James Dimaggio's car is towed to the town of Cascade after dectives finished searsching it on a trail head bordering the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness on Saturday, Aug. 10, 2013. Dimaggio, 40, is suspected of killing a California woman and her young son and then fleeing with the 16-year-old daughter was found in the Idaho wilderness on Friday after horseback riders reported seeing the man and girl hiking in the area two days earlier, authorities said. (AP Photo/Robby Milo)
James Dimaggio's car is towed to the town of Cascade after dectives finished searsching it on a trail head bordering the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness on Saturday, Aug. 10, 2013. Dimaggio, 40, is suspected of killing a California woman and her young son and then fleeing with the 16-year-old daughter was found in the Idaho wilderness on Friday after horseback riders reported seeing the man and girl hiking in the area two days earlier, authorities said. (AP Photo/Robby Milo)
FILE - This combination of undated file photos provided by the San Diego Sheriff's Department shows James Lee DiMaggio, 40, left, and Hannah Anderson, 16. A massive search entered a seventh day Saturday, Aug. 10, 2013, for DiMaggio, suspected of abducting 16-year-old family friend Hannah. DiMaggio is suspected of killing Hannah's mother Christina Anderson, 44, and her 8-year-old brother Ethan Anderson, whose bodies were found Sunday night in DiMaggio's burning house in California near the Mexico border. (AP Photo/San Diego Sheriff's Department, File)
This photo released by the San Diego Sheriff's Department shows, Ethan Anderson, 8, whose mother, Christina Anderson, 44, was one of two people found dead in a house fire Sunday night. Late Friday evening, Aug. 9, 2013, the San Diego County Sheriff's Department said its crime laboratory has identified the body of a child found in the rubble of the burned house as Ethan Anderson. A brief statement Friday night said that investigators identified the charred body through DNA extracted from the boy's bone marrow. The body was found Sunday along with the body of the boy's mother Christina Anderson, who investigators say was murdered. (AP Photo/San Diego Sheriff's Department ,File)
Brett Anderson, the father of missing children 16-year-old Hannah Anderson and 8-year-old Ethan Anderson, speaks during a news conference Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2013, in San Diego. Anderson, the husband of a Christina Anderson, whose body was found in a burned house near the U.S.-Mexico border, said Tuesday that he knew the man suspected of killing his wife and abducting one or both of their children. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
A partially burned home sits behind police tape Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2013, near the U.S.-Mexico border in Boulevard, Calif. The husband of a woman whose body was found in the house said Tuesday that he knew the man suspected of killing his wife and abducting one or both of their children. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
BOISE, Idaho (AP) ? Almost from the moment he laid eyes on 16-year-old Hannah Anderson and her abductor, James Lee DiMaggio, former Idaho county sheriff Mark John was swept with the feeling that something just didn't seem right about the pair.
Initially it was the lack of openness on the trail, a reluctance to engage in the polite exchange of banter or adventures like so many other recreationists John has encountered during his various horseback excursions into Idaho's rugged backcountry.
Then John and his partners on horseback puzzled why Anderson and DiMaggio were hiking in the opposite direction of their stated destination, the Salmon River.
But more than anything, it was their gear, or lack of it. Neither was sporting hiking boots or rain gear. The 40-year-old DiMaggio, described as an avid hiker in his home state of California, was toting only a light pack. It even appeared Anderson was wearing pajama bottoms.
"They just didn't fit," said the 71-year-old John, who retired as Gem County sheriff in 1996. "He might have been an outdoorsman in California but he was not an outdoorsman in Idaho ... Red flags kind of went up."
At a news conference Sunday in Boise, John and his three riding mates shared details of their encounters with Anderson and DiMaggio and helped focus the massive manhunt and rescue effort on a southwest corner of wilderness in the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness, a 2.3 million acre roadless preserve in the heart of Idaho.
On Saturday, after searchers spotted the pair by air, two highly-specialized FBI hostage teams moved in on ground, ultimately rescuing Anderson and killing DiMaggio in a shootout at their encampment at a remote, alpine lake.
Anderson was immediately transported to an unidentified hospital. She was expected to be reunited with her father, Brett Anderson, earlier Sunday, but authorities did not disclose any details of their meeting.
DiMaggio is also suspected of killing Anderson's mother and brother at his home in Southern California.
On Sunday, FBI agents returned to process the scene at the camp at Morehead Lake, about 8 miles inside the wilderness border and 40 miles east of the central Idaho town of Cascade.
But authorities made clear Sunday that the rescue may have taken longer if not for the chance encounter with John and the other riders, who included John's wife Christa, 68; Mike Young, 62, and his wife, Mary Young, 61.
The four riders had a second encounter with Anderson and DiMaggio later Wednesday, this one at the lake as they were getting ready to head back down the trail. The Youngs and Johns recalled seeing Anderson soak her feet in the lake and again avoid interaction. Still, nothing about the behavior of Anderson or DiMaggio raised suspicion.
"If she was sending us signals that she was in trouble, we didn't key in on it," said Mary Young.
It wasn't until Thursday afternoon when the Johns returned home and saw the girl's photographs on the news that they made a connection. After confirming with the Youngs, Mark John immediately called Idaho State Police, setting off the investigation in Idaho.
On Friday, police found DiMaggio's car, hidden under brush at a trailhead on the border of the wilderness area. Details about the operation that ended in Hannah's rescue are being released slowly.
FBI spokesman Jason Pack said the rescue teams were dropped by helicopter about 2.5 hours away from where Anderson and DiMaggio were spotted by the lake. Pack said the team had to hike with up to 100-pounds of tactical gear along a rough trail characterized by steep switchbacks and treacherous footing.
The teams then surrounded the camp and waited until Anderson and DiMaggio were no longer near each other before moving in, and ultimately killing DiMaggio. Few other details about the shootout are being released pending an automatic investigation by FBI agents of everything that occurred before, during and after the shooting.
Valley County Coroner Nathan Hess said he hadn't yet received DiMaggio's body, but would be responsible for issuing a death certificate and determining whether an autopsy should be performed. Hess said he wasn't sure when his part in the investigation would begin.
The case began when the charred bodies of Hannah Anderson's mother, Christina Anderson, 44, and the teen's 8-year-old brother, Ethan Anderson, were found in DiMaggio's burning house outside San Diego, near the Mexico border.
DiMaggio was close to the family. Christina Anderson's husband, Brett Anderson, has described him as a best friend and said the children thought of him as an uncle.
Authorities have said DiMaggio had an "unusual infatuation" with Hannah, although the father said he never saw any strange behavior.
An Amber Alert was issued, and tips led investigators to Oregon after DiMaggio and the teen were reportedly spotted there.
Brett Anderson has not returned telephone messages left Sunday by The Associated Press. But he issued a statement to the media Saturday expressing relief his daughter is safe.
Hannah Darby, one of Hannah Anderson's closest friends, was elated by the news.
"I'm probably going to make a really big basket with all of her favorite things in it," she said. "It will have candy and things that are pink."
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Associated Press reporters Elliot Spagat contributed from San Diego, Tami Abdollah from Los Angeles and Rebecca Boone from Cascade, Idaho.
Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-08-11-US-Burned-Bodies-Missing-Children/id-551ecd688c0145fe920b873b22aa07c7
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