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Jaycee Dugard: I Can Finally Say My Name

Kidnap victim deals frankly with ordeal in new memoir

By Polly Davis Doig, Newser Staff

Posted Jul 7, 2011 11:39 AM CDT

(Newser) – After 18 years in Phillip Garrido's backyard hell, one might expect Jaycee Dugard to be joyless and withdrawn. But Diane Sawyer instead encounters a fiercely devoted 31-year-old mother, a rape survivor who confronts her ordeal unflinchingly, and a vibrant woman savoring each tiny freedom in her new life—like being to say her own name aloud, something Garrido had prohibited her from doing. Dugard gives her first television interview, airing this Sunday on ABC, ahead of the release of her candid memoir, A Stolen Life.

"I can walk in the next room and see my mom," Dugard says. "Wow. I can decide to jump in the car and go to the beach with the girls. Wow, it's unbelievable, truly." Dugard now wears a pendant of a pinecone, which "was the last thing I touched [before she was kidnapped]. You know, the last grip on me. Now, it's—it's a symbol of hope and new beginnings. And that—there is life after something tragic," she says.

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This is an undated file family photo released Aug. 27, 2009 by Carl Probyn of his stepdaughter, Jaycee Lee Dugard who went missing in 1991. (AP Photo/Carl Probyn, File)

Jaycee Lee Dugard is seen in this undated file photo provided by her step father William Carl Probyn. (AP Photo/ William Carl Probyn via the Orange County Register, file)

Diane Sawyer previews her interview with Jaycee Dugard on "The View" in this screenshot. (ABC)

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Diane Sawyer previews her interview with Jaycee Dugard on "The View." (ABC)

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(NEWSER) - Phillip and Nancy Garrido have confessed to kidnapping Jaycee Lee Dugard and holding her for 18 years, Nancy's defense attorney says. The confession was made in an effort to reduce Nancy's sentence, the Los Angeles Times reports: Authorities have offered her a plea deal of nearly 242 years to life, but her attorney says 20 to 30 years is more appropriate. "She's guilty, obviously, of kidnapping and a bunch of other charges," but "as far as being involved in any of the sexual stuff, she wasn't," he says. More»

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Jaycee Dugard: I Can Finally Say My Name

Kidnap victim deals frankly with ordeal in new memoir

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kidnapping • memoir • Jaycee Lee Dugard • Phillip Garrido • Nancy Garrido • Terry Probyn • Jaycee Dugard • child kidnapping

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More Newser Stories

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Jaycee's Mom 'Enjoying Every Minute' of Reunion

Missing girl's grandmother says daughter Terry Probyn is 'in the clouds'

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