Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of assault and abuse. Reader discretion is advised.
Jaycee Dugard was a 29 year old woman when she was finally freed after being held captive for 18 years by her abductors, Nancy and Philip Garrido. When she was finally found, she had two daughters whom she had given birth to during her captivity.
According to A&E‘s account of Jaycee Dugard’s life after finding freedom, Dugard and her daughters required therapy and support to acclimitise to their new life. She reportedly learned to drive, a milestone that she was reportedly proud of. Dugard has a home and car of her own. In 2011, she published a book titled, A Stolen Life: A Memoir. It included her experience of being held at the Garridos’ home.
In 2010, Dugard reportedly started a foundation called the JAYC Foundation which helped families that experienced severe trauma. She involved actively in redefining the use of the phrase ‘Stockholm Syndrome’ and the sensitivity associated with it when she collaborated with several other psychologists. In 2016, she published another book titled, Freedom: My Book of First which detailed her experiences as a free woman. She also described how she struggles to strike a balance between her private life and the media interest that creates her public perception.
CBS News reported that Jaycee Dugard was found by authorities after Philip Garrido, Nancy Garrito, Dugard and her twodaughters showed up at the parole office. Philip Garrido had been under parole supervision since 1988 when he was released from prison. He had been convicted for raping and 25-year-old woman in 1977. At the parole office, he reportedly introduced Dugard and her daughters as his nieces, which authorities got suspicious of.
When was Jaycee Dugard kidnapped?
Jaycee Dugard was abducted by Nancy and Philip Garrido on June 10, 1991. She was on the way to the bus stop at South Lake Tahoe. She was on her way to school when Philip Garrido reportedly threatened her. He showed her a stun gun from inside a car. He then drove her to the Garrido home in Antonio, California. On August 26, 2009, she was found after the Garridos, along with Jaycee and her two daughters, showed up at a parole office.
Dugard was 11 years old when she was kidnapped. She was sexually assaulted by Garrido over the 18 years when she was held in captivity. She was kept in a squalid compound in the Garrido home backyard. Jaycee Dugard gave birth to two children when she was 14 and 17 years old respectively. Her stepfather reportedly saw a car stop by Dugard and abduct her. He gave authorities a description of the kidnapper’s car. But there was no fruitful conclusion to the case for the next two decades, according to CBS News.
Over the years when Jaycee Dugard was held at the Garrido home, several people reportedly complained to authorities that Philip Garrido might be holding young girls hostage in his home. However, the sheds and tents where Dugard and her children were housed, continued to be concealed by a fence. The police never found them. Several investigative searches through the Garrido home also failed to help Dugard and her children to be found, the New York Times reported.
