Missing for 18 Years

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Kidnapped US Girl Resurfaces After 18 Years As Sex Slave

SAN FRANCISCO: A woman who was snatched as an 11-year-old from a bus stop was reunited on Thursday with her family after spending 18 years as the captive of a convicted rapist who fathered her two children, police said.

Throughout her capture, Jaycee Dugard, was held in a shed and other outbuildings hidden on the property of Phillip Garrido, 58, in a rural area of Antioch, California, some 80 km northeast of San Francisco.

Garrido and his wife Nancy, 54, were each being held on $1-million bail on a number of charges including kidnapping, rape and conspiracy.

"None of the children have ever been to school. They've never been to a doctor," a police representative told a press conference. "They were kept in complete isolation in this compound, if you will."

Police discovered Dugard Wednesday when they questioned Garrido after reported suspicious activity involving him and two children at the University of California, Berkeley.

Dugard was reunited with her family Thursday. Her stepfather, Carl Probyn, who was with her when she was abducted in June 1991, told the San Francisco Chronicle that the family was overjoyed at her appearance.

"She sounds normal. She told my wife she remembers everything," Probyn said.

"I gave up hope for 18 years, just went into recovery mode," he said. "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."
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