Robert Scott Books In Order

Publication Order of Deadly Secrets Books

Publication Order of RobertScott Non-Fiction Books

Robert Scott was an American author of true crime novels, a crime expert, and an investigative journalist. He authored more than 18 true crime novels, including Shattered Innocence, which details the story of Jaycee Lee Dugard from an entirely different perspective. Scott traveled across the American West to research his books spanning from mountainous Wyoming to the sunny beaches of southern California. He also authored Death in the Valley, a fictional book set in the 19th century Yosemite. Besides writing, Robert Scott was featured in several television shows, including TRU, Discovery ID, and A&E networks.

Shattered Innocence is the story of Jaycee Lee Dugard, who was kidnapped on June 10, 1991, at the age of 11 years and vanished for more than 18 years until 2009. Jaycee’s case attracted national media attention across the United States. Robert Scott examines this kidnapping case from when Jaycee was kidnapped and almost 20 years after the abduction when the kidnappers were arrested. The author did extensive research, interviews, and investigation, revealing to the readers more information about the kidnappers. He also included 16 pages of photos that have never been made available to the public or the media.

As earlier mentioned, Jaycee was 11 years when she was kidnapped going to catch a school bus. Search parties were immediately launched after her disappearance; unfortunately, no reliable leads were found despite several people witnessing the kidnapping firsthand. Jaycee would go missing for 18 years until 2009 when a serial sex offender, Philip Garrido, was in the company of two girls who were later discovered to be biological children of Garrido and Jaycee. The three suspicious behaviors led to an investigation which caused Garrido’s parole officer to order Garrido to take his two girls to a parole office in Concord, California. In his company was also a woman who was later identified as Jaycee.

Garrido, together with his wife, were arrested after Jaycee resurfaced. In 2011, the couple pleaded guilty to abduction and rape. According to investigations, Jaycee Dugard was hidden in tents, sheds, and lean-tos just behind Garrido’s house, where she was repeatedly raped during the first six years. During her time with the kidnappers, she would give birth to two daughters aged 15 and 12 when the Garrido’s were arrested. Garrido received 431 years in prison while his wife was sentenced to 36 years to life behind bars. It was revealed that Garrido is interested in other related missing person cases around the San Francisco Bay Area. Due to multiple errors by the police that led to Garrido’s persistent captivity and sexual assault, Dugard filed a lawsuit against the state of California, which seized his parole monitoring from the United States federal government in 1999. Garrido was on parole for 1976 sexual assault at the time of her kidnapping. The Dugard family received a $20 million settlement from California in 2010. Jaycee Dugard went further ahead and sued the federal government on similar grounds, but the case was dismissed since Garrido had not kidnapped or assaulted her at the time he was under the supervision of the federal government.

It is revealed that the deranged sexual offender Philip Garrido was born in Pittsburg, California, in 1951. He spent his childhood in Brentwood and attended Liberty Highschool, where he graduated in 1969. According to his father, Garrido was a good kid until after he was involved in a severe motorcycle accident as a teen and started using drugs, mainly LSD and methamphetamine. Garrido later revealed in court evidence that he often watched females while masturbating in his automobile next to elementary and high schools. He was detained and accused of raping multiple times a 14-year-old girl after supplying stimulants to her in 1972, but the case was dropped after the girl refused to testify. The following year, he wed Christine Murphy, a classmate from high school who had accused him of abducting her after she tried to run away from him and of domestic abuse.

Garrido abducted Katherine Callaway, 25, in 1976 in South Lake Tahoe, California. He brought the woman to a warehouse in Reno, Nevada, and raped her there for hours. When a policeman observed a vehicle parked outside the storage facility and, subsequently, a damaged lock on its entrance, he knocked on the front door and was welcomed by Garrido. Callaway then came out and requested assistance. A quick arrest was made of Garrido. Garrido was classified as a “sexual pervert and serial drug abuser” in a 1976 court-ordered mental examination. The psychiatrist advised a neurological evaluation because Garrido’s long-term drug usage may have contributed to his “mixed” or “multiple” sexual oddities. Neurosurgeon Albert F. Peterman examined him, and according to his diagnosis, Garrido displayed “considerable signs of depression and anxiety as well as personality disorder. He was found guilty on March 9, 1977, and on June 30 that year, he started his fifty-year federal term at Leavenworth Penitentiary in Kansas.

While convicted at Leavenworth, Garrido met and fell in love with Nancy Bocanegra, who was visiting her uncle at the prison. The two would later marry in prison in 1981. After being transferred to federal parole authorities, Garrido lived with his wife and was often visited by the parole officers.

On June 10, 1991, Dugard’s mother left her house for work early in the morning while her 11-year-old daughter walked across the street to catch a school bus. She was halfway to her destination when a gray car pulled next to her, and the driver tased her unconscious before kidnapping her. Dugard’s stepfather and some of her classmates witnessed the kidnapping. Hours after the abduction, the story was aired on local and national media, and within days, thousands of volunteers helped with the search and other resources, but the search was all in vain.

Dugard would stay concealed for 18 years until she was later discovered. Along the way, there were missed rescues and opportunities. For instance, the cops visited Garrido’s home and failed to inspect the backyard. Less than a year later, a man called the Sheriff’s Department to report seeing Jaycee at a gas station.

Fast forward after her reappearance, Jaycee Dugard wrote A Stolen Life Memoir, which discusses themes of manipulation, refusing to accept abuse, fragility, and manipulation. Like Jaycee Dugard’s memoir, Shattered Innocence describes every detail, every movement, and every thought, making it a somber and enjoyable true crime story.