'It's been a long haul,' US kidnap victims says
NEW YORK — Rescued kidnap victim Jaycee Dugard appeared Friday on television for the first time with her family since her 18-year ordeal came to a dramatic end last August.It was…
NEW YORK — Rescued kidnap victim Jaycee Dugard appeared Friday on television for the first time with her family since her 18-year ordeal came to a dramatic end last August.It was the very first glimpse in video of Dugard relaxing and laughing with her mother and half-sister after she was snatched at the age of 11 just outside her South Lake Tahoe, California, home in 1991 and confined in a secret backyard prison for two decades."Hi, I'm Jaycee. I want to thank you for your support and I'm doing well," she said in a home video broadcast on ABC television, dressed in a black shirt and jeans while petting two spaniels."It's been a long haul," added Dugard, now 29, "but I'm getting there."In the video, Dugard, her mother Terry Probyn and her half-sister Shayna, 19, are seen decorating Christmas cookies."I've never gotten to decorate a cookie before," said Dugard, her long, light brown hair cut to shoulder length, as she laughed with Probyn and Shayna about a mistake she made on the decorations.She has two daughters, now aged 12 and 15, fathered by her captor. The girls were not shown in the video.Since her release, Dugard has tried to rebuild her life, obtaining a drivers license and birth certificates for her daughters. She is also working to obtain her general equivalency diploma for high school and plans to go to college, according to ABC.The family, which has fiercely defended its privacy ever since the arrest of Dugard's kidnappers triggered a worldwide media sensation, was also seen sitting by a fireplace beneath their Christmas stockings. They now live at an undisclosed location in northern California."Please give us the time to heal as a family, without the prying eyes of the photographers and the press," Probyn said as she stared straight into the camera."We released this video so that you can see that we're happy and well and when we have more to share, we will. As a mother, I am pleading for our privacy in this very public story."Dugard's mother also quelled rumors that the family received financia
last modification 2010-03-05 15:30:02
Add comment