Showing posts with label kidnapping. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kidnapping. Show all posts

Friday, June 10, 2011

This Day In History



Jun 10 1942
The town of Lidice (Loditz) is liquidated by the Nazis as penalty for the assassination of Adolf Hitler's favorite general, Reinhard Heydrich. Every adult male is killed, the women sent to the camps, and the town bulldozed.




Jun 10 1973
The 17-year-old grandson of J. Paul Getty is abducted in Rome. When the kidnappers demand a $17 million ransom, the billionaire refuses. "I have 14 other grandchildren, and if I pay one penny now, then I will have 14 kidnapped grandchildren." After the grandson's severed ear arrives in the mail, Getty finally coughs up the money.





Jun 10 1980
Percy Wood, president of United Airlines, receives a parcel at his home in Lake Forest, Illinois. Inside is a copy of the book Ice Brothers by Sloan Wilson. When he opens the book, it suddenly explodes, throwing shrapnel into Wood's hands, face, and thigh. The book turns out to be a present from the Unabomber.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Elizabeth Smart Says She's 'Thrilled' After Guilty Verdict

SALT LAKE CITY — Elizabeth Smart waited more than eight years for the word she heard Friday.

"Guilty," after a federal jury deliberated five hours to convict street preacher Brian David Mitchell of snatching Smart from her bed, at knifepoint in the dead of night, and having sex with her while he held her captive for nine months.

Smart smiled as the verdict was read, while a bedraggled, bearded Mitchell sat at the defense table, singing hymns with his hands before his chest, as if in prayer.

“Today is a wonderful day,” Smart said outside the courthouse hours later, adding “I am so thrilled to be here, so thrilled of the verdict."

"I hope that not only is this an example that justice can be served in America, but that it is possible to move on after something terrible has happened," Smart said.

It was a dramatic end to a tale that captured the nation's attention since she disappeared in June 2002: A 14-year-old girl mysteriously taken from her home, the intense search and her eventual discovery walking Salt Lake City's streets with her captors.

Smart, now 23, flew back from her Mormon mission in Paris to take the stand, and recount her "nine months of hell."

"The beginning and the end of this story is attributable to a woman with extraordinary courage and extraordinary determination, and that's Elizabeth Smart," federal prosecutor Carlie Christensen said outside the courthouse.

"She did it with candor and clarity and a truthfulness that I think moved all of us," she said.

Smart described in excruciating detail how she woke up one night to the feel of a cold, jagged knife at her throat and being whisked away by Mitchell to his camp in the foothills near the family's Salt Lake City home.

Within hours of the kidnapping, she testified, she was forced into a polygamous marriage with him. She was tethered to a metal cable and subjected to near-daily rapes while being forced to use alcohol and drugs.

The five-week trial turned on the question of Mitchell's mental health.

The thinly built, gray-haired Mitchell was routinely removed from the courtroom after loudly singing hymns and Christmas carols and taken to another room to watch the proceedings on closed circuit TV.

He kept his eyes closed in court and never spoke to anyone, including his lawyers.

His lawyers did not dispute that he kidnapped Smart but wanted him to be found not guilty by reason of insanity. Such a verdict would have sent him to a prison mental hospital.

Prosecutors countered that Mitchell was faking mental illness to avoid a conviction, labeling him a "predatory chameleon."

Smart testified she believed Mitchell was driven by his desire for sex, drugs and alcohol, not by any sincere religious beliefs.

Jurors did not buy the insanity defense, deliberating for roughly five hours to find him guilty of kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor across state lines for the purposes of sex.

As the verdicts were read, the shackled Mitchell sat singing about Jesus Christ on the cross. Smart then turned to her mother and both smiled. Elizabeth Smart later hugged prosecutors.

"It's real!" father Ed Smart said on his way out of the packed courtroom, giving a thumbs up.

Smart and her family had hoped for the guilty verdict and a long sentence.

"(Mitchell) has left a trail of misery behind him," Ed Smart said.

Mitchell could face up to life in prison when he is sentenced on May 25. However, a judge also could impose an unspecified, lesser sentence, prosecutors said.

To the chagrin of the family, the case was delayed for years after Mitchell was declared mentally incompetent to stand trial in state court and a judge refused to order involuntary medications.

Federal prosecutors later stepped in and took the case to trial.

Christensen, the U.S. attorney, said one of the biggest challenges of the case was the six years between the time of the kidnapping and the time the case came into the federal justice system.

A parade of experts took the witness stand to say Mitchell had an array of diagnoses, from a rare delusional disorder and schizophrenia to pedophilia, anti-social personality disorder and narcissism.

Mitchell's former stepdaughter told reporters that she was shocked that jurors didn't see that he was mentally ill.

"He honestly believes God tells him to do these things," Rebecca Woodridge said. "He's upset and frustrated that the Lord is making him go through this."

Jury Deliberating Elizabeth Smart Kidnapping Case

Salt Lake Tribune- In the face of damning evidence that he kidnapped, raped and degraded Elizabeth Smart, Brian David Mitchell’s attorney had difficulty saying anything positive about the 57-year-old, self-proclaimed prophet.

“He is not a good person,” Robert Steele told a federal court jury Thursday during closing arguments at Mitchell’s trial.

Instead, Steele claimed that Mitchell was mentally ill and suffering from the delusion that he was commanded by God when he abducted then-14-year-old Smart at knifepoint from her Salt Lake City home in June 2002.

“I don’t think he has the free will to say, ‘God, I’m not going to do it.’ ” Steele said in asking the jury to find Mitchell not guilty by reason of insanity.

Twelve jurors began deliberating at 5:35 p.m. Thursday, but they went home for the night three hours later. They will resume deliberations Friday morning.

Mitchell is charged with interstate kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor to engage in sexual activity for allegedly holding Smart captive for nine months, including near-daily rapes and a trip to California and back.

During their closing arguments, prosecutors argued against the notion that Mitchell was insane when he committed the crimes.

U.S. District Attorney Diana Hagen told jurors that, according to trial testimony, Mitchell disobeyed revelations from God “all the time.”

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Samaritan Recounts Dramatic Kidnapping Rescue



ABC News- The good Samaritan who rescued an 8-year-old California girl from an alleged kidnapping after a dramatic car chase said today he was afraid for a second -- until he saw the terrified girl's face in the suspect's car.

"The second time I reached him, the way he acted -- yes, I was, for a split second I was nervous until I saw the little girl and all fear was out the window after that," Fresno, Calif., resident Victor Perez told "Good Morning America." "I didn't have no fear. I wasn't thinking of me no more. I was just thinking we need to get that little girl to safety.

"I wasn't going to give up. ... I couldn't give up," said the unemployed construction worker.

The girl was playing with friends outside her house in Fresno early Monday evening, when police say Gregorio Gonzales tried to lure the girls into a pickup truck.

The children ran, but Gonzales allegedly grabbed one of the girls and sped away. Her mother chased after the truck, but it was too late.

A statewide Amber Alert was issued, and more than 100 officers immediately went on the hunt, searching for the truck, which was captured on surveillance video at a nearby intersection.

Perez said he saw the alert and was astonished how close the alleged crime happened to his home. When he went outside, he said his cousin spotted the truck down the street.

"I had a split-second decision to decide to call 911 or go after it," Perez said. "I decided to go after it while my cousin was dialing 911. I took a chance to go and ask a question to see if that was the man that we're looking for."

After several attempts to pull the man over, Perez was eventually able to cut off the other driver at which point he apparently released the little girl.

"She wasn't hurt. She was frightened -- very, very shaky," Perez said. "She just kept saying she was scared."

A few hours later, police arrested Gonzales, a 24-year-old known gang member who was already on felony probation. Authorities say Gonzales had also exposed himself to two other young girls earlier that day.

Without Perez's action, Fresno police chief Jerry Dyer said the girl could've vanished forever.

"If not for obviously Victor being as brave as he is, we may have never recovered her," Dyer said.

Gonzales allegedly held the girl for 11 terrifying hours. He is being charged with kidnapping and sexual assault.

Dyer said he was in the hospital when the young victim was reunited with her mother.

"It was very emotional," he said. "That was the highlight of my career to see the joy that was in both of their eyes... Just to know that we were a part of that."

The girl is now recovering, and on their home today, her family hung messages of thanks.

"Thank you, Fresno Police Department," a sign read.

Perez said he was thankful for the opportunity to help a little girl in danger.

"It happens so close all the time and sometimes you can't do nothing about it," he said. "But when you have the opportunity, you take action. That's what I tried to do.

ABC News has removed the identity of the girl who was kidnapped because police say she was sexually assaulted and ABC News does not identify sex crime victims.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

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.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Car Stolen With Child Inside

So relieved that it turned out that the little girl wasn't hurt!
MIAMI-DADE, Fla. -- Police are searching for a man who stole a car with a 3-year-old girl inside on Monday morning.

According to investigators, Joaquin Lassus was preparing to take his 3-year-old granddaughter, Kayla Lassus, to school. He put Kayla in the car and went back into his home to get a water bottle.

When Lassus came back outside, his car and Kayla were gone.

Police found Lassus' yellow Pontiac Aztek with Kayla inside two blocks away, near Northwest 100th Street and 31st Avenue. Investigators said they believe the car thief must have realized there was a child inside and abandoned the vehicle.

Kayla, who was not harmed, told police the thief was a man.

"I love her with all my heart, and the feeling of thinking that she's not going to be there, I wouldn't want anybody to go through that feeling again. So I really hope that they catch this person so that he gets off the streets and isn't able to do what he did to me this morning to anybody else," said Kayla's mother, Candice Suarez.

Police have not released a description of the car thief. Anyone with information is asked to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS (8477).

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Man Sentenced to 20 Years for 2003 Rape of Darien Jogger

STAMFORD -- A man who pleaded guilty to ambushing and raping a Darien woman as she was jogging was sentenced to 20 years in prison Thursday, nearly seven years after the attack.

Jose Amaya, 40, formerly of East Hartford, pleaded guilty to first-degree kidnapping and first-degree sexual assault in October. Amaya fled the United States and was extradited from Mexico in April. He was sentenced Thursday morning in state Superior Court in Stamford, said the prosecutor, State's Attorney David Cohen. After spending 20 years in prison, Amaya will spend 10 years on special parole.

In April 2003, authorities said, Amaya and Alejandro Mendez ambushed a 38-year-old woman as she was on a Sunday morning jog near Ring's End and Long Neck Point roads. The men punched and kicked her, smashed a bottle over her head and dragged her into their vehicle. They then drove her to a secluded spot of Noroton Heights and sexually assaulted her, authorities said.

The woman escaped and ran to a nearby church, authorities said.

Mendez pleaded guilty to his role in the attack and will serve 15 years.

An accomplice in the incident, Mendez was arrested in June 2003 in Los Angeles, and was sentenced to 15 years in prison two years later after pleading guilty to first-degree sexual assault and kidnapping.

Prosecutors at the time of the attack said both men were illegal immigrants working as day laborers in Norwalk. Within a month of the attack, police said they suspected Amaya had fled to Mexico. He could be deported after his release from prison, prosecutors have said.

Friday, September 18, 2009

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.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

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.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

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

Sunday School Teacher to Face Death in Child's Killing

(CNN) -- Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against a former California Sunday school teacher accused of killing an 8-year-old girl earlier this year.

Melissa Huckaby, 28, was indicted last month in the death of Sandra Cantu, a playmate of Huckaby's daughter. Huckaby lived in the same mobile home park as Cantu and her family in Tracy, California.

Sandra's body was found April 6, stuffed into a suitcase and submerged in a pond at a dairy farm. She was last seen alive March 27 in the mobile home park.

Huckaby is charged with kidnapping and murdering Sandra, according to the indictment, along with lewd and lascivious acts on a child under 14 and rape by instrument. She pleaded not guilty in June, but entered another not guilty plea on Thursday at a hearing, minutes of which were provided to CNN by a court spokeswoman.

Prosecutors said at the hearing Thursday they plan to seek the death penalty.

Huckaby is the granddaughter of Clifford Lane Lawless, pastor of Clover Road Baptist Church near the mobile home park, and she taught Sunday school at the church, police said.

The church was searched as part of the investigation into Sandra's disappearance and death.

Before her arrest, Huckaby acknowledged to a newspaper reporter that she owned the suitcase that contained Sandra's body, but said it had been stolen.

In addition to the charges in Sandra's death, Huckaby is charged with attempting to poison two people, including a 7-year-old girl. A complaint alleges she "did willfully and unlawfully mingle a harmful substance with food or drink" with the intent to harm the child.

The complaint identifies the child only as "Jane M. Doe." Huckaby is also charged with one count of child abuse endangerment regarding the girl, who the complaint says was in her "care and custody." The other alleged poisoning victim was identified as Daniel Plowman, but no other information was provided.

A gag order has been imposed on parties in the case. Superior Court Judge Linda L. Lofthus has also sealed documents in the case, including the autopsy and toxicology reports and documents relating to a defense motion to exhume Sandra's body.

Huckaby remains jailed without bail. A hearing was set for September 25.

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.

Friday, September 4, 2009

Jury: Death for Man Who Murdered Cop's Daughter

(CNN) -- A Florida jury has recommended the death penalty for a plumber who kidnapped, raped and murdered a police detective's daughter.

Michael King, 38, showed no reaction Friday afternoon as the jury's 12-0 decision was announced in Sarasota. Jurors deliberated for nearly three hours.

King was convicted a week ago of first-degree murder and related offenses in the January 17, 2008, death of Denise Lee, a 21-year-old mother of two boys.

Nathan Lee and Sgt. Dave Goff, the victim's husband and father remained composed in court. They had maintained a daily presence in the courtroom during a trial that included the heartbreaking tape of Denise Lee's frantic 911 call on her captor's cell phone.

In Florida, a jury's recommendation for a death sentence is advisory. King will be formally sentenced later. Judges rarely overturn a jury's unanimous decision.

Jurors Marcia Burns and Pat O'Quinn told reporters that defense testimony about King's head injury from a sledding accident and his low IQ carried little weight in the jury room.

Denise Lee's father and husband had hoped for the death penalty. "I don't think he should be able to live another day," Nathan Lee said Friday as he awaited the verdict.

Lee and Goff told the jury that she was a bright young woman who put aside her career ambitions to marry her college sweetheart and raise their two boys, now 2 and 3.

"She was everything we could wish for in a daughter and more," Goff said.

Several jurors had tears in their eyes as Nathan Lee described his wife as a devoted mother who was nursing one son and potty-training another when a stranger abducted her from their home.

"I was so proud to call her my wife," he said. "Denise was the love of my life, my soul mate. I knew after our first date that I had found the perfect girl."

He added that their boys "know their beautiful, courageous mommy has gone to heaven and now is an angel."

King's siblings spoke of how a childhood sledding accident left him with a head injury that contributed to a lifetime of troubles. On expert described the injury as a "divot" in his brain.

Experts testified that scans indicated that King's brain was abnormally shaped, especially his frontal lobe: the center for logic, planning and reason. His IQ was described as about 76, in the low range. A person with an IQ of 70 is considered to be mentally retarded, according to testimony.

King's brother, Greg, testified that the defendant was 6 when he crashed head-first into a post while being pulled on a sled by a snowmobile. "I felt bad for him," Greg King said. "I felt responsible, but I wasn't."

As a child, Michael King would get a faraway look in his eyes, witnesses said. Once, he fired his BB gun at witches he said he saw in the trees. Another time, he chased family members around the house with a running chainsaw. His eyes were "bugging out," his brother testified.

King also complained of headaches and hearing "a buzzing sound" in his head, Greg King told the jury.

King seemed to be deteriorating mentally in late 2007, according to testimony. He faced foreclosure, was considering filing for bankruptcy and broke up with a girlfriend on Thanksgiving Day. The ex-girlfriend, Jennifer Robb, testified that he sat on the bed staring into space and unable to dress himself.

"He acted as if he were somewhere else," she said. But she said she never knew him to be violent.

According to testimony, Lee was taken from her home during the afternoon, driven to King's home, sexually assaulted and then shot in the head and buried in a ditch.

During the trial, Lee's voice filled the courtroom as her desperate 911 call was played to the jury.

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."

Eventually, Lee managed to say, "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."

Lee's heart-shaped ring, a gift from her husband, was found in King's car, and hair matching hers was found on duct tape 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.

The 911 communications breakdown was blamed on a shift change, and two dispatchers were suspended, according to the St. Petersburg Times.

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

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."

Thursday, September 3, 2009

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."

Monday, August 31, 2009

Kidnap Suspect: Mind Control Helped Stop My Sexual Urges

(CNN) -- Phillip Garrido had a story to tell -- about how God helped him overcome the evil inside him.

The campus at the University of California at Berkeley was his pulpit and he hoped his neighbors and customers of his printing business would become his flock.

He wanted to share his story with anyone who would listen -- including law enforcement.

Just days before he was arrested and an 18-year-old kidnap mystery was solved, Garrido walked into an FBI office in San Francisco, California, with a stack of documents.

The purported writings were a two-part manifesto. First he discussed the "Origin of schizophrenia revealed." Some who know him say Garrido spoke of having schizophrenia and attention deficit disorder.

In the second part of the documents, Garrido detailed his struggle with sexual urges, in writings he titled "Stepping into the light."

In the documents, obtained by CNN, Garrido confessed his past aggressive sexual impulses, but said he is no longer that man.

Garrido, along with his wife, was charged last week with crimes relating to the abduction of 11-year-old Jaycee Lee Dugard in 1991 and her captivity in a hidden shed-and-tent compound in the couple's backyard in Antioch, California. They pleaded not guilty to charges of rape, kidnapping and false imprisonment.

After his arrest, Garrido said documents he gave to the FBI would be key, that they would help people understand who he really was. He told a local television reporter the documents would show a "heartwarming story," one that helped him "completely" turn his life around.

The documents provide a glimpse into the mind of a man who said he thinks he has a God-given gift. The power to control minds with sound was his salvation, he said, and would help others before they committed a violent act.

He wrote that he wanted to share his story to provide "solid hope for everyone who suffers from the many forms of aggressive sexual behavior as well as other problematic behaviors."

Garrido had spoken of his sexual urges during his trial in 1977, when he was convicted of abducting and raping a 25-year-old casino worker in a mini-warehouse. He spent 11 years in jail for those crimes. He testified at his trial about his sexual fantasies, which included masturbating while reading magazines, watching movies and in restaurants or bathrooms.

In his writings, he detailed how hard it was for him to control himself. Garrido wrote that he realized he couldn't control his impulses and they were plaguing the ones he loved.

"Certain behaviors cause a great deal of pain in myself and those who are victimized by those behaviors, especially our family and my wife," he wrote.

That pain was what made him try to change from the predator he had become, he wrote.

He said he began forcing himself to look at attractive women, but would not allow himself to act.

"See how beautiful she is to look at," he would tell himself.

In time, Garrido wrote, he began to stop physically acting on his feelings.

As time went on, Garrido wrote, he kept those sexual compulsions at bay, beginning with controlling masturbation, which he said in the past had often taken place in public.

He wrote that he became free and able to experience sexual enjoyment for the first time with his wife, though it was unclear whether he was referring to Nancy, his legal wife, or to Dugard, the mother of two of his children.

He claimed he realized how wrong he had been in the past.

"I realized I never needed to act or do the things I used to believe was so great and stimulating," Garrido wrote, referring to what he called "one of the most powerful freedoms imaginable."

"I began to weep telling her 'I am so sorry for the things I did in the past,' " Garrido wrote about his wife, adding he experienced a feeling of remorse he never had before.

That feeling of salvation was something Garrido believed was a gift. He said he thought it meant it was up to him to help other sexual predators turn their lives around.

"It will begin to open a new pathway for us all. God willing, I will be teaching this and other skills Christ is providing for me in the prisons throughout the U.S. as well as overseas," he wrote.

Officers Who Cracked Missing Girl Case: Something Wasn't Right

(CNN) -- Call it mother's intuition. Call it a police officer's intuition. But Allison Jacobs knew something was wrong.

The University of California, Berkeley, police officer was sitting in on a meeting with a man named Phillip Garrido, who wanted to hold an event on campus, and Lisa Campbell, special events manager for the university police. Garrido brought along two young girls, introducing them as his daughters.

Jacobs' and Campbell's intuition, authorities said, led to the arrest of Garrido, a registered sex offender who along with his wife, Nancy, now faces 29 felony charges in connection with the 1991 kidnapping of Jaycee Dugard, who was then 11. Both have pleaded not guilty.

Police have said Garrido kept Dugard in a series of sheds in his backyard for 18 years, fathering two children with her -- the 11- and 15-year-old girls he brought with him to the meeting.

In a Friday interview with CNN's "AC360," Campbell said Garrido had approached her August 24 with the two girls in tow, asking about holding his event. She had another commitment, so she asked him to return the following day.

"He was clearly animated, he was very passionate, he was full of life about the things he wanted to talk about," Campbell said. "The girls sort of were recessed in the background. And they were young. It was one o'clock in the afternoon. They weren't in school. They were pretty much unresponsive emotionally, extremely pale ... there was just something about the girls that wasn't right."

She thought the encounter was strange enough to run a background check on Garrido, which revealed that he was on parole after a rape conviction and was a registered sex offender. Campbell asked Jacobs to sit in on the meeting the next day.

Jacobs said she began talking to the girls, trying to engage them in conversation. Checking for any abuse, she asked one girl about a bump on her eye, and the girl told her it was a birth defect, she said.

"They both said that they were home schooled," Jacobs said. "And when I asked about that, they said that the mom and the dad both home schooled them. And then they mentioned an older sister."

"The youngest girl was across from me," Jacobs said. "And she was very intently staring at me and smiling in a very eerie way. The older daughter was looking at Mr. Garrido, and not looking at us, not making eye contact with us. And her eyes were darting around at the ceiling, and [she] would give really quick, clipped one-word answers and would glance at us and back up at him."

She said, "My police intuition was kicking in, but I would say it's more of a mother's intuition. I was worried for these little girls. I knew something wasn't right. I could kind of see it in their eyes, although I really didn't know what it was. And just being the protective mom that I am, my reaction was to try and do what I could to help them."

Jacobs called Garrido's parole officer to tell him about the meeting. "And he stopped me dead in my tracks," she said. "And he said, 'He doesn't have daughters.' And that's when my heart kind of sunk down into my stomach. And I said, 'Well, he introduced them as his daughters. They had his blue eyes. They were calling him "Dad." They even mentioned an older sister at home. So I had no reason to believe that they were anything but his daughters.' "

The parole officer called Garrido in for a meeting Wednesday. He attended, along with his wife, the two girls and another woman named Allissa, police have said. "Allissa" was eventually identified as Dugard. Scott Kernan, undersecretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, told reporters Thursday that Garrido admitted abducting Dugard.

"The parole agent called me on my way home from work," Jacobs said Friday. "And he was all excited ... and he said that ... he was involved with a kidnapping case and ... because I called it in, it helped solve this FBI case that was 18 years old."

"We're never going to forget this day," she said. "And I'm glad that Jaycee is safe and working on her road to recovery."

Police acknowledged Friday that someone called 911 in 2006 to report that children appeared to be living in tents in a neighbor's backyard. Contra Costa County Sheriff Warren Rupf told reporters a deputy visited the Garrido home after the call, but did not go in the backyard. "This is not an acceptable outcome," Rupf said.

In a jailhouse interview Thursday with CNN affiliate KCRA, Garrido would not discuss the abduction, but said he had "completely turned" his life around in the past several years.

"You're going to find the most powerful story coming from the witness, from the victim," he promised. "If you take this a step at a time, you're going to fall over backward, and in the end you're going to find the most powerful, heartwarming story."

Garrido Victim: 'He Had Me for 8 Hours. He Had Her for 18 Years'

(CNN) -- Katie Callaway Hall trembled for four hours when she heard Phillip Garrido was arrested.

His name sent a flurry of emotion running through her mind.

"I screamed," she told CNN's Larry King on Monday night. "I started screaming 'Oh my god, Oh my god, it's him.' "

She has thought about him every day since November 22, 1976 when he asked her for a ride at a supermarket in California, before handcuffing her, binding her and taking her to a mini-warehouse in Reno, Nevada, where he raped her.

Garrido was convicted for kidnapping and raping Hall, but was released after serving just over 10 years of a 50-year sentence. He was labeled a sex offender and put on lifetime parole.

"In many ways, the capture of Phillip Garrido has closed a chapter in my life," Hall wrote for a Larry King blog. "I don't have to hide anymore. I don't have to live every day of my life wondering if he is looking for me. I am finally free from the fear I have lived with since the day I learned he was paroled."

Garrido and his wife Nancy were charged last week with crimes relating to the abduction of 11-year-old Jaycee Lee Dugard in 1991 and her captivity in a hidden shed-and-tent compound in the couple's backyard in Antioch, California.

"With all the joy I should feel, I want to scream from the depths of my soul," she said. "Scream because my fears turned out to be justified -- he struck again."

While Hall has tried to suppress some of the memories of what happened to her that night, Garrido's arrest took her mind back to that night in November.

"A man tapped on my window and asked for a ride," she said. "I agreed."

When she stopped the car to drop him off, Garrido took the keys out of the ignition, according to court documents from Garrido's appeal in the case.

Garrido, then 25, "told [Hall] it wasn't intentional that he had taken her, but that it was her fault because she was attractive," according to the documents.

"Soon after, I was cuffed, bound, gagged, and taken to a warehouse," Hall told CNN.

She was kept in the 6 by 12-foot storage facility, which Hall remembers was stacked with half-opened boxes with China-type dishes inside.

Large, heavy carpets were hanging from the ceiling, spaced apart every few feet.

"It was like a maze," she said. "And in the back of the mini warehouse where he had me, he had it set up to keep someone for awhile."

"Most of the details about what happened to me after I entered that warehouse have been repressed."

She told Larry King that she feared for her life.

"I thought I was dead," she said.

Hall was held in the small storage facility for five hours before she heard a noise.

"My recollections begin around 3 a.m. Someone banged on the door. I remember thinking, 'Oh my God, his friends are coming,' " she said. "Garrido said, 'Do I have to tie you up or are you going to be good.' "

She told him she would be good, but she knew if it was the police banging outside, she was going to "have to try something."

"I barreled my way out of the warehouse completely naked. I could see the officer and Garrido standing there. They both looked at me like I was crazy," she said. "I couldn't see the officer's car. I thought 'Oh God, he's not a real cop.' My state of mind was such that I couldn't fully embrace what I was seeing. Finally, I saw his police car."

Garrido tried to tell the cop Hall was his girlfriend.

"I screamed, 'No I'm not -- help me, help me,' " she said.

"The officer told me to back in and put my clothes on. When I went inside, Garrido must have convinced the officer we were both on drugs, because he let Garrido go back into the building alone," Hall said. "I had already put some of my clothes on. Garrido came back in and begged me not to turn him in."

Half-dressed, Hall said she maneuvered passed him and asked the police to keep him away.

"They asked if I was brought there against my will," she said. "I told them I was, that he had handcuffed and bound me. An officer shined a light on my wrists, saw the sores from the handcuffs, and arrested Garrido."

Though Garrido was put behind bars for what he did, Hall said that night changed her life forever.

"For years, I walked around like a zombie," she said. "I had to tell everyone I met what had happened to me -- because I didn't feel like myself. It was as if I had to explain why I wasn't 'normal.' "

For her, that's the biggest pain Garrido put her though.

"I was a good person. I lived right, and treated others well," she said.

"He changed my life in an instant. I don't feel like I can ever be that person again. Being victimized is something that only a victim can understand. I hate that he did this to me, and I doubt I'll ever get over it."

Though the trauma of her kidnapping has stayed with her all of these years, Hall said she couldn't even begin to imagine the pain Garrido has caused Dugard and the two children she had with him.

"The only thing I can think of worse than what happened to me, is it happening to my child," she said. "I can't imagine what Jaycee is going through. He had me for 8 hours. He had her for 18 years.

"I was an adult, with instincts that helped me deal with the situation. She was a child. This is going to be with her for the rest of her life. I can only wish her the best."

Sunday, August 30, 2009

E-mails Show Kidnap Victim Worked at Suspect's Business

ANTIOCH, California (CNN) -- Customers of the printing company knew her as "Allissa."

They spoke to her about graphic design, business cards and fliers, and describe her as professional, polite and responsive.

"She was always good at getting us what we wanted," said Ben Daughdrill, who used to own a junk hauling business. "You got the feeling she was doing all the work."

But "Allissa," authorities say, was really Jaycee Dugard, kidnapped 18 years ago from her home in South Lake Tahoe, California.

Her identity was discovered earlier this week and her alleged kidnappers -- 58-year-old Phillip 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.

Authorities said the Garridos held Dugard -- and the two daughters she had by Phillip Garrido -- in sheds in their backyard.

Garrido's business, "Printing for Less," catered to small businesses. He ran it out of his home in Antioch, east of San Francisco. His customers say he did good work and had much lower prices than competition.

"i will take a look at the price sheet and send you over a copy of the revised brochure tomorrow," she wrote in an e-mail written on May 7, 2007. "as to the pictures sorry ... but we don't have a digital camera ... hopefully you can find a way to get me those pictures you want so i can add them to them brochure. i can get the brochures to you pretty fast within the week of final approval of the brochures. How many are you going to order and do you want them on glossy or matte paper, thick or thin?"

In another e-mail, this one from January 21, 2008, Dugard wrote, "heres the business cards in jpeg format let me know if you need anything else thank you."

While authorities say they are still trying to sort out the conditions in which Dugard was held captive, it's clear she was an integral part of Garrido's business.

Daughdrill told CNN he met Dugard in person on two occasions. "Nothing stood out," he said when "Allissa" emerged from the house and gave him his print orders.

"Obviously there was some brainwashing going on. That's all I can think," he said. " She had access to a phone and a computer, so obviously something went on that no one knows about."

Three northern California law enforcement agencies have joined the investigation of Phillip Garrido, saying he may be responsible for other crimes.

CNN obtained e-mails written by "Allissa" to Daughdrill. The e-mails came from a Yahoo account set up by Phillip Garrido and in his name, but Daughdrill said they came from "Allissa" because the two were either on the phone or had just finished a conversation when they arrived. In them, Dugard uses short, compact answers and lowercase letters. The e-mails also have a typo or two.