Kidnap Suspect Linked to Prostitute Slays?

Police Search Home where Man Allegedly Held Kidnapped Girl Captive for 18 Years, Looking for Evidence of Murders

(CBS/ AP)  Authorities are searching the home where a man allegedly held a kidnapped girl captive for 18 years, looking for evidence in the murders of several prostitutes.

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Contra Costa Sheriff's Department Capt. Daniel Terry said Friday police officers from the nearby city of Pittsburg executed a search warrant at Phillip Garrido's Antioch home for clues in the unsolved slayings.

Several of the murdered women's bodies were dumped near an industrial park where Garrido worked during the 1990s.

Garrido and his wife, Nancy, were charged Friday with kidnapping 11-year-old Jaycee Lee Dugard in 1991. Authorities say they held her and two children she had with Garrido as prisoners in a backyard encampment.

Dugard, who was 11 when she was abducted from a South Lake Tahoe street in 1991, was taken directly to the house and sheltered from the world in a secret, leafy backyard, investigators said Thursday.

Her abductor, investigators said, raped her and fathered two children with her, the first when Jaycee was about 14. Those children, both girls now 11 and 15, also were kept hidden away in the backyard compound behind the Antioch home.

"None of the children have ever been to school, they've never been to a doctor," El Dorado County Undersheriff Fred Kollar said. "They were kept in complete isolation in this compound."

Even a parole agent who visited 58-year-old Phillip Garrido's home didn't have an inkling about the hidden compound, Kollar said. Garrido is a registered sex offender on federal parole for rape and kidnapping convictions.

"The way the house is set up, the way the backyard is set up, you could walk through the backyard, walk through the house, and never know," Kollar said.

But neighbors said there were clues even before a parole agent on Wednesday noticed Dugard, now 29, who accompanied Garrido, his wife and the children to a parole office.

Complete coverage from Crimesider:

Photos: Little Girl Found 18 Years Later
Forensic Psych: Does Garrido Believe Kids Cured Pedophilia?
Why Didn't Neighbors Know?
Exclusive: Reporter Remembers Abduction 18 Years Ago

Garrido: Dugard's Girls "Slept in My Arms Every Single Night"
Legal Analysis: Statute of Limitations Non-Issue in Prosecuting Suspects
God's Chosen Communicator or Plain Old Psycho?

Neighbor Diane Doty said she could see the tents and often heard children playing in the backyard, the corner of which abuts her own backyard. She said she even suspected the children lived in the tents, but her husband said she should leave the family alone.

"I asked my husband, 'Why is he living in tents?"' she said. "And he said, 'Maybe that is how they like to live."'

Garrido is being held for investigation of various kidnapping and sex charges. Authorities said his 54-year-old wife, Nancy Garrido, was with him during the kidnapping in South Lake Tahoe and she also has been arrested.

Jim Watson, a retired El Dorado police sergeant who was the lead investigator for 14 years was elated to hear the news. "I can finally say the case is closed," he told CBS' "The Early Show" Friday.

Watson said the investigation endured several ups and downs as suspects were named and then cleared.

The case broke after Garrido was spotted Tuesday with two children as he tried to enter the University of California, Berkeley, campus to hand out religious literature. Officers said he was acting suspiciously toward the children. They questioned him and did a background check, determined that he was a parolee and informed his parole officer.

Garrido was ordered to appear for a parole meeting and arrived Wednesday with Dugard, who identified herself as "Allissa," his wife, and two children. During questioning, corrections officials said he admitted to kidnapping Dugard.

Investigators said he did not yet have an attorney.

Dugard was reunited Thursday with her mother as her family learned that their blue-eyed, blonde ponytailed little girl had spent most of her life in captivity. Police said they had no evidence that she had ever reached out to anyone beyond the compound walls.

"She was in good health, but living in a backyard for the past 18 years does take its toll," Kollar said.

The backyard compound had electricity from extension cords and a rudimentary outhouse and shower, "as if you were camping," Kollar said.

Authorities said they do not know if Garrido also abused his daughters, but they are investigating.

Dugard's stepfather, who witnessed her abduction and was a longtime suspect in the case, said he was overwhelmed by the news after doing everything he could to help find her.

"It broke my marriage up. I've gone through hell. I mean I'm a suspect up until yesterday," a tearful Carl Probyn, 60, told The Associated Press at his home in Orange, California.

CBS News Video: Captive Girl's Stepdad Speaks

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Garrido's compound was located in Antioch, a city of 100,000 about 275 kilometers from the Dugard family home in South Lake Tahoe.

People who knew Garrido said he became increasingly fanatic about his religious beliefs in recent years, sometimes breaking out into song and claiming that God spoke to him through a box.

"In the last couple years he started getting into this strange religious stuff. We kind of felt sorry for him," said Tim Allen, president of East County Glass and Window Inc. in Pittsburg, California, who bought business cards and letterhead from Garrido's printing business for the last decade.

Three times in recent years, Garrido arrived at Allen's showroom with two "cute little blond girls" in tow, he said.

In April 2008, Garrido registered a corporation called Gods Desire at his home address, according to the California Secretary of State. During recent visits to the showroom, Garrido would talk about quitting the printing business to preach full time and gave the impression he was setting up a church, Allen said.

"He rambled. It made no sense," he said.

In a blog that appears to have been maintained by Garrido, he wrote that he had hired a private investigator to verify his ability to speak to people using only his mind. In an "affadavit" posted there, he said he had the ability to "control sound with my mind and have developed a device for others to witness this phenomena."

Garrido gave a rambling, sometimes incoherent phone interview to KCRA-TV from the El Dorado County jail Thursday in which he said he had not admitted to a kidnapping and that he had turned his life around since the birth of his first daughter 15 years ago.

"I tell you here's the story of what took place at this house, and you're going to be absolutely impressed. It's a disgusting thing that took place from the end to the beginning. But I turned my life completely around," he said.

In addition to kidnapping allegations, court records showed both Garridos were being held for investigation of rape by force, lewd and lascivious acts with a minor, and kidnapping someone under 14 with intent to rape. Phillip Garrido also faces allegations of sexual penetration.

The AP, as a matter of policy, avoids identifying victims of alleged sexual abuse by name in its news reports. However, Dugard's disappearance had been known and reported for nearly two decades, making impossible any effort to shield her identity now.

Garrido has a long rap sheet dating back to the 1970s.

He was convicted of kidnapping a 25-year-old woman whom he snatched from a South Lake Tahoe parking lot, handcuffed, tied down and held in a mini-warehouse in Reno, according to a November 1976 story in the Reno Gazette-Journal.

He also has a conviction for rape by force or fear stemming from the same incident, and was paroled from a Nevada state prison in 1988, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

In 1991, police believe he was trolling for victims in South Lake Tahoe in a Ford Granada when he snatched Dugard from a bus stop outside her home. The case attracted national attention and was featured on TV's "America's Most Wanted," which broadcast a composite drawing of a suspect seen in the car.

Her stepfather said he saw someone reach out and grab her before the car sped away.

"As soon as I saw the door fly open, the driver's door, I jumped on my mountain bike and I tried to get to the top of the hill, but I had no energy," Probyn recalled. "I rode back down and yelled at my neighbor, 911!"

Probyn said his wife, from whom he is separated, was devastated by the kidnapping. He said for 10 years after the crime, she would take a week off work at Christmas and on the anniversary of the abduction and spend the time crying at home.

Jaycee Lee Dugard has retained custody of her children and was staying at a Bay area motel, authorities said.

[hobojo10]

I just read a CNN article that she was working for her captive in his printing shop, which was in his home. The article also states that she may have been brainwashed...duh!

[hobojo10]

Perhaps a nice long, lingering death should occur to both kidnappers; such as, drag 'em before hanging 'em (or frying 'em).

[hobojo10]

Work at McDonalds...you are as nutty as that maniac. You have failed to remember that this poor girl AND her two children have never been to school...that means NO EDUCATION...NO READING, WRITING OR 'RITHMATIC.

[boyerschefsoncall]

Jaycee did or did not contact the authorities for many reasons. Maybe someone or many people within the local authorities were involved in Jaycees Hell

- They Kidnaps her in 1991 wearing an ankle tracking device
- They Possibly kidnaps Rapes, Injures and Kills many girls and children in the community while wearing an ankle tracking device
- Has a parole officer visit his residence often
- Had perverted parties that which the neighbors witnessed
- The neighbors knew he was a sexual predator
- The neighbors sometimes saw him with young girls
- He was know as Creepy Phil in the neighborhood
- Neighbors called the police about his perverted ways and that people were living in the yard, and a police officer checked it out
- He went to the FBI with the girls to give them information regarding this case

Am I the only one that thinks someone(s) with authority could have been involved in this evil

[boyerschefsoncall]

Jaycee did or did not contact the authorities for many reasons. Maybe someone or many people within the local authorities were involved in Jaycees Hell

- They Kidnaps her in 1991 wearing an ankle tracking device
- They Possibly kidnaps Rapes, Injures and Kills many girls and children in the community while wearing an ankle tracking device
- Has a parole officer visit his residence often
- Had perverted parties that which the neighbors witnessed
- The neighbors knew he was a sexual predator
- The neighbors sometimes saw him with young girls
- He was know as Creepy Phil in the neighborhood
- Neighbors called the police about his perverted ways and that people were living in the yard, and a police officer checked it out
- He went to the FBI with the girls to give them information regarding this case

Am I the only one that thinks someone(s) with authority could have been involved in this evil

[nirak2-2009]

I feel so sorry for the Stepdad.

[bradkt1]

It's not fair and just plain wrong to make stereotypes or generalizations about religion. Whether I agree with some of them them or not in matters of religious doctrine or politics, the overwhelming majority of Christians are hard-working devout believers who try to live decent lives and try as members of a community to put their best foot forward to worship God. Some of us may have doctrinal and/or political differences and those differences between us are exploited by those who seek political gain, but that's all. This evil cannot be attributed to religion.

The two people who did this are just plain evil...both the male sexual predator and his wife. She was not the "little miss innocent" oppressed wife and she was more than just an enabler...by her silence, she was an active participant in this atrocity and allowed it to occur and continue. She knew that this girl jad been kidnapped from day one. They both hid behind religion and used it as a con. They should both be put away forever and never see the light of day.

I can only have sympathy for the victim and her family, wish them well and hope that they can find some kind of way to put the rest of their lives back together and find some peace. This is a nightmarish tragedy and they all have been scarred for life, but at least the daughter was found alive and is able to return to her family.

The stepfather who was a suspect all these years must have gone through hell. He was innocent. No lawsuit could ever compensate him for the the hell of suspicion that he has gone through.

The way I see this so far, the parole officer didn't do his job. He had the right and duty to search the premises where this sexual predator lived periodically and had he done his job, this kid could have been found a long time ago, a family could have had a chance to heal and an innocent man would have had his name cleared. I believe that as more facts emerge, we will find that there were many signs that something was amiss at the home of these two suspects that should have been detected a long time ago. Whether he...or they...were involved in the murders of prostitutes remsains to be seen, but I wouldn't be surprised if that turns out to be the case.

[madbeachdogs]

As usual these monsters start out abusing and killing animals before they start on female humans.
Check his background and ASK, why was he not put down then, at the first strike?!?!?!?!

[hamiltoningrate]

the neighbors are at fault here. Just because your husband says this or that and down plays it, is no excuse. Woman, don't you have a brain of your own. What were you thinking //

[drnoack]

Are there any zoning laws or property maintenance ordinances in Antioch or can folks pile as much crap in their backyards as possible? You would have figured that someone from the city would have caught a look at the tarps, huts and other ramshackle structures and maybe checked on the property.

[u_walty]

What I want to know is why this sicko wasn't a suspect when Jaycee was kidnapped! He has been in jail for kidnapping a woman from South Lake Tahoe in 1976. Same town Jaycee was kidnapped. He was paroled just 3 years before, lived relatively nearby and probably matched the stepfather's description of the people and car he saw take Jaycee. You would think instead of focusing on the stepfather, the cops would have done their police work and investigated every sex offender within a 500 mile radius and concentrated initially on offenders that have similar MO which would have brought this guy to the top of the list.

Kudos to the Berkeley Police officers who were on the ball and the parole officers that followed up with the questioning that finally broke this sicko.

[andacar]

When are we going to learn? When we look for the face of evil, we expect to see Snidley Whiplash, a crooked face with a leering toothy smile, horns and a tail. But most of the time the truly evil people, the Ted Bundy's, the John Wayne Gaceys, and of course this guy, are bland, ordinary and undistinguished. Im also flabbergasted that never did this guy's probation officer smell anything fishy or bother to search the entire grounds once in twenty years.

[smithnr]

This is why I feel that child molestation should be an unforgivable offense. Anyone that touches a child that way should be sentenced to the death penalty... and none of this "oh I was temporarily insane and didn't know I was doing it", unless they have prior already documented mental disabilities they should pay for the life they ruin.

[fedup12]

I think we should castrate them. I guarantee that would fix em.

[maiingan]

Yahoo! News confirms our belief that the Garrido house is the one with the blue tarp tents/roofs west of the street. I see CBS News now has some images/video up online now.

[maiingan]

I did a Google search and found an article on the 1st screen which gave Garrido's address as 1554 Walnut Ave. in Antioch CA, 94509. I used several online map sources and though they differ in placement of the house number - I know they may not all use GPS info based on ground truth - I've settled on the one with several blue rectangular shapes west of the street, like several fellow commenters. We can't zoom in enough to see evidence to get a search warrant with, but I'm sure police aircraft could have in 1991. Tents come in many colors including blue, but these images remind me of the blue tarps used to cover damaged roofs. This would not be a normal tent group. The methods used in "NUMB3RS" to narrow down a search are based on real law-enforcement work, even though the math is beyond the comprehension of most of us, including me. Many people have listed a number of "red flags" which should have been investigated more quickly and thoroughly. Too many people, including some law-enforcement officers, have a dopey attitude of "tolerate just about everything" when they should be more suspicious. Here's my experience: I had a strong bad intuition about a stranger I saw visiting a neighbor, despite his protestations of being OK. When a piece of mail to him c/o this neighbor was mistakenly put in my mailbox before the neighbor's, I Googled his name before putting it where the neighbor would get it. Guess what? He was a registered sex offender!

[babooph]

Out of prison the last 18 years AFTER Rape & kidnapping CONVICTION !!!!???They must have needed the cell for some dumb drug addict ,facing MANDITORY life for less weight than Rush had, instead of HIM!!!Maybe if local police were not sent out all the time chasing the drug addicted fools instead of violent criminals.......

[janeyre-2009]

This guy and his wife are Evil. Why is it, when the suspect is White, people say: they have a mental problem. Everyone has a mental problem. They don't kidnapp and rape and do harm to children. Most of these crimes have White men being the suspects... Just imagine how this board would sound, had the suspects been non-White... Talk about name calling. Hateful words etc... Tame would be the descripton of this and other boards... No ugly,filthy words to denegrate a whole race... That only appears, when the suspect is non-White... One idiot on another board, tried to call the criminals illegal's. They don't appear to be Mexican or whatever... Just horrible, unattractive and poor... Hopefully, Jaycee, can get the kind of help that she and her children will need... Much like Elisabeth in Austria. Where Fritz raped and kept his daughter in the basement... Impregnanted her and kept them in the dark.

[ruger_223]

by blitzder August 28, 2009 4:17 PM EDT
"Problem is, California is broke,(again thanks to Republican leadership)the public needs to help out this family."

Well, you are half correct, not bad for a dem... California is broke, but it was caused by the hand outs, high taxes that drive out business, and support for illegal aliens. I'm sure the public will be glad to help out this family, it wasn't their fault any of this happened. Felons like the one in this case should be executed immediately. I'm all for a fair trial and all that stuff. But, in this case, I'm all for exection today, fair trial tomorrow.

[lisaandtaz]

You are absoulutely right "truth-b-toll". Someone is to be held accountable. They failed this girl and her family and let her live in hell. They did not do there job by any means what so ever and she paid the price. I just can not understand the parole officer, and the cop that took the complaint three years ago, he should have walked around the back and investigated, he would have found her. This is a shame for this little girl that got everything taken from her and lived in hell. I hope this family can mend from this and enjoy their life from here on out.