Official: Bone near Garrido home likely human

by FystyAngel Wed Sep 09, 2009 3:15 am

ANTIOCH, California - A sheriff's spokesman says a bone fragment pulled from the backyard of a home where kidnapping suspect Phillip Garrido once stayed is probably human.

Contra Costa County Sheriff's Department spokesman Jimmy Lee said Tuesday that was the assessment of a forensic expert who performed tests on the fragment recovered last week.

Lee says it is not unusual to recover Native American remains in the area.

But the department has asked the state crime lab to perform DNA tests to determine the bone's age and who it might have belonged to.

Investigators discovered the shard in the yard of the home next to the one where Garrido and his wife, Nancy, allegedly held Jaycee Dugard captive for 18 years.

For a brief time in 2006, Garrido took care of the neighboring house while it was vacant and sometimes camped in the yard.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32747390/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

Bone Found Near Garrido Home Likely Human
ANTIOCH, California — A bone fragment pulled from a backyard next to the northern California home where Jaycee Lee Dugard was allegedly held captive for 18 years is probably human, a sheriffs spokesperson said Tuesday night.

The assessment was made by a forensic expert who performed tests on the bone recovered last week at a home where Dugard's alleged kidnapper, sex offender Phillip Garrido, once stayed, Contra Costa County Sheriff's Department spokesman Jimmy Lee said.

Lee said, however, that it is not unusual to recover Native American remains in the area. The department has asked the state crime lab to perform DNA tests to determine the bone's age and who it might have belonged to.

Investigators discovered the shard in the yard of the home next to the one where Garrido and his wife, Nancy, allegedly held Dugard captive for 18 years.

For a brief time in 2006, Garrido took care of the neighboring house while it was vacant and sometimes camped in the yard.

Police say Garrido snatched Dugard as she walked to a school bus stop near her South Lake Tahoe home in 1991. He allegedly raped her repeatedly and fathered her two children during the 18 years he held her in a hidden backyard compound of tents and sheds behind his home in Antioch, Calif.

Phillip and his wife Nancy Garrido are behind bars and have pleaded not guilty to kidnap, rape and imprisonment charges.

The Dugard family's location has been a closely guarded secret since Jaycee, now 29, reappeared two weeks ago.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,548082,00.html?

Bone piece found near Garrido home likely human
(09-08) 17:39 PDT ANTIOCH -- A bone fragment found at a property once connected to alleged kidnapper and rapist Phillip Craig Garrido is "probably human," but additional tests are needed, authorities said Tuesday.

The bone piece was found Aug. 31 at a property outside Antioch that is next to the home where Garrido, 58, and his wife, Nancy, allegedly kept Jaycee Dugard captive for 18 years. Garrido had lived in a shed on the neighboring property before the current owner moved in, authorities said.

The Garridos have been charged in El Dorado County with abducting Dugard from South Lake Tahoe when she was 11 years old. She emerged from captivity Aug. 26 after authorities discovered Phillip Garrido was a registered sex offender when he tried to get a permit to distribute religious leaflets at UC Berkeley.

Contra Costa County coroner's officials were unable to determine the source of the bone and turned to an outside expert, who determined that it was probably human, said sheriff's spokesman Jimmy Lee.

The bone fragment will now be analyzed by a state laboratory to determine if a DNA profile can be developed, Lee said.

Lee said it is possible that the bone could be that of an American Indian, as it is not uncommon to find such remains in the Bay Area.

A four-day search of the two properties did not turn up evidence linking the Garridos to a spate of unsolved slayings of 10 prostitutes in the late 1990s in and around Pittsburg, or to the 1998 slaying of 15-year-old Lisa Norrell, police said.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/09/08/MN3E19KC19.DTL

Bone found near Garridos' home is 'probably human,' expert says
Contra Costa County sheriff's official says the fragment will now go to the state DNA lab for more testing. Phillip and Nancy Garrido are charged with the kidnapping and rape of Jaycee Lee Dugard.

A bone fragment recovered from the backyard of a home next door to suspected kidnappers Phillip and Nancy Garrido appears to be from a human, the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Department said Tuesday.

Sheriff's spokesman Jimmy Lee said an independent expert determined that the bone is "probably human," and investigators are sending it to the state DNA lab for further testing.

Officials are hoping the state "can develop a DNA profile on the fragment," Lee wrote in an e-mail statement Tuesday afternoon. "It should be noted that it is not uncommon to find Native American remains in Contra Costa County."

Lee did not return e-mails or phone calls late Tuesday. Authorities have declined to display or describe the bone, or specify exactly where it was found in the yard.

Garrido, 58, and his 54-year-old wife, Nancy, were arrested Aug. 26 and charged with 29 felony counts of rape and kidnapping in the 1991 abduction of 11-year-old Jaycee Lee Dugard, who authorities say bore Garrido two daughters after she was snatched from a street near her home in South Lake Tahoe.

Authorities have been searching for evidence that might connect the Garridos to other kidnappings and homicides in the area, but as of last week, they had not found any, Lee said.

The bone fragment was recovered after several law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, Sheriff's Department and local police, combed the backyard next door to the Garridos' home last week with dogs trained to detect human remains. Garrido took care of the property when it was vacant in 2006, authorities said, and sometimes lived in a red plank shed in the backyard. During the search, investigators dug a trench at the back of the shed about 3 feet wide and 6 feet long, but it was not clear whether the bone was recovered from that area.

The property's current tenant, Damon Robinson, allowed investigators to search there, Lee said. Robinson has refused to allow reporters into the backyard, as have authorities.

"The entire property is red-tagged and is off-limits," Lee said Tuesday.

Investigators removed a van from the property last Friday. The vehicle has not been displayed publicly because it "may be evidence," Lee said.

Dugard and her family remain in seclusion. On Tuesday, a family spokeswoman said they would not be commenting on the investigation.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/nationworld/la-me-garrido9-2009sep09,0,4675110.story