BOISE, Idaho — The horseback riders who encountered a missing California teen and her abductor said Sunday that ‘‘red flags’’ went up for them because the pair seemed out of place and ill-equipped for the Idaho back country.
At a news conference in Boise, the four riders — two men and two women — said they came across 16-year-old Hannah Anderson and 40-year-old James Lee DiMaggio Wednesday morning.
Mark John, 71, said the two were not friendly and the girl was wearing pajamas or sweat pants and the man carried only a light pack.
‘‘They didn’t fit,’’ said John, who is a former deputy from Gem County. ‘‘He might have been an outdoorsman in California but he was not an outdoorsman in Idaho. . . . Red flags kind of went up.’’
John said that when he returned home he saw an Amber Alert sent out for Anderson, and he contacted police.
DiMaggio was killed by authorities Saturday. He is suspected of killing Anderson’s mother and brother near San Diego. Anderson was not harmed.
FBI agents are processing evidence at the campsite in central Idaho’s Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness where they discovered Anderson and DiMaggio. Details about the operation that ended in the girl’s rescue are being released slowly.
Law enforcement agents first spotted two people who looked like Anderson and DiMaggio on Saturday afternoon as they flew over the wilderness area in a plane, according to a statement from Ada County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Andrea Dearden.
The air was filled with smoke blown in from distant wildfires, and that made both flying and seeing the ground tough, Dearden said. The law enforcement commanders decided to send in an FBI hostage rescue team immediately to get Anderson.
The mountainous area is extremely steep, and the closest point where the helicopters could drop the team was more than a two-hour hike away. The agents crept close to the camp, waited until DiMaggio and Anderson separated, and then moved in.
The FBI moved the teen to an area where she could be picked up by a helicopter. The FBI will not release details about what happened between DiMaggio and law enforcement at the campsite until an investigation is complete, other than to say DiMaggio was shot and killed.