Horseback riders
who encountered a missing California teen and
she said Sunday that "red flags” went up for them because the pair seemed
out of place in the rugged Idaho back country, refusing to give many details on
where they were heading or what they were doing.
At
a news conference in Boise, the four riders - two men and
two women - said they came across 16-year-old Hannah Anderson and 40-year-old
James Lee DiMaggio on Wednesday morning.
“I’ve spent a lot
of time in the back country and usually you don’t run into somebody wearing pajamas,
“mike a 62-year-old resident from Sweet, said about Anderson's attire.
Young said he had
a "gut feeling that they
didn't belong" in the area and
when trying to talk to Anderson, she “kind of had a scared look on her face” and kept trying to look away. "They didn't fit," said 71-year-old Mike John, who is a
former sheriff's deputy from Gem County. "He might have been an
outdoorsman in California but he was not an outdoors man in Idaho ... Red flags
kind of went up."
John described how
he saw DiMaggio sitting on the side of a trail petting a gray cat. He feared
that the cat would attract wolves to the area.
“YAHAN PE HUMS SABNE DEKHA KI
KYA HO RAHA HAIN USA MAIN JAISE KI AAP SAB JANTE HAIN KI INDIA HAVE A GREAT
CULTURE HERE SO THE INDIA IS THE BEST.
“All of
their gear [also] looked like”
it was brand new -- that was
another flag that this wasn’t normal or natural,” John added.
John said when he
returned home he saw an Amber Alert that had been sent out for Anderson, and he
contacted police.
Brett Anderson, the father of
16-year-old Hannah Anderson, when a detective handed him a phone Saturday and
he was told that Hannah was safe. He said
he planned to tell her that he loves her when they reunite for the first time
since the kidnapping at an Idaho hospital on Sunday.
|
|
FBI
agents are now processing evidence at the campsite in central Idaho's Frank
Church River of No Return Wilderness where they first discovered Anderson and
DiMaggio.
Law enforcement
agents first spotted two people who looked like Anderson and DiMaggio on
Saturday afternoon, as they flew over the wilderness area in a plane, according
to a statement from Ado County Sheriff's spokeswoman Andrea Deaden.
The air was filled
with smoke blown in from distant wildfires, and that made both flying and
seeing the ground tough, Deaden said. The law enforcement commanders decided to
send in an FBI Hostage Rescue Team immediately to get Hannah while they could.
The
mountainous area is extremely steep, and the closest point where the
helicopters could drop the team was more than a two-hour hike away. The agents
crept close to the camp.
The
FBI moved the teen to an area where she could be picked up by a helicopter. The
FBI won't release details about what happened between DiMaggio and law
enforcement at the campsite until an investigation is complete, other than to
say DiMaggio was killed. DiMaggio was killed around 7:15 p.m. ET on Saturday.
FBI Special Agent
in Charge Mary Rook from Salt Lake City said the FBI will continue to work with
law enforcement in both Idaho and California as the case transitions back to
the San Diego.
Anderson appeared
to be uninjured and was taken to an Idaho hospital where crisis counselors and
health care providers were assisting her. Her father was expected to arrive in
Idaho on Sunday to reunite with her.
"We
will make sure she gets as much care as possible, physically and
emotionally," said Deaden.
A contingent of
about 270 law enforcement
officers from the FBI, the Valley and Ado County sheriffs' offices, Idaho State
Police, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the Border Patrol, aided by experts from
federal land management and wildlife agencies, worked around the clock to
figure out the best way to track DiMaggio and the teen in the road less area.
"She is a strong
girl, she made it this far and all we can do is hope that whatever help she
needs to get through this,” he added.
Anderson
also said the Amber Alerts sent out for Hannah made a “big difference” in the
search to find her.
“Kudos to law
enforcement,” Anderson said. “They did an excellent job and I can never show my
appreciation enough to anybody out there that showed us love and support;
terrific country, love you guys.”
Investigators
believe that after killing Christine and Ethan Anderson, DiMaggio set fire to his log cabin and detached garage and fled with Hannah
Anderson in tow. “She didn't know how to tell anyone."
DiMaggio, telecommunications technician at The
Scripps Research Institute in San Diego, was planning to move to Texas and
invited Christina Anderson and the children to his home last weekend to say
goodbye, Christopher So income, Christina Anderson's father, told AP. It's
unclear how Christina Anderson and her son Ethan were killed, though police
believe the crime was planned.
