Warrants lead to questions in kidnap, slayings

Associated Press

SAN DIEGO

The man who abducted a teenage family friend and tortured her mother and 8-year-old brother before killing them exchanged more than a dozen calls with the 16-year-old girl in the hours before the slaying.

Exactly how James Lee DiMaggio tortured them or why he and Hannah Anderson exchanged about 13 calls wasn’t immediately clear, but the new details in court papers fueled questions about how and why he targeted his best friend’s family and fled with a girl who has said she felt uncomfortable around him.

Firefighters found the body of Christina Anderson, 44, near a crowbar and what appeared to be blood next to her head. DiMaggio is believed to have shot and killed their family dog, found under a sleeping bag in the garage. Investigators found Ethan’s body as they sifted through rubble.

DiMaggio “tortured and killed” the mother and son, San Diego County Sheriff’s Detective Darren Perata wrote, offering no elaboration, in the warrants released Wednesday. Hannah was rescued days later in the Idaho wilderness, where authorities killed DiMaggio in a shootout.

The warrants do not indicate the time, duration or content of the calls that DiMaggio and Hannah exchanged before she was picked up at cheerleading practice Aug. 4.