Months after rescue, kidnapped woman shown smiling (AP)

[Yahoo! News]

AP - Jaycee Dugard is emerging from obscurity after police say she spent 18 years as a captive in a sex offender's yard, releasing the first photos of herself as an adult and her first statement.

A picture on the cover of People magazine, which hits newsstands Friday, shows Dugard smiling brightly, her light brown hair loosely falling on her shoulders. In other photos, she is snapped with her mother, sister Shayna and two daughters at an undisclosed Northern California location, where she has been since she resurfaced two months ago.

People magazine has been in contact with family representatives since the story broke and has a strong relationship with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, said Betsy Gleick, the publication's executive director.

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