Did you guys see this story?

[oceanchild]

http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/2144958.html

Jaycee Lee Dugard was only 11 when she was snatched off the street in El Dorado County. For the next 18 years, she was confined in a shed or a tent.

...

Last seen as a little fifth-grader in a windbreaker and pink stretch pants, she was reunited on Thursday with her joyful mother. Now 29, she is in good health, police say, except for the horror of what she has endured.

I was 8 when she was kidnapped, pretty near where I grew up, and I can remember it vividly. I can't believe they found her. What a horror!

[GrayMatterWife]

Oh, yeah, it's HUGE news here in STL because a couple of years ago, a kidnapped child--Sean Hornbeck--who was from this area was found several years later, in a nearby community. He'd been held all that time by some child-raping freak. He was found along with another, more recently kidnapped child.

I am so glad this girl (and her two children!) were recovered. I cannot imagine what life is going to be life for them...

[moonlight]

I don't have cable here and my local news is sucky. Do I understand it that the 29 yr old woman has a 16 year old child and has never been to a doctor???????? That puts her at 13 having a baby????

[Momo]

yes moonlight that's exactly right. kidnapped @ 12 and gave birth to her first baby @13

[PrincessFiona]

Re: Did you guys see this story?

Trust me when I say she is probably better off dead. Sorry, but it is true.

Kris


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[moonlight]

Who? My mom was telling me last night there was a wife and a MIL also involved. Are you talking about one of them or the victim?

[PrincessFiona]

Re: Did you guys see this story?

The victim(s). The best thing that could have happened was not being abducted ... But second best just might be not surviving.

Her life has been and will be one giant struggle and as sorry as everyone feels about it at a distance I am doubtful that if we were her neighbor we would be understanding of her struggles.

She will forever live her life with something that will torment her, will not be socially acceptable to discuss and will affect much of her life.

Kris


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I can't imagine how hard it would be to re-integrate into "normal" society for her and the children with the majority of her years and all of her adult life spent in that backyard.

[moonlight]

and as sorry as everyone feels about it at a distance I am doubtful that if we were her neighbor we would be understanding of her struggles.

ya know Kris I'm really surprised to hear this from you! Do you really think so? I'd welcome her as my neighbor. If she needed to be left alone that would be fine, if she needed a friend that would also be fine with me. Although I could Never understand her struggles truly, I think I could be kind friend to her and her children.

[moonlight]

I can't imagine how hard it would be to re-integrate into "normal" society for her and the children with the majority of her years and all of her adult life spent in that backyard.

I hope to God since the story is so big that she and the kids are offered the best of professional care for years and decades to come.

[DCJenn]

People are amazingly resilient.

She could be f-ed up beyond reason or she may be able to function again. Now, if you think about the societal changes that have happened, she's got a lot of recovery to get through.

Her children will also be mourning the only life they've ever known. and their father, for that matter.

I hope dude and his wife die slow and painful deaths in prison.

Jenn

[MarissaNicole]

Trust me when I say she is probably better off dead. Sorry, but it is true.

Kris

That was my first thought - I honestly cannot say which I would rather have happen if it were ME - if I were the family I would prefer to have her found, but for selfish reasons.

Although some people do recover from these things; others just become more miserable because they are expected to recover/progress and they simply cannot.

So tragic.

[ladymoreta]

I agree with Kris. I really hope she's able to re-integrate into society, but I just don't know how likely it would be after all those years. At some point, she would have come to the conclusion that her situation was normal, and then she "chose" to stay. (I know, it wasn't actually a choice, but in her mind, it probably seemed like it.)

Now, she's expected to be happy and relieved to be back with her family, who probably at least subconsciously expect her to be the sweet little girl they know back then. There's just no way she could possibly live up to those expectations. Also, she missed out on some critical years of development that will most likely prevent her from ever being able to form healthy relationships.

[Thirteen]

All I think about is that guy from Austria who also did something horrifically similar.
Things like this truly, truly frighten me - I'm an adult and have common sense, but these stories are reasons why I do not go hiking alone, out after dark on a walk alone, etc.

I also am grateful for my (overprotective and paranoid) mother, who never let me do most "cool things" like walk alone to school, wander the neighborhood with my friends, etc. Maybe she was on to something.

My heart breaks for this family and this situation. It's awful

[DCJenn]

I hope no one expects her to be 'normal'. She already is feeling guilty because she bonded to the guy.

Pedophiles and arsonists- there is no 'treatment' that's effective. (no castration doesn't work- they're still attracted to children.)

jenn