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UPDATE

18 years later, kidnapped woman turns up alive

Henry K. Lee,Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writers

Thursday, August 27, 2009
Jaycee Dugard. Phillip Craig Garrido. Carl Probyn, the stepfather of Jaycee Lee Dugard, discuss... A woman claiming to be Jaycee Lee Dugard, kidnapped in Me...

(08-27) 11:33 PDT CONCORD —

A woman kidnapped as an 11-year-old girl nearly two decades ago from outside her South Lake Tahoe home surfaced Wednesday when she and the couple now accused of snatching her walked into a Concord police station, authorities said today.

The reappearance of Jaycee Dugard stunned family members, who had all but lost hope that she was still alive 18 years after she was kidnapped on her way to catch a school bus as her stepfather watched helplessly.

Law-enforcement sources said Phillip Craig Garrido, 58, of Antioch and his wife, Nancy Garrido, 55, were arrested in connection with the case. Phillip Garrido was being held in lieu of $1 million bail on suspicion of kidnapping, rape by force, lewd and lascivious acts with a minor, sexual penetration and conspiracy.

Nancy Garrido was being held on suspicion of conspiracy and kidnapping. Her bail was also $1 million. Both were initially booked into the Contra Costa County Jail in Martinez, but have since been moved to an undisclosed site.

The couple were arrested after they walked into the police station with Dugard to ask a question, authorities said. They would not say what the question involved, but it apparently aroused the suspicions of a Concord police officer.

The officer ran a criminal history check of Phillip Garrido and found out he was a registered sex offender, authorities said. State records show that he has a conviction for rape by force, and federal records show him serving a stint in federal prison in Leavenworth, Kan., in the 1980s.

It is still unclear how police learned that the woman who was with the Garridos was Dugard, but her relatives are beside themselves with joy.

“I gave up hope for 18 years, just went into recovery mode,” said her stepfather, Carl Probyn, a wallpaper contractor. “I thought it would be nice just to recover her and capture the people and find out why they did this.

“Now, I just won the lotto. It’s just unbelievable. This is going to be a great day today.”

Probyn, 60, who now lives in Orange (Orange County), said his wife, Terry, called him at about 4 p.m. Wednesday with the news.

“She basically said, ‘Are you sitting down?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ And she said, ‘They found Jaycee - she’s alive.’ “

The two, who are separated, cried for about two minutes on the phone.

Terry Probyn was able to speak on the phone with her daughter. “She sounds normal. She told my wife she remembers everything,” Carl Probyn said.

Terry Probyn, who also now lives in Southern California, was on her way to the Bay Area to reunite with her daughter.

FBI agents were searching the Garridos’ home today on Walnut Avenue in Antioch.

Police have declined to comment, referring inquiries to the El Dorado County sheriff’s office. A news conference is scheduled for this afternoon in Placerville.

Dugard was last seen June 10, 1991, as she was walking to a bus stop in South Lake Tahoe. The blond, blue-eyed 11-year-old, wearing a pink top and pink pants, was going to catch the bus to her school near South Lake Tahoe. She never made it.

As Carl Probyn watched from the family’s driveway on a hill about two blocks away, a two-tone gray sedan pulled up and someone yanked the girl into the car and sped off. Even though officers responded within minutes, no trace of the car or girl was ever found - until Wednesday.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/08/27/BA4N19EJ35.DTL