Kidnapping of Hannah Anderson

On or about August 3, 2013, 16-year-old Hannah Marie Anderson was abducted after cheerleading practice at Sweetwater High School in National City, California. The suspect, identified by authorities as 40-year-old James Lee DiMaggio, was a family friend who owned a home in Boulevard, California, where Hannah, her mother Christina Anderson, and her brother Ethan Anderson had stayed overnight after DiMaggio invited them, reportedly to say goodbye before an intended move to Texas. He had also lied to the family about needing to leave the property in order to get them there.

On August 4, 2013, a fire was reported at DiMaggio's Boulevard home. Firefighters found the bodies of Christina Anderson, a child later identified as Ethan Anderson, and the family dog. An arrest warrant was issued for DiMaggio the same day. Autopsy results released by the San Diego County Medical Examiner's office in late September 2013 found that Christina Anderson had been bound at the ankles with a plastic cable tie, had duct tape wrapped around her neck and mouth, sustained fractures to her right arm and both legs, a cut on her neck, and had been struck at least twelve times in the head. Ethan Anderson's autopsy determined he died as a result of the fire, though he also had skeletal fractures that could have occurred earlier that day.

Hannah Anderson's grandparents reported the children missing on August 4, 2013, prompting California's first Amber Alert sent to cellphones; because the child's body found in the home had not yet been identified, the alert initially named both Hannah and Ethan. The search extended along the Pacific coast from British Columbia to Baja California.

On August 7, 2013, horseback riders in Cascade, Idaho, spotted two people matching descriptions of DiMaggio and Anderson and alerted authorities after seeing a news report. That same day, DiMaggio's car was found near the Frank Church–River of No Return Wilderness with its license plates removed and hidden with brush.

On August 10, 2013, police located DiMaggio's campsite near Morehead Lake. An FBI tactical agent shot and killed DiMaggio after he fired at least one shot toward officers; according to Hannah, she had persuaded him to fire into the air to draw the attention of rangers on horseback, without his knowledge that FBI personnel had already surrounded and were monitoring the site from above. DiMaggio was shot six times. Hannah Anderson was found with no visible injuries and was taken to a hospital for crisis counseling. San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore stated that Hannah Anderson was "a victim in every sense of the word" and did not willingly accompany DiMaggio.

Investigators found letters DiMaggio had received from Hannah Anderson in his home and records showing more than a dozen phone calls between them prior to the killings. Sheriff Gore said authorities might never fully determine DiMaggio's motive.