An update on the Jaycee Lee Dugard case. The Contra Costa County Sheriff apologized today for missing the chance to free the kidnapped women three years ago when a neighbor called to report that there were children living in the backyard of the suspect Phillip Garrido, a convicted sex offender.

The Sacramento Bee reports on the apology:

As anger mounted over how law enforcement missed the chance to rescue Jaycee Lee Dugard for 18 years as she was held by a convicted rapist, the Contra Costa County sheriff issued an extraordinary apology today for missing an opportunity two years ago to save her.

"I can't change the course of events, but we are beating ourselves up over this and are the first to do so," Sheriff Warren E. Rupf told a press conference.

Rupf confirmed that neighbors of suspect Phillip Garrido, accused of hiding Dugard in his back yard for 18 years in Antioch, called 911 Nov. 30, 2006, to warn that there were children in the home and that people appeared to be living in tents in the backyard.

But the deputy who responded never entered the house or checked the yard, Rupf said, missing "an opportunity to rescue Jaycee."

"There are a lot of reasons that go into these things," he said. "There are no excuses. I am not offering excuses."

 

Meanwhile, the Contra Costa County prosecutor filed a criminal complaint containing 29-counts against Garrido and his wife Nancy. If convicted, the alleged kidnappers could get life sentences. They were charged with kidnapping, rape and other counts related to keeping Dugard in captivity in their backyard along with her two children by Garrido, ages 15 and 11.

Manuel Garrido, the alleged kidnapper's father, said his son is mentally ill.

From the Los Angeles Times:

The father of Phillip Garrido, suspected of kidnapping an 11-year-old South Lake Tahoe girl 18 years ago, said today his son had a long history of drug use and mental problems.

"They are treating him like he knew what he was doing, but he didn't know what he was doing," Manuel Garrido, 88, said in a telephone interview from his home in Brentwood in Northern California. "The man is out of it. He is a sick man. He should be treated that way. He should be punished but he should be treated like a crazy person."

The LAT and other media outlets report the elder Garrido saying his son's mental issues occurred after the younger Garrido started using LSD in high school.

Also, the Associated Press reported that law-enforcement investigators were searching the alleged kidnappers' home, looking for links to several murdered prostitutes.

An AP excerpt:

Contra Costa Sheriff's Department Capt. Daniel Terry said Friday police officers from the nearby city of Pittsburg executed a search warrant at Phillip Garrido's Antioch home for clues in the unsolved slayings.

Several of the murdered women's bodies were dumped near an industrial park where Garrido worked during the 1990s.