--- description: The California teenager who was rescued in August after a nationwide manhunt said the family friend who kidnapped her claimed he had a crush on... title: Hannah Anderson’s Horrifying Ordeal: ‘He Told Me He Had a Crush On Me.’ image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbee9ea233495ce20/698a99c2c9e9412d20124527/ap104392610983.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) # Hannah Anderson's Horrifying Ordeal: 'He Told Me He Had a Crush On Me.' by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) Oct 9, 2013 9:48 PM CUT  This Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2013 photo released by NBC shows Hannah Anderson during an interview for the "Today" show in San Diego, Calif., that aired on Thursday, Aug. 22\. Anderson, whose mother and brother were killed by a family friend, James Lee DiMaggio, was abducted by DiMaggio and fled to the Idaho wilderness before he was killed by authorities. This was her first news interview since her dramatic rescue Aug. 10\. (AP Photo/NBC, Jesse Grant) This Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2013 photo released by NBC shows Hannah Anderson during an interview for the "Today" show in San Diego, Calif., that aired on Thursday, Aug. 22\. Anderson, whose mother and brother were killed by a family friend, James Lee DiMaggio, was abducted by DiMaggio and fled to the Idaho wilderness before he was killed by authorities. This was her first news interview since her dramatic rescue Aug. 10\. (AP Photo/NBC, Jesse Grant)ASSOCIATED PRESS—NBCUniversal Media2013 by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) Oct 9, 2013 9:48 PM CUT The California teenager who was rescued in August after a nationwide manhunt said the family friend who kidnapped her claimed he had a crush on her Hannah Anderson said on NBC’s _Today_ show that her captor bound her feet with zip ties after abducting her in San Diego. DiMaggio, who was killed during Anderson’s rescue, is believed to have murdered the girl’s mother and little brother after abducting her. “He told me he had a crush on me,” she said in the interview that aired Thursday. “When we got into the house after he told me the plan he made me play Russian roulette with him,” Anderson said. “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, ‘Okay.’ And he stopped.” Anderson said she was then drugged, possibly with Ambien sleeping pills, and driven to the Idaho wilderness. Anderson described her three-day hike with DiMaggio through the rugged Idaho wilderness. “I had to carry 50-pound backpacks. Two of them,” she said. Many times she thought of escape, she said, but DiMaggio’s threat that if she tried he would kill her and anyone who helped stopped her from acting. Anderson recalled the moment after her rescue when she learned her mother and brother had been murdered, and described what it’s like living now with them gone. “I miss them so much,” she said, tearfully. “Sometimes it’s like I wait for them to get home and then they’re not there.” Visit NBCNews.com for [breaking news](http://www.nbcnews.com "undefined"), [world news](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032507 "undefined"), and [news about the economy](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032072 "undefined") Hannah Anderson’s Horrifying Ordeal: ‘He Told Me He Had a Crush On Me.’ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7163094/hannah-anderson-will-detail-her-kidnapping-ordeal-on-today-show/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7163094/hannah-anderson-will-detail-her-kidnapping-ordeal-on-today-show/"},"headline":"Hannah Anderson's Horrifying Ordeal: 'He Told Me He Had a Crush On Me.'","datePublished":"2013-10-09T21:48:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-16T16:01:56.857Z","description":"The California teenager who was rescued in August after a nationwide manhunt said the family friend who kidnapped her claimed he had a crush on...","url":"https://time.com/archive/7163094/hannah-anderson-will-detail-her-kidnapping-ordeal-on-today-show/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbee9ea233495ce20/698a99c2c9e9412d20124527/ap104392610983.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbee9ea233495ce20/698a99c2c9e9412d20124527/ap104392610983.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Today - Season 62","caption":"Today - Season 62","creditText":"ASSOCIATED PRESS—NBCUniversal Media2013","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/archive/7163094/hannah-anderson-will-detail-her-kidnapping-ordeal-on-today-show/","name":"Hannah Anderson's Horrifying Ordeal: 'He Told Me He Had a Crush On Me.'"}}]}] ```