• Hannah Anderson was rescued from the River of No Return Wilderness on August 10 and returned to her father in Southern California
• James DiMaggio, a close family friend who Hannah called 'Uncle Jim,' abducted the teen after killing her mother and little brother
  
• Christina Anderson, Hannah's mother, was tortured before being killed at DiMaggio's home outside San Diego
• DiMaggio also killed Ethan Anderson, 8, and the family dog, Cali
  
• Agents with FBI's Hostage Rescue Team shot dead James DiMaggio in the Idaho wilderness after he fired on them
  

By Daily Mail Reporter

PUBLISHED: 22:39 EST, 21 August 2013 | UPDATED: 23:37 EST, 21 August 2013

Sixteen-year-old kidnapping victim Hannah Anderson has given her first interview since she was returned to her father after a week-long abduction by a close family friend.

In an interview set to air on NBC's Today show on Thursday morning, Hannah said she is remaining resilient after her terrifying ordeal at the hands of James DiMaggio, who killed her mother and her eight-year-old brother.

The high school cheerleader also wanted to address several 'inaccuracies' reported about her extraordinary and heartbreaking case.

'My mom raised me to be strong,' she said in a clip of her interview released Wednesday night. 

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She said support from her friends and family has allowed her to cope with the harrowing ordeal, which saw her rescued by the FBI Hostage Rescue team in the Idaho wilderness August 10 after agents shot and killed DiMaggio, who had held her captive for a week.

'In the beginning, I was a victim but now, knowing everyone out there who is helping me, I'd consider myself a survivor, instead,' she said.

She credited the Amber Alert system, which helped spread the word about her kidnapping, with saving her life.

Four horseback riders who encountered her and DiMaggio in the River of No Return Wilderness called police after seeing her face on the TV news as part of an Amber Alert that extended into Idaho. Their tip led the FBI to DiMaggio.

Hannah's interview will air at 7am EST on NBC's Today show Thursday.

Friend say DiMaggio, 40, had a 'crush' on Hannah and once told her that he would date her if he were a teenager.

Investigators still don't know what drove him to murder Hannah's family and abduct her - taking her on a 1,000 mile road trip that ended August 10.

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Police say DiMaggio, one of Christina Anderson's closest friends, invited Christina, Hannah and Ethan to stay at his house in Boulevard, California, on August 3. He told them that he was leaving town and moving to Texas.

That night, he killed Christina and Ethan. Autopsy results show Christina was tortured and then bashed in the head. He also shot their family dog, Cali.

He then rigged his house with arson wire and set it to burn down 20 hours after he left. Border patrol cameras spotted DiMaggio and Hannah in his blue Nissan Versa car about 12.10am August 4.

Police weren't called to his house until later that night when it caught fire.

The family of James DiMaggio, who kidnapped Hannah Anderson after killing her mother and brother, are asking for a DNA test because they believe he is her biological father.

A spokesman for James DiMaggio's family made the request after it was revealed he left $112,000 to Hannah's grandmother, who he named as the sole beneficiary of his life insurance policy.

DiMaggio, who was like an uncle to the Anderson children and their father's best friend, died in a shootout with FBI agents on August 10 in the Idaho wilderness six days after he set fire to his home.

Hannah was rescued and returned to Southern California. Her eight-year-old brother Ethan and mother Christina died from blunt force trauma.

Andrew Spanswick told 10News.com: 'He expected the grandmother to take care of the two children with the money. He stated he did not want it to go to their parents because they were having marital problems and he didn't trust them with the money on their own

'We are requesting DNA samples from Hannah and anything they can get from Ethan. There are rumors Jim was the children's real father.

'The parents didn't marry until 2002. We think it's strange he left them so much money with no explanation.'

He also described Hannah's behavior as suspicious saying: 'Some things that Hannah is saying on her Facebook doesn't add up so far; her latest posts are disturbing.'

It is unclear what these Facebook posts are.

Stacy Hess, a spokesperson for Brett Anderson, said in a statement: 'Brett and Tina Anderson did not meet Mr DiMaggio until the sixth month of Tina’s pregnancy with Hannah.

'Brett Anderson’s DNA was used to identify the body of his dead son Ethan Anderson.'

When four horseback riders came across the 16-year-old in the Idaho wilderness with DiMaggio they said she did not seem to be under duress. She later claimed it was all an act as she did not want to endanger them.

They later tipped off police, leading to the rescue of the teen and the shooting death of DiMaggio.

Search warrants unsealed last week said Hannah was picked up from a cheerleading practice at 4pm on August 4, but Caldwell said the practice was a day earlier.

Firefighters found the body of Christina Anderson, 44, when they extinguished flames at DiMaggio's home in Boulevard, a tiny town about 65 miles east of San Diego on the U.S.-Mexico border.

A search warrant says she was found near a crowbar and what appeared to be blood next to her head.

The San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office said she died of a blunt head injury, without elaborating on the nature of the wound or the circumstances of her death in a posting to its website. The manner of death is listed as homicide.

Investigators found eight-year-old Ethan Anderson's body as they sifted through rubble. Authorities identified his remains several days later by extracting DNA from his bone marrow.

The medical examiner's office said on Tuesday the cause and manner of the boy's death remained under investigation.

Hannah Anderson says she didn't learn her mother and brother died until after she was rescued. She said on a social media site last week that she was 'on the road to Idaho' when the fire ignited.

'He had set to wear (sic) it would catch on fire at a certain time,' she wrote.

A memorial service is scheduled Saturday for the mother and son in Santee, an east San Diego suburb.