Anna Christian Waters (Missing 1/16/1973 from Half Moon Bay, CA)

[Dr. Doogie]

irsreenw asks in her email of 1/27/06:
5. q- Was there a suicide note?
a- Not to my knowledge. But once again this might be better
addressed by Annasmom.

Evidently, several notes were left at the scene of GW's death, but none were specifically "suicide notes". They spoke generally of feelings of guilt, but nothing that related directly to Anna or any involvement in her disappearance.

 

[Kelly]

I started a new occasional series on my blog for cases like Anna's. If you are interested, let me know, and I will be glad to feature her along with any back story that is appropriate.

See: http://voice4themissing.blogspot.com/2006/01/13106-tell-me-who-i-am.html

 

[mysteriew]

Kelly, I just read your blog entry. I think it is great what you are doing. BTW, I also love the title "Tell Me Who I Am".

 

[PonderingThings]

Kelly I LOVE the idea of the "Tell me who I am" series!!! I think it would be great if Anna was featured! Anna's Mom, what do you think?

 

[HeartofTexas]

I have a couple of odd questions for either AnnasMom or Joe Ford. Was Anna an extremely bright child? What kinds of things do you think she might have remembered from that age (approx. 5-1/2 years old?)? She probably would have remembered her brother's name (BTW, what is his first name?) but what else... did she know her mom's first name? What did she call Mr. Ford... dad or Joe? Did she know she lived in California, or perhaps the name of the city? Obviously, after 33 years, her memories from that time would be rather sketchy, but some things might stand out in her mind, and it's those things I'm trying to pinpoint. Did the family have a pet and, if so, what was its name? If Anna is still alive, I would assume she has vague memories of the first 5-1/2 years of her life and might be trying to find her birth parents. If so, she would talk about the very few things she remembered from those years. Maybe it would be helpful if we could pinpoint them.

 

[Annasmom]

Annasmom, I started a file on my PC for info about Anna's case and I would like to have all my facts straight so if you feel up to it, will you enlighten us with any knowledge you have regarding the questions above?

Is there a copy of the police report available? Would you be willing to post it here?

I have copies of the original birth certificate and the one with "Eifee" added, but don't know if any further copies were requested. As to GB and GW's routine, Mr. Ford is the only one who would know this. Brendan Maguire, a detective with the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office, then a detective, interviewed Waters. Maguire later became sheriff and has since died. I have never seen a police report on Anna's disappearance. The front desk person at the hotel apparently telephoned authorities about Dr. Waters' death, and I assume they got his brother's name from one of the places he was working. There was no suicide note that I know of.

 

[Annasmom]

what im thinking is that when the persons tried to take anna the first time and the boys were with her and they said no do u think if put under hypnosis they might recall the make and model of the car even a licences plate number or some kinda of knowlage of what the suspects look like i know its like been a long time since that first incident but the mind works in funny ways when put under

Smile22: As a matter of fact, Anna's brother was just today able to add to his description of this event. He recalled that a vehicle going inland on Purisima Creek Road (east) stopped as he, his brother and Anna were taking a walk. A woman got out of the BACK of the car and tried to get Anna to get into the car. Anna started to approach the car, but was pulled back by her older brother. Then the woman got back into the car and the driver drove off. He believes the car was a gold or greenish gold American sedan, something like a Chevy Impala. He says he thinks if he sat somewhere quiet, he might be able to recall more of this scene, which took place about a month before Anna disappeared, but which the family had never heard about before. Anna's stepfather did try hypnosis, but the result was not very helpful. The mind DOES work in funny ways.

 

[smile22]

what about the brother has he undergone hypnosis as well? details like that even the smallest ones might jog somones memorie hmm now that u said she was wanting anna in the car makes me think that she was sent for anna by someone and she was only to take anna the fact that she was not alone at the time made it harder for the women to go and get her. if anna was alone it would have been easier for her get anna to go in.. hopefull he will be able to remember more of that day and maybe us ws might be able to find some clues into what he has found

 

[Dr. Doogie]

I have finally been able to access the name of every female born in San Francisco on September 25, 1967. There were a total of twenty-five including Anna. I do not have a breakdown by race, but this number proves to be much higher than my previous estimates.

I have been researching each name on the list to try and eliminate anyone who pops up with the same name and birthday as an adult. As of now, fifteen girls including Anna are unaccounted for, though I have not exhausted all research sources. If I can narrow this list down to only Anna and any possible girls who were adopted, it will help prevent any false alarms in our search of adoptees.

 

[PonderingThings]

Anna's mom what kind of doctor was Anna's father? With the three jobs he held could he have access to children's records that were in hospital or very recently deceased?

I'm thinking that if he did, and he knew that a child born around 1967-68 had recently died, he could get their birth certificate and use it to adopt Anna out? Although the world was not as ID concious then, it sometimes did raise questions if a birth certificate/death certificate was issued in the same community/city... but if the child was from elsewhere.....

 

[Annasmom]

Pondering:
Dr. Waters was a general practicioner who was working in emergency rooms. Though certainly he might have been able to obtain records such as those you describe, I don't know how one could find out about it. He was so secretive about everything, and he destroyed most of his papers before he died.

 

[Annasmom]

I have a couple of odd questions for either AnnasMom or Joe Ford. Was Anna an extremely bright child? What kinds of things do you think she might have remembered from that age (approx. 5-1/2 years old?)? She probably would have remembered her brother's name (BTW, what is his first name?) but what else... did she know her mom's first name? What did she call Mr. Ford... dad or Joe? Did she know she lived in California, or perhaps the name of the city? Obviously, after 33 years, her memories from that time would be rather sketchy, but some things might stand out in her mind, and it's those things I'm trying to pinpoint. Did the family have a pet and, if so, what was its name? If Anna is still alive, I would assume she has vague memories of the first 5-1/2 years of her life and might be trying to find her birth parents. If so, she would talk about the very few things she remembered from those years. Maybe it would be helpful if we could pinpoint them.

Heart of Texas: Yes, she was an unusually bright child, and I would have thought she would have remembered a great deal from her early years. She had (has) two brothers, Nonda and Eddie; she knew her mother's first name; she called Mr. Ford Joka. I don't know whether she would have known city or state. The family had a number of pets, most notably a dog named Saturn. Also, she might remember two neighbors who were great favorites of hers, Peggy and Suzy.

 

[HeartofTexas]

Thank you, Annasmom, for the pertinent information. I have a feeling if Anna was abducted that she was never told her original date of birth and so any searches for her in that area may prove to be futile. However, it's possible she might search via some of the distant memories she still holds of her first 5-1/2 years. I'm going to do some searching tonight, and certainly welcome anyone else to join me, in seeing if there is an adoptee trying to locate her birth parents with any of the above information listed.

 

[PonderingThings]

Thank you for the short list of missing children from the West Coast during this time period. I have always felt that IF this were a stranger abduction, that it would be tied to the Sumpter case out of San Jose. Both girls were five years old, both were taken from their own yards, the disappearances were only 15 months apart and only 30-40 miles away from each other.

One frightening fact that came out during the family's search for Anna: Richard Allen Davis (murderer of Polly Klaas) lived in La Honda in 1973 (less than ten miles away from where Anna disappeared). However, an investigation of the whereabouts of Davis showed that he was in the local jail on the day that Anna disappeared.

There have been several serial pedophile/predators that have been captured in the Bay Area in the 1970's thru the 1990's, but none have ever been even loosely tied back to Anna's case.

PS I am working on the file issues. I may have to post them on a third party site with URL links to them for you all to view them. I will let you know soon.

These two cases are startling in their similarity and proximity. The Doe Network has only the barest of information [font=arial,verdana,geneva,lucida][size=-1]http://www.doenetwork.us/cases/334dfca.html[/size][/font]
and Cynthia has been mentioned here, at web sleuths, but mostly as being a non match to Sharon Marshall. Is anyone aware of a site that details the information about Cynthia Sumpter's case? I would really like to go over the details....

******************
Anna's mom thank you for the information about what kind of doctor he was... I'm thinking about a crazy search idea

and just knowing that he had access may help... will let you know, if I come up with something.

 

[HeartofTexas]

PonderingThings, here's another one similar to your's. I realize this child is black but she was abducted in San Rafael, CA exactly one year to the day before the abduction of the Sumpter child (Tracy was abducted 4-27-73) and was 6 years old at the time of the abduction.

Tracy Lynn Davenport
Missing since April 27, 1973 from San Rafael, Marin County, California.
Classification: Endangered Missing



Vital Statistics

• Date Of Birth: March 19, 1967
• Age at Time of Disappearance: 6 years old
• Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 4' 6" - 137 cm; 60 lbs - 27 kg
• Distinguishing Characteristics: Black female. Brown eyes; black hair.
• Marks, Scars: Burn scars on lower hip and abdomen
• Dentals: Not available

http://www.doenetwork.us/

 

[HeartofTexas]

I just found an interesting/unusual article in the Mercury News. Here's one small excerpt that caught my eye. Kiesle is/was a Catholic Priest.

Kiesle told Fremont police after his arrest last month that he ``really liked young blond girls.''

And another interesting quote:

Since then, 14 other alleged victims have contacted police, including two Pinole women who as children resembled Amber Swartz, a sandy-haired 7-year-old whose 1988 disappearance from her front yard created national headlines. Pinole police recently discovered that Amber at the time lived a block away from Kiesle, which is why they arranged for dogs to search his 1,600-square-foot, three-bedroom cedar vacation home.

And then this one, too:

Police suspended their search at 5:30 p.m. They will resume digging today at the home owned by Pinole resident Stephen Kiesle, who was charged last month with seven counts of child molestation that allegedly occurred when he was a priest at Santa Paula Church in Fremont about 30 years ago.

The above article is from 2002, so 30 years ago could include anything beyond 1972. Interestingly, both Cynthia Sumpter and Anna are mentioned at the very end of the article.

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/3409447.htm

 

[HeartofTexas]

Here's another odd coincidence I found tonight:

The first was on June 3, 1988, when 7-year-old Amber Swartz Garcia
disappeared outside her Pinole home. Like Angela, she was blond, had a
name starting with "A" and had similar facial features. Graham's
ex-wife called the FBI at one point to say he could have been Amber's
kidnapper.

Anna's name also started with an "A" and she was also blonde. Angela was 5 years old at the time of her abduction, as was Anna.

The man arrested for Angela's murder (Angela disappeared in 1983) was Larry Christopher Graham, who was 50 years old in 2002, making him 21 in 1973 when Anna disappeared. Angela lived in Antioch, CA at the time of her murder. On the California map, Antioch does not appear to be a huge distance from San Mateo County.

Has anyone previously done any research on Larry Christopher Graham in connection with Anna's disappearance?

Here's the url for the above information. You need to scroll about half-way down the page to post #4 for the entire story.

http://www.webbsleuths.com/cgi-bin/dcf/dcboard.cgi?az=read_count&om=2081&forum=DCForumID101

I went to the above page for additional info on another creepy guy named Tim Bindner who is/was suspected in the Amber Swartz abduction. However, Bindner was only about 40 in 2002, so he would have only been 11 when Anna disappeared.

 

[Dr. Doogie]

In response to a few of the names mentioned as potential abductors:

Kiesle: I briefly looked into him about a year ago and couldn't find anything to link him to Anna. I would be interested in why Anna's name came up in the article about the search of his Truckee vacation home - there are other missing girls from the area that did not get mentioned.

Graham: I am not familiar with him.

Bindner: One creepy dude, but not necessarily a child predator. I know that several of the families of Bay Area missing children think that he was involved in their loved ones disappearances, but he has not been charged with anything. I am surprised by his age - i had thought that he was older than 40 years old in 2002.

Every potential line of investigation is welcome, but there will be a new post here soon by one of Anna's family members that will probably show the direction that we need to look most closely at. Stay tuned...

 

[HeartofTexas]

I didn't think any of my finds were very probable either but felt I would be remiss if I didn't at least mention them. You never know. Also, the fact that several liked "blonde girls" and several names started with an "A", and several were around Anna's age, and all were in close proximity to San Francisco seemed noteworthy. None were within 10 years of Anna's disappearance, however, so I felt they were probably non-leads.

I look forward to hearing the new direction we should be going in.

 

[Dr. Doogie]

I didn't think any of my finds were very probable either but felt I would be remiss if I didn't at least mention them. You never know. Also, the fact that several liked "blonde girls" and several names started with an "A", and several were around Anna's age, and all were in close proximity to San Francisco seemed noteworthy. None were within 10 years of Anna's disappearance, however, so I felt they were probably non-leads.

HeartofTexas:

Please don't misunderstand me - I did not mean to dismiss your research. What you uncovered is of value, it is just that the upcoming revelation will probably take us away from the predator abduction angle and off in a different direction. Thanks for your efforts!