SAN DIEGO — A retired FBI agent is speaking out about the rescue of Hannah Anderson, a Lakeside teenager allegedly kidnapped in 2013 and recovered in Idaho.
The then 16-year-old was found camping in a remote area with a 40-year-old family friend, James Lee DiMaggio, who was shot and killed by FBI agents.
The retired agent, Charles Davis, was part of the FBI’s hostage rescue team that flew into the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness and recovered Anderson unharmed.
“The Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness area is something on the order of 2.3 million acres,” said Davis.
The area is more than one thousand miles from the teenager’s home in Lakeside. She went missing on August 4, 2013.
“A group of horseback riders were riding way back into the wilderness area and came across a gentleman and a young girl who they said were ill-equipped to be in the area where they were,” said Davis.
An amber alert had been issued for the teen a week earlier. Officers believed she was kidnapped by DiMaggio. Video showed them passing through a Border Patrol checkpoint in Pine Valley.
The girl’s little brother, 8-year-old Ethan Anderson, and her mother, Christina Anderson, age 44, had been found murdered in a burned-down house in Boulevard where DiMaggio lived.
Agent Davis spoke to CBS 8 about the rescue operation in advance of his appearance on the Paramount+ FBI True episode airing Tuesday at 9 p.m. on CBS.
“As we were planning the general area search, we had aircraft assets up and they had identified a tent and man and a young girl up at this lake,” said Davis.
FBI aerial video showed DiMaggio by the lake. He then takes his shirt off and walks away from the teenager.
“The pilots came over the radio and said, ‘Hannah is down by the lake. She's as far away from DiMaggio as we've seen her from him.’ So, that was the impetus behind us saying okay, now is the time,” said Davis.
In the FBI video, Anderson can be seen waiving her arms as if to signal for help. A campfire was burning nearby. They were apparently lost, according to a 2013 interview the teenager did with the Today Show.
“I told him, I said, I read in a book that if you fire a gun in the air three times, that means SOS. So he went to fire once. And I was watching him. And then he fired it the second time, but he like lowered it. And then a bunch of guns went off and I looked and he fell on the on the ground,” Anderson told the Today Show.
DiMaggio's sister, Lora Robinson, filed a wrongful death lawsuit in 2015 claiming her brother was shooting his gun to signal for help. The lawsuit was dismissed in 2020.
Robinson appeared on CNN in 2013, accusing the teenager of involvement in the plot.
“I remember very vividly telling my brother she's trouble. She stated that she was very upset with her mother,” Robinson said during the CNN interview.
As for Hannah Anderson, she is now age 26 and living in Vancouver, Washington with her partner and newborn son. She emailed CBS 8 the following statement:
“I am currently two months away from getting my degree and taking my board exam to become a MRI technologist as well as working full time for a hospital at home while I spend time with my son. I have worked hard to be where I am today, and although what happened was traumatic and devastating, I have a family of my own now and an amazing life ahead of me with my guardian angels watching above. Ethan’s birthday was Sunday, he would have been 19 years old and I try to imagine what he’d look like and what he’d be doing in life if he was still here today. I miss them everyday and one day my son will know what an amazing grandma and uncle he has up in heaven.”
Robinson said she currently is working on a podcast detailing her brother's death. She emailed CBS the following:
“Echoes of Truth Podcast (echoesoftruth.com) will delve into the facts and discrepancies that have remained unvetted. Our discussions will feature neutral experts along with never-before-seen evidence and witnesses that have long remained silenced by investigators. It is my sincerest hope that through a comprehensive and unbiased review of events and witnesses, we will be able to bring peace and healing to everyone who was devastated by these horrific events.”
The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department said previously that Hannah Anderson is considered an innocent victim in the ordeal.
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