SISTER OF HANNAH ANDERSON’S KIDNAPPER FILES $20 MILLION WRONGFUL DEATH CLAIM WITH FBI

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East County News Service

Photos: Hannah Anderson, James DiMaggio

July 31, 2015 (Lakeside) –According to law enforcement, James DiMaggio kidnapped Lakeside teen Hannah Anderson after first  torturing and murdering her mother and brother, then setting fire to his home in Boulevard with their bodies inside.  The crimes triggered a multi-state manhunt that ended when FBI agents killed DiMaggio in the Idaho wilderness where he had taken Anderson, after he fired a shot first. 

But now DiMaggio’s sister, Lora DiMaggio Robinson, has filed a claim with the FBI and also plans to file a lawsuit in Idaho federal court next week, 10 News reports. She seeks over $20 million damages from the FBI for what she claims was a wrongful death, plus personal injury and property damage.

Her lawyer, C. Keith Greer, told NBC 7 TV that "Robinson knows that her brother was a very kind man, certainly not one to shoot at an FBI agent.”

Anderson has stated in prior media interviews that she was abducted against her will and threatened with harm if she attempted to flee her captor, though DiMaggio’s sister has voiced doubts about Anderson’s story.  Anderson told NBC’s Today Show that DiMaggio tried to build a fire to signal for help.

Greer contends that DiMaggio fired his rifle to signal for help, even though he was on the run from the law. The claim argues that the FBI should have asked DiMaggio to drop his weapon before agents opened fire.

The FBI told 10 News that the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice will “review the claim and will respond in the appropriate manner to the parties involved. No further comments will be made at this time regarding the filing of the claim.”

THE FBI’s use of force policy allows lethal force if an agent believes a suspect poses an eminent threat to the agent or to another person, such as Anderson in this case.


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