EXCLUSIVE - 'You can have a smile on your face and still be feeling pain': Hannah Anderson's grandmother breaks her silence to defend kidnap survivor in face of 'cruel' online attacks

Sara Britt, 64, the mother of Hannah's murdered mom, says cruel jibes on 'killer' social media have 'made the family's ordeal harder'
Hannah survived being kidnapped by family friend Jim DiMaggio after he murdered her mother, Christina, 44, and brother Ethan, 8
Defends Hannah's apparent good mood at funeral of mother and brother, saying it was a 'celebration' of their lives
Also condemns Hannah's great aunt who described the 16-year-old's behavior as 'downright disturbing'
Reveals Hannah has revisited wilderness site where she was rescued by horse riders and has struck up a close bond with them

PUBLISHED: 11:32 EST, 13 December 2013 | UPDATED: 13:14 EST, 13 December 2013

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Hannah Anderson’s grandmother has broken her silence to hit back at the personal attacks and accusations fired at the 16-year-old kidnap survivor in the months since her mother and brother’s horrific murders.

Speaking exclusively to MailOnline Sara Britt, 64, said: ‘Hannah went through so much.

‘Despite what people think you can have a smile on your face and still be feeling pain. How are you supposed to look when this happens?

‘All the intrusiveness and attacks afterwards have made it harder for all of us.’

Hannah Anderson was kidnapped by her uncle who brutally killed her mother and eight-year-old brother

Speaking out: Sara Britt, pictured left at a vigil just after Hannah's ordeal, says attacks on social media and from their own family have made the 16-year-old's recovery harder

Giving a smile: Hannah posted this photo of herself on Instagramshortly after her rescue and in the caption she wrote that 'God give his toughest tasks to the strongest soldiers'. She began receiving abuse and had to take down her profile for a while

As the family try to make sense of the violence and loss visited upon them this summer, Mrs Britt said that the swell of hostility against Hannah has been hard to bear.

Mrs Britt, Hannah’s maternal grandmother, said, ‘Social media, that’s been the real killer – people are very “brave” and cruel online.’

With her husband Ralph, 64, by her side at the home in Santeen, California, Mrs Britt said: ‘That Hannah felt she had to defend herself from the time she got back just makes it harder.

‘And there’s just nothing to defend, you know.’

'That Hannah felt she had to defend herself from the time she got back just makes it harder. And there’s just nothing to defend, you know’ - Sarah Britt

Harder still, perhaps, is the fact that some of the criticism has come from within her own family.

Hannah’s great aunt Jennifer Willis, had publicly labeled the teenager’s recent behavior as ‘downright disturbing.’ She later insisted that she loved Hannah and had not meant to hurt her.

Hannah responded with the tweet: ‘My family still can’t get along. Wtf?’

It is four months since the bodies of Hannah’s mother, Christina, 44, brother Ethan, 8, and the family dog were discovered in the burned out shell of family friend Jim DiMaggio’s home in Boulevard, California.

Christina had been bound and viciously bludgeoned.

Little Ethan’s body was so ravaged by fire that investigators were unable to determine cause of death beyond the awful fact of its violence.

Backlash: Hannah Anderson experienced particularly vicious criticism on social media after she was pictured at her brother and mother's funeral smiling and holding a coffee

Backlash: Hannah experienced particularly vicious criticism on social media after she was pictured at her brother and mother's memorial holding a coffee

Hope: Mrs Britt, pictured here with husband, Ralph, 64, a week after Hannah was found, called those questioning Hannah's behavior as 'cruel' and sarcastically as 'brave', hiding behind anonymous postings

The grim discoveries on August 4 marked the beginning of a massive FBI manhunt as it quickly transpired that DiMaggio, 40, who timed devices to ignite at his home, had abducted Hannah.

It also became known that Hannah had told friends that DiMaggio, originally a friend of her father, Brett Anderson, 46,(estranged from Christina at the time) had developed a ‘weird crush’ on her.

This admission was leapt upon in online chat rooms and forums where Hannah’s account of her abduction has been challenged, her relationship with DiMaggio questioned, and her lack of demonstrable grief used as a weapon against her.

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One comment on ask.fm – a site on which Hannah has regularly answered questions and defended herself – is typical of the sort posted by often anonymous users: ‘The public wants to see at least an iota of grief, do you not get that???? You can’t be this dense.’

With her blonde hair and blue-eyes, it is impossible not to be struck by Mrs Britt’s resemblance to her granddaughter, Hannah.

Nor it is possible to be untouched by the depth of her pain as she recalled being criticized when pictures showed the family smiling at Christina – known by the family as Tina - and Ethan’s funerals.

She said: ‘People went into our photos of the funeral and our family and made light of the whole thing.

Misunderstanding: Mrs Britt said 'people have been negative though ¿ perhaps that¿s easy when you¿re not here and don¿t know'

Murdered: Hannah's mother Christina Anderson and brother Ethan, eight, bothe pictured right, were killed by Joe DiMaggio. The family is pictured with father Brett

‘People were saying, “How can you be smiling at the funerals?” But after the funerals, over here at the house, it was more about a celebration of their life.’

According to Mr Britt: ‘It does make it harder but for us it was exhilarating sort of to see the support from our family, from all over the country, people who came to the funeral, people who didn’t even know Tina or Ethan but prayed for us and them and Hannah.

‘People have been negative though – perhaps that’s easy when you’re not here and don’t know.’

Hannah’s abduction lasted seven days and ended when FBI agents traced her and DiMaggio to a stretch of Idaho wilderness known as the Frank Church-River of No Return and swooped.
Di Maggio was shot dead – his body hit six times.

The rescue had been made possible by four horseback riders who had encountered the odd couple on the trail, sensed all was not well and raised the alarm.

Retired Gem County Sheriff Mark John, 71, was in the group along with his wife Crista and friends Mike and Mary Young.

Days after the rescue he explained: ‘They just didn’t fit in. He might have been an outdoorsman in California but he was not an outdoorsman in Idaho…Red flags kind of went up.’

In the time since, a bond of friendship has developed between the Britts and the couples whose report may well have saved Hannah’s life, narrowing the search, as it did, to a southwest corner of the roadless Idaho preserve that spans 2.3million acres.

Weird crush: Jim DiMaggio and Hannah who later claimed that she felt uncomfortable with the 40-year-old family friend after he admitted to having a 'family crush' on her

#hardnight#misshim: Hannah posted this image of herself with her little brother expressing her grief and simply stating 'It's not the same and it never will be.'

Now, Mrs Britt has revealed that she and her husband travelled to that wilderness with the Johns and their companions, in October.

She said: ‘I don’t know if we were looking for closure. It didn’t bring closure seeing it, but it did help. It was cathartic in a way. We saw where the car was found, not where Hannah was found.

‘It was a positive experience. It just kind of showed us what Hannah went through. It was so eye-opening. You know you can see it in the paper, you can read about it, you can see it on TV but it’s not the same.’

‘I used to go fishing with Ethan down on the lake just down from the house. I haven’t been able to go fishing since’ - Ralph Britt

Mr Britt added: ‘It was very rough country up there. I don’t think people can imagine. It was a miracle of timing that the Johns were there and saw her. She might never have been found if they hadn’t.’

In reality, Mrs Britt will spend the rest of her life trying to make sense of the death of her daughter and grandchild.

Her husband will spend the rest of his sharing that grief and helpless sense of loss.

He admitted: ‘I used to go fishing with Ethan down on the lake just down from the house. I haven’t been able to go fishing since.’

Mrs Britt said: ‘With anything you try to think of what’s positive, what’s a positive reason behind it, what can you tell people?

‘At first we kind of said, “Well, you know, watch your children, see who they’re with – even ‘Uncle Jims.’

Rescuers: Horse riders Christa John, 68, Mark John, 71, Mike Young, 62, Mary Young, 61, (L-R) all from Sweet, Idaho speak spotted Dimaggio with Anderson in the Idaho wilderness and told the FBI

Positive: Hannah travelled to the remote site where she was rescued with horse riders Christa John, 68, Mark John, 71, who spotted them. Mrs Britt said it opened her eyes to what Hannah had to go through

‘But that’s not really the message because you can’t make everybody feel like now they’re going to be looked at with suspicion.’

With remarkable composure and dignity she continued: ‘I’m thinking now it’s more if kids have problems in their life, like he had, or mental problems, if they don’t get some kind of help or assistance to help them through it, maybe this is how they end up…repeating the past.

‘He copied his dad, almost exactly to the day.’

In a strange dark twist to this already dark tale, in the aftermath of DiMaggio’s violent spree it emerged that not only was his crime committed within days of the 18th anniversary of his father’s suicide, it was almost identical to one committed by the older man 15 years earlier.

In 1988 James Everett DiMaggio was infatuated with the 16-year-old daughter of an ex-girlfriend.

When the girl rejected his offer to take her away to a better life he burst into her home wearing a ski mask and armed with a sawn-off shotgun and handcuffs.

He held the girl and her boyfriend at gunpoint until the she escaped by asking to use the bathroom and DiMaggio fled.

'At first you say, “Well he just flipped out at the last minute.” ‘But you can’t say that because he was planning it. We’ll never know, we’ll never understand why it happened, why he did it'

Speaking today Mr Britt said: ‘That was the strangest thing. We didn’t know about his father and all that.

‘He seemed like a good guy. He’d been in the Navy. He was nice to everybody, he helped everybody.’

Mrs Britt told of how she has tried to make sense of DiMaggio’s actions.

She said: ‘At first you say, “Well he just flipped out at the last minute.”

‘But you can’t say that because evidence shows that he was planning it, you know, getting prepared for it. We’ll never know, we’ll never understand why it happened, why he did it.’

Mr Britt added: ‘Nobody’s going to ever know why. Jim took that with him.’

Set in gravel on the edge of the flagstone forecourt that fronts the Britt’s home there is a stone bearing the inscription:He took that, and so much more.

‘If tears could build a stairway, and memories a lane, I’d walk right up to heaven and bring you home again.’ It is dedicated to Tina and Ethan.

It is a permanent statement of the loss at the heart of this family – regardless of the Holiday decorations that cluster around their porch.

Christmas lights have been strung and an ornamental snowman in blue hat and scarf smiles at guests at the door.

Pain: Mrs Britt said Hannah has been hurt by the public 'making light' of her ordeal

A picture of Santa is pinned to the fence and all around frosted ornaments twinkle.

With a smile that cannot disguise her anguish Mrs Britt said: ‘What are we supposed to do? We can’t fall apart all the time but the tears just come when they come.

‘I was thinking the other day about how you watch on the news and the families of people that are killed say, “Well he was a wonderful person and everybody liked him.”

‘But you could say that about everybody and nobody really goes deep into who they were.

‘Tina was a very very special person. She was into holistic health and helping people. Just day to day she went out of her way to help people and all her friends, everyone, is missing that.

‘They could always go right to her and get the answers of get help.’

The words die in Mrs Britt’s throat at the attempt to find any that catch something of the grandson she has lost. ‘It’s tough,’ she said simply. ‘Ethan was a great kid.’

As for Hannah, Mrs Britt said: ‘She’s keeping busy with school, sports and stuff…and a boyfriend.

‘She’s doing okay, but the hostility and judgment just makes it harder.’

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baizee, London, 12 hours ago

at the end of the day she's grieving in one way other another. it took years for my sister to grieve our dad.. 14 years.. maybe it hasn't hit home yet. that happens in traumantizing situations

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in your way, somewhere, 12 hours ago

Yeah but your smile reaches ur eyes which means your happy from inside too stupid girl and you don't have to prove anything to anyone it's pretty normal to be sad for losing your mother and brother or is that not cool nowadays!!

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LolaB1010, San Bruno, United States, 13 hours ago

I really wish people would back-off this poor child. No one really knows what she went through. Sometimes people hid pain with smiles and laughter. People just really need to this baby girl alone...And if anyone who DOESN'T know the full back-story of what happened and goes just by what you see in this article and photo, it would be kinder on your part to keep your comments to yourself.

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george sand, anon, United States, 13 hours ago

It's like a Salem witch hunt.I find it more disturbing that complete strangers feel like they know this girl well enough to comment on her grief or lack thereof. I'm not fond of quoting scripture, but in this case, I feel it's warranted. Jesus said: stop judging by mere appearances and make a right judgement.

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Mishneal, Any Town, United States, 13 hours ago

Wake up. That's unacceptable behavior.

142

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Alyssa, California, United States, 15 hours ago

....and getting your nails done as soon as you return home from being kidnapped???? Who does that? Her mother and brother were BRUTALLY murdered and she's hitting up the nails salon as soon as she gets back home.

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James, London, United Kingdom, 15 hours ago

The whole family appear odd. As for Hannah's behaviour, the FBI have looked at the case in detail as well as the State and local police and none have found anything untoward so it seems to me more like a low IQ and being protected by her family from the difficult experiences of life so she now has no normal way of coping.