A child disappears. A family searches. A stepfather is under suspicion. Sadly, life goes on and on. A stepfather is scrutinized over the years because he was the last person to see his 11 year old step daughter, Jaycee Lee Dugard, alive. When children disappear or are murdered stepfathers are one of the first suspects in the case. A mother takes all her vacation every year at the same time, the week her daughter disappeared, and the week of Christmas.

As life goes on, and time passes by, parents of kidnapped or missing children remain hopeful for a happy ending, but begin to accept that the likely hood of finding the child alive diminishes. Eventually one has to accept he or she may never know what happened. Jaycee’s stepfather, Carl Probyn was scrutinized in the years after Jaycee Lee Dugard disappeared. After hearing her scream on her way to the bus stop, he saw her pulled into a car. It was June 10, 1991. Jaycee Dugard has been missing for 18 years.

Jaycee was kidnapped by a pedophile and his wife, Phillip and Nancy Garrido. The horrors of being kidnapped by a pedophile are just beginning to emerge. Jaycee primarily lived in a shed, behind the home of her captors. The yard is over grown and isolated. The shed that is barely visible through overgrown brush. She has 2 children, ages 11, and 15. Both children were the byproducts of a life of deception, a life of kidnapping, rape, and unspeakable horrors.

Jaycee’s mother, Terry, made sure over the last 18 years the world would not forget her baby is missing. Eventually the emotional toll of wondering where your child is, and who has your baby, is too overwhelming. Eventually your prayers change to the hope you will one day find your baby, and know she is not suffering. Reliving all the emotional milestones missed as the years pass by one by one. A mother never gives up on her children, initially praying for her daughter to be found and to come home safe changes to please find my baby, so I know.

After 18 years to find a missing child, who is now an adult is unspeakably incredible. A lifetime has passed. Now you are told your child has been found alive. DNA tests prove the identity of the woman who once was a missing child. A mother remains skeptical that this woman could be her once missing 11 year old daughter. Until she talks to Allissa (the name Jaycee was given by her captors) on the phone, and is able to ask her questions that only her daughter Jaycee Lee Dugard would be able to answer correctly. Finally a mother realizes her baby is alive and coming home. A stepfather is happy his stepdaughter has been found, alive, and is coming home. Now those who wondered if he somehow had played a part in her disappearance finally know the truth.

For Jaycee Dugard she is moving out of the darkness and into the light, as a lifetime of nightmares and unanswered questions is now ending and a family reunion no one could have imagined possible is just beginning. Although the hardest part of the journey may still be in the future, life is just beginning for a Jaycee and her children. I pray that angels surround them and keep them safe in angel’s wings as they begin to heal and reunite with family.