The family of Phillip Garrido compared him last night to crazed US cult leader Charles Manson.
And they revealed his life had changed forever after he experimented with mind-bending LSD as a teenager.
Garrido's brother Ron, 65, said: "It seems bizarre, but I can believe it. I know my brother, and I can believe he did that. He's a fruitcake.
"My thoughts are with the poor girl. She was held prisoner. She had two children with this idiot. Now she's got to start a life."
Describing his brother's wife Nancy as "a robot", Ron added: "She would do anything he asked her to. I told my wife, 'It's no different from Manson'."
Manson manipulated a group called "The Family" to commit murders in California in 1969.
