Hannah Anderson talks DiMaggio letters, criticism in first interview

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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 and Samantha Schaefer

Aug. 22, 2013 4:50 AM PT

Nearly two weeks after FBI agents rescued her from the Idaho wilderness, San Diego County teenager Hannah Anderson gave her first interview, thanking those who helped find her and dismissing others who have criticized her online.

The first segment of the 16-year-old’s interview with NBC aired Thursday morning at the top of the “Today” show. Hannah, who officials say was kidnapped by family friend James DiMaggio after he killed her mother and 8-year-old brother, said if it wasn’t for the group of horseback riders who spotted her in the Idaho wilderness, “I probably wouldn’t be here right now.”

The search for Hannah began Aug. 4 after her mother and brother were found dead at DiMaggio’s burning property in eastern San Diego County, and ended six days later at a remote campsite more than 1,000 miles away.

After the horseback riders reported seeing the two near Idaho’s Morehead Lake, FBI agents raided the camp and whisked Hannah to safety. DiMaggio was shot and killed.

Though officials have stressed that Hannah was a “victim in every sense of the word,” she has drawn scrutiny and criticism in the days following her rescue. When asked about some of the comments posted about her online, the teenager said, “They don’t really know the story, so they kind of have their own opinion on what they hear.”

“You are who you are and you shouldn’t let people change that,” she said later. “You have your own opinion on yourself and other peoples’ opinion shouldn’t matter.”

The teen also spoke of letters she wrote to DiMaggio that, according to search warrants, were among the items seized from his home. Authorities have not detailed what the letters said, or the contents of a handwritten note also taken from his property.

Hannah said the letters were from a year ago, when she and her mother weren’t getting along.

“They weren’t anything bad,” she said. “They were just to help me through times.”

Hannah said that before her ordeal, she had never heard of the Amber Alert credited with her rescue.

“I didn’t really know what it is, but I know it helped people find me,” she said.

She expressed thanks for “the Amber Alert and the sheriff and the FBI ... everyone that put in their time to find me.”

“And my dad,” she continued. “And my friends and my family and all my supporters that helped spread the word.”

Hannah wiped away tears as she remembered her 8-year-old brother Ethan, saying he “had a really big heart.” Her mother, she said, was “strong-hearted and very tough” and “knew how to handle things.”

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