PLACERVILLE, Calif. – California kidnapping victim Jaycee Dugard and her two young daughters will be spared from having to testify in open court any time soon following a grand jury indictment of the couple charged with kidnapping and holding her captive for 18 years, a prosecutor said Friday.

Phillip and Nancy Garrido were each indicted on 18 counts that ranged from rape to false imprisonment, plus multiple special allegations in a process that will eliminate the need for a preliminary hearing where their alleged victim likely would have taken the witness stand.

Authorities said the Garridos abducted Dugard, then 11, from a South Lake Tahoe bus stop in 1991 and held her captive until she and her children surfaced at the office of Phillip Garrido’s parole agent. Garrido fathered the two children, authorities said.

El Dorado County District Attorney Vern Pierson said the indictment was sought to protect Dugard’s privacy and to prevent evidence from becoming public.

A preliminary hearing scheduled for next week was canceled in light of the indictments.

The indictments, returned Sept. 21, were kept confidential until Friday, when Superior Court Judge Douglas Phimister sealed the transcripts of the proceedings.