Police in California have admitted that they missed an opportunity to intervene in the case of Jaycee Dugard who was abducted 18 years ago when she was 11 years old.
Jaycee Dugard was kidnapped on 10 June 1991 by two occupants in a car right in front of her stepfather Carl Probyn, who gave chase on a bicycle but failed to stop the abduction.
Ms Dugard had been forced to live in isolation in sheds in the back garden of a house, 80km north-west of San Francisco, since then.
Philip Garrido - a convicted sex offender - and his wife Nancy were arrested after the discovery of Jaycee and two children she was forced to bear by Garrido. The Garridos are expected to be charged later today.
Sheriff Warren E Rupf of Contra Costa County Police confirmed at a news conference today that an individual had contacted police about Garrido on 30 November 2006.
The caller told 911 that there were tents in their neighbours back yard, that people were living in them and there were young children there. The caller also said Garrido was psychotic and had a sexual addiction.
Sheriff Rupf said police made contact with Garrido in his front yard and determined that there was no criminal misbehaviour. The officer investigating did not enter or request to enter the back garden.
Sheriff Rupf said it was not an acceptable outcome. He said police should have been more inquisitive, curious and ‘turned over a rock or two’. He said police are ‘beating themselves up’ over this and will continue to do so.
Sheriff Rupf offered his apologies to the victims and accepted responsibility what he called’ the missed opportunity’.
Jaycee Dugard, who is now 29, has been reunited with her family after her 18-year ordeal.
She was found after she accompanied Phillip Garrido to a meeting with his parole officer.
58-year-old Garrido is believed to have kidnapped Ms Dugard in 1991 and fathered her two girls, now aged 11 and 15.
He and his 54-year-old wife, Nancy, are in police custody after being charged with kidnapping Ms Dugard to commit rape.
The pair were arrested on Wednesday by the FBI.
A search of their home in the town of Antioch, California, ‘revealed a hidden backyard within a backyard,’ El Dorado County Undersheriff Fred Kollar said.
‘The hidden backyard contained tents, sheds and outhouses, where Jaycee and the girls spent most of their lives.’
Her stepfather Carl Probyn told ABS News: ‘I had personally given up hope'.
‘I had just hoped for a recovery’ and to find those responsible, he added.
According to the undersheriff, Jaycee ‘is in good health, but living in a backyard for 18 years does take its toll.’
She and her two children reportedly lived in a series of sheds, including a soundproofed one that could only be opened from the outside, and tents in the yard belonging to Garrido, who was on a federal parole for a 1971 rape and kidnapping.
‘None of the children have ever been to school, they have never been to a doctor’ Mr Kollar said.
The kidnap case began to unravel this week, when police at the University of California, Berkeley, spotted Garrido acting suspiciously on campus as he tried to hand out religious literature.
Garrido was then called in by his California parole officer for a follow-up visit on Wednesday.
He showed up with the two children, his wife and Ms Dugard, whom he had renamed Allissa.
The parole officer, who had previously visited Garrido's home, had never seen ‘Allissa’ and the two girls and thought that the individuals were suspicious.
The parole agent contacted the Concord police department, who conducted interviews with the woman and discovered that she was in fact Jaycee Dugard.
