A Stolen Life: A Memoir

This summary section includes Chapter 1: “The Taking,” Chapter 2: “Stolen,” Chapter 3: “The Secret Backyard,” Chapter 4: “Alone in a Strange Place,” and Chapter 5: “The First Time.”

Jaycee is an eleven-year-old girl who lives in Tahoe, California, with her mother, stepfather, Carl, and her baby stepsister. On June 10, 1991, her day starts out like any normal school day. Her head is filled with thoughts of a summer job on a horse ranch. She is also troubled by the barrage of criticism from her stepfather. The family recently moved from Orange County, but Jaycee feels much safer in Tahoe.

Since nobody is home to drive her to school, she walks down the road to the school bus stop. A car slows, and a man leans out to ask for directions. Without warning, he hits Jaycee with a stun gun and stuffs her into the back seat under a blanket. Panicked, Jaycee thinks, “I don’t understand what’s happening. I want to go home. I want to crawl back into my bed. I want to play with my sister. I want my mommy. I want time to reverse itself and give me a do-over” (19).

Jaycee is bundled into a house with a blanket over her head so she can’t see her surroundings.