Aunt: Jaycee Raised Two Bright Girls

Abductee taught daughters to read, use the Internet
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 3, 2009 12:42 PM CDT
Aunt: Jaycee Raised Two Bright Girls
Authorities dig and search a shack next to a tent, left, in the back yard.   (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

Jaycee Lee Dugard managed to raise two bright and normal kids despite their backyard captivity, her aunt tells the Orange County Register. "I'm a teacher. I know kids," says Tina Dugard, the sister of Jaycee's mom, Terry. "And I can tell you that they are a normal 11- and 15-year-old." The girls know how to read and use the Internet. "It's clear that Jaycee did a great job with the limited resources she had and her limited education."

Tina Dugard took part in the family reunion when Jaycee introduced her daughters to Terry. All seem remarkably happy, she said. As for Jaycee, "she does seem like a 29-year-old woman. She's fabulous, and she's beautiful." When Jaycee met the younger sister she never knew, there was an "instant connection," says Tina. "It was almost a genetic connection … an instant sense of family, for all of us." (More Jaycee Lee Dugard stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X