Caller Reported Seeing Blonde Girl in 1992. Was It Jaycee Lee Dugard?

Less than a year after Jaycee Lee Dugard was abducted, an anonymous caller from a pay phone at a nearby Oakley, California Chevron station reported to the Costa County Sheriff's Office that he saw a young blond girl staring at a missing poster of herself, authorities told The Chronicle Monday.

The caller, on April 22, 1992, reported seeing the girl board a yellow van, possible made by Dodge; police responded, but the van and caller were gone upon arrival.

"We don't know if there was any truth to it," Sheriff's Capt. Dan Terry told the newspaper. "We don't know if it was real or a hoax. Nothing ever came of it."

Police last month towed a yellow Dodge Ram van that was half-buried in dirt on the property of Dugard's accused kidnapper, Phillip Garrido.

Jaycee was allegedly snatched at age 11 by Garrido and his wife as she waited at a bus stop in South Lake Tahoe, California in 1991. The alleged sexual abuse by Garrido began almost immediately, and she subsequently gave birth to two babies in the backyard prison. Garrido is in custody on suspicion of various kidnapping and sex charges. His wife, Nancy Garrido, 54, is also in custody on kidnapping charges.