Lost and Found (39 page)

At 8:00
A.M
., Monday, September 14, Phillip and Nancy Garrido were back inside El Dorado Superior Court for a brief ten-minute bail hearing. That morning, London’s
Daily Mirror
reported that Jaycee Dugard had agreed to appear on
Oprah
for $1 million.

Scores of journalists jostled for position inside the courtroom, as photographers stood to the side photographing the Garridos.

As before, Nancy used her long hair to shield her face from photographers’ lenses, while Phillip, wearing a bandage over his nose and a gray beard, sat expressionless throughout the proceedings.

Judge Douglas Phimister, now assigned to the Garrido case, fixed Phillip’s bail at $30 million and granted a request from Gilbert Maines that his client Nancy, who was being held without bail, undergo psychological evaluation.

Susan Gellman then told the judge her client had been pressured by several police departments that want to interview him about other cases.

“He does not consent to be questioned for any purpose,” she said.

The only time the Garridos spoke was when the judge asked if they waived their right for a preliminary hearing within sixty days, answering “Yes, sir.”

Later, outside the court building, El Dorado district attorney Vern Pierson pleaded with reporters to respect Jaycee and her family’s privacy.

“I’ve heard comments referring to this family as a piece of property to be had,” he declared. “I think they needed to be left alone. As Abraham Lincoln said, let us all rise to the better angels of our nature and leave this family alone during this time of reunification.”

He also said that investigators were continuing to pursue other leads in the case.

“As of today,” he said, “there are no additional charges. That’s not to say there won’t be.”

The district attorney also applauded the actions of Phillip Garrido’s parole agent Eddie Santos, describing them as “within the finest standards of law enforcement and public service.

“This parole agent successfully broke through the elaborate, well-planned cover story that was nineteen years in the making. We all owe him a debt of gratitude.”

One reporter then asked if Jaycee Dugard had been approached about testifying against the Garridos.

“Let me just generally say,” he replied. “Typically, in every criminal case because of the United States Constitution and the confrontation clause—ultimately a witness would have to come into court and testify when a case goes to trial. So beyond that I don’t think I can comment.”

A few hours after the hearing, the Dugard family spokeswoman Erika Price Schulte labeled the reports that Jaycee would appear on
Oprah
as “completely false.”

Sometime in September, Jaycee and her family moved into a horse ranch, donated by a millionaire to help speed their recovery. Now that the police interviews were over, the family was receiving continuing private and group therapy sessions.

A key part of the treatment for Jaycee and her daughters had been horse therapy, especially designed to help them establish familiarity and trust with Terry and Shayna. Everyday the whole family rode together through the large ranch, together experiencing the freedom of fresh air and nature, in stark contrast from their imprisonment with the Garridos.

“Jaycee has a horse, Oreo, that she has bonded with,” a friend, who had visited them on the ranch told
Hello!
magazine. “[It’s] something important to her recovery.”

The Dugard family spokeswoman Erika Price Shulte said that as there was no precedent for what Jaycee and her family had gone through, they were taking an “individualized approach” to treatment.

“Horse therapy is part of the reunification therapy they’re going through,” she said. “Jaycee and the girls really love riding horses.”

Angel and Starlit were now being home-schooled in math and English. Tests recently carried out had shown both girls to be highly intelligent and academically equal to school-educated children of the same age.

During their free time, Jaycee and her daughters loved reading and watching DVD movies. Jaycee was also a talented cook, preparing family Mexican meals of rice, beans and salsa.

They had also been reunited with their five cats, although the pigeon, pet mouse and three cockatiels had been adopted by other members of the family. The Contra Costa Animal Shelter was still trying to find a home for the two dogs.

“They are adjusting amazingly well,” a source close to the family told
Hello!
“They are smart, playful, funny girls. But they are also very caring and protective of each other—maybe a reflection of how it was for them in captivity.”

Jaycee’s stepgrandmother Joan Curry told
People
magazine that no one was underestimating the difficulties lying ahead. And that Jaycee would have to come to terms with being repeatedly raped by Phillip Garrido, and her daughters would have to deal with him being their father.

“Jaycee’s realistic,” said Curry. “She knows this is not going to be the easiest road that she’s ever traveled, but she is just very upbeat.”

45

NO STONE UNTURNED

On Tuesday, September 15, officers from the Hayward and Dublin police departments descended on 1554 Walnut Avenue, Antioch, and the house next door. They were searching for any evidence tying the Garridos to the disappearances of nine-year-old Michaela Garecht and thirteen-year-old Ilene Micheloff in the late 1980s. Prior to their arrival, both police departments had obtained search warrants on the grounds that the two young girls’ kidnappings were so similar to Jaycee Dugard’s several years later. Michaela also bore a striking resemblance to Jaycee, with her blonde hair and blue eyes.

The search was expected to take several days and would also involve the FBI and the Alameda and Contra Costa County sheriff’s departments.

Police and sheriff’s deputies arrived early in the morning, closing off Walnut Avenue to traffic. Then sixty officers entered, wearing face masks, latex gloves and kneepads. Half a dozen large, specially adapted camper-style vehicles also parked in front of the Garrido house to headquarter the operation.

As the morning progressed, TV news crews and reporters returned to Walnut Avenue with a growing anticipation of what might be buried in the backyard. An investigator said that the idea of razing the Garrido house to see if any human remains were buried underneath was now under active consideration.

Dublin police lieutenant Kurt Von Savoye likened the search to “looking for evidence in a landfill.”

The searchers spent the day combing the two properties, stacking piles of debris up in the Garrido backyard. Later an ancient green van was towed out of the backyard.

At one point Phillip and Nancy Garrido’s two defense attorneys arrived at the house, to carry out their own site inspection, and were turned away.

“[We] were surprised to find police and media at the residence of Phillip and Nancy Garrido,” said Gilbert Maines. “[We] had no prior knowledge of the serving of any other warrants by any other agencies.”

That afternoon, Michaela Garecht’s mother, Sharon Murch, arrived to see firsthand how the search was going. And on her way out she spoke to reporters about the emotional roller-coaster ride she had been on since Jaycee’s reappearance.

“I hope this will lead to a resolution,” said the mother of four. “If Jaycee can be found alive and come home after eighteen years, then my daughter can be found alive and come home after eighteen years.”

She then sent an emotional message to Michaela, just as Terry Dugard had once done to Jaycee.

“Michaela,” she said, welling up with emotion, “if you’re out there somewhere within the sound of my voice, I just want you to know that we love you, we miss you . . . and we want you to come home.”

At 4:30
P.M
. the search finished for the day, with nothing significant discovered.

“This is one of the strongest leads [for Michaela] we have pursued thus far,” Hayward police lieutenant Christine Orrey told reporters. “We don’t walk away from here, thinking we left anything undone that would help us solve these cases. We just want to bring closure for these families, as to what happened to these missing children.”

Lieutenant Orrey said neither police department had yet questioned the Garridos. Jaycee had been interviewed by the FBI, but had not mentioned anything about Michaela or Ilene.

On Wednesday morning the search resumed, with forensic investigators bringing in ground-penetrating radar equipment, able to detect human remains up to twenty-five feet beneath the surface. An aerial photo expert was also recruited to analyze a series of aerial images of the Garrido backyard dating back to the 1980s and see what changes had been made.

Braving temperatures in the nineties, investigators spent the day searching the two backyards. Later they removed three truckloads of trash, weeds and debris for closer examination. They also tore down a carport and a shed in the Garrido backyard to see what was underneath.

When the search wound up for the day in the late afternoon, Lieutenant Orrey came out for an impromptu press conference. And what she would say would hit the front pages of newspapers across America the next day.

“We have located what appears to be bones on both properties,” she declared, adding that they were already on their way to a police laboratory for analysis.

She said the joint task force now planned to completely clear out the Garridos’ back garden, bringing in state-of-the-art radar equipment, for an even more intense subterranean search.

On Thursday, the third day of the search, investigators brought in a six-dog team of cadaver dogs, specially trained to sniff out human remains. Ten more truckloads of debris were removed from the Garrido property, as Hayward and Dublin police investigators dismantled sheds and tents in the backyard, before moving inside the Garrido house for the first time.

That morning Sharon Murch returned and was given a tour of the Garrido backyard. On her way out she told a reporter that she had seen Phillip Garrido’s soundproofed shed, and wondered what atrocities he must have committed in there.

“Until someone shows me search positive that my daughter is not alive,” she said, “I’m just going to continue to believe she is.”

Later, at an afternoon press conference, Sergeant J. D. Nelson of the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office said one of the cadaver dogs had picked up a scent, which was later confirmed by a second dog. But he refused to elaborate where on the property that had occured.

On Friday the searchers returned, pulling up a huge concrete slab in the backyard and removing more truckloads of debris. The police also brought in a professional archaeologist to run radar equipment in a grid pattern around the backyard. And he picked up signs of soil that may have been disturbed by a previous digging.

“We’re removing concrete slabs that inhibited dogs and machinery to get a look at that area,” said Lieutenant Kurt von Savoye. “[We] removed sheds that the dogs and machinery couldn’t go to before.”

Then the search was put on hold until Monday, so investigators could take the weekend off and be fresh to resume on Monday.

While Phillip Garrido’s property was being torn apart for clues, the
National Enquirer
published what it claimed was the first photograph of the grown-up Jaycee Dugard. In what was billed as “a world exclusive” was the photograph of the blonde model on Garrido’s old Printing For Less business cards.

The magazine reportedly paid Garrido client Wayne Thompson five thousand dollars for the card.

“Phil gave me the card and said the photo on it was his daughter,” the barber told the
Enquirer
. “I know it was her because I met her.”

Later, family spokesman Erika Price Schulte told
People
magazine that the
Enquirer
’s picture was definitely not Jaycee.

“Not even close,” she said.

Jaycee Lee Dugard and her daughters were all pining for their pets, now being cared for by Contra Costa Animal Control. Lieutenant Nancy Anderson said Jaycee had been in touch through a third party, requesting their five cats, two dogs, three cockatiels, pigeon and mouse be returned to them.

“We’re just hoping we can arrange to get them back to Jaycee and the kids,” said Lieutenant Anderson, “as soon as possible.”

On Sunday, Carl Probyn attended a fundraising benefit concert for Jaycee at a casino in Stateline, launching a blistering attack on law enforcement for not finding her sooner.

Comparing the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Department to the “Keystone Kops,” Probyn said its officers should feel guilty about accepting paychecks.

“It’s just mind-boggling,” he said. “It makes me sick to think what Jaycee went through.”

A reporter then asked Probyn why he had not yet seen Jaycee, almost a month after her discovery. He replied that he was in no hurry.

“I know she’s safe,” he said. “I know she’s alive.”

Jimmy Lee of the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office said the department had already taken responsibility for its mistakes with Phillip Garrido.