Man accused of Jaycee Lee kidnap raped girl in 1972

THE alleged kidnapper in the Jaycee Lee Dugard case drugged and raped a 14-year-old girl in 1972 and there was a “good chance” there were other victims, police have said.

Yesterday Antioch police lieutenant Leonard Orman told reporters that Phillip Garrido, who is accused of abducting Dugard in 1991 and holding her prisoner for 18 years, had attacked a schoolgirl in a separate case decades earlier.

It came as close relatives of Dugard spoke for the first time about how she was adjusting to life after reuniting with her family last week following a near two-decade separation.

Orman said Garrido, 58, first came to their attention more than 37 years ago and was charged with raping a schoolgirl.

Garrido and another man had met the 14-year-old victim and a friend at a public library in Antioch. “They got into a vehicle with Mr Garrido and were provided barbiturates... she ended up at a motel with Mr Garrido,” Orman said.

After being given more drugs, the victim “awoke, found herself there, and was repeatedly raped and sexually assaulted”.

“The details of that are very slim at this point with respect for records to rely on. But at some point the prosecution was dropped.”

Asked if he believed Garrido may have claimed other victims, Orman replied: “Other victims? I think there’s a good chance of that, yes.”

Four years later, Garrido kidnapped a casino worker in Reno, Nevada, before subjecting her to a terrifying sexual assault at a soundproofed storage unit.

He later served 11 years for the crime despite getting a 50-year jail term.

Three years after his release, he allegedly kidnapped Dugard, then 11, from outside her home in South Lake Tahoe, holding her captive in a secret backyard prison before being captured last week.

Dugard, now 29, and the two daughters Garrido fathered with her, have spent the past week “reconnecting” with family at a secluded location, her aunt said, describing the reunion as a “joyful time”.

“The smile on my sister’s face is as wide as the sea,” Tina Dugard said of Jaycee’s mother, Terry Probyn. “Jaycee remembers all of us. She is especially enjoying getting to know her little sister who was just a baby when Jaycee was taken.

She praised the way Jaycee educated her two daughters, who are now aged 15 and 11.

“Jaycee did a truly amazing job with the limited resources and education that she herself had. And we are so proud of her.” Dugard said Jaycee and her children were “happy”.

“There’s a sense of comfort and optimism, a sense of happiness. Jaycee and her girls are happy.”

Tina Dugard said there had been an “instant connection” when the family was reunited last week. “It was almost a genetic connection — an instant sense of family, for all of us,” adding Jaycee recognised her immediately.

“She absolutely knew who I was. She remembered me right away. It was one of the happiest moments of my life.

“I went forward and cried and hugged her and held her as tight as I possibly could. It was surreal, and it was fabulous.”