Hannah Anderson

On or about the afternoon of August 3, 2013, 16-year-old Hannah Marie Anderson (born July 22, 1997) was abducted after cheerleading practice from El Capitan High School in Lakeside, California. The suspect was later identified by authorities as 40-year-old James DiMaggio, owner of a home in Boulevard, California, about an hour away, where Anderson, her mother Christina and brother Ethan had been overnight guests the previous evening.

In late September 2013, the San Diego County Medical Examiner's office released results of the autopsies of Christina and Ethan Anderson. The autopsy of Christina Anderson found that a plastic cable tie had been used to bind her ankles, and that duct tape was wrapped around her neck and mouth. Her right arm and both legs were fractured, and there was a cut on her neck. She had been struck at least twelve times in the head. The autopsy of Ethan Anderson determined that the boy died because of the fire, though he also had skeletal fractures that could have been caused by events during the day of the murders.

On August 4, 2013, Anderson's grandparents called the police and reported their grandchildren missing, prompting police to issue a statewide AMBER Alert, the first alert sent out to cellphones in California. As the child's body found in the burned-out home was burned beyond recognition, the AMBER Alert included both Hannah and Ethan Anderson. The manhunt stretched along the Pacific Coast from British Columbia, Canada to Baja California, Mexico.

DiMaggio listed Brett Anderson's mother as the beneficiary to his life insurance in 2011, while he lived with her. He intended the $112,000 for Hannah and Ethan, but did not trust their parents to handle the inheritance. This revelation prompted members of DiMaggio's family to request a paternity test to determine if he fathered the Anderson children. Brett called the suggestion "disgusting" and an Anderson family spokeswoman said DiMaggio had not met Christina until she was six months pregnant with Hannah. The DiMaggio family later withdrew their request for DNA testing.

James Everet Lee DiMaggio, Jr. (January 17, 1973 – August 10, 2013), age 40, was a telecommunications technician in San Diego. According to a friend of DiMaggio, his father, James Everet Lee Sr., died exactly 15 years to the day before his son. The friend said the elder DiMaggio, who was accused of attempting to kidnap the 16-year-old daughter of an ex-girlfriend in 1988, committed suicide on August 10, 1998, though public records indicate that his suicide was instead committed on August 10, 1995.