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Sep 18, 2009 7:44 am US/Central
Cadaver Dogs Find Scent In Garrido's Yard
ANTIOCH, Calif. (CBS) ―
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One of the tents inside the backyard of kidnapping suspect Phillip Garrido.
CBS
Authorities investigating two missing girl cases from the late 1980s said Thursday that cadaver dogs picked up a scent that could indicate buried remains in the backyard of an Antioch couple already charged in a high-profile kidnapping.
Alameda County Sheriff's Sgt. J.D. Nelson said two dogs "indicated" on a site in Phillip and Nancy Garrido's backyard. But he cautioned that the area is known to have buried remains from Native Americans and animals.
"Nothing is perfect, this is a tool, it's an indication,'' Nelson said of the dogs' reactions. "There are cases of false positives.''
The Garridos are charged with the 1991 kidnapping of Jaycee Lee Dugard, who was snatched outside her South Lake Tahoe home when she was age 11. Prosecutors claim the Garridos held her captive in their backyard for 18 years. The couple has pleaded not guilty.
Since the Garridos' Aug. 26 arrest, their home has become a focal point of investigators reviewing outstanding kidnapping cases throughout the Bay Area. Their lawyers were not discussing the property searches.
Police from Hayward are seeking any evidence on the property that may link the Garridos to the Nov. 19, 1988 abduction of 9-Year-old Michaela Garecht. Dublin police are looking for clues that may tie the couple to the Jan. 30, 1989 disappearance of Ilene Misheloff, age 13, as she walked home from school.
Phillip Garrido had a previous kidnapping and rape conviction and was released from prison in 1988 before the disappearances of the two girls.
Nelson would not disclose where in the yard the dogs picked up a scent and warned of false positives.
Investigators planned to use high-tech radar equipment to scan the site on Friday. They would start digging if the radar gives more specific information about what is underground, Nelson said.
Cadaver dogs are trained to sniff for the scent of a decomposing body and can catch smells of up to two or three feet, Nelson said.
"They picked up a scent that may or may not be a sign of some remains," Nelson said. "The first dog was very tentative on its indication. The second dog was more direct and indicating directly."
On Wednesday, police recovered a bone fragment on the Garrido property and several more in a next door neighbor's yard that also was being searched by investigators because Phillip Garrido had access to it.
Tests were being done to determine if the bones were human or animal, and if they were possibly connected to the cases of the two missing girls, officials said.
Investigators late last month also had located a bone fragment on the property adjacent to the Garridos' home and authorities have since said it appeared to be human. Authorities said that fragment had also been sent to a state DNA lab for testing.
Police acknowledged that they had no direct evidence connecting Phillip Garrido to either of the East Bay kidnappings, but obtained search warrants based on similarities between their cases and the Dugard kidnapping.
Investigators on Thursday continued clearing trash and brush from the Garrido backyard that was outfitted with tents, sheds, an above ground pool and showers, and have collected personal items that they wouldn't identify that they said belong to Dugard.
(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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