By Ed Payne and Amanda Watts
(CNN) — Authorities in Southern California have issued an Amber Alert for a 16-year-old girl and her 8-year-old brother after their mother and another child was found dead inside a burned-out home and garage over the weekend.
A dog in the residence had also been killed, the San Diego Sheriff’s Department said.
The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department has named James Lee DiMaggio, a friend of the mother’s, as the suspect.
Authorities believe DiMaggio is headed to either Texas or Canada with the abducted children: Hanna and Ethan.
DiMaggio, 40, may be driving a blue Nissan Versa with California license plate 6WCU986.
Firefighters first responded to a fire at DiMaggio’s home in the unincorporated community of Boulevard on Sunday and later discovered the body of Christina Anderson, 44, inside.
“It has been determined that Ms. Anderson had been murdered,” a sheriff’s department statement said. The identity of the child also found at the scene has not been determined, or how the child died.
The-CNN-Wire
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