Dugard’s mother to speak in Sonoma County about crime victims

By Chris Smith, Press Democrat

Jaycee Lee Dugard’s mother will be in Santa Rosa on Tuesday to address a public observance on the rights of crime victims.

We can be sure that as folks listen to Terry Probyn recall her daughter’s abduction and 18 years of imprisonment and torment, they’ll be thinking also of a more recent victim of breathtaking violence — slain Petaluma teacher and mother Kim Conover.

District Attorney Jill Ravitch said she’s hoping Tuesday’s National Crime Victims’ Rights program at the new Family Justice Center on north Mendocino Avenue will focus energy and attention on how to protect others from becoming victims of such crimes.

Probyn will speak about noon. Earlier, at 10:30 a.m., there will be a “Walk a Mile in Their Shoes” march from the Board of Supervisors’ chambers to the Family Justice Center.

Probyn’s daughter, Jaycee, was 11 when she was abducted from South Lake Tahoe in 1991. She was held until her rescue in 2009 from Phillip and Nancy Garrido, who are serving sentences that could — and should — keep them in prison for the rest of their lives.