Couple that held Jaycee Dugard 18 years pleads guilty

A convicted sex offender and his wife have pleaded guilty to charges of kidnapping and raping a Northern California girl, Jaycee Dugard, when she was 11 and holding her captive for nearly two decades.

Phillip Garrido, who fathered the two children of victim Jaycee Dugard, entered the plea Thursday under a surprise deal with prosecutors that calls for a sentence of more than 430 years to life.

His wife, Nancy Garrido, also pleaded guilty in a deal that calls for 36 years to life.

The couple appeared at a hastily arranged court hearing after having pleaded not guilty earlier this month.

Dugard was snatched from her family's South Lake Tahoe street in June 1991 while walking to a school bus stop.

The plea deals will spare Dugard, now 30, and her two daughters, ages 13 and 16, from having to testify at a trial.