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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Cold-case files get another look after 18-year abduction

'Anything is possible,' police believe

By: Martin Griffith and Scott Sonner

5/09/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

Phillip Garrido 'would be a better suspect than others based on the prior crimes he has committed.' (THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ARCHIVES)

RENO, Nevada -- Police are scouring old records of major unsolved cases in northern Nevada to determine if any match the profile of the man charged in the abduction and assault of a California girl 18 years ago.

The cold cases include the 1989 murders of two Reno children who vanished near their school bus stop.

Investigators are looking for similarities between numerous cases and Phillip Garrido's method of operation in the case of Jaycee Dugard, Reno police Lt. Mike Whan said. Dugard resurfaced last week in California after being snatched near her school bus stop in South Lake Tahoe, Calif., in 1991 at the age of 11.

"There might not be any link between the cases and him, but we'd be crazy not to look at the possibility," he said.

The 1989 murders of Jennifer and Charles Chia were kidnapped on the 100-metre walk from the bus stop to their home, Whan said. The remains of the 6- and 7-year-old siblings were found nine months later near Blairsden, Calif., about 100 kilometres northwest of Reno.

He said the cases under review either occurred around 1976, when Garrido kidnapped and sexually assaulted a 25-year-old woman while living in Reno, or in the several years after Garrido was paroled from a Nevada prison in 1988.

The 1976 victim -- Katherine Callaway Hall -- told police after that attack that Garrido said he had abducted two other girls, one from the San Francisco Bay area and one possibly from Las Vegas.

"Anything is possible with this guy," Whan said. "This guy would be a better suspect than others based on the prior crimes he has committed."

Garrido, 58, and his wife, 54-year-old Nancy Garrido, have pleaded not guilty to 29 counts of kidnapping, rape and false imprisonment in Dugard's disappearance.

Police say the Garridos held Dugard captive in a backyard encampment of tents and sheds in Antioch, Calif., and Garrido fathered two children with Dugard. Both Garridos are being held without bail.

All police agencies in the Reno-Tahoe area are examining open cases for any links to Garrido, Nevada Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Gail Powell said. FBI spokesman David Staretz said his agency is working with local police on the cold cases.

"We are currently looking at all unsolved female disappearances/kidnappings and a couple of homicides," Staretz said by email. "We are attempting to track Garrido's activities while in Reno in 1976 and after his parole."

Several Reno police detectives are scouring old records and seeking other physical evidence, Whan said.

Reno police are giving top priority to unsolved murder, kidnapping and sexual assault cases involving females over missing persons cases, he said.

-- The Associated Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 5, 2009 A16

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