Stephanie Chen at CNN has the sorry story of how sex offender Phillip Gariddo eluded law enforcement officials for 18 years while imprisoning Jaycee Dugard in his back yard.
Chen writes:
(CNN) -- More than two dozen times in the past three years, authorities came to Phillip and Nancy Garrido's ramshackle home at 1554 Walnut Ave. in Antioch, California, a rural property where Jaycee Dugard is said to have been confined for 18 years.
And each time, they left without learning of the secret shed where Dugard lived.
The Garridos have pleaded not guilty to charges of abduction and forcible rape. They are being held without bail in the Contra Costa County Jail in Martinez, California.
After she was abducted in June 1991, at age 11, Dugard's disappearance spawned a massive search that continued, on and off, for almost two decades. Federal agents remained committed to the case, chasing thousands of leads.
But they apparently never had the Garridos on their radar.
