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Kidnapper's Dad: My Son Is a 'Crazy Person'

Manuel Garrido says LSD drove Phillip to madness

By Harry Kimball, Newser Staff

Posted Aug 28, 2009 1:25 PM CDT

(Newser) – The father of the man accused of kidnapping, raping, and imprisoning Jaycee Dugard says his son was a model youth—until he discovered acid, reports the Los Angeles Times. "Everyone loved him," Manuel Garrido says of Phillip, who played guitar in a band, cracked jokes, and always helped around the house. That changed in his teens. “After he got the LSD pills, he was gone,” says the elder Garrido. “It ruined his life. He did a lot of crazy things after that.”

"They are treating him like he knew what he was doing, but he didn’t know what he was doing,” says Garrido, who hasn't seen his 58-year-old in 5 years. “The man is out of it. He is a sick man. He should be treated that way. He should be punished but he should be treated like a crazy person.”

[Images (7)]

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Phillip Garrido. (AP Photo)

A shack is shown in the backyard of a home in Antioch, Calif. where authorities say kidnapped victim Jaycee Lee Dugard lived. (AP Photo)

Jaycee Lee Dugard, who went missing in 1991. (AP Photo)

A tent is shown in the backyard of a home in Antioch, Calif., Friday, Aug. 28, 2009, where authorities say kidnapped victim Jaycee Lee Dugard lived. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

Makeshift tents and other structures fill a backyard where authorities say kidnap victim Jaycee Lee Dugard lived in Antioch, Calif., on Friday, Aug. 28, 2009. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

A shed is shown behind a fence at a home in Antioch, Calif., Friday, Aug. 28, 2009, where authorities say kidnapped victim Jaycee Lee Dugard lived. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

This is a home in Antioch, Calif., Friday, Aug. 28, 2009, where authorities say Phillip Garrido lived. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

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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. - Phillip Garrido, on the kidnapping

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Kidnapper's Dad: My Son Is a 'Crazy Person'