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Investigators announced Wednesday that they have found what appear to be bones on two properties in unincorporated Antioch associated with Phillip and Nancy Garrido, who allegedly kept kidnap victim Jaycee Dugard captive for the past 18 years.
Hayward and Dublin police are looking for a connection between the Garridos and the disappearances of two young girls in the late 1980s, Michaela Garecht and Ilene Misheloff, lieutenants from the two police departments said.
At least one bone was found on the property of 1554 Walnut Ave., where the Garridos kept Dugard since allegedly kidnapping her from near her South Lake Tahoe home in 1991, and a few bones were located on an adjacent property that Phillip Garrido apparently had access to, Hayward police Lt. Chris Orrey said.
Orrey said the evidence needs to be sent to a lab for testing to determine if the bones are from a human or animal, and if they are possibly connected to the cases of the missing girls.
“We’re trying to be cautious,” she said. “Finding them is the first step of the process, now we have to find out what they might mean.”
The discovery was part of a thorough search of the two properties. Investigators removed about three truckloads of trash, debris and vegetation and evidence that may be connected to the two cases.
Photos of Dugard that may be sensitive to her and her family were also removed, Orrey said.
Authorities plan to bring police dogs and high-tech search equipment to the site today to assist in the investigation.
Orrey said investigators “haven’t found anything that breaks open our case, but there’s certainly some stuff that’s worth taking a look at.”
Investigators late last month located a bone fragment on the property adjacent to the Garridos’ home and authorities have since said it appears to be human. Authorities said it is not uncommon to find American Indian bones in the county and the fragment has been sent to a state DNA lab for testing.
Bay City News, Jeb Bing
Bay City News, Jeb Bing