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Amber Alert Suspect Killed
Aired August 10, 2013 - 20:20 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. Don Lemon here in New York. We have breaking news right here on CNN. We're hearing of a major development in the multistate AMBER alert case of missing teen, 16- year-old Hannah Anderson and her alleged abductor, James DiMaggio.
They are preparing right now for a press conference in San Diego. The reporters and the producers and camera people are getting ready and also members of police departments and investigators.
Apparently there has been, we believe, a culmination to this case. Some news breaking. Some developing news.
I want to get straight to CNN's Paul Vercammen following the story for us from the very beginning. He is in San Diego.
Paul, what are you hearing? What are your sources telling you?
PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well right now, a top placed law enforcement official is saying that he, quote, "thinks the suspect is dead stopping short of saying he is dead and not addressing whether or not Hannah is alive. But again, a top well-placed law enforcement sourcing he thinks the suspect is dead.
Interesting, Don, because we heard from the suspect's friend that this is the anniversary, today, of his father's suicide, that he had feared all along that something could happen dramatic today involving James DiMaggio.
LEMON: And Paul, let's talk a little bit more about this, because, again, she is 16 years old. That she went missing. And then give our viewers just a little bit of a background here. This all started on Sunday when San Diego County firefighters responded to calls at DiMaggio's house that it was engulfed in flames. Then they found the body of Hannah's mother inside.
And then on Monday, they issued an AMBER alert for DiMaggio, for Hannah, and then for Ethan, her brother. And that was the first time, Paul, that California had sent out AMBER alerts on cell phones, and then on Wednesday the teen was spotted with DiMaggio by a horseback rider in a remote and rugged area about 70 miles from Boise, Idaho. This is near Cascade, Idaho, where they held a press conference earlier today. And then on Friday, Idaho State Police were searching that area. They found the suspects or the abductor's missing car, the one that was registered to DiMaggio, it was near a remote trailhead. And then this morning there came confirmation that a body that was found in the home, in the burnt out house, was 8-year-old Ethan Anderson which is Hannah's brother. And of course, he killed her -- he killed her mother as well.
Paul Vercammen is in San Diego, and I want to tell our viewers, again, we're following breaking news here on CNN. We're awaiting a press conference in San Diego where there is a major development in the case of California missing teen, Hannah Anderson.
More on this after a quick -- oh, let's stand by. Let's see. They are walking up to the microphones now and why don't we listen in to this press conference in San Diego?
SHERIFF BILL GORE, SAN DIEGO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA: Thank you for being here today. During an arrest attempt at the north end of Moorhead Lake in Idaho, suspect James Lee DiMaggio was shot and killed by an FBI Tactical agent assigned to an FBI headquarters unit. Hannah Anderson was located with DiMaggio. She appears well and was rescued and will be transported to a hospital in Idaho.
To recap, this operation started on Wednesday when some hikers spotted two people they thought resembled DiMaggio and Anderson.
As you recall, then Friday morning the blue Nissan Versa was discovered and that led to a really a massive federal, state and local manhunt in the Idaho area wilderness outside of Cascade, Idaho.
I want to emphasize what a collaborative effort this search and recovery effort really was. The Sheriff's Department had personnel from San Diego up there, Valley County and Ada County Sheriff's Department. Unprecedented response by the FBI, Salt Lake City officers, Portland, San Francisco, and FBI headquarters sent units out there to assist in the -- in the search along with U.S. Marshals, Idaho State Police officers, and Customs and Border Protection.
It truly was a joint effort and I'm pleased to stand here today and say that Hannah was successfully rescued and appears to be in pretty good shape.
I would also like to thank the media, as you recall, we did not originally issue the AMBER alert in Idaho, but it was because of the extensive coverage that this horrendous crime received from the media that these hikers in Idaho were aware of Hannah and -- missing, and DiMaggio's whereabouts.
So I thank you for your support. I'll answer any questions. I'd like to say that there is going to be a press conference in Cascade, Idaho, at 5:30 our time today. 6:30 their time. Where a lot more details will be provided by the federal, state and local law enforcements on the scene up there that actually conducted the operation.
Brett Anderson, Hannah's father, has been notified. Obviously he's elated that we found his daughter alive and plans are being made now to reunite him with his daughter, hopefully tomorrow morning. Yes?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Was there a fire fight? Did DiMaggio fire --
GORE: I'm not going to discuss any of the details because I really don't have them down here. Those will be issued this afternoon up in Idaho, in about another hour from now.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Sir, did you personally notify Mr. Anderson?
GORE: No. Sheriff's department personnel notified Mr. Anderson this afternoon. I didn't personally do it, but obviously he was very relieved and very excited and looking forward to being reunited with his daughter.
We're missing, not introducing the people standing with me. I'm sorry. This is Daphne Hern, the special agent in charge of the FBI in San Diego, who -- their assistance from day one on this matter has been invaluable. She's with assistant special agent in charge, Rob Howe. And my left is Patty Duke, assistant sheriff in charge of our law enforcement. And everybody knows Duncan, Captain Duncan Frazier who's led this investigation from the start.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE)
GORE: The family had been notified, as best as I know. I'm sure the grandparents have been notified also.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE)
GORE: 4:22 this afternoon, Pacific Standard Time. That's when we were notified here, and we were pretty instantaneous communications with Idaho. We were following it through their command post they had set up there and the tactical units throughout in the field that did a tremendous job. And I can't thank the federal government enough for all the resources, tactical resources they brought to bear on this that in my mind led to the successful resolution.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Sheriff, your reaction when you guys got that call?
GORE: Well, the first things is we were elated that Hannah was -- appeared to be safe and was rescued and will be, you know, reunited with her family in the near future. Obviously we would like Mr. DiMaggio to surrender and face justice in the court of law, but that's not going to be the case.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You said that Hannah was in good shape but did she have any injuries that you know of?
GORE: Not that I know of. She's going to be taken to a hospital where she'll be thoroughly evaluated before any, you know, detectives or FBI agents interview her.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE)
GORE: No, I don't have any information in that regard. UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You said that (INAUDIBLE) --
GORE: Yes, Mr. Anderson will be transported to Idaho and hopefully reunited with his daughter tomorrow morning sometime.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What's next with this case? (INAUDIBLE)
GORE: Well, there's obviously still a lot of investigation to be done. We'll be talking to Hannah, getting more details of exactly what happened and just kind of wrapping up our investigation.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do you have any idea (INAUDIBLE) --
GORE: Well, I just know that they were -- we had a lot of resources in that area, both on the ground and aerial resources. It's my understanding that the campsite was spotted from the air and then that the ground units were sent into that area which eventually led to the confrontation.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You talked about you were in constant communication. Can you talk about the interactions and how San Diego investigators feel?
GORE: Well, we sent investigators, homicide investigators, child abuse investigators, and some of our evidence technicians up there realizing we were going to be processing the car and other things. So we were in communication, as was the FBI. They've been in our office. This has been a joint effort from really day one, and it's the way law enforcement is supposed to work.
And I'm very gratified to see it resolved in this way with this joint effort and collaboration which was really unprecedented. OK? Thank you, all, very much.
LEMON: OK. There, that's officials in San Diego, California, saying that they have found Hannah Anderson, and she is alive. The 16-year- old that has been missing since Sunday, really. And they are also saying that the suspect, the 40-year-old suspect in all of this, James DiMaggio, was killed. 4:22 Pacific Standard Time.
What they're saying is that a campsite apparently the two were at was spotted from the air. Ground units were sent in. There was a shootout at the north end of Moorhead Lake in Idaho. And James DiMaggio was killed.
There was an FBI tactical team there. That's a tactical team that located Mr. DiMaggio. The Salt Lake City Police Department was there. Portland Police Department. San Francisco's police department. The FBI, U.S. Marshals. Idaho State Police. Really an effort, a massive effort here to find him because he killed, or was accused of killing Hannah's mother, setting his own house on fire, then killing Hannah's mother as well and also killing her 8-year-old brother, Ethan.
The father spoke at length here. Brett Anderson. On CNN to CNN's Chris Cuomo saying he was holding out all hope that his daughter was still alive, but he was realistic about his son because at the time his son's body had not been identified. And he said, but, you know, he thought it was probably his son.
It was a very tough interview to watch. Take a listen here as we go through this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRETT ANDERSON, FATHER: My cousin called me and said, did you hear about Jim's house? And so I just Googled it and found, you know, the pictures and they said there was one body, which at the point I thought was Jim, and so I was very upset for Jim, and then things just downward spiraled from there.
CHRIS CUOMO, ANCHOR, CNN'S "NEW DAY": Tell me about your kids, Mr. Anderson. Tell me about Hannah. Tell me about Ethan.
ANDERSON: Give me a second.
CUOMO: I know this is difficult. I cannot imagine talking about my kids in this kind of situation, but we want people to feel connected to what's at stake here and who may be lost. So please, if you can, tell us about what made these kids so special to you.
ANDERSON: Ethan wore his heart on his sleeve. He would give, do anything for anybody. Loved everybody. He was just my buddy. We spoke quite often since I've been in Nashville, and he would tell me his daily routines. He was just getting back into football for a second year.
And Hannah was just a beautiful, beautiful girl. Very, very good student. Hundreds and hundreds of friends. And there was nothing bad to say about my kids. They never did anything to anybody. They were always wonderful. We were pretty tight-knit, even though I was a couple thousand miles away.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: This is a horrific story, obviously, and if there is -- I don't know if there can be any good news in all this, I guess, is that, you know, Mr. Anderson has his daughter now. And according to the investigator there, he said that Mr. Anderson will be brought to Idaho to meet with his daughter, to pick up his daughter. And they were going to get more details from Hannah.
I want to go now to Miguel Marquez. He is in Cascade, Idaho. He's been following this search for us here on CNN.
Miguel, the news is that James DiMaggio is dead and Hannah is still alive. What are you hearing where you are?
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the news is stunning. This has happened so fast. They ramped up so quickly here in the wilderness area outside of Cascade. We knew that there were a lot of helicopters, planes in the air. One thing that they were finding, there were big fires in the area so there was a lot of smoke. It wasn't very clear that they were able to get a very good picture of what was going on the ground. They knew how far they had moved from the time the car had been dropped off, to the time that that person on horseback saw them. And then they knew that there was another 48, perhaps, 60 hours from that sighting to the point where they were on Friday. They rushed everybody they could in here. To see those FBI agents and SWAT teams going in here in helicopters, it looked like a war zone here in Idaho.
They swarmed in here so quickly. Clearly they have -- I think to everybody's astonishment, found them more quickly and resolved this it in a way that is, I can't tell you how happy that family will be knowing the father, knowing the parents, and the grandparents and how distraught they were over losing Christina, the only daughter of Sarah Brett, and their 8-year-old grandson, Ethan. This kid who just liked to fish.
All they wanted, all their hearts, all their soul, was in the hope that Hannah would come home to them and they must be overjoyed and partying and strangely enough, despite two family members have been killed, they must be overjoyed in San Diego tonight -- Don.
LEMON: Miguel, stand by, because I want to get more information from you right after I update our viewers.
Miguel, don't go anywhere.
Again, this is breaking news right here on CNN. It is a major, major development in the multistate AMBER alert case of missing teenager, 16-year-old Hannah Anderson and her alleged abductor James DiMaggio. We just heard moments ago from officials in San Diego that James DiMaggio is dead. Sixteen-year-old Hannah is safe and with police officers. And they are bringing her father to Idaho to be with her.
This happened in western Idaho where DiMaggio's car was found yesterday. The teenager was last seen a week ago at her cheerleading practice in San Diego County, California. And joining me now on the phone is Miguel Marquez, who has been following this.
Miguel, let's talk about the manpower involved here. A multistate, huge operation with the FBI, with San Francisco Police, Portland Police, Salt Lake police and U.S. Marshals, Idaho State Police, among others.
MARQUEZ: Yes, we know that the FBI brought in, alone, 150 agents and they were still ramping up. It's an enormous wilderness area. Everybody realized that time was of the essence. That they had let time go between the time that the horseback rider spotted them and when they found the car and realized that these were the two that they were looking for. Hundreds of individuals, and probably 150, perhaps 200 in the field today.
What we were able to see, though, were Customs and Border Patrol helicopters ferrying heavily armed and clad in military gear, FBI SWAT teams, tactical teams, that were going into this very remote area. But clearly they had -- you know, I asked questions about drones and infrared technology that might have been used earlier. It gets cold here at night. We're at about 80 -- about 5600 feet where we are, it's in the mid 40s. They were probably in 8,000 feet. They probably gets into the high 30s.
Very cold at night. Very easy to see if you have the sort of technology that can see those people. It is not clear to me whether or not they had a beat on them as they went out this morning, but it is breathtaking how fast they brought this to a conclusion, how certain they were that they knew that this was Mr. DiMaggio.
I don't know how close they got to him, if they got him from a distance or if this was something closer in. There was great concern that he would end up taking Hannah as a hostage and that she may have been killed either by him or in the crossfire -- Don.
LEMON: Miguel Marquez, stand by.
We're not done with this. Breaking news right here on CNN. A major development in the multistate AMBER alert case of missing teen, Hannah Anderson, and her alleged abductor, James DiMaggio.
Right now, investigators are telling CNN and the world that DiMaggio is dead. Forty-year-old James DiMaggio is dead. And 16-year-old Hannah is safe and with police. Her father on the way to meet with her. Details after a quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: The breaking news here on CNN right now is that a major development, there has been one, in the multistate AMBER alert case of missing teen, Hannah Anderson. Her alleged abductor, James DiMaggio, we're told, is dead. Dead. Sixteen-year-old Hannah is safe and with police officers.
This happened in western Idaho, where DiMaggio's car was found yesterday. The teenager was last seen a week ago at her cheerleading practice in San Diego County, California.
Joining me now is Jim Clemente, former FBI profiler, with information on this. An FBI tactical agent -- tactical agent is apparently the person or persons, Jim, who took that suspect down.
JIM CLEMENTE, FORMER FBI PROFILER: Yes. That would be, Don, they said in the press conference that it was a tactical agent from the FBI from headquarters. That would be code for the FBI's hostage rescue team. They're the premiere hostage rescue team and tactical team in the country. They don't take credit for what they do. I think they should be given credit because obviously it was a dangerous situation. Obviously they successfully subdued the subject and they saved Hannah. I'm sure it was a major team effort, but the hostage rescue team is really top notch.
LEMON: We're told, Jim, that the campsite was spotted from the air, and then this ground unit was sent in, or ground units were sent in, and the FBI tactical agent, again, the one who got the suspect and then rescued Hannah -- Jim?
(CROSSTALK) CLEMENTE: Yes, the tactical teams, the hostage rescue team has air assets. It has helicopters and they are trained and operate in a quasi military fashion and they certainly can get from a helicopter to the ground in a very short period of time and they also have equipment to be able to see through smoke and through night and any other obstruction.
So I'm pretty sure that that's the kind of equipment that was utilized and that they were able to identify them, take the right time and place to come down, and make the assault, and they apparently rescued Hannah safely. That's a wonderful thing. This is a very, very good result.
LEMON: It is. Especially after everything that's happened. You know, her mother and her brother are gone. And --
(CROSSTALK)
CLEMENTE: The guy was definitely desperate and violent and obsessed with her, and those are not good things to have together. I mean, it was a very dangerous situation for Hannah. She apparently was in survival mode and she complied with him at least outwardly so that he wouldn't kill her and I think that kept her alive long enough for the guys to come and rescue her.
LEMON: A friend was on CNN saying that she had heard him say that he had a crush on Hannah and Hannah was very uncomfortable about this.
CLEMENTE: Yes.
LEMON: And of course, the concern -- and you know, I'm speaking the truth, the concern is that if he was cornered, then who knows what he would have done to try to save himself and that Hannah was possibly his last hope for not being killed or not being taken in. That he might take her hostage and then try to go out in a blaze of glory.
CLEMENTE: Yes, well, the fact is that there's very little difference between suicidal and homicidal ideation. Obviously he's proven himself or he had proven himself to be homicidal. This is also the anniversary of his father's suicide. I think there's a lot of suicide ideation going on in his head. And he very well could have taken Hannah with him. So that's why I'm saying it's such a good result. She was at grave risk.
This is not something that happens all the time when you have somebody who's so violent, proven himself to be so violent, and then abducts a child, and then the child survives. So --especially after this many days. So she's a very, very lucky, lucky young girl.
LEMON: Hey, Jim Clemente, you have so much knowledge about this because you're a retired FBI now, a former profiler. Stand by --
CLEMENTE: I was on the Child Abduction Rapid Deployment Team when I was in the profiling unit.
LEMON: Yes. That's how we met when I worked in St. Louis. We were covering a case and you were the lead on that case.
CLEMENTE: Yes.
LEMON: Hey, stand by, Jim Clemente, because I want to -- our viewers to hear exactly how this went down and then we will get back to Jim Clemente. Here is that press conference just moments ago in San Diego.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GORE: At the north end of Moorhead Lake in Idaho, suspect James Lee DiMaggio was shot and killed by an FBI tactical agent assigned to an FBI headquarters' unit. Hannah Anderson was located with DiMaggio. She appears well and was rescued and will be transported to a hospital in Idaho.
To recap, this operation started on Wednesday when some hikers spotted two people they thought resembled DiMaggio and Anderson. As you recall, then Friday morning the blue Nissan Versa was discovered and that led to a -- really a massive federal, state and local manhunt in the Idaho area wilderness outside of Cascade, Idaho.
I want to emphasize what a collaborative effort this search and recovery effort really was. The sheriff's department had personnel from San Diego up there. The Valley County and Ada County Sheriff's department. Unprecedented response by the FBI, Salt Lake City officers, Portland, San Francisco, and FBI headquarters sent units out there to assist in the -- in the search along be U.S. Marshals, Idaho State Police officers, and Customs and Border Protection.
It truly was a joint effort and I'm pleased to stand here today and say that Hannah was successfully rescued and appears to be in pretty good shape.
I would also like to thank the media. As you recall, we did not originally issue the AMBER alert in Idaho, but it was because of the extensive coverage that this horrendous crime received from the media that these hikers in Idaho were aware of Hannah and missing and DiMaggio's whereabouts.
So I thank you for your support. I'll answer any questions. I'd like to say that there is going to be a press conference in Cascade, Idaho, at 5:30 our time today, 6:30 their time, where a lot more details will be provided by the federal, state and local law enforcements on the scene up there that actually conducted the operation.
Brett Anderson, Hannah's father, has been notified. Obviously he's elated that we found his daughter alive. And plans are being made now to reunite him with his daughter hopefully tomorrow morning. Yes?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Was there a fire fight? Did DiMaggio fire --
GORE: I'm not going to discuss any of the details because I really don't have them down here. Those will be issued this afternoon up in Idaho, in about another hour from now.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Sir, did you personally notify Mr. Anderson?
GORE: No. Sheriff's department personnel notified Mr. Anderson this afternoon. I didn't personally do it, but obviously he was very relieved and very excited and looking forward to being reunited with his daughter.
We're missing, not introducing the people standing with me. I'm sorry. This is Daphne Hern, the special agent in charge of the FBI in San Diego, who -- their assistance from day one on this matter has been invaluable. She's with assistant special agent in charge, Rob Howe. And my left is Patty Duke, assistant sheriff in charge of our law enforcement. And everybody knows Duncan, Captain Duncan Frazier who's led this investigation from the start.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE)
GORE: The family had been notified, as best as I know. I'm sure the grandparents have been notified also.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE)
GORE: 4:22 this afternoon, Pacific Standard Time. That's when we were notified here, and we were pretty instantaneous communications with Idaho. We were following it through their command post they had set up there and the tactical units throughout in the field that did a tremendous job. And I can't thank the federal government enough for all the resources, tactical resources they brought to bear on this that in my mind led to the successful resolution.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Sheriff, your reaction when you guys got that call?
GORE: Well, the first things is we were elated that Hannah was -- appeared to be safe and was rescued and will be, you know, reunited with her family in the near future. Obviously we would like Mr. DiMaggio to surrender and face justice in the court of law, but that's not going to be the case.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: There you hear it. Officials in San Diego giving us the breaking news on CNN. Forty-year-old James DiMaggio has been killed by FBI tactical agents in Idaho. Sixteen-year-old Hannah Anderson is alive and is being transported now to the police department where she will meet her father -- with her father soon.
We're going to take a quick break here. And when we come back, we'll get more information, more details on how this happened, how all of this went down, and also there's a press conference that's scheduled to happen. We'll carry that for you as well. We're back after a quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news. LEMON: Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon in New York. At this hour, we have breaking news in to CNN. There has been a major development in the multistate AMBER alert case of missing teenager Hannah Anderson and her alleged abductor, James DiMaggio. We have just been told by investigators that James DiMaggio is dead. Sixteen-year-old Hannah is safe and with police officers. Her father is being transported to meet with her.
This happened in western Idaho where DiMaggio's car was found yesterday.
