Ken Slayton Hopes To Speak To His Kidnap-Survivor Daughter Jaycee Dugard On Father's Day

The tragic life of kidnap victim-turned-survivor Jaycee Dugard took another emotional turn this week with revelations that her mother Terry Susan Probyn and her father Kenneth Slayton are engaged in a battle over Slayton's desire to see his daughter.

The existence of Slayton was a secret until the battle became public on June 16 when a spokeswoman for Probyn issued a statement slamming Ken. According to publicist Nancy Seltzer, a veteran Hollywood flack, Slayton had always known he was Jaycee's dad but was always "uninterested" in her. Seltzer insisted that the lack of "interest" on Slayton's part continued for "29 years."

Slayton insists that nothing could be further from the truth. He says he and Probyn had a brief affair at a campsite in 1979, and Susan did tell him she was pregnant. But they lost contact immediately after. A year later a mutual friend told Slayton that Probyn had given birth to a daughter but didn't want to see Ken or for him to know where she was. It was only after Jaycee was kidnapped and the FBI came to his door, Slayton says, that he knew about Jaycee and where she lived.

I was very upset by the verbal missiles that the spokesperson fired at me when she targeted me and tried to kill my spirit and my reputation by disseminating misleading statements about me.

Let me say it clearly. If Jaycee’s mother had ever told me that Jaycee was my daughter and where she and Jaycee were living, I would have been a loving, involved and supporting father of Jaycee.

The first time I knew there was a possibility that I had a daughter was when the FBI told me that she had been kidnapped.

It is completely false that I had no interest in Jaycee. Ever since I learned to a certainty that I had a daughter, I wanted to see her, to love her and to protect her.

Sadly, however, for Jaycee’s entire life up to and including this day, Jaycee has been denied a father.

My daughter Jaycee is 30 years old now and I still cannot find her and my grandchildren. I am sure that she has been through an indescribable nightmare for the last 18 years and I wish that I could have protected her from that.

I couldn’t and neither could her mother. Now we both need to help Jaycee recover.

Since she has been found I have done everything I could to make contact with Jaycee but to no avail. I hired Ms. Allred, went to court in Placerville hoping to meet her, met with her attorney, had my attorney send my letters and photos for Jaycee to her attorney, cried and finally filed a petition in court to establish paternity.

I did all this because I want Jaycee to know that she has a father who loves her and wants to be there to protect and support her in any way and in every way that I can.

Jaycee did not deserve what Phillip Garrido did to her. It was criminal and horrific to inflict that kind of suffering on a child.

My family and I, however, do not deserve the viscous attack and separation from Jaycee that the Dugard family has demonstrated in their press statement this week.

I am also a victim of Phillip Garrido because he kept me separated from my daughter and because he inflicted terrible pain on her.

I want to be united with my daughter a.s.a.p. Thirty years of separation is 30 years too much.

Jaycee, our family loves you and we are here to help in any way we can.

I will never give up my efforts to let you know that your father is here. Sunday is Father’s Day. Jaycee, please give me a call.