Kidnapped woman hidden in CA backyard for 18 years

[mscriv]

This is quite a horrifying story.

PLACERVILLE, Calif. – A girl snatched on her way to school was hidden for nearly two decades behind a series of fences, sheds and tents, even giving birth to her suspected abductor's children in the suburban backyard compound less than 200 miles from her childhood home.

Jaycee Lee Dugard, who was 11 when she was abducted from a South Lake Tahoe street in 1991, was taken directly to the house and sheltered from the world in a secret, leafy backyard, investigators said Thursday.

Her abductor, investigators said, raped her and fathered two children with her, the first when Jaycee was about 14. Those girls, now 11 and 15, also were kept hidden away in the backyard compound behind the Antioch home.

Full Story (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090828/ap_on_re_us/us_kidnapped_girl_found)

This is a textbook case of trauma. I can't imagine what life has been like and will be like from now on for this young woman, her children, and her family. I shudder just thinking about it. :(

[Unspoken Demise]

Hmm...uh...um....buh....nope. No words for this. Terrible. On so many levels.

[Abstract]

Ouch. This, combined with this other story, (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=774013) is all really sad. Think about all the lives that have been 'lost', in a way.

[ucfgrad93]

This is why I support the death penalty.:mad:

[MoleSkine]

She feels guilty for bonding with her captor - but nothing to feel guilty about it was 18 years

Elizabeth Smart's father was gung ho on saying that they dont bond with captors - his daughter didnt bond, she hated them...thats great but Elizabeth spent "only" 9 months with them - sorry but that no where compares to 18 years of your life.

That sick dude said he knew what he did was wrong and he changed his ways and when people hear the story they will be surprised...just shows how twisted this dude was/is

[velocityg4]

This is why I support the death penalty.:mad:
Unfortunately it does not cover this.

California's rules for the death penalty. First-degree murder with special circumstances; train wrecking; treason; perjury causing execution.

[tabasco70]

Unbelievable what some people do.
Those children haven't seen the world beyond that awful blue tarp. I hope they will be able to adjust to the 'real world'.

[alphaod]

WTF…

That's really all I can say.

[steve knight]

he is the perfect candidate for a pineapple up the a$$. this is from a silly movie my daughter loves. little nikky. the devil shoves a pineapple up hitler's a$$ as his daily punishment.

[Heilage]

he is the perfect candidate for a pineapple up the a$$. this is from a silly movie my daughter loves. little nikky. the devil shoves a pineapple up hitler's a$$ as his daily punishment.

Little Nicky. Pretty hilarious at times. ^^

[skunk]

This is why I support the death penalty.:mad:Do you really think the death penalty would help?

[decksnap]

nothing could be as bad as the austrian guy who imprisoned his daughter and the children he kept having with her...

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Indians-Abroad/Austrian-man-imprisoned-daughter-for-24-yrs-fathered-7-kids/articleshow/3000402.cms

This article isn't written very well, but in the TV show I saw about it, it was obvious that the wife would have had to have known all about it for decades and just let it happen. Some of the children were kept imprisoned in his meticulously built dungeon with his daughter, others were allowed to live with the family upstairs because they told the public their 'missing' daughter had abandoned them on their doorstep.

[RayStar]

This neighborhood must have some of the most mind your own business residents ever. There is no way this should have continue for so long. I have some very busy body neighbors and I think this would have been discovered very early from the start.

I am glad she is alive.

[ucfgrad93]

Do you really think the death penalty would help?

Lets see, kidnapped an 11 year old girl, held her in captivity for 18 years, raped her and fathered 2 children, kept his grandkids locked up. Yes, I believe these animals deserve to be put down. Since I don't want to derail this thread, lets agree to disagree about the death penalty.

[andiwm2003]

seems the guy was convicted before so he certainly gets life in prison and his fellow inmates will have fun with him. i hope they can correct his twisted mind with therapy somehow so that he at least realizes what he did.

i hope the girl and her daughters will be left alone by the press so that they can get the help the need and reintegrate into a normal life. very sad story and I hope that there are no other cases like this out there. this is already the third i know about.

[techfreak85]

do u think we will ever see what she looks like now?

[Chundles]

Wait, so this guy's backyard was a bunch of sheds and tents and the coppers never ONCE popped round for a little look-see?

That's just weird.

[mrkramer]

Wait, so this guy's backyard was a bunch of sheds and tents and the coppers never ONCE popped round for a little look-see?

That's just weird.

They got called once in 2006 but for some reason never searched the property.

Police have apologised for missing an opportunity in November 2006 to find Ms Dugard.
An officer visited the Garrido home when a neighbour - reportedly the then-girlfriend of Mr Robinson - alerted them to suspicious behaviour there.
But the officer only spoke to Mr Garrido and did not enter his property to carry out a searchhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8229919.stm

[Chundles]

They got called once in 2006 but for some reason never searched the property.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8229919.stm

That's crazy. Surely they saw the state of the yard?

[greg555]

It had an 8' fence across the back that appears to be the end of the yard. And the tents and sheds were behind that.

Still a very sad thing for the police to miss. Especially the 2006 911 call that said a woman and kids were living in a tent in the back yard.

Greg

[holland]

Still a very sad thing for the police to miss. Especially the 2006 911 call that said a woman and kids were living in a tent in the back yard.


In one article I read it said the police told the woman that called that they couldn't do anything without a search warrant. The police failed to find out that he was a registered sex offender and the sheriff commented, in the article, that because he is a registered sex offender he doesn't have those privacy rights.

[MoleSkine]

So get this - the daughters of this captor (the 11 and 15 yr olds whom he had with the girl he kidnapped) are supposedely angry that their daddy is in jail.

If they only knew/understdood.

[mscriv]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
They likely never will as is the case with all children that are the product of rape. It's hard to wrap your brain around the fact that your existence is the result of a heinous act of violence. Identity formation is difficult because your identity is rooted in the suffering of your parent. Adjustment for these young girls and their mother will be a lifelong process that must be taken day by day.

[BrianKonarsMac]

disgusts me that with so much evidence against him from the beginning he wasn't caught for 18 years.

when I read the story, I figured he lived in a very rural area with lots of land and no neighbors nearby.

look at this bird's eye view of his back yard... the tents they lived in appear to be right up against their neighbors property line. Ignorance is bliss!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/08/americas_enl_1251635392/html/1.stm

[Don't panic]

it's impossible that no one in the neighborhood had noticed those.
they just didn't care.

unless of course the angels where keeping the tents mystically invisible

[Scepticalscribe]

A truly appalling case and - with the exception of the very clued-in UC policewoman who felt something was off-key when she met the two young girls and Garrido himself and followed it up - none of the authorities concerned can be said to have covered themselves in glory.

[mscriv]

Here's a story with some updates on the young woman and her children.

http://l.yimg.com/a/p/sp/tools/med/2009/10/ipt/1255539986.jpg


Full story here. (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_ts948)

She looks good. Rather young Jodie Fosterish if you ask me. I hope she and her children can recover as much as possible and resume a semblance of normal family life.

[IntheNet]

Do you really think the death penalty would help?

Perhaps you could explain? Not in favor of capital punishment as a penalty for this crime against the victim? Why not?

I have a few ideas of what should really be dispensed here; not many involve a humane needle in the arm but that is the legal basis that society deems and most, I feel, would support it being carried out in this case.

Nonetheless, I'd like to hear your view...

[skunk]

Perhaps you could explain? Not in favor of capital punishment as a penalty for this crime against the victim? Why not?

I have a few ideas of what should really be dispensed here; not many involve a humane needle in the arm but that is the legal basis that society deems and most, I feel, would support it being carried out in this case.

Nonetheless, I'd like to hear your view...I am not in favour of capital punishment period. Is it going to prevent this man doing such a thing again? No, he'll be in jail for so long anyway that won't be an issue. Is it going to prevent anyone else doing such a thing? Probably not: this happens so rarely, and the person has to have such a peculiar drive to carry it off that it probably wouldn't affect any other potential perps. Is it going to help the victim or the children? Probably not: she had a relationship of sorts with him for many years and he is their father, after all. Even in your country, which has areas which support the death penalty, there is little reason to apply it for what is not a capital crime. You can't just make ad hoc exceptions for a particularly emotive crime.

[IntheNet]

I am not in favour of capital punishment period. Is it going to prevent this man doing such a thing again? No, he'll be in jail for so long anyway that won't be an issue. Is it going to prevent anyone else doing such a thing? Probably not: this happens so rarely, and the person has to have such a peculiar drive to carry it off that it probably wouldn't affect any other potential perps. Is it going to help the victim or the children? Probably not: she had a relationship of sorts with him for many years and he is their father, after all. Even in your country, which has areas which support the death penalty, there is little reason to apply it for what is not a capital crime. You can't just make ad hoc exceptions for a particularly emotive crime.


Thank you for your explanation of your views; though they are well expressed I disagree.

Here in the United States, we have clear and some might say strict laws regarding the offense perpetrated on the victim and its legal punishment. As I said previously, most of the public here would support this punishment in this case. I disagree with your assessment of its value; I firmly believe the strength of capital punishment is serving as a preventative mechanism in the law so that some would not ever commit such an offense. Though it clearly did not work in this instance, nobody can adequately cite how many offenses in society are not committed due to strong punishments in place serving a strong deterrent value:. Secondly, there is also value in the execution; it provides closure for the victim and saves the state costs in maintaining the life of the guilty. In today's economy we should not burden states with maintaining occupied cells on death row when other alternatives exist. Though life in prison is a frequent punishment in cases like this, the number of years the victim was held and the sheer horror she was placed in by the guilty warrant its prompt termination so society is not further burdened.

[skunk]

Thank you for your explanation of your views; though they are well expressed I disagree.

Here in the United States, we have clear and some might say strict laws regarding the offense perpetrated on the victim and its legal punishment. As I said previously, most of the public here would support this punishment in this case. I disagree with your assessment of its value; I firmly believe the strength of capital punishment is serving as a preventative mechanism in the law so that some would not ever commit such an offense. Though it clearly did not work in this instance, nobody can adequately cite how many offenses in society are not committed due to strong punishments in place serving a strong deterrent valueIf nobody can adequately cite the deterrent value of execution, it is clearly an inadequately proven deterrent.
Secondly, there is also value in the execution; it provides closure for the victim and saves the state costs in maintaining the life of the guiltyActually, the costs of each alternative are more or less comparable. The point of the justice system is not to provide an opportunity for vicarious revenge or closure for the victim but to be seen to uphold and enforce the law.