True Crime with Kimbyr - The Anderson Family Tragedy: Stalked, Abducted, and Torn Apart: Part 2

Episode Date: April 30, 2025

The twisted plot behind the Anderson family tragedy deepens in this gripping continuation of True Crime with Kimbyr. As investigators piece together the shocking timeline, a disturbing betrayal comes to light—someone the family once trusted was orchestrating a nightmare. Kimbyrleigha walks us through the chilling evidence, the nationwide Amber Alert, and the desperate search for young Hannah Anderson. Could they find her in time? And what was the abductor’s true motive? Don't miss this intense unraveling of one of California’s most heartbreaking true crime cases. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

He told the detectives that they met while they were working in telecommunications and that the more they hung out, the closer they became. Jim was a part of their family. He was the best man in his wedding. He sat in the hospital room when Hannah was born and he was there with Ethan too. He wasn't a violent or angry person and they'd never seen any clues that he would hurt anyone, especially his family. So was Jim the one who did this? Or was there another person who had a reason to kill two innocent people and possibly Jim and Hannah since they were still. unaccounted for. By Monday, August 6, both Hannah and Jim's phones were off and had the message come on when you call where it says the caller is not receiving calls at this time. Brett was told that meant that the phones had been off for a while. This was also the same day that Tina's autopsy had been completed, but there was still no positive ID made on the other body. The condition of the remains

were making that very difficult. The medical examiner decided they would have to extract bone marrow and try to match it to a sample given by Brett Anderson. But it would still be a while before those results came back. Because Detective Dugal couldn't be certain about the remains belonging to Ethan, the authorities decided to send out the Amber Alert with both Hannah and Ethan's information, not just Hannah. This right here is the actual alert that was sent out to someone's phone. The ones in the media had pictures of both Hannah and Ethan as well as Jim,

which included information about their height, weight, hair, and eye color. Jim DiMaggio was 5'9, 150 pounds, with brown hair, brown eyes. Hannah, 5'7, 115 pounds, with blonde hair, blue eyes, a belly button ring, a nose stud, and pierced ears. Ethan was 4 foot 11, 64 pounds with sandy blonde hair and blue eyes. The public was told to be on the lookout for anyone matching that description and possibly driving a blue Nissan Versa. That very same day, Sheriff's Homicide Lieutenant Glenn Gian Antonio held a press conference. Glenn Gian Antonio, I'm the homicide lieutenant for the San Diego Sheriff's Department. It's still a fluid investigation, so there's a lot of detail that I can't put out,

but I will be putting out as much as I possibly can without putting the investigation in any danger. While they were extinguishing the flames in one of the structures, they entered the structure and found a body inside. The body was deceased. The victim in that structure has been identified as Christina Anderson. She's a 44-year-old lakeside resident, and it has been determined that. that Ms. Anderson has been murdered. Additionally, in the building where Ms. Anderson was located, there was a dog which had been killed.

Sheriff's bomb arson investigators searched through the rubble of one of the burned buildings on the property, and they found the remains of a child. The child's identity and cause in manner of death have not been determined at this time. The suspect in this murder and arson has been identified as James Lee DiMaggio. He's a 40-year-old owner of the residence

at 2-0-0. 2071 Ross Avenue. The location of Ms. Anderson's children, 16 year old Hannah Anderson and eight year old Ethan Anderson, are unknown. It's believed that one or both of the children have been abducted by DiMaggio, whose whereabouts are also unknown.

The reason we're calling this press conference essentially is that we need the public's help in locating these people. We'd like to locate, definitely like to locate the children. We believe that if they are with DiMaggio, that they are in danger and we would definitely like to find Mr. DiMaggio. I would like to add one thing, forgot to mention, we have requested the FBI to assist us with the locating of the children and DiMaggio. One of their investigators is here with us now and they are assisting us in this investigation

as far as the location trying to locate the children and DiMaggio. I don't think I should go into detail as to what happened to the dog. The dog was killed during the incident, though. I don't believe we have any information that there was anyone else there other than Anderson, the children, and DiMaggio. We did recover weapons at the residence, the burned remains of weapons. As I said a couple times already, I can't describe what type of weapons they were. And again, I apologize for being vague on so many details, but it is a very active fluid investigation. We're going to work on this pretty much nonstop until we can locate them.

Though they announced that Tina's autopsy had been conducted, they did not release details to the media. However, they did say she was a victim of a homicide. I do have those details, so I will share them with you now. Tina's cause of death was determined to be blunt-forced trauma to the head. There were abrasions and contusions and lacerations on her face, forehead, nose, and scalp. There was no less than 12 impact sites. The back of her head had been severely injured with a crowbar. There were skull fractures that led to hemorrhages in the brain and cerebral contusions.

There was also blunt force injuries to her right arm, her forearm was fractured, there were a number of bruises on her arms and lacerations as well. She was found with duct tape wrapped around her neck and her mouth a number of times. It was most likely added before her death to restrain her, and those cuts went through the duct tape into her neck, and those wounds went into her thyroid cartilage and her left carotid artery as well as her jugular vein. This was brutal. After she was dead, her body sustained thermal burns to her head, torso, and other extremities. It was stated on the report that 7% of her total body surface was affected by the heat, leaving thermal burns on her skin.

Both of her legs were broken as well. And that's shocking to me. Just the sheer brutality, it's really unbelievable. While we drive someone to do this. Another notable finding was that Tina's bra strap had been cut. However, they didn't find any other signs. of forced intercourse or anything of asexual nature, and they considered this just a part of the killer's control over Tina and his apparent rage during this attack. As for the small body found in the burned down home, it had yet to be identified and confirmed as being Ethan. Establishing a cause of death was impossible because of the fire damage. However, the report did say that there were fractures in the skull, the ribs, and other bones, but that intense heat from the fire could have

caused these injuries. However, the report also stated. that traumatic causes could not be ruled out. Just looking at this autopsy diagram of a skeleton, it's just nothing more than a skeleton with markings on it that came with this report, it gives me the chills. All of those blackened out portions on the arms and the legs, this is where the body was completely charred. There was nothing left.

And as you can see, the skull was almost in two pieces with the top portion detached. Could have definitely been caused from blunt force trauma, but both of these autopsies, said that Tina and the unidentified John Doe juvenile victim were both tortured. During the press conference, Brett Anderson spoke first. He was convinced that his best friend Jim was responsible for the murder of his wife and possibly his son. And had done something with his daughter.

So he addressed Jim. Jim, I can't fathom what you were thinking. The damage is done. I'm begging you to let my daughter go. You've taken everything else. Hannah, we all love you very much. If you have a chance, you take it. You run.

You'll be found. Thank you. There were no questions allowed by reporters, and then it was the sheriff homicide detectives turn, and he allowed reporters to ask him all of the questions. And he told them that they'd been getting tons of tips from the Amber Alert. There had been no confirmed sightings, but they were still going through a lot of those tips. Excuse me. I'm not going to ask, answer any questions.

I will answer the questions. We've been receiving tips all day since literally minutes after the Amber Alert went out yesterday afternoon. We've been following up on every one of those tips. There's still a backlog that we're trying to catch up on. Right now we don't have any confirmed sightings of them, but there are several tips that we're following up on and do look promising. They did receive some information that either Texas or Canada could be the destination Jim was headed. And I think I know why they were saying this and what he was referencing, which we will get into right after this. Because investigators found a lot of evidence inside that detached class.

garage and I'm going to tell you what it was. We've received some information that either Texas or Canada may have been the destination he was heading to. Realistically, we don't know where they're going. We're keeping it a wide net and hopefully we'll find them. We're looking everywhere. Christina's 42. Initially we were confused on the date of birth. We had said 44, but she's actually 42. We believe she's in grave danger. DiMaggio and Ms. Anderson were friends. They were very good friends and we believe that he killed her. So we think she's in grave danger. If she has an opportunity to escape him, then take it. The message was that the police believe that Hannah is in grave danger. Jim was really good friends with Christina, and they believed he killed her. So if you could do that to

Hannah's own mother, he was capable of anything. The press conference ended with a detective saying the Amber Alert will continue to go out all across California. But the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children were going to put out alerts all across the country and into Mexico as well as Canada and he asked the public to be on the lookout and contact them if they had any tips. So now to the search of Jim's property or what was left of it. Search warrants were obtained for the garage where Tina and the dog were found, another for Tina's home where she lived with her family, and an arrest warrant was out for the capture of Jim DiMaggio.

He was their only suspect at this time. The garage had an attic attached and inside there were several large trash bags filled with camping gear packages. They were for things that you would need if you were going to survive in the wild. For instance, a camping stove, an empty, large hunting knife package. Now, the knife wasn't there. The package it came in was. They also found boxes that handcuffs would come in.

The discovery of the camping gear added to Detective DeGal's suspicions that Jim had fled with Hannah to a remote area. This further increased his concerns for Hannah's safety. This was the biggest case of his entire career. And it was also the most disturbing and hard to figure out case that he had worked on his entire time on the force. And time was ticking by. He didn't want to find another body. He wanted to do anything possible to find Hannah alive.

Let me tell you what else they found. Explosives, a tent, a tarp, as well as arson wires, two boxes with red stains on them, and a map of Yosemite, as well as a military assault weapon-style ammunition. This is why police believed that he had plans to take Hannah somewhere, and it was going to be out of reach of anyone. They thought it would be possible for him to go to Mexico or Canada, the two closest countries to flee from if you're in California. Jim's house was only miles away from the Mexican border. And of course, you usually cross a different location that's an hour drive away, but it was a possibility. Among other items found, there was a handwritten note. The content was not revealed, plus letters from Hannah.

the gym had saved for whatever reason. However, the content of these letters was not revealed by the police. But they will be important later in this case, so remember them. They also found a gas can, a roll of duct tape, and two, used condoms. Yeah. Computers, papers, photos in a journal were some of the items that were taken from Hannah's house in relation to the case. A story started to unfold about the possible reason,

Jim may have kidnapped Hannah, but at this point, anything was possible. So investigators were not sharing that with the media. What was known was that the fire seemed to be intentionally set, that an accelerant was placed at these structures, and then bomb-like devices with detonators, with timers on them, were said to go off after Jim had escaped. I think it's pretty obvious that this was intricately planned out, and all of those close to Jim said that he was an experience outdoorsman.

He knew how to survive in the wild. This reminds me a lot of the Gabby Petito case. And just like hers, the media attention was wild at the time, especially for back in 2013. This became an internationally known case. And that was just in a matter of a couple of days, especially with the alerts that were now going into other countries. And of course, all of Hannah's friends were constantly posting on social media,

which would end up being a good thing. But the same evening, Brett appeared on TV for the news conference. he was at a vigil set up for Hannah at El Capitan High School. Hundreds of students came out there, and many of Hannah's close friends spoke about the love that they had for her, and that they hope that her and her brother would come home safely. She was the greatest. She was one of the greatest friends I've ever had, and I love her to death.

She's a strong girl. I know she's going to come back. I just want to say that I love her. I have faith that she will be back home soon. And she's been my best friend ever, and she's always been there for me. And I just wish I could have hang out with her more often. And I know that when she gets back, I'm going to hang out with her all the time. And I love her so much.

Being like best friends with Hannah. And Ethan would come to my door every morning and go to school with my little brother and my two sisters. And I can't imagine, like, them not around anymore. Little Ethan come to my door asking for my little brother to play with them. We love all of them and they're in a better place now. And we really want Hannah home. Thank you. I'm hanging up for a very long time since fifth grade I watched your grown-up. And eat the dew. I just pray for her bubble to be all right.

My cousin, my baby cousin, what to say? Just, Jim, if you're watching this, please don't hurt my family. Brett also addressed the crowd. And I have to say, he seemed to know how to keep it together, despite how horrific all of this had been. His daughter and his son were still unaccounted for. I remember noticing some stranger come up to Brett as he announced that he was Hannah's father. And this man, this stranger just latched onto his waist. was just like hugging him so tightly.

And it was pretty awkward, honestly. But I understand the sentiment. And Brett, he just kind of looked annoyed. I remember he was just trying to speak at that moment. And he continued to do so as this adult male was hanging on him. But people care. They wanted this family to know that they were there for them.

Brett repeated what he had at the press conference, adding quote, Hannah will come back. The caller to Hannah and Ethan. husband, Tina, gentleman that was a friend of ours for a long time, was taking everything. Hannah will come back and Ethan and Tina, I love you both. We all love you. And I know everybody's here for support of all three of them. And I want to thank you all. God bless. And on the same night, news came in while the visual was going on. One of the students' mothers texted her that the news had reported that Jim's vehicle had been spotted on a surveillance video. And on that video,

they confirmed that Hannah was seen in the passenger seat. The video was captured at a checkpoint in Pine Valley, which is only 22 minutes away from Jim's house. Marina's mom just sent her a text message. And it says the car was spotted in Santa Ana on SR 57. So they have spotted James' car, Jim's car. We don't know what they're doing from there, but Sabrina's mom saying her text message is saying that they have spotted the car. So as far as we know, God has answered our prayers already. Thank you, guys. The news brought so many to tears.

And others shouted with joy saying that their prayers had been answered. The thing is, the video of Jim and Hannah was captured at 1210 a.m. August 4th, about 20 hours before his home caught on fire. and eight hours after Hannah was last seen at cheer camp. So this wasn't much of a clue other than just building a timeline and knowing for certain that Jim had Hannah. Whether or not she was still alive was unknown, but her brother was not seen in that vehicle.

Something else came out as a search warrants were being unsealed, and the media was getting their hands on them. They showed that Hannah was picked up at 4 p.m. from Sweetwater High School, and at that exact time, her and Jim's cell phones were both turned off. However, prior to this, there were 13 calls between her and Jim. But even though Hannah's phone didn't turn back on, Jim's had.

And the records show that Jim was in contact with friends and family, including his sister, Laura Robinson. The record showed that Laura and her brother had multiple and unusually long calls on the day of the crime, which led investigators to believe that Laura was possibly aiding her brother. Now this next revelation caused quite a stir in the media and the ramifications from that as well as what came from the next two interviews I'm going to tell you about that the investigators did with Hannah's best friends Alan and Marissa. It's what made me want to dive into this case. It's pretty incredible the narrative that the media and others spun before anything was truly known. And we see that

that's still happening today years later. Here it is. The search warrant stated that Through interviews with Hannah's friends, it was learned that Jim took Hannah on multiple day trips, the most recent to Malibu and Hollywood. There were search warrants for Hannah and Jim's Facebook accounts, so they could account for any photos or correspondence that existed on those platforms. Maybe they could explain where Hannah was or what intentions Jim may have and why he would brutally murder a family and kidnap someone that he looked at as his niece. This started a lot of speculation, and I'm sure some of you,

had the same thought. Is Hannah involved? Did she plan this with Jim? Was there something going on between the two of them? Why would Jim be keeping letters from a teenager in his attic? And taking her on trips alone without her parents? Yeah. I don't blame the media for wondering what the nature of their relationship was. It was also revealed through a background check on Jim. The back in 1995, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor back in Texas for fleeing from a police officer. So I guess it could be seen as a propensity for breaking the law. I don't know. Many items were seized from Hannah's home. Here's what the search warrant said. I'm putting it on the screen. I'm not going to read through all of this. But from what I can see, there's definitely a pattern of the type of evidence they were

interested in getting a hold of. Her laptop, cameras, greeting cards, a photo of Jim, a picture album, a video camera and a journal. And that all stood out to me. They want to put together a picture of who Hannah is and create a victimology on her. Was there more to this story? Well, you're probably curious about those interviews. I know I was. You already know how close Hannah was with Marissa. Well, she told investigators about something very concerning with Jim.

Remember how he was always helping out, taking Ethan and Hannah to all their extracurricular activities. Well, there was one afternoon. He picked Hannah and Marissa up from gymnastics. Hannah was in the front seat. Marissa was in the back. They were listening to music. A slow song came on.

She thinks it might have been Bruno Mars. It really doesn't matter. They started talking about boys. Well, in that moment, Jim apparently started to feel uncomfortable, kind of saying, oh, I don't want to hear you talking about boys. That seemed odd. And Hannah looked confused. Well, Jim went on to explain, while Marissa is sitting right there in the back seat,

that Jim has a crush on Hannah. his words yeah this 40 year old man is confessing to a teenager that he has what he's calling a crush on her that is really intense for a young girl and her response was to get really quiet and marissa thought that jim noticed that so of course he goes on to reassure hannah he's like no no no no not a creepy crush it's just that i care about you i don't want to see you getting hurt by some dumb boy because in his words, if she were his age, he would date her, as in he would treat her right. And that's beyond creepy, if you ask me. This was a couple months before Hannah went missing and her mother was killed. After this really uncomfortable encounter, Hannah confided into both Marissa and

another best friend Alan McNabb that she was creeped out. She didn't want to be alone with Jim. So she asked Marissa to come along anytime Jim had to pick her up. Remember, Alan was interviewed and reported that Hannah confided in him about how she felt around Jim DiMaggio. I found a transcript from an interview that Alan did with Nancy Grace. Alan said that apparently Jim had taken Hannah to a dentist appointment one day, and at that appointment, he told her that she's beautiful, and another time he confessed he would date her if she was his age. Nancy wanted to know more about those trips that were mentioned in the search warrant,

and Alan explained that back in June for Hannah 16, birthday, which wasn't actually until July 27th, Jim was going to take her to Hollywood and then they were going to go camping. But their trip was cut short because they had to be back for Hannah's mom's birthday on July 1st. But what was interesting was that Alan said they came back early because they got in an argument. It was about a five-hour drive to L.A. and on the way, Hannah, typical teenager, she's taken a bunch of photos of herself. She's using Jim's phone. She's going on Facebook. social media texting friends, being a typical 16-year-old, but Jim was getting annoyed. He wanted her undivided attention, and the way that Alan relayed this was that he was upset

because she was on Facebook too much and she wasn't talking to him, and she had deleted all the pictures she took on his phone. He was crying and yelling at her. Now, when Nancy asked Alan, well, what do you mean? Why did she delete all these photos? Alan explained, well, she'd already uploaded them to Facebook. She took a bunch of different ones. So these pictures were of her. And at the moment, I'm sitting there connecting the dots in my brain kept saying, Pervert. Absolutely a groomer and perverted man who is completely manipulating this poor girl, and it's gross. Apparently, they had been staying in the same hotel room together until the last night of their trip when she went to her godfather's house.

Alan explained that even before this trip, Hannah was apprehensive about being alone. with Jim. She said she felt weird about it, especially being with him that long. But the thing is, she was excited about the places they were going. It was going to be so much fun. And I'm going to talk to you about that later. But Nancy wanted to know why Hannah's mom would let her go alone with Jim. Alan explained that Tina and Jim, they were really close and they got closer after Brett moved to Tennessee. Again, my mind is working. And I'm saying to myself, he did this to get even closer. closer to his main target, which was Tina's daughter. According to Allen, quote, Jim has been there for a long time.

He's been a family friend for years. And so Tina just thought that she could trust him, end quote. But Alan went on to say that Hannah had stopped returning Jim's texts and her calls in about April or May, three or four weeks after he admitted he had that crush. But of course, they reconnected somehow. Now we've heard from several people who knew Hannah and also knew Jim from the peripherals. But Nancy Grace also interviewed Jim's ex-wife. She wanted to remain anonymous. This was the wife he divorced before he moved in with Brett's mom, Hannah's paternal grandma,

Bernice Anderson. This woman was married to Jim back in 2002. They dated for a year, and then they got married. Nancy wanted to know why? Why were you attracted to him? And his ex-wife stated that he was really nice. He was great. He was even really nice to her son. She had a five-year-old. and he was just an all-around nice guy, that there was no reason to give her any red flags whatsoever. Jim was always ready to plan things with her son. She said, quote, it was never like, oh, let's just go on a date. He included my son in everything we did, which you know in a mother's eyes, that is a wonderful thing, end quote. Nancy told the ex-wife that Tina had allowed him to take her teen daughter away on trips alone.

And his ex said that that really surprised her, but she knew that Tina was very sweet and very trusting, and unfortunately she could have been too trusting. But when she heard that Jim may have been the one that killed Tina, she said she was so disgusted. And then it surprised her. When they were married, they would hang out with the Andersons all the time. They would have barbecues, and there were no red flags, nothing weird in relation to them. Jim's ex-wife was speechless. she was in disbelief. Nancy asked her if she thought

that there could be anything romantic going on between Tina and Jim and she said no, no. They were like brother and sister. That's the kind of relationship they had. Finally, when Nancy asked the ex-wife why her and Jim broke up, she said that it had to do with him being obsessed

with online gaming. She said, quote, he was great until we got married. After we got married, then he no longer did anything with my son and myself. He would just stay up all night on those video games." End quote. The game was called EverQuest.

I had never heard of it. It's a multiplayer role-playing game. And I can't help but think that this woman on the cover art looks like a grown-up version of Hannah. This is a fantasy-themed game. You play elves, barbarians, dragons, and other characters, and you go on adventures in this medieval fantasy world called Norath. Now, even though Nancy Gray said that she found out her husband was playing

fantasy games and had an alter ego online, they would be divorced immediately. And I do think that's just a little extreme because I am a video game lover. I was obsessed with Sims so much that I didn't sleep for days when a new version came out. So no, we're not weirdos just because we like gaming. A lot of people like to stay up late at night and sacrifice things, even relationships. But there is a line between healthy gameplay and maybe more of an addiction. And Jim's ex-wife said he no longer wanted to do anything with them. He never went out. He just never did anything as a family. They didn't eat dinner together. They didn't go on trips. And therefore, she wasn't going to stick around because there was no point. This was also about 11 years before he told Hannah that he had a

crush on her. So she would have only been five years old at the time. But maybe even then, he was interested in getting closer to younger people in the game. Who knows? You know you can do more than just play on there. You can talk to people. And predators do use. online games to correspond and connect and groom children. As parents, we should be aware and we should be afraid. By Wednesday, August 7th, the Amber Alert expanded into Oregon and Washington and the working theory was that Jim had become obsessed and infatuated with Hannah. Who knows when this started? He had met Brett and Tina when Tina was already six months pregnant and he was there when Hannah was born and he watched this little girl grow up. Clearly, if this is the case, then that means he started to become

attracted to a child. And it was theorized that he groomed her over the years. And I wasn't too familiar with grooming until a few years ago. I'll be straightforward about that. It was when the Me Too movement was first started and I watched a documentary on Jeffrey Epstein. And I began to understand how these predators put in the work for the long game. And it's worth it to them. And when I look back now on the fact that Jim would act like the cool uncle, he would let Hannah and her friends party at his place and even go upstairs but tell them they couldn't go up there. Why? Was he spying as they danced? Was he doing inappropriate things up there? Maybe getting off on watching these young girls while they sleep and they wear their PJs? Who knows? Not to mention, he was allowing them

to become intoxicated and I don't even want to think about that because he could have taken advantage of these girls. Did he do this to Hannah? No one knew. But if not, the repression of these desires might have finally boiled over, especially with Hannah seemingly pulling away and getting older and possibly getting a boyfriend. It was suspected from hearing about Jim and his constant emails and text to her and messages to her Facebook that he felt like he was losing his control, that his grip was loosening on this young girl, that he used to be able to coax a lot more easily. And he planned this murder and arson to finally get him all to himself. It's terrifying. And it's absolutely sick. But from all past accounts, there were no red flags. So this was the

best mode of investigators came up with, that he got rid of Tina so she couldn't stand between him and Hannah. He got rid of the dog. And poor Ethan, if that was who these charred remains belonged to and that they were just collateral damage. Unbeknownst to anyone in California, a break in the case had happened all the way in Idaho. On Wednesday, August 7th, a day after the visual, former Sheriff Army Ranger's 71-year-old Mark John and his 68-year-old wife, Krista, and their friends Mike Young, who was 62, and his wife Mary, were horseback riding in Cascade, Idaho in a very remote area known as the River of no return. The four of them were experienced in rugged terrain, but while going up to the area

where no one had ventured yet that year, an even more secluded area in Boise National Forest, they came across two people who stuck out. They did not look like they belonged. And as Mark put it, they just didn't fit in. They looked like a square peg going into a round hole. Here was this older man with a younger girl who was basically wearing what Mark called pajamas out in the wilderness. They were definitely not dressed for the occasion.

The girl had on a pair of tennis shoes. The man was wearing a gray sweatshirt, tennis shoes, and a backpack. And the red flags went up. As a former sheriff, Mark was on high alert. Neither one said a word to the horseback riders. The young girl turned her face away. She tried to look away from them in the other direction, and the man remained quiet. Neither one of them seemed friendly.

They did not want to engage in conversation at all. And all their gear looked brand new. So that was a clue that these were not experienced campers. They had no rain equipment, and it was really, really stormy up there. There was a lot of inclement weather. The spot that these two had set up camp had no. water nearby and they had set their tent up on a ridge which Mark noticed would act like a lightning rod in bad weather another thing is in the backcountry

everyone's communal it's common to stop and to talk to their people but these two they just look like they were up to something no good like they wanted to be left alone hide out and go unnoticed Mary thought the girl looked really scared but she thought okay maybe she's scared of the horses they might have startled her the horseback riders noticed As they approached, the man came closer to the young girl, and he put his arm around her waist and pulled her in close to him. So they spoke up. They asked the man, hey, where are you headed? And he said that they were on their way to a nearby lake. The thing is, they were walking in the wrong direction. So the horseback riders, they rode away, and they too were making their way to the lake.

And that's when they realized that the man and the young girl had followed them out there. So they were now encountering them a second time. So they could get a better. look. The girl had her feet in the water and she still wasn't looking at them. And Mark noticed the man was holding a house cat, a gray domesticated cat, a pet. And Mark was like, what are you doing with a cat out here? That's coyote bait. And that gave him a weird gut feeling like something wasn't right. He had never seen anything like this before. Then as they were passing, the girl said out loud, it looks like we're all going to be in trouble now, or something like, we're in real trouble now.

And Mark thought that was really strange. However, the horseback riders had no idea that there was a manhunt going on for Jim and that there were amber alerts out there for Hannah. It wasn't until the next day on Thursday when the couple returned to their home in Sweet Idaho that Mark and his wife were watching the news. Mark saw the report about Jim and Hannah.

He looked over at Krista and was like, That's the girl we saw yesterday in the woods. They immediately called in the tip and, of course. This was the first major break in the case, coming from a very reliable source, a former sheriff. And he had the wherewithal to take notice and remember details, put them together and relay this information and even the locations where they were cited.

Jim also had a gray cat, which was a detail that was known to investigators at the time. So that cat was the key. Neighbors had mentioned that Jim had cats and that the gray tabby was both Hannah and Jim's favorite. They were very attached. By the next day on Friday, hundreds of law enforcement agents had mobilized

in Cascade, Idaho, near the Frank Church River. That's the river of no return in the wilderness. This area is part of the largest tract of land left in the lower 48 states that you cannot get to by car. It's 2.5 million acres of heavily forested mountains and rugged terrain. We're talking really deep ravines and cliffs and rivers running

through it. There's no cell service. It's nothing but nature. It really was a great place to hide. And now state troopers, the FBI, and local law enforcement officers are scouring 400 miles of rough terrain. And the smoke from nearby wildfires were making it even harder for them to see anything in this area. It was obvious to investigators that Jim had set up those detonators in his house to go off after he could escape with Hannah. They got a head start so they could be anywhere. Finally, they see something and wow, when I saw this, I couldn't believe it. Look at this. If you're watching the screen, I will describe it if you're not. But as the search of this remote area was being conducted, a big pile of branches was seen. I mean, this must have taken so long

to do. But as you can see here, there are just hundreds of sticks, cut tree branches, leaves, debris, and it's covering something up. Upon closer inspection, it's the blue Nissan on Versa. It's the car that Jim was driving. Look at the effort he put in and probably instructed Hannah to do the same and hide this car. Clearly he did not want it to be found and it's pretty obvious this random pile of branches doesn't be long hair. However, from the sky, it wouldn't be as noticeable as a bright blue vehicle would it? And it makes sense. There were helicopters above though aiding in the search but they had not spotted Hannah or Jim yet. At this point, everyone that was hiking in that area was stopped and questioned by authorities. Back in California,

Brett was growing concerned. This was such a vast area. And if this really was Jim and his daughter that were seen, and she had said that they're now in trouble, Jim could have already done something fatal to Hannah. Did Jim feel like the walls were closing in on him? Well, Brett was losing hope until he got a call from John Walsh. He's pretty well known in the true crime space. John Walsh's son Adam Walsh was abducted in 1981 and murdered. Following his son's death, John Walsh became an advocate for missing children and hosted the television show America's Most Wanted. I'm sure you have seen this face before. John told the grieving father that he knew how quickly the news cycle moved and that Brett needed to keep Hannah's name in the media. John warned Brett that they'd

likely never find his daughter if something newsworthy happened while Hannah was missing. and it would overshadow her story. And isn't that the truth? Something bigger comes along and some people forget. So John said that using social media and any other available outlet is what they needed to do to keep the word out. Keep her story in the public eye, it was vital.

He wanted Brett to have hope for Hannah to be found and never to give up. John Walsh's advice and encouragement gave Brett the strength and the motivation to remain optimistic. But it was hard because even though Brett was elated to hear that his talk was spotted and she was alive.

He told the Associated Press that he was really happy, but he also was confused about why his daughter hadn't cried for help. But unfortunately, by this time, there had been a number of really, really vile rumors going around about Hannah. The most popular rumor was that Hannah had gone with Jim willingly and even worse, that she may have played a part in the murder of her mother and her little

brother. While Brett never believed these rumors were true, it was hard to accept that people's opinions could change so quickly. And they can. That night, a second Candlelight vigil was held for friends and family in the Lakeside neighborhood where the Andersons lived. A lot of people who were close to the family came out, and they did show their support. And this boosted Brett's morale. He even spoke again to the crowd, thanked them for coming out, and mentioned that many of them knew his wife that Tina had helped so many of their families and he was so appreciative that they cared enough to show up for support.