The Kidnapping of Jaycee Dugard

On that fateful day in South Lake Tahoe in 1991, Jaycee Lee Dugard, a fifth grader, walked toward her school bus stop.  She never made it to school that day.  A car swerved over to her, someone tazed her, and she was pulled into the car.  She remembers grasping for anything to hold on to.  That happened to be a sticky, prickly pine cone.  Be sure to visit the web site of Jaycee's foundation and read about the beautiful pine cone jewelry and its significance.  (Link below)

Phillip and Nancy Garrido took Jaycee Dugard to their home in Antioch, California and kept her captive in a series of ramshackle sheds and tents in their back yard.  They kept her there for the next eighteen years.  During that time she bore Phillip Garrido two daughters.  Jaycee and her daughters did not attend school and had no medical care for all those years.  The Garridos gave Jaycee the name of Alyssa and for eighteen years Jaycee's family and friends wondered if she was dead or alive.

Jaycee has given her first interview since her return home in August of 2009.  The two hour interview with Diane Sawyer will be aired on ABC, Sunday July 10 at 9pm Eastern.  Sawyer has said that Jaycee describes her ordeal in great detail and explains how she managed to survive those eighteen years of living a secret life.  Jaycee insists that she is not a victim, she is a survivor.

She sounds like a remarkable young woman to me and I'm looking forward to seeing her interview.  She only had a 5th grade education but she read a lot and taught her daughters to read using the internet.  She kept a diary as well.

Our family lived in South Lake Tahoe when Jaycee was kidnapped.  We did not know her family but this event had a big affect on us and other Tahoe families.  Jaycee's kidnapping was in the local news for a long time.  People kept their children close to them after Jaycee was taken.

We are happy for Jaycee and her family now that they have been reunited.  It was a long time coming.

Jaycee did not use a ghost writer for A Stolen Life.  She wrote it herself in her own words.  It was only released on July 12 but has already soared to the top of the bestseller lists.  When the audio version comes out it will be Jaycee herself reading it.