Hannah Anderson: Kidnapper DiMaggio 'made me play Russian roulette'

Hannah Anderson: Kidnapper DiMaggio ‘made me play Russian roulette’

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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)

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

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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)

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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)

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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)

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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)

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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)

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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)

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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)

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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)

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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 Kate Mather

Oct. 9, 2013 2:22 PM PT

San Diego County teenager Hannah Anderson has shared more details about her kidnapping ordeal, telling NBC’s “Today” show that abductor James DiMaggio made her play Russian roulette before taking her to Idaho.

The interview, scheduled to air Thursday, comes more than two months after the 16-year-old was rescued from the remote Idaho wilderness after a nearly weeklong search that stretched across the western United States.

The ordeal began, officials said, when 40-year-old DiMaggio lured the Anderson family to his eastern San Diego County home. Hannah told NBC’s Savannah Guthrie that DiMaggio brought her to his home on Aug. 3 and at some point handcuffed her.

PHOTOS: The search for Hannah Anderson

“When I got into the house, he handcuffed me and zip-tied my feet and then sat me down and told me what his plan was,” the teenager told “Today’s” Savannah Guthrie, according to a preview of the interview.

“He told me he was going to kidnap me and take me to Idaho, where my intention was just to carry his backpacks to the river. And that he was gonna live there. And then he’d get me home afterwards.”

DiMaggio said Hannah’s mother and brother were in the house and alive, Hannah told Guthrie.

“When we got into the house, after he told me the plan, he made me play Russian roulette with him sitting on the couch,” she said.

“With a real gun?” Guthrie asked.

“Yeah,” Hannah replied. “And when it was my turn, I started crying and like, was freaking out. And he said, ‘Do you want to play?’ And I said, ‘No.’ And I started crying and then he’s like, ‘OK.’ And he stopped.”

Authorities say DiMaggio killed Hannah’s mother and brother, then rigged his house to catch fire. The search for Hannah and DiMaggio began after firefighters found 44-year-old Christina and 8-year-old Ethan Anderson’s bodies in DiMaggio’s burning home.

After an Amber Alert was issued across much of the West, a group of horseback riders spotted DiMaggio and the teenager in a remote stretch of wilderness about 75 miles north of Boise. FBI agents moved into the campsite Aug. 10, killing DiMaggio and safely rescuing the girl.

DiMaggio was shot six times in the head, chest and extremities, Valley County coroner Nathan Hess confirmed Tuesday. Though the coroner said he was still awaiting toxicology results, he said DiMaggio died as a result of the gunshot wounds.

Authorities have released little information about the shootout, but said DiMaggio was armed and fired at least once at the agents.

Hannah told NBC she felt “sick, disgusted” and “angry” about DiMaggio.

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