Most people are proud of where they live. They like people to know how great a place they they make their home. We really like Placerville. The city resides in the Sierra Nevada foothills in a pine and oak forest, midway between Sacramento and Lake Tahoe.  Some of California’s best wineries, in my opinion, are in El Dorado County. When I talk on the phone with someone, probably from the eastern part of the county, they mispronounce Placerville as Play-cerville. This is a pretty place to live. Ironically, the picture above is taken from the front of the courthouse. In fact, the city of South Lake Tahoe is in El Dorado County. Placerville is the county seat.

That fact placed Phillip Garrido and his wife Nancy in jail, accused of kidnapping Jaycee Lee Dugard in South Lake Tahoe in 1991, in a Placerville jail. Since a change venue will be nearly impossible, their trial will be held in Placerville. News media converged on Main Street and outside the county jail. The Garridos actually lived in Antioch, California. It was two UC-Berkeley police officers who broke open the case. Jaycee was found alive, being held captive for 18 years. Garrido fathered Jaycee’s two girls. Jaycee was nine when she was allegedly kidnapped by this paroled, registered sex offender.

While the Garrido case went through legal motions and police and the FBI continued their investigations of the couple, Placerville made the news again. Annie Le, a graduate student at Yale was reported missing. A few days later they found her body in a wall in a lab at Yale. Annie is from Placerville. She was a model student at Union Mine High School. She was a model student at Yale. She was going to married last Sunday. As of this writing, police have a person of interest, a lab technician at Yale. It will be at least a few days before an arrest is made in Annie’s murder. People continue to ask, “Why would anyone want to kill Annie Le?”

Placerville is on the map. It is extremely unfortunate that the reasons for being known is because of evil in the world. The Garridos and Annie’s killer are not from around here. The Garridos are now temporary residents. Their alleged victims were residents of El Dorado County – a very scenic part of the world. El Dorado County, as is every county, not immune from evil. Jaycee and Annie are victims of people who do not value others. Love of God and love of neighbor are foreign concepts to them. Their only concern is themselves and their needs. People are to be used to meet those needs. This is not what we consider normal. We have no cure for their evil. They cannot successfully be part of society.