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Couple deny California abduction Couple deny California abduction
(9 minutes later)
A man and his wife have denied abducting California woman Jaycee Lee Dugard when she was a child and holding her in their home 18 years.A man and his wife have denied abducting California woman Jaycee Lee Dugard when she was a child and holding her in their home 18 years.
Phillip Garrido, 58, and his wife Nancy, 54, denied 28 charges when they appeared briefly in court in Placerville, El Dorado Country. Phillip Garrido, 58, and his spouse Nancy, 54, denied 28 charges when they appeared briefly in court in Placerville, El Dorado Country.
Ms Dugard was bundled into a car in the county in 1991 on her way to school.Ms Dugard was bundled into a car in the county in 1991 on her way to school.
She and two children she bore in captivity in Antioch 200 miles (320km) away were freed this week.She and two children she bore in captivity in Antioch 200 miles (320km) away were freed this week.
They are staying at a motel near San Francisco after being reunited with Ms Dugard's mother.
Phillip Garrido, 58, a convicted rapist and kidnapper, is suspected of fathering Ms Dugard's children while he kept her in his backyard.
He and his wife Nancy, 54, are accused of abducting her in the El Dorado town of South Lake Tahoe, in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
She was forced into a car as her stepfather Carl Probyn looked on. Mr Probyn tried in vain to give chase on a bicycle.
Police have admitted that they missed an opportunity to uncover what was happening at Mr Garrido's home in November 2006, when a neighbour alerted them to suspicious behaviour there.
"The caller said Garrido was psychotic and had a sexual addiction," Sheriff Warren Rupf told reporters.
But the investigating police officer only spoke to Mr Garrido and did not enter his property to carry out a search.
"I'm first in line to offer organisational criticism and to offer my apologies to the victims and accept responsibility for having missed an earlier opportunity," said Sheriff Rupf.
'A disgusting thing'
Fred Kollar, undersheriff in El Dorado County, described finding a makeshift compound in the backyard consisting of sheds, tents and outbuildings.
Jaycee's stepfather gives details to ABC's Good Morning America
The true identity of the backyard's inhabitants only emerged after Mr Garrido was called in along with his "family" for a parole office hearing on Wednesday.
Suspicions had been aroused when Mr Garrido, who has a printing business, was seen acting suspiciously towards the children as he tried to enter the University of California, Berkeley, campus to hand out religious literature.
Diane Doty, a neighbour, has said she often heard children playing in the backyard.
"I asked my husband, 'Why is he [Garrido] living in tents?'" she said on Thursday.
"And he said, 'Maybe that is how they like to live.'"
The alleged abductor has himself told a US TV channel that his story was "heart-warming".
"It's a disgusting thing that took place with me at the beginning, but I turned my life completely around," Mr Garrido told KCRA television from El Dorado County jail.
Court records show that Mr Garrido was convicted of kidnapping and raping a 25-year-old woman in South Lake Tahoe in 1976.
US BLOGGERS REACT TO THE KIDNAPPING
Unless Dugard was kept under lock and key for the entire 18 years of her captivity, over the next few days, certainly there will be an abundance of pieces about Stockholm syndrome and wondering why she didn't ask for help before... If Dugard's captors gave her any freedom, locals will start piping up about how she went to the grocery store or to the park, suggesting that she could have fled at any time.
Torie Bosch, blogging at DoubleX, speculates about the reasons why Jaycee Dugard did not escape.
Over the last 18 years I have often thought about what happened to Jaycee. Every time there was a news report about the discovery of bones in California, I would follow up to see if it was the remains of Jaycee. It never was. Over 18 years my mind wandered back to me sitting in Jaycee's bedroom with Terry, how neat and tidy it was, ready for her return. I hadn't thought about Jaycee in a while, until today.
Anthony Batson, former a producer for America's Most Wanted, remembers the day he interviewed Jaycee Dugard's parents.
Though the investigation is now ongoing, perhaps more details will emerge [about Nancy Garrido's] role in this 18-year saga. Was it fear that kept Nancy silent? Or does this just go to show how some women can overlook the monster in their husbands?
YourTango's Julie Leung turns the spotlight on Phillips Garrido's wife.
The fact that various acquaintances thought Garrido was crazy and actually saw Dugard and her daughters reveals how willing we sometimes are to ignore the strange behavior of others, and how this willingness can sometimes allow criminals to operate with impunity for years.
Jezebel's Anna N wonders whether Mr Garrido's neighbours could have been more vigilant.