California murder and kidnapping suspect James DiMaggio has been killed and teen Hannah Anderson is safe, San Diego Sheriff Bill Gore said at a press conference.
DiMaggio was shot and killed by an FBI tactical agent assigned to an FBI headquarters unit at the north end of Morehead Lake in Idaho around 4:20 p.m. PT. Hannah was with DiMaggio and was rescued safely.
“It truly was a joint effort and I am pleased to stand here today and say that Hannah was successfully rescued and appears to be in pretty good shape,” Gore says.
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Hannah’s father was notified. “Obviously he’s elated that we found his daughter is alive and plans are being made now to reunite him with his daughter hopefully tomorrow morning,” Gore says.
Hannah will be taken to a hospital where she will be thoroughly evaluated before any detectives or FBI agents interview her. Her father will be transported to Idaho and hopefully reunited with his daughter tomorrow, he said.
FBI victim specialists are now working with Hannah and her family to get them the resources they need as they come to terms with the tragedy, FBI Special Agent Mary Rook says. “As grateful as we are that she is recovered safely, we also remember the victims who lost their lives.”
The campsite was spotted from the air and then the ground units were sent into the area which lead to the confrontation, shooting and killing of DiMaggio.
“Obviously we would’ve liked Mr. DiMaggio to surrender and face justice in the court of law but that’s not going to be the case,” Gore says.
The intense manhunt and multi-state Amber Alert case has been going on since Sunday.
The San Diego Sheriff’s Department says it appears that DiMaggio, 40, kidnapped Hannah after killing her mother, Christina Anderson, and her brother, Ethan, last weekend. Their bodies were found in DiMaggio’s burning California home near the Mexican border, Sunday. On Friday night, San Diego County Sheriff’s Department confirmed that the remains found in the home matched the DNA of Ethan, 8.
Ethan Anderson’s remains were not positively identified until Friday night and an Amber Alert was initially issued for both children.
DiMaggio’s Nissan Versa, covered with brush and missing its California license plates, was found about five miles from a trailhead into the area Friday morning. Authorities had suspected the car may have been booby-trapped, but no explosives were found in or around the vehicle by a Boise Police Department bomb squad. DiMaggio is considered armed and dangerous, authorities say.
The discovery of his car came two days after a man on horseback reported seeing DiMaggio and 16-year-old Hannah in hiking gear and backpacks. Idaho authorities say the rider didn’t realize the pair were being sought until he got home and recognized them on news reports.
Some 200 law enforcement officials – mostly FBI agents – had descended on a 320-square-mile area of the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness Area, a mostly roadless, rugged, heavily wooded forest in central Idaho about 70 miles northeast of Boise.
Teams from the Valley County and Ada County Sheriff’s departments, U.S Marshals Service, Homeland Security, Border Patrol, Idaho Army National Guard and Idaho State Police were part of the search-and-rescue operations, says Andrea Dearden, an Ada County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman.
Authorities say DiMaggio was “infatuated” with Hannah.
Brett Anderson said earlier this week that DiMaggio had promised to watch over his family and that his kids had referred to him as “Uncle Jim.”
