California Kidnapping Saga

I have to admit to not paying close attention to the California murder-kidnapping story until Saturday, when it was announced that an FBI tactical agent shot and killed the suspected murderer/kidnapper near Cascade, Idaho.  Thankfully the girl was saved; too bad the perp wasn't because he'll never be forced to tell his story, which right now doesn't make much sense.

The first mystery is of course the shooting--authorities aren't talking much.  Was there a shootout, shots exchanged, or did they just take him out with a sharpshooter?  Don't expect much because--everyone together now--it's an ongoing investigation.  Not that there's anything nefarious with law enforcement at this point because it might well have been a shooting to prevent the perp from harming the girl then killing himself as they closed in.  We just don't know yet.   

Otherwise the media has reported that the man, James DiMaggio, was like an uncle to Mr. Anderson's children.  We have also been told that the 16 year old daughter who was with him in Idaho was scared of him, but had not told her parents.  The man admitted to having a crush on her and taking her alone on a trip to Hollywood, which is kind of weird.  But I guess he was the trusted uncle--the father says he saw no signs of anything untoward.  We have not been told what the mother thought or if she knew. 

And what about the parents?  Why wasn't the father with the mother, son and daughter at "Uncle Jim's" remote house near the Mexican border?  Well, if you dig a little you'll find...

Mr Anderson lives in Tennessee after moving away from the area for a job a few months ago.

Oh, so the father wasn't in the San Diego area, he was here in Tennessee. Why? Digging deeper:

Brett and Christina Anderson recently separated, Dawn said. Investigators called Brett Anderson her ex-husband, but he said they were still married.

It would seem that marital problems might be an important aspect in such a story since the perp was known to the family.  And what about the perp?   Reports say he worked as a phone guy (telecommunications specialist) at Scripts Research Institute in San Diego but was preparing to move to Texas:

DiMaggio, a telecommunications technician at The Scripps Research Institute in San Diego, was planning to move to Texas and invited Christina Anderson and the children to his home last weekend to say goodbye, Christopher Saincome, Christina Anderson's father, told AP.

Why was he moving? Was he fired? Was he just taking a new job?  It surely could have been a line of BS designed to lure the family to the home for the crime, but it wouldn't be that hard for somebody in the media to check with his employer to see how things were going at work. Was anyone "creeped out" by him there?  What was his status, etc. 

And what of the notion that DiMaggio might have rigged his Nissan Versa to explode if anyone tried to get close? What made the authorities suspect such a thing?  Was he an explosives expert? Where did that come from? Obviously the car wasn't rigged to blow up when they found it.  We aren't even sure he was armed.

And what about his romantic life?  Was he married, divorced, seeing someone? Since the Andersons were separated was there any possibly something was going on between the mother and him?  The event sounds a bit similar to the old Kubric film "Lolita" starring James Mason, where he kills the beautiful teenager's mother (Shelly Winters), whom he married to get close to her daughter, then runs off with the young girl without telling her so they can be alone, only to find tragedy in the end.  That kind of thing, middle aged man going haywire over blond teenager, may well totally explain the entire thing but depending on the news media to explain it to any degree is a losing proposition.

MORE  8/11/13

Big question in my mind is how the sequence went down in the mountains. Some reports are stating that the FBI waited until Hannah, the kidnapped girl, was separated from the campsite then grabbed her.  If that's the case--and if this report is true...

They shot dead DiMaggio, who was unarmed, and trying to 'fortify' his remote campsite.

(and considering the source it might not be)--why was he shot? What further threat were they expecting after the girl was rescued?  Anything to do with the fear the car might have been rigged to explode?