Update: A police press conference revealed that Jaycee Lee Dugard has been living in a series of sheds and tents in a hidden backyard at the home of her alleged kidnapper Phillip Garrido, below.
Police also say that Garrido allegedly fathered two children with Dugard. The children are 15 and 11, meaning Dugard was just 14 when she had the oldest.
According to police, authorities were tipped off to Dugard's plight when Garrido was questioned by campus security at UC Berkeley when he tried to hand out pamphlets. This led to a meeting with Garrido's parole officer where the officer met Dugard and the two children. The parole officer informed local police about the children.
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A woman who is believed to have been a kidnapping victim in 1991 walked into a San Francisco Bay area police station today.In 1991, Jayce Lee Dugard, then 11, was forced into a car outside of her California home by an unidentified man and woman. Today, 18 years after her disappearance, a woman claiming to be Dugard turned herself into a San Francisco Bay Area police station. From AP:
The woman came into a San Francisco Bay area police station and said she was Jaycee Lee Dugard, a blond, ponytailed girl when she was abducted as she headed to a school bus stop 18 years ago, said sheriff's Lt. Les Lovell of the El Dorado Sheriff's Department.
"We're 99 percent sure it's her," Lovell said. He said DNA tests were being conducted. The woman was in good health. It was not immediately clear when she had surfaced at the station.
Lovell said Concord police did an investigation after the woman surfaced, and he received a call Wednesday from investigators who had tentatively identified her as Dugard.
Her family has been contacted and they are in the process of arranging a meeting, said Lovell, who was a detective assigned to help investigate the kidnapping in 1991. "We are very confident at this point in time that it is her."
Two people have also been arrested in relation to Duggard's disappearance. CNN has details:
Jimmy Lee, a spokesman for the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Department, confirmed that a man and a woman have been arrested in connection with the case but could provide no other details. CNN affiliates have reported that Phillip Garrido, 58, and his wife, Nancy Garrido, have been charged.
Phillip Garrido is a registered sex offender and listed on the Department of Justice's Megan's Law page because of a previous forcible rape charge.
The Sacremento Bee, has more on this story, including an archive of their 1991 coverage of the Duggard disappearance.
The Bee also has more details on Garrido, one of the suspects in the case:
Garrido's next-door neighbor said people in the area had known for years that Garrido was a registered sex offender and that at one point someone called authorities because they were concerned that there were children living in the home.
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