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KOVR, channel 13, is an owned-and-operated station of the CBS Television Network located in Sacramento, California and licensed to Stockton. KOVR-TV shares its offices and studio facilities with sister station KMAX-TV (channel 31) in West Sacramento, California, and its transmitter is located in Walnut Grove, California.

History[link]

Early history[link]

KOVR is Sacramento's oldest continuously-operating television station. It first hit the airwaves on September 6, 1954 from the California State Fair. Originally an independent station with a transmitter located on Mount Diablo, its signal reached the San Francisco Bay Area, hence the call letters KOVR ("covering" all of Northern California). It broadcast from a studio on Miner Avenue in Stockton. Art Finley hosted an afternoon children's program, Toonytown, for several years, before moving to San Francisco's KRON.

As an ABC affiliate[link]

In May 1957, KOVR merged its operations with Sacramento's original ABC affiliate, KCCC (channel 40, which signed on a few months before KOVR). KCCC went silent, and KOVR became Sacramento's ABC affiliate. At ABC's request, the station moved its transmitter to a temporary site near Jackson to avoid competition with KGO-TV in San Francisco.

By this time, it was obvious that Sacramento, Stockton and Modesto were going to be a single television market. In 1960, KOVR teamed up with KCRA-TV and KXTV to build a new 1,549-foot tower in Walnut Grove. In 1985, KOVR and KXTV moved to their current 2,049-foot (625 m) tower while KCRA moved to its own 2,000-foot (610 m) tower; KCRA still uses the old tower as an auxiliary.

In 1958, Gannett (the present-day owner of rival KXTV) bought KOVR from its original owners, then sold it a year later to John Kluge's Metropolitan Broadcasting (which later became Metromedia). In 1960, the station moved its general offices and news department to a new studio on Arden Way in Sacramento. In 1987 KOVR consolidated its operations into its current facility in West Sacramento.

Metromedia sold KOVR to McClatchy Newspapers in 1964. McClatchy ran the station alongside The Sacramento Bee and Modesto Bee newspapers, as well as radio stations KWG in Stockton and KFBK in Sacramento. McClatchy was able to own KOVR, KWG and KFBK because Sacramento, Stockton and Modesto are separate radio markets. McClatchy had established a trio of bee mascots (originally designed by Walt Disney, whose namesake company would eventually acquire ABC) of which Teevee the Bee was KOVR's official mascot during the years McClatchy owned the station—short cartoons of the bee bookended KOVR's broadcast day, either ushering in or concluding the day's programming. ([1])

After McClatchy sold the station to Outlet Communications in 1978, KOVR went into a gradual decline in terms of both ratings and programming quality (even as ABC became the country's highest-rated network), and has been in third place in the Sacramento ratings for most of the time since then. The station was then sold to Narragansett Television LP in 1986, then to Anchor Media in 1988. Anchor Media was merged into River City Broadcasting in 1993, and River City was purchased by the Sinclair Broadcast Group three years later.

KOVR does have its high water marks in local broadcasting: it was the first station in Northern California to use videotape (rather than film) for its newscasts, and was the first station in the Sacramento/Stockton area to broadcast in stereo.

As an ABC affiliate, KOVR preempted a moderate amount of programming, even the 30-minute soap opera Loving. It also aired some ABC programming out of pattern: All My Children in the early years used to air at 11 a.m. (half of ABC's affiliates air AMC at 11 a.m. to follow it with their noon newscasts; the timeslot is secondary compared to airing AMC at noon traditionally). In the mid-1990s, KOVR moved the soap opera to air at 3 p.m., a practice continued by KXTV by the network switch until the early 2000s.

Switching to CBS[link]

On March 6, 1995, KOVR swapped affiliations with longtime CBS affiliate KXTV (then owned by Belo Corporation; now owned by Gannett). Despite becoming a CBS affiliate, KOVR chose not to air Guiding Light, a practice continued from KXTV during its CBS days (due to the show's below-average ratings in the area). When the program left the air on September 18, 2009, it was one of only two CBS affiliates not carrying the show; the other, WNEM in Bay City, Michigan (mid-Michigan area), aired it on a digital subchannel affiliated with MyNetworkTV. KOVR is the third station in Sacramento to affiliate with CBS, since KCCC aired it as a secondary affiliation in addition to ABC on the outset.

A more notable oddity with KOVR's affiliation with CBS is that the station runs the network's primetime schedule an hour earlier than typical. CBS programming that is seen from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. in other Pacific Time Zone markets (as well as many Eastern Time Zone markets) is shown from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. (typically used by stations in TV markets in both Central and Mountain time zones) instead on KOVR. When KOVR was an ABC affiliate, the station had an 11 p.m. newscast like most stations on the coasts. Upon the network switch, the station followed the practice of now-sister KPIX in having a 10 p.m. hour-long newscast (KPIX later on moved the newscast back up to 11 p.m. in 1998). In recent ratings periods KOVR has been battling Fox affiliate KTXL (channel 40) for the lead in the 10 p.m. news time slot, with KOVR leading in total households and KTXL leading in the key demographics.

In 2001, KOVR gained attention when it landed a "local exclusive" interview with Congressman Gary Condit regarding the Chandra Levy murder (Condit appeared the same evening on ABC, in an interview with Connie Chung). The station televised an interview on August 30 in which he claimed that he did not kill Chandra Levy after a visit with the slain intern. Despite numerous KOVR reports filed by reporter Gloria Gomez, the Condit interview was granted to another KOVR reporter, Jodi Hernandez. Much of the national interest in the case was lost days later, in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.

In May 2005, Sinclair sold KOVR to Viacom's television stations unit (now part of CBS Corporation), creating CBS' third California duopoly with then-UPN O&O KMAX-TV, now the local CW station. Viacom was forced to sell KFRC-AM in San Francisco as a condition of the sale, as the station's city-grade signal reaches Sacramento.

Digital television[link]

Analog-to-digital conversion[link]

KOVR ended programming on its analog signal, on VHF channel 13, on June 12, 2009, as part of the DTV transition in the United States,^[1] and remained on its pre-transition digital channel 25 ^[2] PSIP is used to display KOVR's virtual channel as 13.

Programming[link]

Until late 1999, Live with Regis & Kelly (then Live with Regis & Kathie Lee) aired on KOVR, even during its affiliation with ABC. The show now airs on KCRA.

After the purchase by CBS was announced, some, including station management, had speculated that KOVR would eventually move CBS's primetime lineup back to 8–11 p.m. and add Guiding Light to its schedule, along with dropping The Jerry Springer Show. It was assumed as an O&O, that KOVR would have to carry Guiding Light. However, on May 3, 2005, it was announced that programming would remain exactly the same for the Summer and that there would be no plans to add Guiding Light.

On August 11, 2005, CBS announced that the 7–10 p.m. prime-time lineup, the 10 p.m. local newscast and the 11 p.m. airing of The Late Show with David Letterman would remain in place. The success that the station has had with the early prime-time schedule and its 10 p.m. newscast is cited as the reason for maintaining the status quo. At that point, it also stated that Guiding Light would not be added to KOVR, at least for the 2005 season, but would now be available through online streaming. The logic was that a show that had been off in the market for over 14 years would not receive good ratings. Plus there were few requests for it. Another reason was that the amount of spots available during the show would not make it profitable for the station to run it. The station did, however, change its on-air branding from the long-standing "KOVR 13" to "CBS 13" in compliance with the CBS Mandate.

On July 31, 2006, the station received approval from the network to move the weekend lineup back an hour in order to maintain an hour-long 10 p.m. newscast throughout the week. The new weekend schedule, which began August 27, will, for example, have 60 Minutes airing at 6 p.m. on Sunday nights. KOVR is now the only Pacific Time Zone CBS station to run the entire network primetime lineup beginning at 7 p.m. At the time, it was also one of two TV stations in the Sacramento market and in the Pacific Time Zone to start their network primetime lineup early, as KQCA started airing its two-hour MyNetworkTV schedule from 7 to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday, on September 5 that same year. KQCA has since moved its primetime lineup back to the 8 to 10 p.m. timeslot.

The Late Late Show (which had been airing at 1 a.m.) moved up one hour, pushing back the Midnight showing of The Jerry Springer Show to a later time (which was seen on the station weekdays at 3 p.m. until September 8, 2006). On September 11, 2006, NBC Universal's Jerry Springer was dropped and moved to KMAX-TV, where it ran until 2007, when it was picked up by KQCA, who now airs the show at Noon and 2 PM. KOVR became the market's new home of Dr. Phil (produced by CBS-owned KingWorld, now CBS Television Distribution)--this currently airs at 3 p.m. on weekdays. Guiding Light would also continue to not be run and Montel Williams continued to air at 2 p.m. weekdays. In July 2006, Maury Povich was dropped in favor of a 4 p.m. newscast on weekdays. That fall, the schedule basically remained the same as during the previous season. The station continued preempting Guiding Light for the 2007–2008 season.

In the fall of 2008, KOVR again declined to add Guilding Light, even though Montel Williams was canceled by co-owned CBS Television Distribution that September. The double run of Montel Williams was scaled back to air in reruns once a day at 9 a.m. weekdays. Its old 2 p.m. time slot would now be occupied by the Dr. Phil spin-off, The Doctors.

On April 1, 2009, it was announced that CBS was finally canceling Guiding Light altogether and its last airdate would be September 18. On August 3, it was announced a new version of Let's Make a Deal would replace the soap beginning on October 5, 2009. Between those dates, an additional hour of The Price Is Right would be run. On September 4, 2009, KOVR ran Frasier reruns for two weeks while Guiding Light aired its last two weeks of episodes. On September 21, Price Is Right's additional temporary hour ran from 9 to 10 a.m. Let's Make A Deal from CBS (seen in most of the country in the afternoon following The Talk) currently runs on KOVR at 9 a.m. on a delayed basis so as to run as part of a game show block with Price Is Right. So, in effect, KOVR currently runs the entire CBS schedule, although its prime-time schedule continues to run from 7–10 p.m.

Out-of-market cable coverage[link]

This section requires expansion.

KOVR is available on cable in the northern parts of the Bay Area, mostly in Solano County. KOVR can also be seen in most of the Chico area.

News operation[link]

This section requires expansion.

KOVR has long had a noon newscast. In 1965, it was just 15 minutes long, followed by "People, Places & Things" at 12:15 p.m. In the 1980s, KOVR aired the ABC soap opera All My Children at 11 a.m. (tape delay from the previous weekday) in order to free the noon slot for the newscast.

While under Sinclair ownership, KOVR had worked with a small-to-medium-sized news staff, which was unusual since Sacramento's dramatic growth during the 1980s had made it a top-20 market. However, with CBS' purchase, the KOVR and KMAX-TV newsrooms have been combined at KOVR's West Sacramento location. On-air staff from KMAX-TV now also make appearances on KOVR and vice versa.

On February 1, 2006, KOVR debuted its new graphics along with new music, a new set, and a new main anchor team of Sam Shane (from MSNBC and KCRA) and Pallas Hupé (from Detroit Fox station WJBK). The evening newscast has instituted a three-anchor format. The program begins with Shane and Hupé anchoring the major news stories of the day, deferring to anchor/reporter Brandi Hitt for World and National News stories. The unique three-anchor setup remained during weekend prime-time newscasts with rotating anchors. KOVR has been without a competitive sports department since the departure of John Henk in the late 1990s. Most KOVR on-air staff with the station during the Sinclair years have either been fired or have resigned. Dismissals of former lead anchors Paul Joncich and Jennifer Whitney were sudden and unannounced whereas Marcy Valenzuela and Jennifer Krier were allowed to say farewell to viewers on air. Remaining on-air staff include chief meteorologist Dave Bender and investigative reporter Kurtis Ming.

In October 2008, KOVR-TV started broadcasting its newscasts in high-definition. Only the in-studio portions of its newscasts are in HD; however, for over a year and a half after KTXL upgraded to high-definition newscasts it was the only station in the Sacramento market that still relied on pillarboxed 4:3 standard-definition footage for its remote field reports. No plans were announced to make field cameras high-def at the time. In-studio sister station KMAX-TV also started producing their newscasts in high-definition in Summer 2009. The CBS 13 News at 10 won the 2010 Emmy Award for Best Evening Newscast and was the #1 rated late news in Sacramento for the May 2010 ratings period.

In September 2010, KOVR made a graphic change. The graphics mirrors that of many of its sister stations, including KCBS and nearby sister-station KPIX. However, unlike many of its O&Os, KOVR kept the branding logo, its current slogan, and the same music theme (used in their previous news open) for its news opens while the station identification is not shown in the news openings. KOVR has since begun using HD cameras for its field reports; however, much of the field footage is still downconverted to 16:9 widescreen standard definition in the control room. In the summer of 2011, KOVR switched to "The Enforcer" music package, the basic theme of which has been used on many of CBS's O&O stations since the mid-1970s.

On November 17, 2010, the websites for KOVR, KMAX and sister sports talk radio station KHTK (1140) were merged into the new CBSSacramento.com as part of CBS and CBS Radio merging together many of their websites into geographic-region specific portals.

CBS13.com Rush Limbaugh controversy[link]

In May 2007, KOVR revamped its morning news program with an emphasis on its website. The 5-6 a.m. newscast, called "CBS13.com", featured anchors Chris Burrous and Lisa Gonzales and weather personality Jeff James in a show centered around viewer feedback through the web, viral videos and news found on the Internet.

On May 7, 2009, CBS13.com reported on a song that conservative radio broadcaster Rush Limbaugh played heavily on his nationally-syndicated program called "Barack the Magic Negro" (to the tune of Puff the Magic Dragon) that spoofed the then-upcoming election of now-President Barack Obama. The song was a satire of an article called "Magic Negro Returns"^[3] that had appeared in the Los Angeles Times claiming that Mr. Obama was—in many people's minds—fulfilling a Hollywood film archetype the author called the "Magic Negro", who has only positive attributes and exists to improve the lives of the main protagonists, who are white. CBS13.com ran a poll asking people whether they thought the song was racist. Limbaugh, in turn, claimed KOVR was a part of the "liberal media" and called the Burrous–Gonzales–James team "morons". In newscasts throughout the day, KOVR covered Limbaugh's lash-out against the station, adding with a disclaimer after every story that KOVR never intended to couple Limbaugh with the parody song and admitting that the station found the song on video sharing website YouTube.

News/station presentation[link]

Newscast titles[link]

• Newsreel (1954–1960)
• Bob Hilton and the News (1960–1961)
• The California Report (1961–1967)
• Television 13 News/TV-13 News (1967–1974)
• Action News 13 (1974–1980)
• NewsWatch 13 (1980–1987)
• KOVR 13 News (1987–2005)
• CBS 13 News (2005–present)

Station slogans[link]

• Northern California's Full Color Station (1960s)
• Channel 13 Action News is Where the Action Is (1970s)
• 13 Belongs (1979–1981)
• Northern California's Fastest Growing News Service (mid 1980s-1987)
• All the News for Northern California (1989–1995)
• For All of Northern California (1995–2004, where the station switched to CBS)
• Asking Questions. Getting Answers. (2008–present)

This film, television or video-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it with reliably sourced additions.

News team[link]

(Year person joined KOVR in parentheses)

Current on-air staff[link]

Anchors[link]

• Lisa Gonzales - weekdays at 5-7 a.m. and Noon
• Ron Jones - weekends at 5 and 10 p.m.; also reporter (2004)
• Steve Large - weekend 5 and 10 p.m. world and national news anchor; also weekday reporter (2006)
• Tony Lopez - weekdays at 4 p.m.; also reporter (2005)
• Sam Shane - weeknights at 5, 6 and 10 p.m. (2006)

Weather Team[link]

• Dave Bender - Chief Meteorologist; weekdays at 4 p.m., and weeknights at 5, 6 and 10 p.m. (1996)
• Neda Iranpour - Weather Anchor; weekends at 5 and 10 p.m., also reporter (2009)
• Laura Skirde (AMS Seal of Approval) - Meteorologist; weekday mornings and noon (2009)

Reporters[link]

• Christina Anderson - general assignment reporter (2010)
• Checkey Beckford - general assignment reporter (2008)
• Laura Cole - general assignment reporter (2007)
• Mike Dello Stritto - general assignment reporter (2006)
• Koula Gianulias - general assignment reporter (2006)
• Andrea Menniti - general assignment reporter (2007)
• Kurtis Ming - consumer reporter; also fill-in anchor (2003)
• Maria Medina - general assignment reporter (2010)
• Derek Shore - general assignment reporter (2010)
• Ben Sosenko - general assignment reporter (2011)

Spanish-language interpreters[link]

• Luis E. Garcia - Spanish-language lnterpreter
• Sam Pinilla - Spanish-language Interpreter (2005)

Notable former on-air staff[link]

• Stan Atkinson - anchor (1994-1999 previously an anchor at KCRA, now retired running local ads)
• David Begnaud- Reporter (2007-2010, now Reporter at KTLA in Los Angeles)
• Claudia Cowan - anchor/reporter (later moved to KRON in San Francisco, now reporter for Fox News)
• Jonathan Elias - investigative reporter (1991–1993, now anchor/reporter at WBZ-TV in Boston)
• Dan Gray - anchor (1980s-90s, now at KPLR in St. Louis)
• Kristine Hanson - meteorologist (2004–2005; now freelancing at KGO in San Francisco and KTXL in Sacramento)
• Lois Hart - anchor (as recently at KCRA, now retired)
• Bob Hilton - anchor
• Brandi Hitt- anchor/reporter (2005–2010, now at KTLA in Los Angeles)
• Pallas Hupe - anchor (2006-2011, left due to her husband's new opportunity in New Zealand and spending time with her two boys)
• Cristina Mendonsa (now evening anchor at KXTV)
• Steve Somers (now at sports radio station WFAN in New York City)
• Dave Walker - anchor (later went to CNN and KCRA, now retired)
• Kris Pickel - anchor (Now at WKYC in Cleveland)

Logos and imagery[link]

From 1974 to around 1978, KOVR-TV's logo for Action News 13 consisted of a middle-sized word saying "Action", and a larger word saying "News", with a split arrow pointing to the right and KOVR's old logo in the middle. From 1978 to the early 1980s, a new logo for Action News was used, consisting of the Action News text in lowercase letters. The word "action" was colored yellow with a slightly larger O in the word and the "13" logo inside it, with the word "news" colored orange and placed directly below "action". In the 1980s, KOVR used a new logo for NewsWatch 13, which had the italicized word "News" and the stylized "13" next to it, with the word "Watch" below.

External links[link]

• CBS 13 website
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KOVR
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KOVR-TV

References[link]

Not to be confused with Steve Sommers (2 Ms), the unrelated host of America's Trucking Network.

Steve Somers (born April 17, 1947) is an American talk radio host best known for his work on the New York City sports radio station WFAN (660 AM). He has been with the station since its inception in 1987.^[1]

Personal life[link]

Somers is a native of the Bay Area, and graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 1969. He currently resides in Manhattan.^[1] His nickname is "The Schmoozer." He is a New York Mets and New York Rangers fan.

Career[link]

Somers began his career in the Bay Area. Before graduating high school, he worked at KYA radio in San Francisco delivering on air high school sports reports. After college, Somers began hosting a news talk show on KNEW in San Francisco long before the talk radio format became popular. To that effect, Time Magazine ran a story naming him the youngest talk show host in the country at that period of time.^[1]

In 1970, Somers joined KPIX-TV in San Francisco as a weekend sports anchor and won a San Francisco Press Club Award.^[1]

For WFAN, Somers has been a part of the station since its inception in 1987. He spent his first few years with the station as the overnight host. He later spent a few years co-hosting the 10am-1pm slot with WWOR-TV sports anchor Russ Salzberg. The program was titled "The Sweater and the Schmoozer."^[2] At that time, Somers developed some of the quirks that have been hallmarks of his WFAN tenure, dropping catchphrases such as "schmoooooozing S-P-O-R-T-S" (spelling out the word "sports"), giving time checks in minutes and seconds, uniquely reading the end of the station's phone number as "six-six-six-six" rather than the standard "sixty six-sixty six", joking at the expense of engineer Eddie Scozzare ("THE Eddie Scozzare?" "No, Eddie Maple, who do you think we're talking?"), and reading the catalogue numbers of live commercials ("LV-242, for those of you scoring at home...").

Currently, Somers usually works during the evening on weekdays. His program can be heard anywhere from 6:30pm to 2am, depending on whether WFAN airs a sporting event that night. He is colloquially known as "The Schmoozer."^[1]

Film[link]

Steve appeared in the 1979 film The Visitor.^[3]

References[link]

This United States biographical article related to radio is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

The kidnapping of Jaycee Lee Dugard occurred on June 10, 1991, in South Lake Tahoe, California. Dugard was 11 years old at the time and was abducted from a street while she was walking from home to a school bus stop. Searches began immediately after the kidnapping, but no reliable leads were generated. She remained missing for more than 18 years.

On August 25, 2009, convicted sex offender Phillip Craig Garrido visited the campus of UC Berkeley accompanied by two young girls. Their unusual behavior there sparked an investigation that led to his bringing the two girls to a parole office on August 26, accompanied by a young woman who was then identified as Dugard.

Garrido, 58, and his wife Nancy Garrido, 54, of Antioch, California, were arrested for kidnapping and other charges. On April 28, 2011 they pleaded guilty to Dugard's kidnapping and sexual assault. Law enforcement officers believe Dugard was kept in a concealed area behind Garrido's house in Antioch for 18 years. During this time, Dugard bore two daughters who were aged 11 and 15 at the time of her reappearance.

On June 2, 2011, Phillip Garrido was sentenced to 431 years imprisonment; his wife received 36 years to life.^[1]

Background of kidnappers[link]

Phillip Craig Garrido   Nancy Garrido Booking photo Unknown extension tag "poem"   Unknown extension tag "poem"   Booking photo Unknown extension tag "poem"   Unknown extension tag "poem"

view talk edit

Phillip Craig Garrido was born in Contra Costa County, California, on April 5, 1951. He grew up in Brentwood, where he graduated from Liberty High School in 1969. His father, Manuel Garrido, who continues to reside in Brentwood, said his son was a "good boy" as a child, but radically changed after a serious motorcycle accident as a teenager, and later turned to drug use (primarily crystal meth).^[8] In 1972, Garrido was arrested and charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl, but the case did not go to trial after the girl declined to testify.^[9][10]

In 1973, Garrido married high-school classmate Christine Murphy, who said Garrido was abusive. Murphy alleges that Garrido kidnapped her when she tried to leave him.^[11]

In 1976, Garrido kidnapped Katherine Callaway in South Lake Tahoe, California. He took her to a Reno, Nevada, warehouse, where he sexually assaulted her.^[12] When a police officer noticed a suspicious car parked outside at unusually late hours, he came up to investigate. Callaway then emerged and asked for help. Garrido was promptly arrested.^[12] He was charged and convicted of crimes in both federal and state courts.^[12][13] In a 1976 court-ordered psychiatric evaluation, Garrido was diagnosed as a "sexual deviant and chronic drug abuser."^[14] The psychiatrist recommended that a neurological examination be conducted because Garrido's chronic drug use could be "responsible in part" for his "mixed" or "multiple" sexual deviation. Garrido was then evaluated by a neurologist. The diagnostic impression was: "normal neurological examination."^[15] In court, Garrido testified that he masturbated in his car by the side of grammar schools and high schools while watching young girls. Garrido was convicted on March 9, 1977, and began serving a 50-year federal sentence on June 30, 1977, at Leavenworth Penitentiary in Kansas.^[13][16]

At Leavenworth, Garrido met Nancy Bocanegra, who was visiting another prisoner, her uncle. On October 5, 1981, Garrido and Bocanegra were married at Leavenworth. On January 22, 1988, Garrido was released from Leavenworth to Nevada State Prison, where he served seven months of a five-years-to-life Nevada sentence. He was transferred to federal parole authorities in Antioch on August 26, 1988.^[13] In Antioch, the Garridos lived in the home of his elderly mother, who suffered from dementia. As a parolee, he was monitored, later wore a GPS-enabled ankle bracelet, and was regularly visited by police.^[17]

Abduction and search effort[link]

In September 1990, Jaycee Dugard and her family moved from the Orange County city of Garden Grove, to South Lake Tahoe, because they thought it was a safe community. At the time of the abduction, Dugard was in the fifth grade and because of her shyness, was worrying about an upcoming field trip. Dugard was close to her mother, Terry Probyn, and infant sister. Dugard's biological father had left the family, and although Dugard's mother had remarried, Dugard was not close to her stepfather, Carl Probyn. On June 10, 1991, Dugard's mother, who worked as a typesetter at a print house, left for work early in the day. Dugard, wearing her favorite all-pink outfit, walked up the hill from her house to catch the school bus, walking against traffic. When she was halfway up the hill, a car approached her. Dugard thought the man in the car would ask for directions, but when he rolled down the window, Phillip Garrido shocked Dugard unconscious with a stun gun and abducted her. Nancy Garrido, whom the District Attorney in the Dugard case believes scouted Dugard as a prize for her husband, held Dugard down in the car as Dugard drifted in and out of consciousness during the drive to the Garrido home in Antioch, three hours from Dugard's home. The only time Dugard spoke was when she pleaded that her parents could not afford a ransom.^[18]

Carl Probyn witnessed the abduction of his stepdaughter from within sight of their home. He saw two people in a gray sedan (possibly a Mercury Monarch or Mercury Zephyr) make a U-turn at the school bus stop where Dugard was waiting, and a woman forced Dugard into the car. (In a Primetime interview on July 10, 2011, Dugard stated a stun-gun was used to incapacitate her). Probyn then gave chase on a bicycle, but he was unable to overtake the vehicle. Some of Dugard's classmates were also witnesses to the abduction. Initial suspects included Probyn and Ken Slayton, Dugard's biological father. Probyn took and passed several polygraph tests, and Slayton was also quickly cleared of suspicion.^[19]

By the time the Garridos arrived at their home on Walnut Avenue, in an unincorporated area in northeast Antioch,^[20] they had removed Dugard's clothing, leaving only a butterfly-shaped ring that Dugard would hide from them for the next 18 years. In taking Dugard from their car onto their property, Phillip Garrido placed a blanket over Dugard's head and ushered her into an area of his backyard where a series of sheds and storage units stood, placing her inside a tiny one that was soundproofed, and handcuffing her before leaving her naked in the structure, which he bolted shut, warning her that Doberman Pinschers trained to attack her if she tried to escape were outside.^[18]

Within hours of Dugard's disappearance, local and national media converged upon South Lake Tahoe to cover the story. Within days, dozens of local volunteers assisted in the search effort, which involved nearly every resource within the community. Within weeks, tens of thousands of fliers and posters were mailed to businesses throughout the United States. Since Dugard's favorite color was pink, the entire town was blanketed in pink ribbons as a constant reminder of her disappearance and a demonstrated support for the family throughout the community.^[18][21][22]

Terry Probyn founded a group called Jaycee's Hope, which directed the volunteer and fundraising effort. Cassette tapes of the song Jaycee Lee along with T-shirts, sweatshirts and buttons were sold to raise money for poster materials, postage, printing and related expenses. Child Quest International and The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children were also involved in the effort. A reward was offered, which was displayed on the posters and fliers. The kidnapping case also attracted nationwide attention and was featured on the June 14, 1991 episode of the television show America's Most Wanted.^[23]

The ensuing months and years were a continuous effort of child safety awareness, fundraising events and candlelight vigils marking Dugard's disappearance and keeping her story before the public.^[24]

Captivity[link]

Immediately after he kidnapped her, Phillip Garrido forced Dugard into a shower with him. The first time he raped her, she was still in handcuffs, in which she remained during her first week in captivity. During that time, Dugard's only human contact was Garrido, who sometimes brought her fast food, and sometimes told her amusing stories. Garrido provided Dugard with only a bucket for her to relieve herself. At one point he provided her with a TV, but she could not see the news, and was unaware of the publicized search for her. Almost a month and a half after her kidnapping, by Dugard's recollection, Garrido moved her to a larger room next door, where she was handcuffed to the bed. He explained that the "demon angels" let him take her, and that she would help him with his sexual problems because society had ignored him. Garrido also told her that by engaging in sex acts with him, which he would videotape, she was protecting other girls that he would not need to victimize. Garrido also went on methamphetamine binges he called "runs", during which he would dress Dugard up, and spent time with her cutting out figures from pornographic magazines. He would also make her listen for the voices he said could hear from the walls. These binges ended with Garrido sobbing and apologizing to Dugard, but alternately threatened to sell her to people who would put her in a cage.^[18]

Seven months into her captivity, Garrido introduced Dugard to his wife, Nancy, who brought the child a stuffed animal and chocolate milk, and engaged in the same tearful apologies to Dugard. Though the lonely Dugard craved the woman's approval at the time, in retrospect she has stated that this was manipulation on the part of Nancy, who alternated motherly concern with coldness and cruelty, and who expressed jealousy over Dugard, whom Nancy Garrido regarded as the one at fault for her predicament. Dugard characterizes Nancy, who worked as a nursing home aide, as "evil" and "twisted". When Phillip Garrido returned to prison for failing a drug test, Nancy Garrido replaced her husband as Dugard's jailer. The Garridos further manipulated Dugard by presenting her, on two occasions, with kittens that would later "mysteriously vanish". When they discovered her signing her real name in a journal that Dugard kept about her cats, she was forced to tear out the portion of the paper with her name, the last time she would be permitted to say or write her name until years later.^[18]

Thirty-four months into her captivity, the Garridos began to allow Jaycee freedom from her handcuffs for periods of time, though they kept her locked in the bolted room. On April 3, 1994, Easter Sunday, they gave her cooked food for the first time. They informed her that they believed she was pregnant. Now age 13 and four and a half months pregnant, Dugard herself had learned of the link between sex and pregnancy from television. At this time, Terry Probyn was holding rummage sales to pay for private investigators and distributing a million flyers across the United States featuring a sketch artist's image of a teenaged Dugard, while raising her younger daughter, Shana. Dugard watched programs on childbirth, in preparation for the birth of her first daughter, which occurred on August 18, 1994. Her second daughter was born on November 13, 1997.^{[18][25][26][27]}

Dugard took care of her daughters using information gleaned from television, working to protect them from Phillip Garrido, who would continue his alternating enraged rants and Biblical lectures.^[18] A neighbor of the Garridos named Patrick McQuaid said he recalls, as a child, meeting Dugard through a fence in the Garridos' yard soon after the kidnapping. He said that she had identified herself by the name "Jaycee" and that when he asked her if she lived there or was just visiting, she answered that she lived there. At that point Phillip Garrido came out and took her back indoors. Garrido eventually built a eight-foot-tall fence around the backyard, and set up a tent for Dugard, the first time she was allowed to walk outside since her kidnapping.^[18][28] She coped with her continued captivity by planting flowers in a garden, and home-schooling her daughters. At one point, Phillip Garrido informed Dugard that to pacify his wife, Dugard and her daughters would address Nancy as their mother, and Dugard would teach her daughters that Dugard was merely their older sister.^[18] When Dugard and her daughters were eventually allowed to come into contact with other people, they upheld this fiction.^[29] Most U.S. media sources have declined to name the children, although names have been given in foreign media coverage of the case.^[30]

Garrido operated a print shop where Dugard acted as the graphics artist. Ben Daughdrill, a customer of Garrido's printing business, claimed he met and spoke by telephone with Dugard and that she did excellent work. During this time, Dugard had access to the business phone and an email account. One customer of the printing business indicated she never hinted to him about her childhood abduction or true identity.^[31]

While in Antioch, Garrido also kept a blog associated with what he called "God's Desire Church." In the blog Garrido said he had the power to control sound with his mind. Garrido asked several people, including customers, to sign testimonials confirming that they witnessed his ability to "control sound with my mind" and a device he developed "for others to witness this phenomena."^[32][33]

Law enforcement officers believe that at the time they became involved in 2009, Dugard's living quarters were in a secondary backyard behind Phillip Garrido's house. The private area of the yard included sheds (one of which was soundproofed and used as a recording studio in which Garrido recorded himself singing religious-themed and romantic country songs),^[18] two tents, and what has been described as a camping-style shower and toilet. The area was surrounded by tall trees and a 6-foot (1.8 m) high fence. An entrance to the secondary backyard was covered by trees and a tarpaulin. Privacy in the yard was enhanced by tents and outbuildings,^[34] and also housed an old car similar to the one used in the abduction. Electricity was supplied by extension cords.^[35] Law enforcement officers visited the residence at least twice, did not request to inspect the back yard,^[34] and did not detect Dugard or her children in the areas of the property that they did inspect.^[36] Witnesses interviewed stated Jaycee Dugard was seen in the house and sometimes answered the front door to talk to people, but never stated a problem or attempted to leave.^[37] While the family kept to themselves, the girls were sometimes seen playing in the backyard or as passengers in Garrido's car.^[38]

Dugard's aunt, Tina Dugard, and a former business associate of the Garridos, Cheyvonne Molino, have commented that Dugard's children looked healthy. Tina Dugard said that upon her meeting them after their reappearance, they "always appeared and behaved like normal kids". Molino said of the times she met them while they were captive "that in her presence the girls never acted robotically" and didn't wear unusual clothing.^[39][40]

Missed opportunities to rescue Dugard[link]

• Police failed to make the connection that Jaycee Lee Dugard was kidnapped in South Lake Tahoe, the same location as Garrido's 1976 kidnapping of Katherine Callaway Hall.

• On April 22, 1992, less than a year after her kidnapping, a male caller contacted the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Department from a gas station in Oakley, California, less than two miles from the Garridos' home in Antioch. The caller reported that he saw Dugard in the gas station staring intently at a missing child poster of herself. The caller then reported seeing her leave in a large yellow van, possibly a Dodge. In 2009, after Dugard's release, an old yellow Dodge van was recovered from the Garrido property, one that matched the description of the van given in the call. The license plate was not reported in the 1992 call; and the caller, the girl, and the van were gone by the time police arrived. The caller never identified himself, and the police did not pursue the matter any further.^[41] Jaycee Dugard reported that she never left the Garrido property from the day she was kidnapped until shortly before her first child was born in August 1994.^[42]

• In June 2002, the fire department responded to a report of a juvenile with a shoulder injury that occurred in a swimming pool at Garrido's home. This information was not relayed to the parole office, which had no record of either a juvenile or a swimming pool at Garrido's address.^[43]

• In 2006, one of Garrido's neighbors called 9-1-1 to inform them there were tents in the backyard with children living there and that Garrido was "psychotic" with sexual addictions. A deputy sheriff spoke with Garrido at the front of the house for about 30 minutes and left after telling him there would be a code violation if people were living outside on the property. After Dugard was found in August 2009, the local police issued an apology.^[44][34]

• On November 4, 2009, the California Office of the Inspector General issued a report that enumerated various lapses by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation that contributed to Dugard's continued captivity. The central finding was that Garrido was incorrectly classified as needing only low-level supervision and all other lapses were derived from it. In his report, the inspector general detailed an instance in which a parole agent encountered a 12-year-old girl at the home of Phillip Garrido, but accepted Garrido's "explanation that she was his brother's daughter and [the agent] did nothing to verify it."^[45]

Reappearance[link]

On August 24, 2009, Garrido visited the San Francisco office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and left a four-page essay containing his ideas about religion and sexuality, suggesting he had discovered a solution to problem behaviors like his own past crimes. The essay described how he had cured his own criminal sexual behaviors and how that information could be used to assist in curing other sexual predators by "controlling human impulses that drive humans to commit dysfunctional acts." On the same day, Phillip Garrido went to a University of California, Berkeley police office seeking permission to hold a special Christian event on campus as a part of his "God's Desire" program. He spoke with U.C. Berkeley special events manager Lisa Campbell. She perceived his behavior as odd and asked him to make an appointment for the next day, which he did, leaving his name in the process. The next morning, August 25, Campbell notified campus police officer Ally Jacobs about the meeting later that morning with Garrido, and her concerns. Jacobs ran a background check, learned that Garrido was on parole for rape, and decided to sit in on the meeting. Garrido arrived with two girls, whom he introduced as his daughters. At the meeting, Jacobs felt that the girls' behavior was unusual, and phoned the parole office to relay her concerns. As no one was in, she left a report of the meeting on voicemail.^[45][46][47]

After hearing Jacobs' recorded message, two parole agents drove to Garrido's house later that day. Upon arrival, they handcuffed him and searched the house, finding only his wife Nancy and his elderly mother at home. Then the parole agents drove Garrido back to the parole office. En route, Garrido said that the two girls who had accompanied him to UC Berkeley "were the daughters of a relative, and he had permission from their parents to take them to the university." Although the parole office had barred Garrido from being around minors a month before, and although Berkeley was 40 miles from Garrido’s Antioch residence, 15 miles in excess of the 25-mile limit from his home to which he was allowed to travel without permission from his parole agent, the agents overlooked this violation. After reviewing his file with a supervisor, they drove him home and ordered him to report back to the office again the next day to further discuss his visit to UC Berkeley and follow up on their concerns about the two girls.^[45]

Garrido arrived at the parole office in Concord on August 26 with his wife, Nancy, the two girls and Jaycee Lee Dugard, who was introduced as "Alyssa Franzen". When they arrived, his parole officer was on the phone with Jacobs to obtain a more detailed description of her interaction with Garrido and the two girls. Jacobs informed the officer that the girls were calling Garrido "Daddy", but the parole officer believed that Garrido had no children.^[48] The parole officer then decided to separate Garrido from the women and girls to obtain an identification.^[49]

Dugard, maintaining her false identity as "Alyssa" (Some sources give the name as "Allissa"^[48][50]), told investigators that the two young girls were her daughters. Although she indicated that she was aware that Garrido was a convicted sex offender, she stated that he was a "changed man", a "great person" and was "good with her kids",^[49][51] comments that were echoed by the two girls. When pressed for details that would confirm her identity, Dugard became "extremely defensive" and "agitated", demanding to know why she was being "interrogated", and subsequently stated that she was a battered wife from Minnesota who was in hiding from her abusive husband. The parole officer eventually called the Concord police. Upon the arrival of a police Sergeant, Garrido admitted he had kidnapped and raped her. Only after this did Dugard identify herself as Jaycee Dugard. It was later suggested that Dugard was beginning to show signature signs of Stockholm syndrome during her questioning.^[49][51]

Garrido and his wife were then placed under arrest. An FBI Special agent put Dugard on the telephone with her mother, Terry Probyn. Dugard retained custody of her children and was soon reunited with her mother.^[52][53][54]

Aftermath[link]

Reunion and afterward[link]

In the days following Dugard's return, Carl Probyn, her stepfather, confirmed that she and her daughters were in good health and intelligent, their reunion was going well, and they were proceeding slowly. He said his stepdaughter had developed a significant emotional bond with Phillip Garrido, and the girls cried when they learned of their father's arrest. According to Jaycee Dugard's aunt, Tina Dugard, about the two girls: "They are clever, articulate, curious girls who have a bright future ahead of them."^[55][56][57] Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, said Dugard's reappearance is an important event for families of other long-term missing children, because it shows that there is hope even in long-term cases. Notable abduction survivor Elizabeth Smart has stressed the importance of focusing on the future with a positive attitude as an effective approach to accepting what has happened.^[58][59][60] Shawn Hornbeck, another abduction survivor, also commented on the case.^[61]

Three weeks after her release, Jaycee Dugard made a request to gain control of the pets that were raised in the home where she was held captive.^[62] On October 14, 2009, People published on its cover the first verified photo of Jaycee Dugard as an adult. Her mother, Terry Probyn, was reported in 2009 to have planned with Broadway Books to publish a book, originally set for release in 2010, detailing the girls' decades-long absence and return.^[63] Dugard's memoir, A Stolen Life, was published on July 12, 2011, by Simon & Schuster.

Police investigations[link]

Following the arrest, police extensively searched the Garrido house for evidence of other crimes. Because Phillip Garrido had access to his neighbor's house, it was also searched for evidence.^[64][65] Police also searched the homes and business of one of Phillip Garrido's printing business clients.^[66] Police agencies from Hayward, California, and Dublin, California, conducted searches of the Garridos' property for evidence pertaining to missing girls from those communities. The results of the search turned up no clues to the disappearances of the girls.^[67] In July 2011 Hayward police announced that Garrido has not been eliminated as a suspect and is still a person of interest in the case of Michaela Garecht.^[68]

Garrido's statements[link]

On August 27, 2009, KCRA-TV in Sacramento, California, interviewed Garrido in his jail cell by telephone. During the interview Garrido said, "In the end, this is going to be a powerful, heartwarming story",^[69] because, in his version of events:

Investigators at the Garridos' Antioch home

Garrido repeatedly told the reporter how he "filed documents" with the FBI on August 24, 2009, which, when they were published, would cause people to "fall over backwards" and that he could not reveal more because he "had to protect law enforcement" and "what happened" [...] was "something that humans have not understood well." In the interview Garrido denied he had ever harmed Dugard's two daughters. He said their births changed his life and "they slept in my arms every single night since birth. I never touched them." On August 28, 2009, FBI spokesman Joseph Schadler confirmed that Garrido had indeed left the documents with the agency, as he had claimed, but declined to discuss further details.^[69] The document, titled Origin of Schizophrenia Revealed, was eventually released by the FBI. The document is about stopping schizophrenics from turning violent and controlling sounds with the human mind.^[70]

Legal proceedings[link]

On August 28, 2009, Garrido and his wife pleaded not guilty to charges including kidnapping, rape and false imprisonment. A bail review/pre-preliminary hearing was held September 14, 2009, at the El Dorado County Superior Court in Placerville, California.^[71] At the hearing, Superior Court Judge Douglas Phimister set bail for Phillip Garrido at $30 million. However, there was a no-bail parole hold on Garrido. The judge kept Nancy Garrido in custody on a no-bail hold, but able to request bail at a later date.^[72][73] At the September 14 hearing, Phimister also granted a request from Phillip Garrido's attorney to have a psychologist or psychiatrist appointed to conduct a confidential evaluation of Garrido. Such examinations can be used by the defense to assist in case preparation, and additional mental health examinations can be ordered at subsequent phases in the proceedings.^[74] On October 29, 2009, a short hearing was held to set a date for the next pre-preliminary hearing when issues such as discovery were to be discussed. This hearing occurred on December 11, 2009. Katie Callaway Hall, whom Phillip Garrido raped in 1976, appeared in the courtroom in both the October and December hearings. She did not speak in either proceeding.^[75][76]

On November 5, 2009, Phimister ordered Nancy Garrido's defense attorney, Gilbert Maines, to be removed from the case. According to a posting on the court's website,^[77] the decision occurred in review of "confidential evidence" that has not been disclosed to the public, and details of the proceedings were kept sealed. The decision was immediately stayed until November 30, 2009.^[78] On November 12, 2009, Phimister appointed Stephen A. Tapson as interim counsel for Nancy Garrido.^[79] Gilbert Maines appealed the decision and was given a favorable ruling by the California Third District Court of Appeal on December 15, 2009.^[80] On December 22, 2009, the same court gave the Eldorado Superior Court until January 2010 to respond to the ruling.^[81] Both Gilbert Maines and Stephen Tapson appeared at the discovery hearing on December 11, 2009.^[76] A hearing was held on January 21, 2010. At that hearing, Maines was removed from the case and Tapson was appointed defense counsel for Nancy Garrido. In addition, bail in the amount of $20 million was set for Nancy Garrido.^[82]

At a press conference on February 28, 2011, Tapson said that Mr. and Mrs. Garrido had both made a 'full confession' in the case. The development came as lawyers for both sides re-opened discussions on a possible plea deal that had the potential to obviate the need for a trial. Mrs. Garrido's attorney acknowledged that she was facing "241 years, eight months to life" and that he was working for a reduced sentence in the 30-year range. He stated that the prosecutor had acknowledged that Mr. Garrido was a master-manipulator and that Mrs. Garrido was under both his influence and that of substances during the period of Dugard's kidnapping, so should receive some consideration while alluding to parallels with Patty Hearst and Stockholm Syndrome.^[83]

On Thursday, April 7, 2011, Phillip and Nancy Garrido, instead of pleading guilty (as had been expected based on the previous statements) pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping and raping Dugard, as well as other charges, in an amended indictment. Phillip Garrido's attorney, public defender Susan Gellman, alleged that the grand jury might have been improperly selected and might have acted improperly. Gellman did not elaborate on her claim in the courtroom, but said outside that she had questions about the racial and geographic makeup of the grand jury that originally indicted the Garridos in September 2010. Judge Phimister noted that there were issues about the process itself before the grand jury, and also stated that the court would consider whether the grand jury acted appropriately. These developments were largely unforeseen by attorney Stephen Tapson, who represented Nancy Garrido; Tapson had said earlier that week that Phillip Garrido had made a deal with prosecutors to plead guilty and spend the rest of his life in prison. Gellman was upset with Tapson for telling reporters that her client had planned to plead guilty, saying that Tapson should speak about only his own client, Nancy Garrido. Tapson said he found out about Gellman's plans only late on April 6. Neither attorney would elaborate further on the specific concerns about the grand jury. El Dorado County, California District Attorney Vern Pierson said he did not think the complaints about the grand jury would ultimately derail the case against the Garridos.^[84]

On April 28, 2011, the Garridos pleaded guilty to kidnapping and rape.^[85] On June 2, 2011, Phillip Garrido was sentenced to 431 years. Nancy Garrido received 36 years to life.^[1] Phillip Garrido is serving his sentence at California State Prison, Corcoran while Nancy Garrido is incarcerated at Central California Women's Facility.^[86] Dugard, who did not attend the sentencing, had sent a written statement that was read aloud in court:

"I chose not to be here today because I refuse to waste another second of my life in your presence. I've chosen to have my mom read this for me. Phillip Garrido, you are wrong. I could never say that to you before, but I have the freedom now and I am saying you are a liar and all of your so-called theories are wrong. Everything you have ever done to me has been wrong and someday I hope you can see that. What you and Nancy did was reprehensible. You always justified everything to suit yourself but the reality is and always has been that to make someone else suffer for your inability to control yourself and for you, Nancy, to facilitate his behavior and trick young girls for his pleasure is evil. There is no God in the universe that would condone your actions. To you, Phillip, I say that I have always been a thing for your own amusement. I hated every second of every day of 18 years because of you and the sexual perversion you forced on me. To you, Nancy, I have nothing to say. Both of you can save your apologies and empty words. For all the crimes you have both committed I hope you have as many sleepless nights as I did. Yes, as I think of all of those years I am angry because you stole my life and that of my family. Thankfully I am doing well now and no longer live in a nightmare. I have wonderful friends and family around me. Something you can never take from me again. You do not matter any more."

—Jaycee Lee Dugard, June 2, 2011

Settlement with the State of California[link]

In July 2010, the State of California approved a $20 million settlement with Jaycee Dugard, to compensate her for "various lapses by the Corrections Department [which contributed to] Dugard's continued captivity, ongoing sexual assault and mental and/or physical abuse." The settlement, part of AB1714, was approved by the California State Assembly by a 70 to 2 vote, and by the California State Senate by a 30 to 1 vote. San Francisco County Superior Court Judge Daniel Weinstein, who mediated the settlement, stated that the settlement was reached to avoid a lawsuit which would be a "greater invasion of privacy and greater publicity for the state."^[87]

The bill was signed by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on July 9.^[88][89]

Lawsuit against the United States[link]

On September 22, 2011, Dugard filed suit in United States District Court for the Northern District of California accusing the United States of failing to monitor Garrido when he was a federal parolee.^[90]

In media[link]

• Dugard documented her life in captivity in a book, A Stolen Life: A Memoir, which she wrote as part of her therapy with Rebecca Bailey, who specializes in post-trauma family reunification. Dugard says she wrote the book, which was published in July 2011, in order to assist other survivors of sexual abuse.^[18]
• An American crime show on the Investigation Discovery network titled Wicked Attraction aired an episode about Phillip Garrido and Nancy Garrido, which detailed Jaycee Dugard's kidnapping and recovery.^[91]
• A documentary that aired in October 2009 on Channel 4 in Britain titled Captive for 18 years: Jaycee Lee focused on the story of Dugard's kidnapping, recovery and the beginnings of trial including interviews with Jaycee's step-father.^[92]
• Dugard was awarded a "Lifetime Leadership" honor at the third annual Diane von Furstenberg awards on March 9, 2012 for her courage and her JAYC Foundation which gives support to families dealing with abduction and other tragedies. The DVF awards honor women who are courageous and fight for justice.^[93]

See also[link]

• Cases of children kept in captivity
• Cases of kidnapped American children
• Michaela Garecht

References[link]