Dugard-case bones 'yield no DNA'

Police have been investigating the Garrido home for a number of cases

Bone fragments found in the yard of the US man suspected of kidnapping Jaycee Dugard have not yielded DNA and may be Native American remains, police say.

Sniffer dogs had detected the fragments as part of the search of the property of Phillip Garrido in north California.

Mr Garrido and his wife Nancy are accused of kidnapping Ms Dugard when she was 11 and holding her captive in their backyard for 18 years.

The pair were being investigated over the disappearance of two other girls.

Dragged into car

Four bone pieces had been found at the property in Antioch.

The Garridos have denied charges relating to the kidnap of Jaycee Dugard

Contra Costa County Sheriff's spokesman Jimmy Lee said: "The [Department of Justice] Bureau of Forensic Services was not able to recover human DNA from any of the bone fragments.

"A forensic anthropologist says the bones are probably human, old and likely Native American."

But Mr Lee said officers were still investigating reports that Mr Garrido had been seen with two other young girls shortly before his arrest.

Jaycee Dugard was walking to catch a school bus from outside her home in South Lake Tahoe, close to the Nevada border, in 1991 when she was dragged into a car.

In August police spotted Mr Garrido, a convicted sex offender, as he handed out religious literature at the University of California Berkeley campus with two young children.

He was ordered to report to a parole officer, and he attended with his wife, the children and another woman who was discovered to be Ms Dugard.

Police uncovered a hidden compound at the Antioch home where Ms Dugard was alleged to have been kept, along with her two children who are believed to have been fathered by Mr Garrido.

Phillip Garrido , 58, and his wife Nancy, 54, both deny kidnap, rape and false imprisonment.