By WILLIAM LANEY
The collection of evidence in the Jaycee Lee Dugard case by the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office is following procedure by the book, Auglaize County Sheriff Al Solomon says.
The collection of evidence despite a confession is the best course of action because the criminal case still often ends up in court, Solomon said.
“We always continue to collect evidence despite a confession because 99 percent of the time somebody is going to go in, obtain legal counsel and plead not guilty,” Solomon said. “In any case, you always have a defendant so you collect and secure all the evidence you can and make sure you have all the evidence you need to get a conviction. A confession is nice, but it is always nice to have the evidence to back that up.”
Solomon said he was one of the deputies who spent three days collecting evidence at the scene of the Betty Marie Head murder in 1986 in St. Marys. The evidence helped in gaining a murder conviction of James David Gott during a trial in 1988.
Gott later confessed to the murder during a sexual predator hearing in 2000.
On Friday, Nancy and Phillip Garrido pleaded innocent to 29 counts of rape and kidnapping in the Jaycee Dugard case during a court hearing after confessing to the crimes earlier last week.
Dugard, now 29, was kidnapped while walking to her bus stop when she was 11 years old. For the past 18 years, she has lived in a series of tents and lean-tos in the backyard of Garrido’s residence in Antioch, Calif.
The tents were obscured by a 6-foot tall privacy fence and trees and behind a garage several feet from the back of the Garrido’s back property line.
Dugard has two children, ages 11 and 15, who were fathered by Garrido.
In the case against Garridos, Solomon said they need to thoroughly collect evidence because they “need to find out if he is involved in any of these other cases and anything they find there may help them in any of these cases he may be involved in or suspected of committing.”
The sheriff said evidence collected at the Garrido residence in El Dorado County could provide evidence and clues to crimes in Contra Costa County as well as other counties in northern California.
Law enforcement officials are investigating the possibility he is linked to the death of prostitutes and other kidnapped victims in the area although no evidence collected at this point indicates his involvement.
While people are likely curious to see photographs of Jaycee Dugard and her two daughters, Solomon said there may be a couple of reasons none have been released besides abiding to the privacy of the family.
“I don’t know the ins-and-outs of the case, but it could have something to do with other leads in the case, but it likely has to do with the family and the privacy of the family,” Solomon said.
He also said despite Dugard being an adult now, the criminal offense occurred when Dugard was a minor and her children are still minors. The nature of the crime also may weigh in the decision since law enforcement agencies and the media rarely identify rape victims.
Photographs of Dugard and her two children have been released but the media has obscured their faces to protect them.
People also need to realize a relationship developed between Dugard and her captors that may be hard to initially understand, Solomon said.
Dugard, who the Garridos called Allissa was reunited with her mother on Friday after she appeared last Wednesday in a probation office claiming she was the 11-year-old girl kidnapped in 1991.
Experts believe she may have suffered from Stockholm syndrome, a condition where captives become sympathetic toward their captors.
“People need to understand the captive does develop a trusting relationship with their captor at times because they are they see and all that they know,” Solomon said. “I know she lived in tents in the back yard, but they may have been good to her at times.”
She helped run Garrido’s printing business and often met with customers. One client said she was always polite and nicely dressed as were the children.
While this case resulted in Dugard being reunited with her mother, Solomon said residents should contact law enforcement officials immediately if they believe their child has been kidnapped or is missing.
Most people check with neighbors and their friends as well as the missing person’s friends, but “as soon as you believe there is something wrong, call law enforcement right away,” Solomon said. “If you call us and we find out they are at friend’s house, that is fine because it is a win-win for everybody.”
He said calling the local sheriff’s office or the police department and reporting a child missing who turns up at a friend’s or neighbor’s house is not a criminal offense.
The sheriff said time is crucial in a missing person’s case.
“When you call us we are looking right away because the longer you wait the harder it is to locate the missing child,” Solomon said. “I never understood the 24-hour waiting period, which is no longer required, because the longer we wait before we start to find out where these kids are at then the more time they have to get away.
“We want to limit the search area quickly so we can resolve the case and have a happy ending.”
Last Updated ( Thursday, 03 September 2009 )
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