Category: missing children

Jaycee Dugard Pinecone Jewelry & the JAYC Foundation

Jaycee Dugard Pinecone Jewelry & the JAYC Foundation

A pinecone was the last thing Jaycee Dugard touched before she was dragged into the Garridos’ car two decades ago. It is “a symbol of hope and new beginnings,” she told Diane Sawyer in an interview for Prime Time Life. “There is life after something tragic.” Purchase pinecone jewelry to support the foundation here.

“In the summer of 1991 I was a normal kid. I did normal things. I had friends and a mother who loved me. I was just like you. Until the day my life was stolen.”

Simon and Schuster has just released A Stolen Life, a memoir by Jaycee Dugard .  There is also an ebook and an unabridged audio book, read by Dugard. A portion of the proceeds will go to The JAYC Foundation, which provides support and services for the timely treatment of families recovering from abduction and the aftermath of traumatic experiences. Scroll down for a link to Jaycee’s pinecone jewelry to support the foundation.

About the book : Dugard narrates the story in the present tense, beginning with the harrowing day of her abduction at the age of 11–her confusion, her terror, her absolute powerlessness as Phillip and Nancy Garrido paralyzed her with a stun gun, dragged her into the car, shoved her to the floor, and drove her from Tahoe to Antioch, California, to the dismal backyard compound where she would spend the next 18 years of her life. Scroll down to read an excerpt.

Each chapter is followed by a reflection, in which Dugard, who has been in therapy since her rescue in 2009, reveals her feelings about the ordeal now, as an adult looking back at the suffering of her younger self. Dugard’s writing style is direct and lucid, filled with detail; the naturalness of her writing is all the more impressive given the fact that her formal education stopped at the age of 11.

Dugard writes about discovering she was pregnant at the age of 14, and about delivering two baby girls in her back yard prison. She writes about how dependent she was on Phillip Garrido for everything. For most of the first six years of her captivity, she was locked in a soundproof room. Garrido convinced her that he knew everything she did. She lived in fear of getting “in trouble,” certain that he would use the stun gun again.

When her youngest daughter was two years old, Dugard was finally allowed to begin going out in public. By then, she had been so manipulated by Garrido that she believed his terrible lie: that she was safer in the back yard compound than she would be out in the world, and that her daughters were safer there as well. On outings, she avoided looking people in the eye; repeatedly, she mentions her feelings of invisibility.

Through it all, we see Dugard’s attempt to live as normal a life as possible–caring for a series of beloved  pets, creating a school for her children, establishing small routines, and later, keeping the Garridos financially afloat by running the family printing business–often while Phillip and Nancy spent their days in a drug-induced slumber. She even keeps a journal, portions of which are presented–in her own childish print–in the book. Later journal entries reveal Jaycee struggling with many of the things any twenty-something young woman struggles with: her weight, her desire to eat more healthfully and be more motivated. These entries are extraordinarily poignant, infused with Jaycee’s longing, all these years after her abduction, to be with her mother; her desire to be free mixed with uncertainty about where she would go, or how she would take care of her children, if she were ever to leave; her confusion about Nancy and Phillip’s role in her life. After all, they have become her “family,” but she desperately wants to be with her real family, to be held once again by the mother whose face she can no longer remember, but whose love she remembers vividly.

Some of her journal entries include lists of dreams she has for her life. Along with taking a hot-air balloon ride, visiting Ireland, and learning two languages, she dreams of writing a best-seller. She has done just that; the day of its release, A Stolen Life hit #1 on Amazon.

Dugard also explains her reason for writing this book: she will no longer hide Garrido’s secret, she will no longer protect him from the truth of what he did to her. Others will know the brutality of his abuse.

This is a heartbreaking book from a brave and unbelievably resilient young woman, who now looks forward to a normal life for her and her two daughters. It is also inspiring; so much was taken from Dugard, and yet she has chosen to move forward without hatred. While she still experiences loneliness, she writes, she has fully embraced the joys of making home-cooked meals with her family, walking on the beach, and simply being free. Buy the book.

Having done a great deal of research into missing children while writing The Year of Fog, I followed Jaycee’s case with deep interest. One cannot help but be amazed by the fact that she survived and raised her daughters in such harrowing circumstances, and that she has now turned her efforts to helping other families through the J A Y C Foundation. In her interview with Diane Sawyer, which aired July 10 on Prime Time Life, Jaycee emphasized the fact that crimes such as those committed by the Garridos affect not only the victims, but also the victims’ families.

A note about Michaela Joy Garecht: Jaycee’s recovery momentarily gave hope to other parents of missing children–in particular to Sharon Murch, the mother of Michaela Joy Garecht, who was kidnapped from a Hayward, California, parking lot in 1988, and who has never been found. Sharon Murch is still looking for Michaela; read more about her story here.

Excerpt from A Stolen Life:

In the summer of 1991 I was a normal kid. I did normal things. I had friends and a mother who loved me. I was just like you. Until the day my life was stolen.

For eighteen years I was a prisoner. I was an object for someone to use and abuse.

For eighteen years I was not allowed to speak my own name. I became a mother and was forced to be a sister. For eighteen years I survived an impossible situation.

On August 26, 2009, I took my name back. My name is Jaycee Lee Dugard. I don’t think of myself as a victim. I survived.

A Stolen Life is my story—in my own words, in my own way, exactly as I remember it.

View a video clip of Diane Sawyer’s interview with Jaycee Dugard here.

Jaycee Dugard Memoir – A Stolen Life

Jaycee Dugard Memoir – A Stolen Life


“In the summer of 1991 I was a normal kid. I did normal things. I had friends and a mother who loved me. I was just like you. Until the day my life was stolen.”

Simon and Schuster has released A Stolen Life, a memoir by Jaycee Dugard.  There is also an ebook and an unabridged audio book, read by Dugard. A portion of the proceeds will go to The JAYC Foundation, which provides support and services for the timely treatment of families recovering from abduction and the aftermath of traumatic experiences. Scroll down for a link to Jaycee’s pinecone jewelry to support the foundation.

Jaycee Dugard

About the book : Dugard narrates the story in the present tense, beginning with the harrowing day of her abduction at the age of 11–her confusion, her terror, her absolute powerlessness as Phillip and Nancy Garrido paralyzed her with a stun gun, dragged her into the car, shoved her to the floor, and drove her from Tahoe to Antioch, California, to the dismal backyard compound where she would spend the next 18 years of her life. Scroll down to read an excerpt.

Each chapter is followed by a reflection, in which Dugard, who has been in therapy since her rescue in 2009, reveals her feelings about the ordeal now, as an adult looking back at the suffering of her younger self. Dugard’s writing style is direct and lucid, filled with detail; the naturalness of her writing is all the more impressive given the fact that her formal education stopped at the age of 11.

Dugard writes about discovering she was pregnant at the age of 14, and about delivering two baby girls in her back yard prison. She writes about how dependent she was on Phillip Garrido for everything. For most of the first six years of her captivity, she was locked in a soundproof room. Garrido convinced her that he knew everything she did. She lived in fear of getting “in trouble,” certain that he would use the stun gun again.

When her youngest daughter was two years old, Dugard was finally allowed to begin going out in public. By then, she had been so manipulated by Garrido that she believed his terrible lie: that she was safer in the back yard compound than she would be out in the world, and that her daughters were safer there as well. On outings, she avoided looking people in the eye; repeatedly, she mentions her feelings of invisibility.

Through it all, we see Dugard’s attempt to live as normal a life as possible–caring for a series of beloved  pets, creating a school for her children, establishing small routines, and later, keeping the Garridos financially afloat by running the family printing business–often while Phillip and Nancy spent their days in a drug-induced slumber. She even keeps a journal, portions of which are presented–in her own childish print–in the book. Later journal entries reveal Jaycee struggling with many of the things any twenty-something young woman struggles with: her weight, her desire to eat more healthfully and be more motivated. These entries are extraordinarily poignant, infused with Jaycee’s longing, all these years after her abduction, to be with her mother; her desire to be free mixed with uncertainty about where she would go, or how she would take care of her children, if she were ever to leave; her confusion about Nancy and Phillip’s role in her life. After all, they have become her “family,” but she desperately wants to be with her real family, to be held once again by the mother whose face she can no longer remember, but whose love she remembers vividly.

Some of her journal entries include lists of dreams she has for her life. Along with taking a hot-air balloon ride, visiting Ireland, and learning two languages, she dreams of writing a best-seller. She has done just that; the day of its release, A Stolen Life hit #1 on Amazon.

Dugard also explains her reason for writing this book: she will no longer hide Garrido’s secret, she will no longer protect him from the truth of what he did to her. Others will know the brutality of his abuse.

This is a heartbreaking book from a brave and unbelievably resilient young woman, who now looks forward to a normal life for her and her two daughters. It is also inspiring; so much was taken from Dugard, and yet she has chosen to move forward without hatred. While she still experiences loneliness, she writes, she has fully embraced the joys of making home-cooked meals with her family, walking on the beach, and simply being free. Buy the book.

Having done a great deal of research into missing children while writing The Year of Fog, I followed Jaycee’s case with deep interest. One cannot help but be amazed by the fact that she survived and raised her daughters in such harrowing circumstances, and that she has now turned her efforts to helping other families through the J A Y C Foundation. In her interview with Diane Sawyer, which aired July 10 on Prime Time Life, Jaycee emphasized the fact that crimes such as those committed by the Garridos affect not only the victims, but also the victims’ families.

A note about Michaela Joy Garecht: Jaycee’s recovery momentarily gave hope to other parents of missing children–in particular to Sharon Murch, the mother of Michaela Joy Garecht, who was kidnapped from a Hayward, California, parking lot in 1988, and who has never been found. Sharon Murch is still looking for Michaela; read more about her story here.

Excerpt from A Stolen Life:

Jaycee Dugard as a child. (Kim Komenich/Getty)

In the summer of 1991 I was a normal kid. I did normal things. I had friends and a mother who loved me. I was just like you. Until the day my life was stolen.

For eighteen years I was a prisoner. I was an object for someone to use and abuse.

For eighteen years I was not allowed to speak my own name. I became a mother and was forced to be a sister. For eighteen years I survived an impossible situation.

On August 26, 2009, I took my name back. My name is Jaycee Lee Dugard. I don’t think of myself as a victim. I survived.

A Stolen Life is my story—in my own words, in my own way, exactly as I remember it.

View a video clip of Diane Sawyer’s interview with Jaycee Dugard here.

View Jaycee Dugard’s website, The JAYCFoundation, here.

 

A pinecone was the last thing Jaycee touched before she was dragged into the Garridos’ car two decades ago. It is “a symbol of hope and new beginnings,” she told Sawyer. “There is life after something tragic.” Purchase pinecone jewelry to support the foundation here.

Michelle Richmond is the author of The Year of Fog, No One You Know, Dream of the Blue Room, and The Girl in the Fall-Away Dress.


Related reading:

The Long Journey Home: A Memoir by Margaret Robinson

In Plain Sight: The Startling Truth Behind the Elizabeth Smart Investigation, by Tom Smart

Missing girl found across the street from Ocean Beach

Missing girl found across the street from Ocean Beach

Every now and then, the real-life story of a missing child ends with the child’s safe recovery. But the story of Brittany Mae Smith really caught my attention, even more than all the others, due to the fact that Smith, reported missing four days ago from Salem, VA, was spotted on Friday at the Safeway by Ocean Beach in San Francisco, accompanied by Jeffrey Scott Easley, the 32-year-old boyfriend of her mother. Until we moved out of the city  last year, this was our neighborhood Safeway, within walking distance of our house, where we did most of our grocery shopping. (This particular Safeway also happens to be just steps from the beach where the fictional Emma Balfour disappeared in The Year of Fog.)

A woman who had seen Brittany’s picture, along with the picture of Easley,spotted the pair. In addition to recognizing their faces, she recognized two tattoos on the alleged abductor.

On Friday, San Francisco police called Virginia police after the shopper spotted the fugitive and the girl at the Safeway at 48th Avenue and Fulton Street. They described distinctive tattoos Easley had on his calves to confirm his identity.

Despite her recovery, Brittany’s story is a tragic one. Her mother, 41-year-old Tina Smith, was found murdered on Monday, and Easley is suspected in the woman’s death.It is unclear exactly how long Brittany was with her abductor, but, according to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle, “Easley and the girl were recorded on video buying a blue tent at a Walmart near the victim’s home, possibly on the day of the slaying, believed to be Dec. 3.”

Police say Easley and Brittany were staying in a homeless encampment near Ocean Beach, possibly in Golden Gate Park. Some reports state that Brittany had told a friend she was afraid that Easley would harm her mother and take her away. The fact that Brittany was found–and found relatively quickly– can be attributed to media attention, the Amber Alert, and a conscientious citizen who acted on her her hunch and called police.

Coincidentally, Brittany’s recovery came on Friday, December 10, the same day that a federal jury found Brian David Mitchell guilty of kidnapping Elizabeth Smart, who was 14 years old at the time, in 2002 and transporting her across state lines with the intent of engaging in sexual activity. Smart’s ordeal lasted a harrowing nine months; much of that time was spent in an encampment in the woods near Smart’s home. According to Ed Smart, Elizabeth, who spent three days testifying in court against Mitchell, now hopes to become a prosecutor.

Sign up to have Amber Alerts sent to you by text at wirelessamberralerts.org.

Get Amber alerts by text

Get Amber alerts by text

Please go to wirelessamberalerts.org and sign up for wireless Amber alerts. It takes about five seconds, and it could save a child’s life. The Amber alert is one of the most effective tools law enforcement has to track down children in the hours after abduction.

According to Amberalert.gov, “AMBER Alert programs have helped save the lives of 525children nationwide. Over 90 percent of those recoveries have occurred since October 2002 when President Bush called for the appointment of an AMBER Alert Coordinator at the first-ever White House Conference on Missing, Exploited and Runaway Children. AMBER Alerts serve as deterrents to those who would prey upon our children. AMBER Alert cases have shown that some perpetrators release the abducted child after hearing the AMBER Alert on the radio or seeing it on television.”

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