# Why didn't Jaycee Dugard escape her captor? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 28, 2009, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-jaycee-dugard-escape-her-captor/508016 "2009-08-28T10:12:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BaconAndEggs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f4b2a3/32.png) [@BaconAndEggs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaconAndEggs)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-jaycee-dugard-escape-her-captor/508016/1 "2009-08-28T10:12:35Z")
[http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20300972,00.html](http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20300972,00.html) Why didn’t she escape her captor? She was 29 years old when they found her today. She was 11 when abducted so she remembered she had parents. I don’t get why she didn’t go back to them. She bore that sickos 2 daughters (who I hope didn’t rape/molest them too). Didn’t she have those kids in a hospital? She couldn’t tell a doctor or someone on the street that she was kidnapped? ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-jaycee-dugard-escape-her-captor/508016/2 "2009-08-28T10:32:17Z")
> [@BaconAndEggs](#): > > Didn’t she have those kids in a hospital? She couldn’t tell a doctor or someone on the street that she was kidnapped? We don’t know yet if she did, or if he really ever let her outside the ‘compound’ at his house. Remember the case of that family in Austria where the father kept one of his daughters in his basement dungeon, fathering more children with her, with unknowing wife and children upstairs. And don’t underestimate the effects of fear and Stockholm Syndrome. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-jaycee-dugard-escape-her-captor/508016/3 "2009-08-28T10:40:21Z")
A 14-year-old having a child in a hospital would almost certainly have resulted in a call to the local social-services agency. I think we can assume that she had that baby in the shed. And once the baby is born, that’s a whole new source of leverage for her captor to employ. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-jaycee-dugard-escape-her-captor/508016/4 "2009-08-28T12:02:59Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > We don’t know yet if she did, or if he really ever let her outside the ‘compound’ at his house. According to the news this morning, they were caught when he was handing out flyers somewhere, with Dugard at his side. There must have been other opportunities to escape/alert outsiders, but after nearly two decades of captivity and abuse, her mind must be pretty severely cracked. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-jaycee-dugard-escape-her-captor/508016/5 "2009-08-28T12:33:17Z")
She wasn’t there when he was giving out flyers. He brought her and the kids along when he went back to see the cops later. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-jaycee-dugard-escape-her-captor/508016/6 "2009-08-28T13:11:08Z")
The news said that neither she nor her kids has ever been to a doctor. She probably has never been allowed out of the backyard. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-jaycee-dugard-escape-her-captor/508016/7 "2009-08-28T13:20:36Z")
Her kids were allowed out though, other people saw the young kids at stores. ---
**Author:** ![HorseloverFat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8e8cbc/32.png) [@HorseloverFat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HorseloverFat)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-jaycee-dugard-escape-her-captor/508016/8 "2009-08-28T13:34:23Z")
Not to mention things like stockholm syndrome and the fact that she was only 11. I think you cant assume that someone that young will be hatching escape plans, especially after a period of brainwashing (your parents hate you, the world will end) etc. Look at Patty Hearst, and she was an educated adult. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-jaycee-dugard-escape-her-captor/508016/9 "2009-08-28T13:44:26Z")
He raped & subjugated her, turned her into a sex slave - at 11 years of age. Kept raping her and using her as a sex slave - for 18 yrs. He slept every night with her and the two daughters, 11yrs and 14yrs. That the world is obsessed with the question, “But why didn’t she leave, she’s 29!” demonstrates a woeful ignorance and complete lack of sensitivity, in my view. Just say, “Oh, I’d have found a way to escape!”, and be done with it already. It’s the only issue the tv talking heads seem to think is important in all this. Yuck, way to pander to the lowest element. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-jaycee-dugard-escape-her-captor/508016/10 "2009-08-28T14:06:48Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > He slept every night with her and the two daughters, 11yrs and 14yrs. I haven’t seen that in the reports I’ve read. I’m not saying you didn’t see it in print, just that I haven’t yet. Which leads me to my main point: it’s too soon for anyone to understand the subtleties of this case. News reporting is spotty and sensationalized, information is not being released, interviews have not been published, if they’ve even been conducted. We just don’t know enough yet. ---
**Author:** ![badbadrubberpiggy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/57b2e6/32.png) [@badbadrubberpiggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badbadrubberpiggy)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-jaycee-dugard-escape-her-captor/508016/11 "2009-08-28T14:12:32Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > He raped & subjugated her, turned her into a sex slave - at 11 years of age. > > Kept raping her and using her as a sex slave - for 18 yrs. > > He slept every night with her and the two daughters, 11yrs and 14yrs. > > That the world is obsessed with the question, “But why didn’t she leave, she’s 29!” demonstrates a woeful ignorance and complete lack of sensitivity, in my view. > > Just say, “Oh, I’d have found a way to escape!”, and be done with it already. > > It’s the only issue the tv talking heads seem to think is important in all this. Yuck, way to pander to the lowest element. And even if she could escape, she’d probably have had to leave her kids there with him in order to get away. And be afraid he’d hurt them (worse than he may already have been) when he realized she was gone, before she could bring help back for them. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-jaycee-dugard-escape-her-captor/508016/12 "2009-08-28T14:52:14Z")
It’s hard to imagine the horror that Jaycee must have gone through, and the fact that this happened when she was only 11 just makes it worse. I am not surprised that she apparently never tried to escape since she would have been thoroughly brainwashed after a few years of solitary confinement and constantly being rapied. What I don’t understand is why the kidnapper brought her into the PD? He must have been convinced that she wouldn’t say anything. It would be interesting to find out why she decided to reach out for help at that moment. And more importantly how could the kidnappers wife, the co-kidnapper, let this go on in the first place. I think she is as much to blame for this whole thing as he is. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-jaycee-dugard-escape-her-captor/508016/13 "2009-08-28T15:09:02Z")
She is definitely to blame and will likely be charged as well. It sometimes turns out that within the twisted dynamic of the husband/wife relationship his twisted sexual demands become more than she can handle, that’s when he enlists her to capture a slave for his sexual needs. She complies to save herself from who knows what kind of horror. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-jaycee-dugard-escape-her-captor/508016/14 "2009-08-28T15:17:30Z")
Isn’t it time fpr O’Reilly to come alomg and [comment](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17015638/)on this? She was having more fun with her captor than with her parents, obviously. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-jaycee-dugard-escape-her-captor/508016/15 "2009-08-28T15:53:46Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > He slept every night with her and the two daughters, 11yrs and 14yrs. **elbows** , do you have a credible source for this statement, or are you just spreading rumors? ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-jaycee-dugard-escape-her-captor/508016/16 "2009-08-28T16:42:41Z")
> [@ZenBeam](#): > > **elbows** , do you have a credible source for this statement, or are you just spreading rumors? It has been widely reported. The suspect himself made this claim in a [jailhouse interview](http://www.kcra.com/news/20591281/detail.html), and [wire stories](http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090828/ts_afp/uskidnapchild_20090828140644) have included it. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-jaycee-dugard-escape-her-captor/508016/17 "2009-08-28T20:28:03Z")
> [@anson2995](#): > > It has been widely reported. The suspect himself made this claim in a [jailhouse interview](http://www.kcra.com/news/20591281/detail.html), and [wire stories](http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090828/ts_afp/uskidnapchild_20090828140644) have included it. Neither of your links says anything of the kind. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-jaycee-dugard-escape-her-captor/508016/18 "2009-08-28T20:36:50Z")
There have been a bunch of similar cases so there is something psychological going on (not that there is anything wrong with the victims themselves at the start). Elizabeth Smart, a nice, pretty Mormon girl from a wealthy family was kidnapped by a virtually homeless person and still succumded to the same mentality and was found brainwashed 9 months later. Her kidnapper slept with her too. > **[Kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Smart_kidnapping)** > > Elizabeth Ann Smart was kidnapped at age fourteen on June 5, 2002, by Brian Mitchell from her home in the Federal Heights neighborhood of Salt Lake City, Utah. She was held captive by Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Barzee, on the outskirts of Salt Lake City, and later, in San Diego County, California. Her captivity lasted approximately nine months before she was discovered in Sandy, Utah, approximately 18 miles (29 km) from her home. > Smart was abducted from her home at knife-point by Mitchell, ... ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-jaycee-dugard-escape-her-captor/508016/19 "2009-08-28T20:40:39Z")
Phillip Garrido: Jaycee Dugard’s Girls “Slept in My Arms Every Single Night” From [CBS.com](http://CBS.com), check it out for yourself. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_fun_ball/32/17664_2.png) [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-jaycee-dugard-escape-her-captor/508016/20 "2009-08-28T22:07:49Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Neither of your links says anything of the kind. There is a link to the interview transcript in one of those links. [Here.](http://www.kcra.com/news/20604335/detail.html) Here is the relevant quote: [QUOTE=Garrido] It’s a constructive story about turning a person’s life around. And having those two children, those two boys, they have slept in my arms very single night. I have never touched them. \ [/QUOTE] So they were two boys, not girls, and he did claim to sleep with them every night. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-jaycee-dugard-escape-her-captor/508016.md?page=2)