Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Caifornia kidnapper made it to Idaho!

http://abcnews.go.com/US/amber-alert-suspects-car-found-idaho-sighting/story?id=19915813



By ALYSSA NEWCOMB (@alyssanewcomb)
Aug. 9, 2013

A car belonging to murder and kidnapping suspect James DiMaggio was found today covered in brush near Cascade, Idaho, San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore said this afternoon.

The blue Nissan Versa was found without license plates, but authorities were able to determine that the vehicle belonged to DiMaggio of Boulevard, Calif., through its identification number, Gore said

The discovery marks a significant break in the case as the manhunt for DiMaggio, 40, and missing teen Hannah Anderson, 16, entered a sixth day today.

Authorities were tipped off to the remote area, located about 70 miles from Boise, after a group of horseback riders Wednesday reported seeing a man and a teenager matching the description of DiMaggio and Anderson. Authorities began a ground search of the area Thursday, Gore said.
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The group said the man and teenager "both appeared to be in good health," Gore said.

He said bomb and arson technicians are now examining the car. Police said late Thursday that DiMaggio might be armed with explosives and could potentially use them to rig his vehicle or a hideout, according to ABC News San Diego affiliate KGTV-TV.

DiMaggio is suspected of killing Christina Anderson, 44, at his California home Sunday and then abducting Hannah, 16, and possibly her brother, Ethan, 8, after setting the house on fire.

While an Amber Alert remains in effect for both children, authorities said it's possible a second body recovered from the home where Anderson was found could belong to her son, Ethan.

"We're hopeful within the next day or so [we'll have confirmation], but there has been some difficulty," Capt. Duncan Fraser of the San Diego Sheriff's Department told ABCNews.com. "Because of the intense heat and the fire, it has become very problematic finding usable DNA on the body."

Until authorities have confirmation that the body is Ethan, Fraser said, an Amber Alert will remain in effect for both children.

DiMaggio and Christina Anderson "were in a close platonic relationship," according to the sheriff's department, and officials said DiMaggio might have had an "infatuation" with Hannah.

I wonder if the people on horseback made the connection at the time of the sighting or later from news reports.

Not very remote. Cascade is a small town but swarming with tourists this time of year. That area gets a lot of traffic.

Just ran across this report. This is a bit different - the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness. Now they're talking serious remote. Thats quite a ways from Cascade. It says the car is inside the wilderness, though. I don't know what road it would be on.

Bloodhounds, or do we play the Boston bomber scenario again?

By Statesman staff and wire reports

CASCADE � Dozens of local, state and federal law enforcement officials were searching Valley County on Friday evening for a man suspected of killing a California woman and her young son and fleeing with her 16-year-old daughter.

James DiMaggio's car was found in the area about 15-16 miles northeast of Cascade at a trailhead. Officials have confirmed the car is his, but they have not confirmed the man and teen spotted near Morehead Lake are definitely DiMaggio and 16-year-old Hannah Anderson.

Six or seven agencies are involved in the search, said Andrea Dearden, spokeswoman for the Ada County Sheriff's Department, which is taking the lead in updating the media.

No portions of the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness Area are closed to the public, but Dearden said checkpoints are possible. The search is covering "dozens of miles" in the remote area, where there is no access for motorized vehicles. The Idaho Air National Guard brought personnel into the area. Officials are conducting the search on horseback, foot and through the air, she said.

Deaden said she expects to provide hourly updates on the case, which has attracted national attention.

Authorities have set up a tip line for anyone with information on the case. That number changed Friday evening; it is 208-846-7676.

CAR FOUND

A car belonging to a man suspected of killing a California woman and her young son and then fleeing with her 16-year-old daughter was found in the Idaho wilderness on Friday after horseback riders reported seeing the man and girl hiking in the area two days earlier, authorities said.

The riders reported seeing the two near Morehead Lake, an extremely rugged area about 70 miles northeast of Boise, around noon Wednesday, according to Ada County Sheriff's Department spokesman Patrick Orr. They didn't report it until later, after seeing news reports and realizing the pair was being sought.

Idaho authorities started searching Thursday and the car was found Friday morning. There have been no other reported sightings of the pair since Wednesday.

San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore said when the riders saw the two, the girl, Hannah Anderson, did not appear as if she was being held against her will. He did not elaborate. She and the suspect, James Lee DiMaggio, 40, seemed healthy.

Brett Anderson, Hannah's father, said he was "very happy" that Hannah was spotted alive. He said he couldn't explain why his daughter didn't ask the horseback riders for help.

"We don't know what kind of frame of mind she was in or what he told her," Anderson said. "Maybe if she acted differently, there would be more dead people."

Hannah's grandfather, Christopher Saincome, also was relieved and refused to try to explain the girl's reaction to the riders.

"He could have strapped something to her and told her it was a bomb. He could have had her tethered to him," he said. "I'm sure she's totally in shock."

The car, a blue Nissan Versa, was covered in brush off a road about 5 or 6 miles from the spot where the man and girl had been seen. The license plates had been removed, but the vehicle identification number matched that of the car being sought, Gore said.

Police previously warned that the car may be rigged with explosives. Bomb experts planned to examine it.

Morehead Lake is in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness, a vast and rugged 2.3 million-acre preserve in the heart of Idaho. Because of its wilderness designation, the preserve is not open to motorized vehicles and traffic is limited to hikers and horseback riders.

The pine-blanketed area is at an altitude of about 7,800 feet and the lake itself is seven miles into the wilderness area. Temperatures were likely to fall into the high 30s Friday night.

Gore noted that DiMaggio bought camping gear a few weeks ago.

Authorities throughout the West have been looking for the teen and DiMaggio since the bodies of the girl's mother, Christina Anderson, 44, and an unidentified child were found Sunday at DiMaggio's burned home near the Mexican border about 65 miles east of San Diego.

The unidentified body is believed to be that of Hannah's 8-year-old brother, Ethan. The body was badly burned and definitive identification hasn't been made.

DiMaggio was close to the family. Brett Anderson has described him as a best friend and said his children thought of him as an uncle.

Authorities have said DiMaggio had an "unusual infatuation" with the 16-year-old, although the father said he never saw any strange behavior. If he had, he said, "we would have quashed that relationship in an instant."

DiMaggio, a 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, said Christopher Saincome, Anderson's father.

It's unclear how the two were killed, though police believe the crime was planned.

Brett Anderson said his friend is an outdoorsman.

"He was very interested in hiking and camping," Anderson said. "Whenever he had the chance and had the funds he would go on a hiking trip."

The Cascade area is an outdoorsman's paradise. Perched along the southeastern shoreline of the Cascade Reservoir and The West Mountains, the town is a popular summer getaway for hikers, campers and kayakers.

DiMaggio and the teen were hiking when the horseback riders encountered them, Gore said. The riders noticed the pair had light camping gear even though it was an extremely rugged area with extreme temperature swings. Summertime highs can reach the 90s and nighttime temperatures fall to the 40s.

The riders "did seem to think the two of them were out of place in that area," Gore said.

The sheriff said the riders chatted briefly with the couple but he didn't reveal details of the conversation.

An Amber Alert for the missing children was issued in Idaho Friday. Alerts have also been issued in California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.

Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2013/...t-issued-for-abducted.html#storylink=cpy

Well, I'm hoping the LIC can spare a couple of drones, Sycamore. Last time we had the huge fires in the trans-Pecos, he had the military water jumpers fly north from Texas.

Thanks for the update.

Forest Service road 579 runs from Warm Lake to Highway 21 near Banner Summit. For a good many miles it is just yards from the Wilderness Boundary. There are a lot of places where the old two tracks still exist and the only thing keeping vehicles out is a sign.

I think we all need to be praying for the kidnapped girl.

Done.

If DiMaggio and the girl are up in the River Of No Return Wilderness, there are a thousand places where they can hide. As the article stated, the area is very popular with hikers, campers, etc., but that doesn't mean anyone would spot the two.

I've hiked and hunted elk in that area and I'd hate to go looking for someone who wanted to hide up there. Finding a person such as that would be a major chore.

I hope the girl is found uninjured. Could not care less if someone shoots the murderous kidnapper.

L.W.

done will continue

norm

One can drive deep into the wilderness on roads that have remained as open access to mines. Lucky Lad mine IIRC. Not 100% sure on the name as it has been 15 years or more since I was there.

Edit; IIRC, the first half mile or so off of the main road, is some what rough and steep, a 4X4 might be a good idea.

from the article:
I wonder if there's any chance that she's in on it. I would certainly hope not but kids can do some strange things if they think they're in love.

That thought also crossed my mind. I hope and pray it ain't so.

I don't know how a young girl could come back from participating in something like this.

Odds are she is trying to save her own life at this very moment and has no clue as to how long she may continue to breath.

Please guys, pray.

If she were in on it they could have eloped to Mexico after she pretended she was overnighting with a friend.

I doubt she gained money or satisfaction from the deaths of her mother and brother.

m dog could fine him/her......PERIOD.

I believe this also...

Sycamore

FLIR?