from her home sometime after 2 p.m., driven to King's home, sexually assaulted, then shot in the head and buried in a shallow grave in a marshy vacant lot.

King's attorney, Jerry Meisner, did not present any witnesses. But prosecutors told the jury that Lee's ring was found in King's car, and hair matching hers was found on duct tape found at King's house.

According to testimony and court records, Lee fought frantically for her life, banging on the windows of King's green Camaro, screaming for help and begging one witness, "Call the cops."

Several people reported seeing something suspicious and called 911. But authorities didn't find Lee in time, and allegations that dispatchers mishandled the calls have led to criticism of the local 911 system.

Lee's body was found on January 19 near where police stopped King's car some six hours after the abduction.

The jury heard two 911 calls -- Lee's and one from a concerned witness.

Lee used one of King's cell phones to call 911 as she was driven across three counties. As the six-minute tape was played for the jury, her voice sounded tremulous at times, and frantic at others.

The call came in at 6:14 p.m. on January 17. A 911 operator repeatedly said "Hello," and Lee was heard pleading with her captor: "I'm sorry. I just want to see my family. ... I just want to see my family again. Please. ... Oh please, I just want to see my family again. Let me go."

The man, whose voice was identified in court as King's, curses at her for trying to attract attention. A radio plays loudly in the background. The 911 operator asks her address. Eventually, she says, "My name is Denise. I'm married to a beautiful husband and I just want to see my kids again. ... Please, God, please protect me."

The 911 operator asked where she was, and then whether she knew the man. The operator asked if she knows her location. "Please just take me to my house. Can you take me home?" Lee said. The connection was then lost.

Sixteen minutes later, driver Jane Kowalski called 911 to report what she thought was a child abduction. She said she was stopped at a light and could hear screaming from another car "and not a happy scream, a get-me-out-of-here scream."

She testified that she saw someone banging on the car window, slapping her hand hard to demonstrate. "It was very loud," she told the jury. "It was completely horrific, terrified, panicky. I can't think of enough words, it was terrible."

She followed the car for a while, but lost it.

Police quickly traced Lee's call to King's cell phone, and were looking for him. But Kowalski's call was never passed on to officers.

The breakdown was blamed on a shift change and two dispatchers were suspended, according to the St. Petersburg Times.

Other witnesses also helped establish the timeline for the terrifying final hours of Lee's life.

Lee's former neighbor, Jennifer Eckert, 24, testified that she saw the green Camaro circle the block three or four times between 1 and 2 p.m. and pull into the Lees' driveway. She said she was certain of the time, because she was watching her favorite TV soap.

King's cousin, Harold Muxlow, testified that King stopped by his house between 5:30 and 6 p.m., and asked to borrow a flashlight, a gas can, and a shovel.

He testified that a "girl's voice" from the car asked him to "call the cops" but Muxlow said King told him, "Don't worry. It's nothing."

Lee's husband, Nathan, has launched a foundation bearing her name that works toward 911 reform. He plans to file a lawsuit next month, a family spokesman said.

Haleigh Cummings: Investigators Change Stance on Missing Girl's 6th Birthday

SATSUMA, Fla. -- Investigators in Putnam County marked the sixth birthday of Haleigh Cummings with a news release stating they believe the missing girl was likely kidnapped by someone she knew.

Putnam County Sheriff's Office Lt. Johnny Greenwood said evidence and the work of investigators have minimized the likelihood that Haleigh's disappearance is the work of a stranger.

Greenwood said the missing girl's biological parents, Ronald Cummings and Crystal Sheffield, are not considered suspects in the case, but Cummings' current wife, Misty Croslin-Cummings, has not been cleared.

"Investigators believe that Misty Croslin-Cummings continues to hold important answers in the case," the news release stated. "She has failed to provide any sort of detailed accounting of the hours during the late evening and early morning of Haleigh's disappearance."

Greenwood said physical evidence found at the Cummings' home contradicted Croslin-Cummings' account of her evening activities. Authorities asked anyone with direct knowledge of her activities around the time of Haleigh's disappearance to contact the Putnam County Sheriff's Office at 386-329-0800.

Haleigh Remembered On 6th Birthday

The thought of Haleigh's sixth birthday transformed her grandmother's face into a portrait of anguish.

"You can't celebrate a birthday when she's not here," grandmother Teresa Neves said.

Haleigh vanished from her bed on a cold February morning.

"I can definitely say she has not been forgotten," Greenwood said.

The news release from the Putnam County Sheriff's Office stated that investigators don't believe a stranger kidnapped Haleigh, but they are looking for more information from Croslin-Cummings. Haleigh disappeared on her watch.

"All it's going to take is one small piece of information. Like I said, somebody out there knows what happened," Greenwood said.

Countless searches have been completed since Haleigh's disappearance. and 4,000 leads have been received by authorities. Some of them have taken investigators as far away as Tennessee.

And there were the unexpected events like when Haleigh's father proposed to his 16-year-old girlfriend. A recent family feud ended with him being jailed.

On Haleigh's birthday, her father and his new wife were together, but six months have passed, and the girl remains missing.

Investigators said they believe Haleigh could still be alive, and they have no evidence to believe otherwise. Greenwood said they're waiting for new leads and reworking old ones.

"We've actually got an agent with the (Florida Department of Law Enforcement) right now who is assigned to us to go back through tips, just reviewing to see if there's any tip that might not have been investigated," Greenwood said.

Balloons Released With Fliers Inside

On her birthday, Haleigh's family didn't miss the chance to get her face back out in the public. They sponsored a nationwide balloon release, with fliers containing her information.

"When they take it out of the balloon, or when it falls, they'll look at it, and possibly, hopefully, if they've seen Haleigh, they'll recognize her and call law enforcement," great-grandmother Annette Sykes said.

Haleigh's family keeps reminders of her everywhere. Shrines contain pictures, pieces of her little-girl makeup and presents she has never opened.

And there's pain.

"It just hurts, and it's a lot of pain. You get up every day, praying this is the day she comes home, and you go to bed praying," Neves said.

Haleigh's family can't forget, but their biggest fear is that the rest of the world will.

More Searches Planned

Orlando attorney Make NeJame and Texas EquuSearch founder Tim Miller also announced they're teaming up to search for Haleigh.

Miller said the search will take place in four to six weeks, when he believes weather conditions and vegetation will be more conducive to finding the girl.

The search has spanned thousands of acres of land to date, including all of the area near the Cummings' home. Aerial and underwater searches have also been conducted.

Miller said about 50 EquuSearch members and volunteers will conduct the search. The group has searched for the girl previously and also searched for Caylee Anthony.

Manhunt Continues for Katy ISD Officer Abducted at Gunpoint

WALLER COUNTY, Texas—A statewide manhunt was launched Tuesday after deputies say a Katy ISD police officer was abducted by a fellow cop.

Waller County Sheriff Glenn Smith said Officer Rachel Hillsman was taken from her vehicle at gunpoint by her former boyfriend Julio Reyes, who also works for Katy ISD police.

It happened around 5 a.m. on FM 1458 in Waller County. Hillsman, 24, was opening the gate to her mother's house when she was grabbed in front of her two children. She may have been handcuffed.

Officials believe 38-year-old Reyes was armed with an AR-15 assault rifle, a pistol and a Taser at the time of the abduction.

“Mr. Reyes is a trained individual. He would be trained in hiding if he wanted to, so we’re going to have to use every resource that we can to find him,” Smith said.

Smith said a statewide search was under way for both officers, and an aggravated kidnapping warrant had been issued for Reyes in Waller County.

“Our number one concern at this time, obviously, is the safety of both of these officers,” Smith said.

Relatives of Hillsman said they were shocked that the man they know as Trey could do something like this.

"I'm scared, I'm just very scared and if Trey can see just please bring Rachel home, please," said Ava Henry, Hillsman's aunt.

Smith said Hillsman and Reyes have a 13-month-old daughter together and she has a 7-year-old from a previous relationship.

“We do know that they have not been living together for quite some time, but we do not know all of the personal information about it,” Smith said.

The couple had separated in November, but sources say they had fought the night before because she was seeing was someone new. Hillsman had reportedly spent the night at her mother’s because of the fight.

After interviewing Hillsman's 7-year-old at the scene, deputies learned there was a small struggle between Hillsman and Reyes on the side of the road before the abduction, Smith said.

Smith said both of Hillsman's children were unharmed and were put safely in their grandmother’s custody.

Smith said his department was working with the DPS, DEA, Harris County, the Texas Rangers, the Brookshire PD and other agencies in their search for the officers, and that they were utilizing all available resources.

Investigators were combing local roadways and hotels, as well as searching from the air, Smith said.

“Anytime you have a live abduction that was seen firsthand that officers were able to respond to immediately, then we’re going to put in every resource we can. Obviously with both of them being police officers, I’m not going to stand before you and tell you that’s not a concern,” Smith said.

Smith said the last verified communication with the officers was around 8 a.m. in the Katy Freeway area.

Both Hillsman and Reyes were described as experienced cops.

Katy ISD spokesman Steve Stanford said Reyes had been with the district’s police department since May of 1999, and Hillsman had been there since January of 2006.

Stanford said neither one of them was on duty at the time of the alleged abduction, but that Hillsman was on her way to work when it occurred.

Reyes was last seen driving a 2002 green Ford Super Duty pickup with license plate 87V-DP7.

If you see the truck or have any information on the case, call the police.

“This is a serious situation, no matter who it is, when this type of thing happens, and we’re going to be out there looking for them,” Smith said.