Authorities release chilling videos taken by Dugard captors

Authorities release chilling videos taken by Dugard captors

Officers' repeated visits to the home of a sex offender even as he held Jaycee Lee Dugard captive in his backyard are a concern and embarrassment for California parole officials. Now, a newly released video is adding salt to the wound.

The videos recorded by Dugard's abductors, Phillip and Nancy Garrido, also provide chilling details about the two and their outings to stealthily shoot footage of young girls frolicking.

The video of a parole officer's visit shows yet again how the state botched chances to find Dugard as she was kept hidden for 18 years in the backyard of the couple's Antioch home.
'Gravity and severity of the mistakes made'
Throughout the years, parole officers had paid dozens of visits to the home to check on Phillip Garrido and give him drug tests, but none of the officials reported any irregularities.

Three video clips were among several pieces of evidence released Tuesday by El Dorado County prosecutors "to highlight the gravity and severity of the mistakes made," and to improve the supervision and detection of sexual predators.

The footage was recovered from videotapes found in trash in the Garridos' backyard. They had apparently tried to destroy many of the tapes with chemicals.

But investigators, with the help of NASA technicians, were able to recover footage from the damaged tapes. Still photos of the partially destroyed tapes were included in the released evidence.
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"The criminal justice system had some significant failures," District Attorney Vern Pierson told The Associated Press. "It's important to reevaluate what has happened and look at what has changed since then and ask if there's more that needs to be done."

Chilling videos
One of the videos, taken sometime between 1989 and 1993, shows Phillip Garrido playing a guitar and singing while sitting against a tree at a park.

His wife and accomplice Nancy Garrido is behind the camera and appears to be pretending to record him, though the focus is on the children behind him.

"What you need to do, you need to make it look like you're pointing at me," Phillip Garrido is heard saying. "Further you are away from me, they can't tell exactly where it's pointed."
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