Thursday, August 27, 2009

Kidnapping Victim Found

I was helping my son get a soda from the machine outside Walmart today when two boys came up to get some also. One of the boys was having trouble getting the machine to take his dimes, so I offered to trade him for some quarters. About that time, his mother came out, and in a concerned voice called his name. I told her he was having trouble getting the machine to take his money, so I was offering to trade for quarters. She said, "Well, after what happened here, you can't be too careful." I asked her what happened, and she told me about this story.

This story gives me the worst sinking feeling! This little girl, Jaycee Lee Dugard, was abducted from her home in South Lake Tahoe when she was 11 years old. She was at the bus stop just yards from her home when a man and woman abducted her. Her father saw it happen, but couldn't rescue her. She has been missing for 18 years, and was just discovered today! They did DNA testing and confirmed she is indeed Jaycee Lee Dugard, now 29 years old.

The couple lived here in down town Antioch, and kept her in a shed in the back yard. Through the years, she gave birth to two children that were fathered by the culprit, Phillip Garrido. He was a registered sex offender, and according to the woman I talked to, this was his third offense!!! How does this happen?! How does a man get let free after a second offense!!? This poor girl has lost 18 years of her life. Can you remember what you were doing from the time you were 11 until you were 29? It just makes me sick to think about all that she has missed out on, not to mention the abuse she has suffered. Thank God that she was finally found, and able to be freed. And it will be only through God that she can recover from this nightmare.

I don't know if I have mentioned this before, but I have a really sensitive spot for kidnapped children. This bothers me more than almost any other crime. Even death by murder is better than being abused for years. I feel kind of guilty for our city, that no one noticed that a girl was living in a shed and being abused in someone's back yard. I feel like my community let her down, and should have found her sooner. I pray that she can recover and somehow have a normal life.

Newslink

3 comments:

Nene said...

This poor woman will need years of therapy to hopefully be able to deal with the years of abuse that she had to endure. I hope she can live a normal life. What a horrible story!

Inklings said...

I just read that story yesterday and more this morning, and wondered what impact it would have on you , wondered how close she was to where you live. Pretty sad, and she has guilt feelings for bonding with her kidnappers. Those 2 little girls of hers will, too.
The kidnapper sounds crazy, and his wife must be, too, for going along with it!

Lindsay Logic said...

I couldn't believe this story! I think it's so incredibly sad! The step-father was a suspect all these years, too. Can you imagine all the emotions the family is going through right now?