Kidnapped California girl resurfaces 18 years later

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A woman who was kidnapped in 1991 at the age of 11 turned up at a California police station on Wednesday, authorities said, and a couple accused of abducting her has reportedly been arrested.

Jaycee Dugard had been missing since she was abducted near her home in South Lake Tahoe on June 10, 1991 by two people in a gray sedan.

"It's a pretty spectacular story just to find someone like that. Someone we assumed was dead," said Bill Clark, the chief assistant district attorney for El Dorado County, an area east of Sacramento that stretches into the Sierra Nevada and to South Lake Tahoe.

An El Dorado County Sheriff's spokesman said in a brief written statement that "1991 kidnap victim Jaycee Dugard has been located in good health in the greater Bay Area of California."

Few other details were immediately released but the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper reported on its website that Dugard, now 29, was identified after she walked into a police station with the married couple accused of abducting her.

The paper, citing law enforcement sources, said Phillip Craig Garrido, 58, and Nancy Garrido, 55, came into the Concord station with Dugard to ask a question and were detained after arousing the suspicion of an officer.

Phillip Garrido, a registered sex offender with a prior conviction for rape, was being held on suspicion of kidnapping, rape, lewd and lascivious acts with a minor, sexual penetration and kidnapping, the Chronicle reported.

Nancy Garrido was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy and kidnapping, the paper said.

Clark in the district attorney's office said it was too early to speculate on possible charges, but the office was busy reconciling current law with that on the books in 1991.

Dugard was walking to a bus stop near her home when the gray sedan pulled up next to her and she was yanked inside.

UPDATE:

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A California girl abducted at age 11 in 1991 has been found alive, police said on Thursday, adding her kidnapper apparently fathered two children with her and kept all three living in tents and sheds behind his house.