Amber Alert: Washington, Oregon police chase tips on murder suspect

By Kate Mather

Aug. 8, 2013 10:39 AM PT

As the search for missing San Diego-area teen Hannah Anderson and her alleged kidnapper stretched into another day Thursday, authorities in Oregon and Washington said they had received multiple tips after an Amber Alert was extended into their jurisdictions.

The Amber Alert for James Lee DiMaggio and his blue Nissan Versa was broadened to include the Pacific Northwest states Wednesday afternoon, after a car matching the description was seen driving north on U.S. 395 near the town of Alturas headed toward the Oregon border.

Oregon State Police Lt. Gregg Hastings said in a statement that a “possible sighting of the vehicle” was reporting about 2 p.m. Wednesday in southern Oregon. On Thursday, he told The Times there had been “no confirmed sightings.”

Washington State Patrol Sgt. Jason Hicks said Thursday his agency had received multiple tips following the expanded Amber Alert, but had “no luck yet.” The state’s electronic highway signs are now displaying the alert, he added, and all of the state’s law enforcement agencies have been notified.

“It’s working,” he said. “People are looking and we’re chasing down the leads, but we haven’t found the right car yet.”

Authorities said DiMaggio might be traveling to Canada; a source cautioned, however, that officials do not know where he may be. Anyone with possible information about Hannah, DiMaggio or the vehicle — which bears California license plate 6WCU986 — is asked to call police.

The search began Sunday after the body of Hannah’s mother, 44-year-old Christina Anderson, was found in DiMaggio’s burning home in Boulevard, a rural eastern San Diego County community just north of the Mexican border. Authorities allege DiMaggio killed Anderson, then kidnapped her 16-year-old daughter, Hannah.

Anderson’s 8-year-old son, Ethan, is also missing, through a boy’s body was also found at DiMaggio’s home. An autopsy on the child’s remains was performed Tuesday, but officials said the identity wouldn’t be announced until Friday at the earliest.

The FBI and Mexican authorities are also involved in the search.

San Diego sheriff’s Lt. Glenn Giannantonio said authorities have received “lots and lots of tips from across the country.”

“We are following up on each and every one of them that seems to have merit,” he said.

The initial Amber Alert in California was the first time the state notified the public of a suspected child abduction using a new, national cellphone system administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Notifications of the alert went directly to cellphones.

Hicks said the alert was also sent to cellphones in Washington with “wireless emergency alert” capabilities, though his department didn’t immediately know how many that included. Their first cellphone alert went out in April, he said.

Although that “resulted in the successful recovery” of a missing 1-year-old boy, he said, some of the public “responded negatively” because the alert went out at 2:30 a.m. Many in California had similar complaints.

Meanwhile, DiMaggio’s neighbors said they are stunned by news that he is suspected of kidnapping and homicide.

Authorities said DiMaggio was a longtime friend of the Anderson family, and that the children called him “Uncle Jim.”

One of DiMaggio’s neighbors said they chatted across their shared chain-link fence, and another said DiMaggio told him he was pleased with the gas mileage on his new blue Nissan. When Christina Anderson brought her children to visit, he offered his home and yard for the other neighborhood children to play.

“There are some people, when something like this happens, that say, ‘This doesn’t surprise me,’” said Tom Calgaro, who lives next to DiMaggio. “This is not one of those. This is one of those typical things where neighbors are interviewed after something like this and they say, ‘He was a nice guy.’”

San Diego County sheriff’s Capt. Duncan Fraser said authorities are aware of rumors of a possible relationship between Hannah Anderson and DiMaggio, but do not know whether they are true. The teen’s friends have told various media outlets that DiMaggio had a crush on the girl, but that she was “creeped out” by the older man’s interests.

San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore told CNN’s Anderson Cooper: “We know that they were lifelong friends. We’re not exactly sure what that relationship was. We don’t know if Hannah’s with him willingly or not. We just don’t know right now.”

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