Jaycee Lee Dugard Found After 18 Years; Nancy and Phillip Garrido Arrested for Abduction

Jaycee Lee Dugard has been found. More correctly, Jaycee Lee Dugard walked into a police station in Antioch, California, Wednesday and told the authorities there who she was. Jaycee Lee Dugard has been missing for 18 years and, although her story might sound unbelievable, it is undoubtedly true. Local police and the FBI have taken into custody the people she had lived with all these years.

Jaycee Lee Dugard was 11 years old when her stepfather, Carl Probyn, saw her snatched off the street as she went to catch the bus on June 10, 1991. He said he saw her pull her into their vehicle and speed off. Probyn says that he has had to endure suspicious looks from friends and relatives for years. Now, he told ABC News, he feels as if he has won the lottery.

Carl Probyn also wants to know who took his stepdaughter and why.

Contra Costa County Sheriff's Captain Daniel Terry told ABC News that police have in custody Phillip and Nancy Garrido, a couple who live in Antioch. Both have been charged in connection to the abduction of Jaycee Lee Dugard. They face charges of kidnapping to commit rape.

Although DNA tests have not been done yet, Carl Probyn's wife, the El Dorado County Sheriff's Office, which has jurisdiction over from where Jaycee Lee Dugard was abducted, stated that they were 99% certain that the woman claiming to be the long-lost girl actually is who she says she is. Carl Probyn's wife, with whom he is now separated, has talked with her daughter. She and the FBI, after hearing the young woman's story, believe that she is Jaycee Lee Dugard as well.

Neighbors say that if Phillip and Nancy Garrido had kidnapped or kept anyone at their home, they never saw them. Police found that Phillip Garrido is a paroled and registered sex offender who served prison time for kidnapping and forcible rape.

And Jaycee Lee Dugard now has two children of her own.

Carl Probyn says he would like to see his stepdaughter, find out more about what happened and why. He said, "I had personally given up hope. I had just hoped for a recovery..."

The story of Jaycee Lee Dugard reads somewhat like an extended version of the Elizabeth Smart story. Elizabeth Smart was abducted from her Utah home in June 2002. She was found alive nine months later in the company of "Emmanuel," a homeless preacher whose real name was Brian David Mitchell, and his wife, Wanda Barzee. Both were charged in connection with abducting Elizabeth Smart and forcibly keeping her against her will.

It is cases like those of Jaycee Lee Dugard and Elizabeth Smart that give rise to hope in cases like those of 5-year-old Haleigh Cummings, who has been missing since February from her Florida home. It is believed that Haleigh Cummings may have been abducted.

Some terribly tragic stories have happy endings. Sometimes it just takes a while to get to the good part...

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Sources:

ABCNews.go.com
"The Kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart," Trutv.com