Former kidnap victim Jaycee Dugard says she has no interest in seeing her biological father
By APWednesday, June 16, 2010
Dugard says she has no interest in seeing father
SAN FRANCISCO — Jaycee Dugard, who resurfaced last year after being kidnapped 18 years ago, says she has no interest in having a relationship with the man who claims to be her biological father.
In a statement released Wednesday, spokeswoman Nancy Seltzer says the 30-year-old Dugard does not wish to see Kenneth Slayton or his family, though she reserves the right to change her mind later.
Almost immediately after Dugard was found in August in Northern California, Slayton publicly announced he was her father and retained a lawyer to help him establish his paternity.
Dugard’s mother, Terry Probyn, has never denied Slayton was the father. She said she told Slayton about the pregnancy and about his daughter’s birth, but he showed no interest. He was also told by authorities when Dugard was kidnapped, the statement said.
“At no point did Mr. Slayton offer any assistance beyond what was requested of him while Jaycee was missing,” the statement said. “It is now Jaycee Dugard’s turn to express her feelings and she has no interest.”
Slayton’s attorney Gloria Allred said Wednesday that they will have no comment.
Last October, Slayton said he had never met Dugard because he did not know she existed until he briefly became a suspect in her 1991 kidnapping.
Outside of a court hearing regarding the suspects in Dugard’s abduction, Slayton said he hoped to forge a relationship with Dugard. He said he attended the hearing for Phillip and Nancy Garrido, who have pleaded not guilty in the case, because “Jaycee Lee Dugard needs a father. She needs a masculine role model.”
Dugard has been living privately in California with her mother and the two daughters she bore with Phillip Garrido while in captivity.