A Stolen Life

Last night I watched Jaycee Dugard give her first interview on ABC since she was rescued after being held captive for 18 years.

In a few words:

It.Was.Awesome.

For those of you who missed it, don't fret. Because on July 12, 2011 (yes, that's tomorrow!) her book called A Stolen Life: A Memoir will hit the book shelves. I for one will be down loading it to my Nook Color as soon as it's available!

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From her book:

In the summer of 1991 I was a normal kid. I did normal things. I had friends and a mother who loved me. I was just like you. Until the day my life was stolen.

For eighteen years I was a prisoner. I was an object for someone to use and abuse.

For eighteen years I was not allowed to speak my own name. I became a mother and was forced to be a sister. For eighteen years I survived an impossible situation.

On August 26, 2009, I took my name back. My name is Jaycee Lee Dugard. I don't think of myself as a victim. I survived.

A Stolen Life is my story-in my own words, in my own way, exactly as I remember it.

See that little pine cone at the bottom of her book? I found out during her interview last night that the last thing she remembered after she fell to the ground before she was thrown into the kidnapper's car was grabbing ahold of a pine cone.

She recently founded the J A Y C Foundation where you can buy pine cone jewelry. Here's what she has to say about the foundation and her jewelry:

The pine cone is a symbol that represents the seed of a new beginning for me. To help facilitate new beginnings, with the support of animal-assisted therapy, the J A Y C Foundation provides support and services for the timely treatment of families recovering from abduction and the aftermath of traumatic experiences - families like my own who need to learn how to heal. In addition, the J A Y C Foundation hopes to facilitate awareness in schools about the important need to care for one another.

Our motto is: "Just Ask Yourself to . . . Care!"

A portion of every purchase of her pine cone jewelry goes to support her foundation and helping other victims. They are also accepting donations.

You can buy these beautiful pieces HERE and read about how they are made so that no two pieces are ever alike!

Jaycee Dugard: Her First Interview

Ever since seeing an E! Investigates special on Jaycee Dugard, I've been completely obsessed with her story.

Jaycee Lee Dugard was kidnapped on June, 10 1991 when she was 11 years old. She was abducted within sight of her home in South Lake Tahoe, CA on her way to her school bus stop. Her stepfather tried chasing the car down on a bike but was unable to catch up to them.

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Her kidnappers were a married couple Phillip and Nancy Garrido who took Jaycee to a house in Antioch, CA, a little over 100 miles from her home.

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Jaycee was help captive in the backyard of the Garrido's home. She was given the new name Alyssa, was raped repeatedly, and eventually had 2 daughters by Phillip Gurrido. 

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Jaycee was finally discovered and rescued 18 years after her abduction in Augusst of 2009.

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This is just an overview, but you can read more about her story HERE.


I find everything about this story incredible, frustrating, angering, and sad. Things like this are so hard for me to wrap my mind around.

I've watched several different accounts of this story, watched news reports, and read articles, but it has all always left me wanting to know more.

That's why I'm very excited that tonight at 9/8c, ABC is showing the special Jaycee Dugard: Her First Interview. For obvious reasons, Jaycee's family asked for the media to respect their family's privacy as they adjusted. Aside from pictures submitted by the family by a private photographer to a magazine with a few statements, Jaycee has never been interviewed until now. I'm very excited to hear what she has to say as she tells the story from her point of view.

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A little extra tidbit of information...her abductor Phillip Garrido had a blog. He was convinced that he had a message from God that was going to change the world. You can see his blog HERE. His last post has 10,000 comments!