Nancy Garrido – wife of Jaycee Dugard’s crazed kidnapper Phillip Garrido – insists that she tried to free Jaycee and is now offering to testify as a witness against her husband, The ENQUIRER has learned exclusively.

Police say it was Nancy who grabbed 11-year-old Jaycee off the street in South Lake Tahoe in 1991 and forced her into Garrido’s car – but now she’s claiming she had a “change of heart” not long after the kidnapping and that she called 911 to tip off authorities to Jaycee’s whereabouts, an inside source revealed to The ENQUIRER.

“Nancy is saying she tried to free Jaycee on more than one occasion,” the source said.

“But in the end, fear for her own life kept her from going ahead with it.

Nancy, 54, is currently negotiating with the prosecution and may become a state’s witness against her husband in exchange for a more lenient sentence, the source said.

Pick up this week's ENQUIRER for all the details!