Kidnap and rape victim found after 18 years

By now you may have heard of the woman who was found earlier this week. Jaycee Lee Dugard was missing for 18 years, kidnapped in 1991 when she was only 11 years old.

I cannot even begin to imagine what her kidnapper, Phillip Garrido, did to her.

Phillip Garrido, 58, is being held for investigation of various kidnapping and sex charges. Authorities said his 54-year-old wife, Nancy Garrido, was with him during the kidnapping in South Lake Tahoe and she also has been arrested.

[...]

Garrido has a long rap sheet dating to the 1970s.

He was convicted of kidnapping a 25-year-old woman whom he snatched from a South Lake Tahoe parking lot, handcuffed, tied down and held in a mini-warehouse in Reno, according to a November 1976 story in the Reno Gazette-Journal.

He also has a conviction for rape by force or fear stemming from the same incident, and was paroled from a Nevada state prison in 1988, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

In 1991, police believe he was trolling for victims in South Lake Tahoe in a Ford Granada when he snatched Dugard from a bus stop outside her home. The case attracted national attention and was featured on TV's "America's Most Wanted," which broadcast a composite drawing of a suspect seen in the car.

One thing that really struck me from the article is that the day he was caught and confessed, he went to the University of California with the intent to pass out religious literature. His acquaintances said he'd become something of a religious fanatic in recent years. He's described as speaking incoherently, rambling about God, and even stated, "I tell you here's the story of what took place at this house, and you're going to be absolutely impressed. It's a disgusting thing that took place from the end to the beginning. But I turned my life completely around."

Well, that doesn't change anything, does it? I, for one, don't give a shit how he's supposedly changed, or how much he repents. That cannot undo the damage done to his victims. Repenting doesn't give anyone a free pass on their actions.

I can't help but wonder what sort of role Garrido's wife had in all this, since the victim and her daughters were living in the backyard. I can't help but wonder if she was a willing or unwilling accomplice in her husband's penchant for abduction and rape of minors.

At this time, police are investigating whether or not Garrido also sexually assaulted his daughters.

I hope that bastard rots in prison the rest of his life for what he's done.