Hannah Anderson case: Did DiMaggio follow his father's violent path?

1/11

Phillip Garrido enters a courtroom in Placerville, Calif. Phillip Garrido was sentenced to 431 years in prison for Jaycee Dugard’s abduction. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)

2/11

A tent in the backyard of a home in Antioch, Calif., where authorities say kidnap victim Jaycee Lee Dugard lived. (Paul Sakuma / Associated Press)

3/11

Elizabeth Smart addresses the media outside a federal courthouse following the guilty verdict in the Brian David Mitchell trail in Salt Lake City. Mitchell was found guilty in the June 5, 2002, kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart. (Colin E. Braley / Associated Press)

4/11

Elizabeth Smart poses with her parents, Lois and Ed, outside their home in 2003. Smart was abducted from her Salt Lake City bedroom in 2002 (Tom Smart / Associated Press)

5/11

Brian David Mitchell, Elizabeth Smart’s kidnapper, is escorted into the Frank E. Moss Federal Courthouse in Salt Lake City in 2010. (Jim Urquhart / Associated Press)

6/11

Katie Beers, whose kidnapping attracted nationwide headlines in 1992, poses for a photo in Old Westbury, N.Y. The 30-year-old mother of two co-wrote a new book about her ordeal. (Frank Eltman / Associated Press)

7/11

John Esposito sits handcuffed in a van in Hauppauge, N.Y., as he is about to be taken to court for arraignment on charges of kidnapping Katie Beers. (Michael Albans / Associated Press)

8/11

Shawn Hornbeck, 15, watches as his parents Craig and Pam Akers talk to the media in Richwoods, Mo. Shawn, who was missing since Oct. 2002, was recovered in 2007 with another missing boy. (Tom Gannam / Associated Press)

9/11

Michael Devlin is escorted out of the Franklin County Courthouse in Union, Mo. Devlin pleaded guilty in Franklin County to one charge of child kidnapping and one count of armed criminal action in the 2007 abduction of 13-year-old William “Ben” Ownby. (Tom Gannam / Associated Press)

10/11

Steven Stayner, right, and and his brother Delbert Stayner walk toward their Merced County home as Steven was reunited with his family following a 7-year kidnap ordeal. (Ted Benson / Associated Press)

11/11

Convicted kidnapper Kenneth Eugene Parnell during a court appearance in Oakland in 2003. Parnell was convicted in the kidnappings of Steven Stayner in 1972 and Timothy White in 1980. (Nick Lammers / Associated Press)

By Jason Wells and Emily Foxhall

Aug. 13, 2013 4:30 AM PT

Authorities said there may never be a “rational explanation” for James Lee DiMaggio’s kidnapping of Hannah Anderson, but some are drawing eerie parallels with his father’s criminal history.

Roughly 24 years ago, when James Lee DiMaggio was a teenager at El Cajon Valley High School in San Diego County, his father had a violent breakdown after being spurned by a 16-year-old girl, the daughter of an ex-girlfriend, according to court records and news archives.

It was 1989, and James Everet DiMaggio had been lavishing attention on a teenager, at one point offering to whisk her away to a better life. When she turned him down, he broke into her family’s house, tied her boyfriend up, and told them they were going to die as he handled his sawed-off shotgun, the woman recounted in an interview with CBS 8 in San Diego.

The woman, a former classmate of the younger DiMaggio, recalled the horrible consequences of being the object of his father’s desire.

“He said, ‘Don’t worry, it’ll be over quick.’ And I just remember pleading with him,” said the woman, whose identity CBS concealed.

She was able to escape by asking to use the restroom, after which the elder DiMaggio fled the scene, according to news accounts published at the time in the San Diego Union-Tribune.

It wasn’t long before her classmate -- known as “Jimmy” -- was asked by his father to deliver a message to the girl at school: “He came up to me … saying his father was out and he’d be waiting for me after school.”

That day, she said, she slipped out of school, changed her name and went into hiding. Her image was obscured in the newscast.

The elder DiMaggio later pleaded guilty to first-degree burglary. Three other felony counts related to the incident were dismissed.

The altercation was reportedly precipitated by a fight with the girl’s mother over a new car.

According to court records and media accounts at the time, the elder DiMaggio also served prison time for beating two people in a motel room after the three had allegedly shared crystal methamphetamine on Christmas Eve 1989.

More than two decades later, friends of 16-year-old Hannah Anderson said James Lee DiMaggio had a similar inappropriate infatuation.

He allegedly told Hannah he had a crush on her. After that, Hannah reportedly told a friend that she was disturbed by DiMaggio’s disclosure and did not want to be alone with him.

But for six days, she was forced to endure what authorities described as “extreme” duress with threats and weapons, starting with her abduction in San Diego County on Aug. 4 and ending with a firefight that ultimately ended in DiMaggio’s death.

He died on the anniversary of his father’s suicide 18 years earlier.

Authorities said the younger DiMaggio killed Hannah’s mother, Christina Anderson, and 8-year-old brother, Ethan. He then abducted Hannah, which set off a six-day, multi-state manhunt.

San Diego County Deputy District Atty. Stephen Wadsworth, who prosecuted DiMaggio’s father, told CBS 8, “It was almost a déjà vu ... It was weird.”

It also brought back a flood a memories for the woman in the 1989 case.

The woman, who CBS 8 said is now a nurse, said it is important for Hannah to get all the support she needs.

Authorities at a news conference Monday said Hannah is back with family in San Diego, where she is getting counseling.

“I know she’s going to have a long road,” the woman said. “I just had to deal with the mental part, I didn’t lose anyone. I can’t even imagine that part.”

ALSO:

Michael Jackson trial: Pop star was ‘tapped out,’ millions in debt

Hannah Anderson case: Officials ‘may never know’ DiMaggio’s motive

Abcarian: Rodeo clown with Obama mask has big defender: Rush Limbaugh

[email protected]

Follow: @jasonbretwells / Facebook / Google+