Jaycee... the $12m horror story
AS details of sex slave Jaycee Dugard’s ordeal began to emerge yesterday, publishers and Hollywood studios began a multi-million dollar bidding war for the rights to her horrifying life story.
It has been revealed that in the early days of her captivity, the terrified schoolgirl was so hungry she ate bugs and worms in the rambling back garden where she was held in tents and lock-up sheds.
She had to use a garden hose to shower outside, even in the depths of winter, say detectives guarding her and her two daughters, fathered by kidnapper Phillip Garrido.
But the public are desperate for the full story of how Jaycee, now 29, survived after being snatched on her way to a school bus stop when she was only 11.
A New York literary agent, who estimates the book and film rights to be worth up to $12million, said: “You couldn’t dream up a script like this. Americans can’t wait to hear the story from the girl who lived it.”
A Hollywood studio producer said last night: “Everyone is in the market for this story. Poor Jaycee’s life may have been hell for 18 years but she’ll never want for anything for the rest of it.”
Offers from around the world are being pitched through Jaycee’s stepfather Carl Probyn, who says he and her mother Terry divorced over the “unbearable strain” caused by her disappearance.
Police Lieutenant Kurt Von Savoy, who is leading the investigation, will say no more than Jaycee is still being “debriefed” at a “safe house” in the San Francisco Bay area.
But a source close to the case revealed: “I’ve seen two officers crying after spending time with her. Some details, especially of the sexual attacks on her, will come out eventually in court but they are unprintable, unpalatable and unimaginable.”
A psychiatrist who has spent at least 150 hours with Jaycee is convinced she is suffering from Stockholm syndrome, a psychological state sometimes seen in hostages, in which the victim shows loyalty, even affection towards the captor.
I pray he and his wife rot in prison until they die
One therapy being suggested is for Jaycee to write a letter to Garrido, 58, and his wife Nancy, 54, who last week entered not guilty pleas to 29 charges of kidnapping, rape and false imprisonment.
Garrido, a registered sex offender, has been linked to six child abductions and murders stretching back years within a 400-mile radius of the ramshackle home in Antioch, California, where Jaycee was held.
Talking about the letter therapy, a source said: “She has been told that she need not mail it to them but it’s being seen as one small way of helping her understand her feelings .”
Even if Jaycee does not write, her stepfather Mr Probyn, 61, yesterday said that he intends to write regularly to Garrido and his wife .
“I will be telling them how well our family is doing and how wonderful things are outside prison, where I pray he and his wife rot until the day they die,” he said.
“I’ll be letting him know we’re at Disneyland, or out having a meal, laughing and enjoying ourselves.
“There is no way this monster can ever pay for what he and his wife did but I will do everything in my power for the rest of my life to add to the misery of theirs.”