Jaycee Lee Dugard was born on May 3, 1980, in Arcadia, California. Ten years later, Jaycee, her mother, stepfather, and infant sister moved from Arcadia to Meyers, CA (a town near South Lake Tahoe) as they believed it was a safer community.

Jaycee was closest to her mother, Terry Probyn, and her half-sister Shayna. She did not have a relationship with her biological father, Ken Slayton, as Slayton was not aware he had fathered a child. Jaycee was not close to her stepfather, Carl Probyn, either.

The Cr*ime

On June 10, 1991, Terry went into work early, so eleven-year-old Jaycee walked to the school bus stop alone. Reportedly, the fifth-grader was worried about an upcoming field trip because of her shyness. When Jaycee was halfway up the hill, a gray car stopped her.

Jaycee thought that the man, Phillip Garrido, was simply asking for directions, but he used a stun gun to electrocute her into unconsciousness, allowing his wife Nancy to hold the child down in the car. Dugard drifted in and out of awareness, pleading with her captors to let her go because her parents couldn’t afford a ransom.

Carl witnessed the abduction and gave chase on a mountain bike but could not catch up with the vehicle. Garrido drove from Meyers to Antioch, approximately 120 miles away, as his aging mother had a house there. Said elderly mother had dementia as well, so investigators could not reasonably consider her a co-conspirator.

Once the Garridos arrived in Antioch, they ushered Jaycee into a soundproofed shed/storage unit with a blanket over her head. Once there, Garrido raped Jaycee for the first time. He then left her in the unit but warned her that Doberman Pinschers guarded the area and would attack her if she tried to escape.

From that point on, Garrido would visit Jaycee in the unit, bringing her fast food and talking to her. Garrido allowed Jaycee to have a small television, but she could not watch the news, so she was not aware of the extremely publicized search for her. He also gave her a bucket for her to relieve herself.

About 1 ½ months into her captivity, Garrido moved Jaycee from the original unit to a larger one next door. Garrido’s behavior was unpredictable and bizarre. He would go on methamphetamine binges (which he called “runs”) that would cause him to alternate between sobbing and apologizing to Jaycee and threatening her with se*x tr*afficking.

Six months after this, Phillip formally introduced Jaycee to his wife Nancy. Jaycee would later report that Nancy also behaved erratically, switching between maternal concern and cold cruelty seemingly at the drop of a hat.

Three years into this treatment, amid ongoing rape by Garrido, Jaycee’s captors believed that she was pregnant, offering her cooked food for the first time. Indeed, she was four and a half months pregnant with her first child at just 13 years old. She later gave birth to Angel on August 18, 1994.

Jaycee would give birth to a second daughter, Starlet, on November 13, 1997, also fathered by Garrido. Jaycee protected her children from Garrido’s wild actions, using information she learned from television to homeschool and raise them to the best of her ability given the circumstances.

At an unknown time, Garrido forced Jaycee to stop referring to the girls as her daughters and vice versa, telling them to call Nancy their mother and refer to Jaycee as an older sister. This was reportedly to pacify his wife, who, in a sick and twisted way, was jealous of Jaycee.

The Return

On August 24, 2009, 18 years and 2.5 months into an unimaginable nightmare, Garrido finally slipped up. He took Angel and Starlet to the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, attempting to organize an event for his “God’s Desire” program. Though the teenagers appeared healthy and cared for, they were extremely withdrawn and appeared to fear Garrido.

At this point, Angel, Starlet, and the Garridos referred to Jaycee as Allissa (sometimes spelled Alyssa in honor of Alyssa Milano, a favorite actress of Jaycee’s) and she did not identify herself as Jaycee until Garrido confessed to rape and kidnapping.

In an exclusive interview post-rescue, Jaycee addressed claims of Stockholm Syndrome, the psychological condition in which a victim develops romantic feelings for their abductor:

“The phrase implies that hostages cracked by terror and abuse become affectionate towards their captors… Well, it’s, really, it’s degrading, you know, having my family believe that I was in love with this captor and wanted to stay with him. I mean, that is so far from the truth that it makes me want to throw up… I adapted to survive my circumstance.”

— Jaycee Dugard Part 2: Why She Wants to Change How People View Victims on YouTube

Since being freed, Jaycee has flourished. She maintained custody of her daughters and lives with her mother and sister. The family has been fiercely protective of their privacy and time together, which, considering the trauma they were forced to endure, is a blessing.

Together, they take part in animal therapy, riding or petting horses. This allows Jaycee to develop a sense of trust with not only the animals but her sister and mother as well.

The Perpetrator

Phillip Greg Garrido was born in Pittsburg, California, on April 5, 1951. He was a career criminal and was arrested for his first offense in 1972, just three years after graduating from high school. The c*rime was se*xual ass*ault against a 14-year-old girl. The charges were eventually dropped because the victim declined to testify against him.

One year later, Garrido married Christine Murphy, a high school classmate who accused him of being abusive and claimed that he kidnapped her when she attempted to leave.

In 1976, Garrido abducted 25-year-old Katherine Callaway, whom he raped for five and a half hours. Investigators noticed a car outside the warehouse where Garrido took Callaway and promptly arrested him when she came out asking for help.

On March 9, 1977, Garrido was convicted and sentenced to fifty years in federal pr*ison in Leavenworth, Kansas. While at Leavenworth, Garrido met Nancy Bocanegra, who was visiting her imprisoned uncle at the time. On October 5, 1981, Garrido married Nancy at Leavenworth.

On January 22, 1988, authorities released Garrido from federal pr*ison and sent to Nevada state pr*ison. He served seven months of his five-year sentence, at which point they released him into the custody of federal parole officers. Like Brian Golsby in the case of Reagan Tokes, Garrido was wearing an ankle monitor but was not actively being watched despite his extensive criminal history.

Aftermath

Simon and Schuster published Jaycee’s memoir, A Stolen Life, on July 12, 2011. The publishing house released a follow-up book, Freedom: My Book of Firsts, exactly five years later, on July 12, 2016.

Phillip is currently serving 431 years to life in pr*ison while Nancy is serving 36 years to life. Both of them will be eligible for parole in 2034. They are being held in separate state pr*isons in California.