Now, the 31-year-old Californian has written a memoir, "A Stolen Life," detailing her ordeal.
In the book, set for release July 12, Dugard vividly describes the years of sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of Garrido since being kidnapped at age 11 at a school bus stop on June 10, 1991 – and the moment, three years later, that she first realized he had impregnated her.
"Easter Sunday 1994," she writes. "Phillip says there is something he needs to talk to me about. He and Nancy have noticed that I'd been putting on weight and waddling instead of walking. I said I know.
"They said, 'We think you may be pregnant. I was stunned and scared...how can I possibly raise a baby in this place?"
That baby was the first of two children, now ages 16 and 13, she had by him.
While kept concealed behind the Garrido's home in Antioch, Cal., Dugard recalls first being physically restrained to keep her from running to freedom. The emotional restraints came next.
"Phillip gave me this image of the world as a scary place made up of pedophiles and rapists...one of the reasons I stayed was I wanted my kids to be safe," she writes.
The book, highlighted on TODAY Thursday and excerpted in next week's issue of People magazine, hits stores a month after Dugard's captors faced their crimes in court; Phillip Garrido was sentenced to 413 years in prison and his wife was sentenced to 35 years to life.
Read more at http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/
