After a weekend rescue and multi-state manhunt, 16-year-old Hannah Anderson returned to San Diego to be reunited with her father, Brett Anderson. Her alleged abductor, James DiMaggio, was shot and killed during the FBI rescue, he was suspected in the death of Hannah’s mother and eight year old brother.
Marc Klaas, whose foundation–KlaasKids Foundation–has worked to prevent crimes against children and facilitate the recovery process of kidnapping victims, described Anderson as “very lucky.”
Klaas, who established the foundation after the 1994 kidnapping and murder of his 12-year-old daughter, appeared on Jansing & Co. Monday. He pointed out that Anderson’s recovery will involve reconciling her abduction and death of her family members with a future of uncertainty. The most important thing for teen and her father will be to “stay together from this point forward.”
The KlaasKids Foundation president explained that combating abductions comes down to putting tools in the hands of law enforcement officials and the public to expedite solving the heinous crimes. Klaas suggested putting Amber alerts under local jurisdiction instead of a state-based authority “that wastes time putting the whole plan together.”
“Basically it takes three to five hours to issue an Amber Alert,” Klass continued. “We know statistically that if a child is going to be murdered as a result of an abduction, 76% of those kids will be dead within the first three hours.”
Klaas explained that the people who encountered and recognized Anderson and her kidnapper while horseback riding in the Idaho wilderness “provided an enormous service to this case by notifying law enforcement and letting them come in and end this ordeal.”
