Hannah Anderson kidnapping

[Blahblah]

I am in Australia and this case has had little exposure in our mainstream media, obviously Huff Post etc cover it but i'd love to hear what people living in the US are saying about this.

[laura oz]

I haven't heard anything about it. I live in Arkansas, so.....we may be behind what the rest of the country knows. Our news didn't even cover Wendy Davis' filibuster, but all the networks and CNN, MSN, etc... were playing the "Where's Snowden" game, because that was soooo important & couldn't be bothered to even mention a woman filibustering for women's reproductive rights.

[ljohnson2006]

People are saying that Hannah was in on the kidnapping. Her abductor's family also wants DNA from her, and the remains of her brother, because they think that her abductor was her real father. This is taking a scary turn. Hasn't Hannah been through enough?

[happy atheist]

Well, obviously if he was her real father, it's totally cool for him to murder her mom and brother. :?

I'm sure the kidnapper's family is hurting, but they really need to leave Hannah alone.

[laura oz]

Wait a minute :doh: Is that the girl that was found on a trail by two guys on horseback? I've heard about it, but haven't kept up with it. So the guy that murdered her family is saying he's her dad? Wow.

[ljohnson2006]

Yes, Laura Oz. Same girl. The family wants DNA samples from Hannah, and her brother's remains. This is sick.

[Fallgirl30]

I believe the brother's remains were linked by DNA not to the murderer and abductor, but by his real father, the man married to his and Hannah's mom.

[Incognito22]

Wait a minute :doh: Is that the girl that was found on a trail by two guys on horseback I've heard about it, but haven't kept up with it. So the guy that murdered her family is saying he's her dad? Wow.

I just put that together too. I guess it has gotten a lot of press here. What does it matter at this point if he's her dad? They should leave the poor girl alone. It's bad enough to have your Mom and brother killed but to then find out you share this psycho's DNA would be horrible.

[laura oz]

What has me scratching my head about this whole thing is that she sent texts to this man and wrote him letters that sounded like they were complaining about her mother. She wrote him letters a year before this happened. There is a lot more to this story than initially meets the eye. Reminds me of a story that was in the news about 10 years ago. A girl, I want to say her name was Heather, got involved with a boy who was in some kind of "vampire coven". She would call him and write him letters complaining about her parents, so he and a group of their friends went to her house and brutally murdered her parents to rescue her. Then she went on the run with them. It was only after they were caught, that she claimed she was basically too scared to do anything to try to run away and that she was actually more of a hostage who was terrified of the people that had killed her parents.

[Blahblah]

From my reading, I think she is a silly 16 year old girl who flirted with a seemingly "safe" older man who was frequently accessible to her. She was probably just trying out her sexual "power". It happens with girls in high school and male teachers all the time but they are trained to deal with it appropriately.

But in this case safe old Uncle Jim bought into it. I think young Hannah was possibly confiding to him about her annoying mum and brother, probably said something like "Gee Uncle Jim, we could be together all the time if only mum didn't get in the way" and Uncle Jim has slipped a gear and acted on it.

I think the timelines are all over the place at the moment. The messages etc are going to be interesting if the content is every released. Hannah is probably involved in that she was playing a dangerous game with an unstable man. Not sure what else she knew about her mum and brother being killed though.

I think she probably went willingly on a camping trip with him thinking that her mum didn't know and she was being very daring, hence her comment when found by the horse riders that "I guess we're all in trouble now".

Folie a deux seems unlikely. I'm going for "flirty, silly teenager who ignited a powder keg" myself.

[bpobst]

The kidnapper's family are wanting the DNA tests because the kidnapper left $112,000 to Hannah's family. It is a money issue.

I don't know that Hannah was in on it, really. I will just have to wait and see. I remember reading right after she went missing that her friend stated that DiMaggio had been hitting on Hannah and it made Hannah uncomfortable enough that she had asked that friend to not leave her alone with him.

Trauma can do really bizarre things to people. She may be in shock, she may be trying to reconcile her experience with her feelings and grief, it could be any number of things. Added to that, she is 16 and living in a society that has focused on material goods and putting their whole lives on public display. There are so many instances of people posting RIP-type messages on Facebook or in the comments of a news story immediately after the death of a friend or family member in some cases before the actual next-of-kin finds out. It is a little bizarre to see but not at all uncommon.

Did anyone else see the comment Father Casey made?

"We are here to pray for Tina and remember her and for Ethan. Ethan doesn't need prayers. He is already an angel in heaven. And that is our great belief,’ Father Kevin Casey said at the opening of the service, CNN reported."

This is utterly sickening to me. He is insinuating that Tina may not be in Heaven. I wonder if she was a Christian or not-active in the church since he felt the need to make that disgusting statement at her funeral. How utterly awful for her family members to hear that on the day she was to be remembered and celebrated. I just can't stop thinking about why he felt the need to make such a disgusting and inappropriate remark.

[niagarahauls]

This poor child. She is 16 years old. She may have flirted with boundaries with DiMaggio but that is very normal developmental behavior. Unfortunately, he was a terrible sociopath and as a result of this Hannah has suffered a series of life- altering traumas.

Add the news of the life insurance and suddenly you have the makings of a good news story. And instead of this starting to fade from public attention Hannah's story, her possible motives, involvement and even DNA will all be up for public discussion for that much longer. And more people will continue to forget just how young a 16 yo really is and forget the fact that she is a child that just lost her brother and mother in an extremely violent manner.

[FreeJosie]

Hannah doesn't strike me as devious at all.

[wild little fox]

I'm not being hand slappy, just my opinion. I'm going to side on her being innocent. In my view I see her as a victim of a sick twisted mind.

[ADoyle90815]

I'm not being hand slappy, just my opinion. I'm going to side on her being innocent. In my view I see her as a victim of a sick twisted mind.

I agree, she might have had a case of Stockholm syndrome after she saw her mother and brother being murdered.

[Arete]

In my circle of friends and acquaintances the only thing we all agree on is that the death penalty was made for people like the kidnapper. Most of these people are anti death penalty (full disclosure, I am not), but everyone concurs he deserves a dirt nap.

I don't care if she flirted with that sick bastard or not, he is a waste of oxygen and resources.

[hapamama]

I think DiMaggio's sister is seriously delusional.. she keeps coming up with these hare brained ideas that make her brother look innocent...