It’s day six in the search for a 16-year-old girl who is believed to have been abducted by a family friend who is accused of killing her mother and setting fire to their home. And police warned Friday: James Lee DiMaggio, 40, may have booby-trapped his get-away car with a bomb.
“In the event that someone comes across the car, they need to use caution,” said Capt. Duncan Fraser, of the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, in the Detroit Free Press.
Police say evidence found at the charred scene of teen Hannah Anderson’s home suggests Mr. DiMaggio may have fled with explosives that he made.
Mr. DiMaggio is wanted on charges of murder and arson. He is accused of killing Christina Anderson, 44, and burning the family home, located about 65 miles outside San Diego, on Sunday night.
Emergency responders also found remains they say belong to a child, but it’s too soon to tell if those remains are the body of Hannah’s 8-year-old brother, Ethan. But the boy hasn’t been seen or heard from since the fire.
The girl has disappeared, and police believe that Mr. DiMaggio is holding her hostage and that he has “an unusual infatuation” with her, Capt. Fraser said, in the Detroit Free Press.
“That is kind of a working theory, that it may be something of a motivator,” Capt. Fraser said.
Mr. DiMaggio was a family friend for years. Brett Anderson, the father, recently appeared on television to appeal to Mr. DiMaggio to let his daughter go and to Hannah, to run as soon as she had the chance.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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