SAN DIEGO (CBS 8) - Hundreds of loved ones of missing 16-year-old Lakeside teen Hannah Anderson came together at Lindo Lake County Park Friday evening for an emotional vigil.
The family told News 8 they were encouraged when they learned that Hannah was still alive.
"Just to know that she's been seen, that she's alright, that's the main thing," said Sara Britt, Christina Anderson's mother.
James DiMaggio's car was found in a remote nature preserve near Cascade, Idaho.
The Sheriff's Department confirmed Ethan Anderson's remains, found in the burnt rubble along with his mother, were identified through DNA analysis extracted through bone marrow.
But with these reports of Hannah Anderson being spotted alive in Idaho with her alleged captor, is providing the family some much needed hope.
"We need to continue to pray -- because that is what is going to bring Hannah home..."
More than a hundred loved ones of Hannah Anderson came together at a vigil Friday evening in a sign of strength and hope.
"I just love her to death -- and I can't wait until you come back home," said Hannah's friend.
Afterward, Hannah's father told News 8 he is "cautiously optimistic" by reports that James DiMaggio's car was found in a remote area of Idaho and that horseback riders in the same area had seen two people resembling Hannah and DiMaggio on Wednesday.
"I believe in the end -- that law enforcement will find them, do their job and I'll have my daughter back home," said Brett Anderson.
DiMaggio stands accused of murdering 44-year-old Christina Anderson and her 8-year-old son Ethan last weekend at his Boulevard home, which he then burnt down before abducting Hannah.
While 40-year-old DiMaggio was a close family friend -- a surrogate uncle to the kids -- Hannah had confided in a friend weeks earlier that he made her feel uncomfortable.
"He told her... He had a crush on her," said the friend. "She said that it was just really awkward -- she wasn't going to go up there no more."
But in speaking to Christina Anderson's parents at Friday night's vigil, it appears DiMaggio insisted the family visit him last Saturday.
"His house was in foreclosure -- and he wanted them to come up for one last time -- The kids always had fun up there," said Britt.
Christina's mother says her daughter did not want to go, that she was tired and 8-year-old Ethan had football practice early Sunday morning.
"But because he begged her -- and that was the kind of person she was, I'll help you Jim -- I'll do what you want -- and then that happened... That horrific act," she said.
An act that this family has yet to come to terms with.
"I'm a shell of a man - My world's been taken from me... But I got to keep going because I have to get at least my daughter back and have time to mourn my wife and son," said Anderson.
Late Friday, authorities in Idaho confirmed that DiMaggio's car, found in a remote part of the Idaho wilderness, was not booby trapped with explosives.
A team of deputies is heading there to process the car for evidence, as the search for DiMaggio and Hannah Anderson in that same rugged back country continues.