Aunt: Jaycee Raised Two Bright Girls

Jaycee Lee Dugard managed to raise two bright and normal kids despite their backyard captivity, her aunt tells the Orange County Register. "I'm a teacher. I know kids," says Tina Dugard, the sister of Jaycee's mom, Terry. "And I can tell you that they are a normal 11- and 15-year-old." The girls know how to read and use the Internet. "It's clear that Jaycee did a great job with the limited resources she had and her limited education."

Tina Dugard took part in the family reunion when Jaycee introduced her daughters to Terry. All seem remarkably happy, she said. As for Jaycee, "she does seem like a 29-year-old woman. She's fabulous, and she's beautiful." When Jaycee met the younger sister she never knew, there was an "instant connection," says Tina. "It was almost a genetic connection … an instant sense of family, for all of us." (More Jaycee Lee Dugard stories.)