SAN DIEGO — A car belonging to a man 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.
The riders reported seeing the two near Morehead Lake, a rugged area about 70 miles northeast of Boise, around noon Wednesday, according to Ada County Sheriff's Department spokesman Patrick Orr. They didn't report it until later, after seeing news reports and realizing the pair were being sought. Idaho authorities started searching Thursday and the car was found Friday morning. There have been no other reported sightings of the pair since Wednesday.
San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore said when the riders saw the two, the girl, Hannah Anderson, did not appear to be held against her will. She and the suspect, James Lee DiMaggio, 40, seemed healthy.
The car was covered in brush off a road about 5 or 6 miles from where the man and girl had been seen. The license plates had been removed, but the vehicle identification number matched that of the car being sought, Gore said.
Authorities have been looking for the teen and DiMaggio since the bodies of the girl's mother, Christina Anderson, 44, and an unidentified child were found Sunday.