SAN FRANCISCO, Aug 28 A California girl who was kidnapped at the age of 11 in 1991 has been found alive, having spent 18 years living in sheds and tents behind the home of her accused abductor, a convicted rapist who fathered two children with her, police said on Thursday.

Jaycee Dugard had been missing since she was snatched off a street by two people in a grey sedan while walking to a bus stop near her home in South Lake Tahoe, east of San Francisco, on June 10, 1991.

Dugard, now 29, was found after a parole officer for her accused kidnapper became suspicious, leading to a search of his home near the town of Antioch.

Police say the search turned up a hidden “backyard within a backyard” at the home of registered sex offender and convicted rapist Phillip Craig Garrido, where Dugard and the two children were confined.

“She was in good health but living in a backyard for 18 years must take its toll,” El Dorado County Under sheriff Fred Kollar told reporters.

Carl Probyn, Dugard's stepfather, said on television he and her mother “cried for about 10 minutes” after they were told by authorities that she had been found alive.

Garrido, 58, and his wife Nancy Garrido, 54, were arrested over Dugard's abduction and prosecutors said they were likely to be charged.

Authorities said Garrido was suspected of fathering two children with Dugard, girls now aged 11 and 15.

Police had never found a trace of the girl or the grey sedan until Tuesday, when Garrido tried to enter the University of California, Berkeley campus with the two girls to pass out religious leaflets.

A police officer found his interaction with the girls suspicious, ultimately alerting his parole officer. During a visit with the parole officer, Garrido brought his wife, the two girls and a woman identified as “Allissa” — who proved to be Dugard.—Reuters