A woman who has been missing from her South Lake Tahoe home has surfaced in Concord, 18 years after she was kidnapped, and two people are apparently in custody, her stepfather said today.
Jaycee Dugard, who would be 29 today, walked into the Concord Police Department on Wednesday, stunning police and family members who had all but lost hope that she was still alive.
Dugard's stepfather, Carl Probyn, 60, of Orange (Orange County) told The Chronicle today that his wife, Terry, called him at about 4 p.m. Wednesday with the news he never though "She basically said, 'Are you sitting down?' I said, 'Yes.' And she said, 'They found Jaycee - she's alive."
The two, who are separated, cried for about two minutes on the phone.
But that wasn't all. Citing information provided to her by the FBI, she also had another chilling bit of information: "They have the people she was with."
Terry Probyn was able to speak on the phone with her daughter. "She sounds normal. She told my wife she remembers everything," Carl Probyn said.
Concord police have declined comment, referring inquiries to the El Dorado County sheriff's office. An FBI official confirmed the account today. A news conference is scheduled for today.
Dugard was last seen on June 10, 1991 as she was walking to a bus stop in South Lake Tahoe. Dugard, a blue-eyed, blond 11-year-old dressed in a pink top and pink pants, set out to catch the bus to her school near South Lake Tahoe. She never made it.
As Probyn watched helplessly from the family's driveway on a hill about two blocks away, a two-tone gray sedan pulled up and someone yanked the girl into the car and sped off. Even though officers responded within minutes, no trace of the car or girl was ever found.
Dugard's mother was reportedly on her way from her southern California home to reunite with her daughter.
"I gave up hope for 18 years, just went into recovery mode. I thought it would be nice just to recover her and capture the people and find out why they did this," said Probyn, a wallpaper contractor. "Now, I just won the lotto. It's just unbelievable. This is going to be a great day today."