Bone Fragments Found Near Kidnapper's Home

(CBS/ AP)  Police said Monday they found one small bone fragment on the property next door to the home of a Northern California man charged with kidnapping a little girl and hiding her in his backyard for 18 years.

The FBI and local law enforcement agencies in the San Francisco Bay area have been combing Phillip Garrido's property in Antioch and the one next door for several days looking for any possible links to unsolved crimes in the area.

Garrido and his wife, Nancy, were arrested last week and charged with 29 counts connected to the kidnapping, rape and imprisonment of Jaycee Lee Dugard, who was snatched outside her home in South Lake Tahoe in 1991. They have pleaded not guilty.

The bone fragment was found Sunday in the next door neighbor's backyard, said Contra Costa County Sheriff's Department spokesman Jimmy Lee. He said it is not known if it is from an animal or human, and testing will take several weeks.

Garrido once lived on that property in a shed. Neighbors say he once worked as the property caretaker and helped out an elderly man who lived there several years ago.

Antioch and Contra Costa County authorities have not provided many details about what they are seeking at the properties in relation to the other cases. The land includes the backyard compound of tents and sheds where Garrido and his wife allegedly hid Dugard and her two daughters, now 11 and 15, fathered by Garrido.

Read more stories on the Dugard case at CBSNews.com:

Witness: Jaycee's Kids Seemed Normal
Bone in Backyard: Is it Human?
Garrido Revealed Rape Fantasy in Testimony
Jaycee Lee Dugard's Daughters Cried When Their Father, Phillip Garrido, Was Arrested

Slideshow: Inside Jaycee Dugard's Terror Tent
Slideshow: Jaycee Lee Dugard Found Alive

Police in the nearby city of Pittsburg, however, have said they are investigating whether Garrido, 58, was involved in the murders of prostitutes in the 1990s.

Minnie Norrell says a Pittsburg homicide detective contacted her about her daughter's 1998 slaying and a possible connection to Garrido, CBS News correspondent Hattie Kauffman reports.

The detective told Norrell, "I'm here to tell you that he's a man of interest," Norrell, 66, said. "I feel like my daughter really can't rest until we find out who did it."

Mike and Maddi Misheloff's daughter Ilene disappeared more than 20 years ago and Jaycee's story hits close to home, Kauffman reports.

Yet, Jaycee's safe return does provide some comfort to a family that even after 20 years still keeps a light on by the door.

"We leave the lights on, outside lights all night," Mike Misheloff said.

Cadaver-sniffing dogs have been on and off the properties to help uncover possible evidence.

More coverage from Crimesider:

Cops Search Suspect's Home
Why Didn't Jaycee Escape?
Exclusive: Reporter Remembers Girl's Abduction
Garrido: Dugard's Girls "Slept in My Arms Every Single Night"

Meanwhile, an FBI agent who spent 18 years on Dugard's kidnapping case says the Garridos never were considered suspects.

Special Agent Chris Campion said the bureau exhausted thousands of leads about Dugard's whereabouts, sometimes with the help of confidential informants and court-ordered wiretaps.

Yet Campion said in the interview posted on the FBI Web site Friday that Phillip and Nancy Garrido "just did not come up on the radar screen."

"We've gone through and checked our records and my memory is no, we didn't have any thing that remotely was close to these people," Campion said. "We can tell you several thousands of people that didn't kidnap Jaycee Lee Dugard."

The secrets of the Garrido home began to surface early last week when Garrido arrived for a meeting with his parole officer with his wife, Dugard, now 29, and the two girls. Authorities say he confessed to snatching Dugard in 1991.

Over the years, Campion said he made a point of calling Dugard's mother every year on Dugard's birthday. He was the one who called to give her the news that her daughter was alive and he was present last week when they were reunited.

"It was a very emotional scene - both of them were just overjoyed to be with each other again," he said. "There's going to be a period of adjustment, no doubt, but they're doing very well at this point. And the two daughters are probably as happy as Jaycee is to be part of this family as well."

If you have information that might help the investigation of Lisa Norrell's murder, contact the Pittsburg Police Department at [phone].

If you have any information regarding Ilene Misheloff, contact the Dublin, Calif. Police Services: [phone] or [phone] or at www.ci.dublin.ca.us/html/police.html

[Darr247]

How could they justify it? They had to make room in the prisons to lock up all those dangerous potheads! I'm surprised they haven't paroled Manson so they can put another cancer-granny in prison for the rest of her life because she grew a couple plants in the backyard. It's not against CA law, but it's still a federal offense, and that was a federal prison in which creepy phil was held.

[j_flood]

One bone fragment does not require the plural used in your headline - small enough error but does convey a totally different message!

[factsplease1]

I would like to know how a prisoner sentenced to 50 years came up for parole in just 10 years and then was released!!! Parole board should be brought up on charges of some sort for derilection of duty to society.(can't get spell check to work, please ignore mis-spellings). How could they justify releasing a kidnapper/rapist? Kids caught with a small amount of "maryjane" get longer sentences and don't get out that quick.

[TheVarsityClub]

FBI, note to self; If a child is kidnapped all regestered sex offenders in a 150 mile radius should be considered suspects. Is it profiling?, You bet. Imposing on their civil liberties?, probably. Their convicted sex offender, they have lost the benifit of doubt.

[JadesInTheSky]

You know while Dugards family is happy that she is alive I'm angry at how sloppy the Police and FBI handled this and probably many of other missing persons cases. You're telling me that Garrido actually committed a kidnapping and rape in South Lake Tahoe (as a trial run) prior to the kidnapping of Jaycee Dugard and he doesn't come up on anyone's radar?? You're telling me that it didn't dawn on the FBI or the local Police to connect that dot? You're telling me that the stepfather gave a perfect description of the car that Garrido and his wife used to abduct Jaycee and you as the FBI and Police don't run it in the DMV database and match it with any potential pedophiles or convicted rapists? Come on give me a break this is simply pathetic police work. I bet you had the properly handled the case Jaycee would have been recovered within months not 18 years. I'm no detective but this is common sense. It is something simple as saying, "Hey look lets run a check of any kidnapping and rapes in the area for the past decade, then let's question the list of suspects who did committ crimes in South Lake Tahoe, then let's match a car." OMG this is not Hollywood this is the Police putting to much faith in this Man who didn't deserve it. In 2006 Garrido was visited by the Sheriffs department and they didn't even bother to check his home or run a check on him. I'm sick about what Garrido did but I'm even more disgusted with how the FBI and Police handled this case. The Police and the Justice system failed miserably. Not only that I wonder how many "cold cases" could be actually solved with proper detective work and with detective who have common sense and the education. What happened to Jaycee is beyond shame this makes you have no faith in the Justice system because this girl will be screwed up for the rest of her life.

[mtskeeter]

As I recall living in Northern Ca there were many girls that went missing. A few were found murdered. Has anyhting happened with the cold cases of(forgive my spelling errors) Amber Schwartz Garcia, Mikalea Garret and Ilene Mischeloff? Any possible relation to this case?

[woeisme1]

I don't know but the whole story is like a Hollywood horror movie unfolding before our eyes live.

[edgy44]

I wouldn't get too excited about a bone fragment. If they killed and chopped up prostitutes, you're going to find a bunch of bones. The bone fragment is probably from a big rat. That town is synonymous with the word squalor.

[thesevenveils]

The neighbors of this sick pervert, especialy the man who told his wife to mind her own business are accomplices to this terrible crime. They knew dang well something wasn't right, but they either yellow bellied egg sucking dogs or have their own sex slaves in their back yards to not call the police on all the suspicious activites they could hear in that back yard. Kodos to the anonymous tip to the sheriffs office 3 years ago. Talk about a Barney Fife that answered the 911 call. Doh!