Did Street View capture images of Phillip Garrido riding down the road?
by Google Earth Blog on Jul.14, 2011, under 3D Models, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, California, Denmark, England, Germany, Google Earth News, Google Earth Tips, Google Sky, Google maps, Hawaii, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Natural Landmarks, Netherlands, Sightseeing, Street Views, USA
The story of Jaycee Dugard's kidnapping has been all over the news lately, and it appears that Google's Street View cars happened to capture quite a bit of imagery of her abductor, Phillip Garrido. Thanks to GEB reader Bill for sending in the tip.
You can read Jaycee's story on Wikipedia (or almost any news site), but the short version is that she was kidnapped in 1991 and wasn't found for 18 years! Police visited Garrido's house various times over the years, but never looked in the back yard where Dugard was being held.
Viewing the home in Google Earth (KML
) doesn't show much, but if you switch to Street View mode you'll see Garrido pull out of his driveway and follow the Street View car down the road.
To get that close-up shot of him, continue south down Walnut and then west on Bown until you reach Viera Ave. At that stop sign, he gets right up behind the StreetView car as shown above. Of course, there's a chance that this isn't Phillip, but it seems quite likely that it is -- it's his van, coming from his house, and it's a male driving.
There have been a handful of famous people (possibly) spotted in Street View, but this is certainly one of the most high-profile. For other interesting sites in Street View, check out StreetViewFun or the Street View section on Google Earth Hacks.