Jaycee Dugard and her mom both spoke of hope in the wake of the kidnapping drama in Ohio, in which Amanda Berry and two other missing women were found. Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight were all abducted separately from 2002-04, only to be found alive and together Monday in a home in Cleveland. Terry Probyn, Jaycee’s mother, said of the truly remarkable story: “Another miracle happened yesterday and three girls are alive and I feel the same joy and relief I felt when Jaycee was returned to me after 18 hellish years.” “We must never lose hope. Keeping hope alive is what got me through 18 years,” she added in a speech at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Jaycee Dugard, who herself was kidnapped from South Lake Tahoe, Calif., as a girl and held captive for 18 years, told an audience in Washington: “What an amazing time to be talking about hope.” Dugard said the trio of Ohio women found after apparently being held for a decade “need the opportunity to heal and connect back into the world.” Dugard said the tragic imprisonment of Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight “isn’t who they are. It is only what happened to them.” “The human spirit is incredibly resilient,” Dugard, who was 11 when she was kidnapped in 1991, said. “More than ever this reaffirms we should never give up hope.” Convicted rapist Phillip Garrido and his wife, Nancy, shocked adolescent Jaycee with a stun gun, pulled her into their car and drove away with her. There, she was kept in a labyrinth of sheds, tents and tarps, and raped hundreds of times. She gave birth to two daughters; Berry has a six-year-old. After Dugard was found and they were arrested, the Garridos pleaded guilty to kidnapping and sexual assault and will never again leave prison. Monday’s discovery in Ohio recalled memories of the abduction of Dugard and Elizabeth Smart, a Salt Lake City teen kidnapped from her home in 2002. Smart, like Dugard, Berry, DeJesus and Knight, was found alive. In the case of the Ohio trio, neighbor Charles Ramsey heard Berry’s cry for help and aided her escape. Praised for his efforts, he says the girls are the true heroes. Three brothers have been arrested in connection with the case. Charles Ramsey Interview
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Jaycee Dugard, Mom on Rescued Ohio Women: Never Lose Hope!
