Kidnap Victim Jaycee Dugard Tells Story
July 13, 2011By Alicia Ramsay

Nearly 15 million people, according to The New York Times, tuned in Sunday, July 9 for an ABC news 2-hour exclusive interview with 18-year kidnap victim Jaycee Lee Dugard.


Dugard, now 31, spoke about her memoir titled A Stolen Life and her convictions about kidnap victims sharing their secret.


"Why not look at it, stare it down until it can't scare you anymore?" she said to Diane Sawyer about her intention for writing her book.


On June 10, 1991, Dugard, age 11, was kidnapped by sex offender Phillip Garrido and his wife Nancy as she made her way to the bus stop in Lake Tahoe, California. Paralyzed by a stun gun, Dugard was taken two hours away to Antioch, on the border of San Francisco.


Held captive for 18 years, Dugard was repeatedly raped, threatened and kept isolated in a small shack in the pedophile's backyard.


Garrido claimed that God had chosen him to speak to demon angels, whose voices he heard in the walls. He confessed that those demon angels made him kidnap Dugard so that she could help him overcome his "sexual problem."


As the abuse persisted, Dugard birthed two girls: one at age 14 and the other at 17.


When asked why she didn't escape when she had the chance, Dugard said, " It wasn't something I felt I could do. The situation felt like it wasn't an option... There was no leaving."


Parole officers visited the sex offender's house 60 times during their intensive monitoring protocol but failed to spot Dugard, even when neighbors reported children living in the back yard.


On August 27, 2009, Dugard was reunited with her mother after two UC Berkeley college officers followed up on a suspicion after Garrido was publicizing his Biblical convictions on campus. He had two withdrawn girls with him who called him "Daddy."


"He can't steal anything else," said Dugard, sitting beside her mother. "He can't steal our love for each other. He can't take that away."


Just last month, Phillip Garrido, who is now 60, was sentenced to 431 years in prison and his wife Nancy was sentenced to 34 years to life. They pleaded guilty in April.


ABC has changed its schedule this Saturday and will air an encore presentation of "A Special Edition of Primetime with Diane Sawyer - Jaycee Dugard: In Her Own Words," this Saturday night at 9pmET/8pmCT.


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