Police admit failures over Jaycee kidnapping

A dossier of failures by authorities during Jaycee Lee Dugard’s 18-year ordeal at the hands of her captors continued to emerge today.

Officers in the US admitted they were “kicking ourselves” that an opportunity was missed three years ago as she suffered almost two decades of torment in a back garden after being kidnapped at the age of 11.

Prosecutors say she was raped and had two children by Phillip Garrido, 58, while she was hidden from the outside world.

According to her relatives, Ms Dugard – now 29 – felt guilty about her relationship with Garrido and declared “hi, mom, I have babies” in an emotional reunion with her family this week.

As forensic experts searched Garrido’s Californian home for evidence relating to the unsolved murders of a number of prostitutes, details of missed chances by authorities were exposed:

:: Authorities missed several chances to search his house after neighbours had complained to police that a psychotic sex addict was in their midst and was housing young girls in backyard tents three years ago. A deputy who showed up to investigate never went beyond the front porch, while probation officers also had no inkling that his back yard was actually a labyrinth of tents, sheds and buildings. They did not even know he had children on the premises.

:: Officers were able to detect Garrido’s movements. He had been electronically-tagged as a result of his sex-crime convictions that sent him to prison for a 50-year stint, only for him to get paroled after 10 years.

Dan DeMaranville, who investigated him in the 1970s rape case in Nevada, said: “The guy was a sick puppy, and should have been neutered before he was paroled.”

Contra Costa County Sheriff Warren E Rupf said officers had “missed an opportunity to bring earlier closure to this situation”.

He added: I cannot change the course of events but we are beating ourselves up over this and continue to do so.

“We should have been more inquisitive, more curious and turned over a rock or two.”

Ms Dugard remained with her two children, 11 and 15, and family today, according to reports.

Her stepfather Carl Probyn, who was there when she was snatched from a bus stop, said: “Jaycee has strong feelings with this guy. She really feels it’s almost like a marriage.”

Garrido and his wife Nancy, 55, denied dozens of charges including kidnap, rape and false imprisonment when they appeared at El Dorado Superior Court yesterday.

The accused pair remained largely silent as 29 charges were laid before them. Both were denied bail.

A spokesman at the Sheriff’s Department said Ms Dugard was apparently kept in a shed in the concealed area of the garden of the Garridos’ house where her children were born and brought up.

The Garridos were arrested on Wednesday after Mr Garrido – who was convicted of rape and kidnap in Nevada in 1971 – admitted the kidnapping under close questioning by a parole officer.

He had been called in after being seen with two children at the University of California, Berkeley.

El Dorado County Undersheriff Fred Kollar said the children have never been to school and never been to the doctor.

Forensic experts are looking for evidence relating to the murders of a number of prostitutes.

Several of the bodies in the unsolved killings were dumped near an industrial park where Mr Garrido worked during the 1990s.