‘Most Wonderful Feeling’: Hannah’s Grandmother Elated Over Rescue

On a day that would end so well, so miraculously, with the rescue of Hannah Anderson, her grandmother Sara Britt remembered how only hours earlier she had broken down weeping.

She and several loved ones packed up her daughter Christina Anderson's belongings at her Lakeside home earlier Saturday, an experience that tore them apart.

But Saturday's discovery of Hannah, 16, six days after her disappearance with suspected killer Jim DiMaggio, revived the spirits of a family suffering the losses of the teen's mother and little brother, 8.

An FBI agent shot and killed DiMaggio, her alleged captor, Saturday afternoon north of Morehead Lake in Idaho. He is believed to have killed Christina Anderson, 44, and her son, Ethan, after their bodies were found in his burning home.

As Jennifer Willis, the girl's great aunt told Britt, her sister, “my pinky pal and your honey bunny is coming home.”

Perhaps no one can feel the discovery more keenly than Britt, Hannah's grandmother, or Brett Anderson, her father.

Christina was Britt's only child and Hannah and Ethan her only grandchildren.

Hearing that Hannah will return, likely as soon as Sunday, is “the most wonderful feeling I think I've ever felt except for the birth of my daughter,” Britt said outside her Santee home late Saturday, as her loved ones embraced each other while other friends drove up, rushing to offer still more hugs.

As of about 9 p.m. they had yet to speak with her and were unsure if Hannah's father had made contact. 

He told a television reporter though, that he "almost collapsed" when detectives informed him of his daughter's 4:20 p.m. rescue.

"I have very mixed emotions," Anderson said of the loss of his son and Christina, though they had split. "But something good came out of something indescribably horrible."

That was a way to sum up Britt's and Willis' days too. Britt recounted how she found Ethan's Spongebob doll while going through his belongings. It was one of several heartbreaks Saturday, until news of Hannah's rescue overwhelmed everyone again.

It is unclear if Hannah is aware of the deaths of her mother and brother and family dog – Cali, a Weimaraner mix that also was found dead in the Aug. 4 fire – or what traumas, if any, she endured while with DiMaggio.

Britt kept that in mind when she loaded up a bag for Brett Anderson to take to her in Idaho, where authorities said he would travel as soon as possible to retrieve Hannah.

“We packed her a bag today and put all her girly stuff in it and gymnastics uniform and just stuff that will make her feel comfortable,” she said.

Aside from the services that must be arranged for Christina – known as Tina to her loved ones – and Ethan, the family is aware their fight is not over. Hannah will return, but to a home without her mother and brother.

“I want to tell Hannah I love you and I miss you and I'm so thankful you're safe and you're sound,” Willis said. “I'm here for her, and I'm going to help her through this terrible tragedy and I'm going to do whatever she needs to take care of her.”

See also: Father of Missing Teen: 'Damage is Done ... Let My Daughter Go…

Aunt Pleads to Hannah Anderson's Abductor: ‘Get Her Home!’

Lakeside Woman Dead as Hopes Fade in Search for Boy, 8