Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of abuse and assault. Reader discretion is advised.
Jaycee Dugard’s kidnappers, Phillip and Nancy Garrido, kept her captive for 18 years before authorities could rescue her in 2009. According to People Magazine, Dugard was only 11 years old when Phillip and his wife, Nancy, kidnapped her. The incident occurred near her home in South Lake Tahoe, California, while she was walking to the school bus stop. Phillip was a convicted sex offender out on parole at the time.
While an extensive search for Dugard captivated the nation, the kidnappers, Phillip and Nancy Garrido, held her on their Antioch, California, property. Phillip reportedly stripped the girl naked, handcuffed her, and raped her shortly after the kidnapping. The couple kept her confined in their backyard in tents, sheds, and shacks. There, Phillip continued to rape Dugard over the years and even fathered two daughters with her.
Jaycee Dugard was rescued from the Garridos’ captivity in August 2009 based on the intuitions of a University of California, Berkeley campus officer. Phillip Garrido took the two daughters to the university campus when an officer got suspicious. He ran a background check on Phillip and reported the same to the sex offender’s parole officer. The truth surfaced after Phillip confessed to his parole officer about the kidnapping.
Both Phillip and Nancy Garrido faced kidnapping and false imprisonment charges following Jaycee Dugard’s release. Other charges included lewd conduct with a minor and child pornography. They both pleaded guilty in April 2011, per The New York Times. Then, in June, Phillip Garrido received a prison sentence of 431 years, and his wife, Nancy, got 36 years to life in prison.
South Tahoe Now reported in 2022 that Phillip Garrido was serving time in the Corcoran State Prison in the Protective Housing Unit. The California Department of Corrections does not disclose his current location. Nancy is incarcerated in the California Institution for Women.
When was Jaycee Dugard’s kidnapped?
Jaycee Dugard’s kidnappers, Phillip and Nancy Garrido, took her on June 10, 1991. She was walking to a school bus stop not far from her home that morning. The kidnappers were in a gray car, and they attacked her with a stun gun before they grabbed her and drove away from the scene. Dugard’s stepfather, Carl, who was at the bus stop, saw the incident and followed the Garridos’ car but failed to keep up and eventually called 911.
Carl, while describing the kidnapping to People Magazine, said, “I heard Jaycee scream, and she was gone.” Phillip and Nancy Garrido hid the 11-year-old under a blanket in the backseat of their car. Per The New York Times, in later interviews, Dugard revealed, “I heard voices in the front.” The kidnapping victim claimed she heard Phillip Garrido “laughing” and added that he said, “‘I can’t believe we got away with it.'”
Phillip and Nancy Garrido then took Jaycee Dugard to Antioch, California, where they held her captive for years. The New York Times stated that Dugard recalled while giving testimony in 2010 how the kidnappers ignored her pleas to let her go. Instead, they confined her in tents, shacks, and sheds in the backyard of their property.
Dugard wrote in her memoir, A Stolen Life, which is based on the events Phillip Garrido handcuffed her naked and raped her shortly after the kidnapping. The sexual assault continued for several years. Additionally, to fulfill his “personal fantasies,” he forced the girl to dress up and put on makeup. In the book, she wrote how the sex offender explained that “he has a sex problem.” The man told Dugard “that he took me so I could help him with his problem so he wouldn’t have to bother anyone else with his problem.”
In August 1994, Jaycee Dugard gave birth to her first daughter, per The Los Angeles Times. She was 14 years old at the time. That’s when the rapes stopped for a while and eventually became less frequent. Then, in November 1997, Dugard gave birth to her second daughter at the age of 17 after Phillip Garrido’s final assault on her. The mother-of-two also revealed that her daughters believed Phillip and Nancy Garrido were their parents. They considered Dugard an elder sister.
How were Jaycee Dugard’s kidnappers, Phillip and Nancy Garrido, caught?
According to The New York Times, authorities caught Jaycee Dugard’s kidnappers, Phillip and Nancy Garrido, in 2009. Per People Magazine, this happened in late August of that year when Phillip Garrido took Dugard’s two daughters to the University of California, Berkeley. He was there on August 24 for an event permit to distribute religious flyers.
A campus police officer, Ally Jacobs, became suspicious and briefly looked into Phillip’s background, learning he was a sex offender. The New York Times reported that Phillip was previously in prison for 11 years in a 1976 rape case. He has sexually assaulted a Nevada casino worker.
People Magazine stated that Officer Jacobs and UC Berkeley special events manager Lisa Campbell noticed the girls’ unusual appearance and behavior the following day. Jacobs and Campbell, concerned about the two girls’ well-being, contacted Phillip’s parole officer, who told them the sex offender had no children.
On August 26, 2009, the parole officer met Phillip and Nancy Garrido, Jaycee Dugard, and her two daughters. Dugard initially did not reveal her identity and only told the truth after Phillip confessed to the kidnapping and rape. Authorities arrested Dugard’s kidnappers that day, rescuing the mother-of-two after 18 years.
The outlet stated that Phillip and Nancy Garrido faced multiple charges stemming from the kidnapping of Jaycee Dugard. Per CBS News, these included kidnapping, false imprisonment, multiple counts of rape, lewd conduct with a minor, and child pornography. They initially pleaded not guilty, but in April 2011, changed their pleas to guilty. The duo also waived their right to appeal. In June of that year, Judge Douglas C. Phimister sentenced Phillip to 431 years in prison, according to The New York Times report. Nancy received 36 years to life in prison.
In 2022, Phillip Garrido was serving his sentence in Corcoran State Prison’s Protective Housing Unit. Elsewhere, the California Department of Corrections states that Nancy is in the California Institution for Women. She will become eligible for parole in August 2029. However, the prison records do not disclose Phillip’s current whereabouts.
As for Dugard, People Magazine reported she received custody of her two daughters, and they moved in with her mother. In the years after her release, she wrote two books and rebuilt her life.
Kidnapped for 18 Years: The Jaycee Dugard Story chronicles the case. Among other true crime shows and documentaries, ABC 20/20 has also revisited the case in one such episode. Additionally, another movie, The Abduction of Jaycee Dugard, also looks into Dugard’s kidnapping.
