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

[HeartofTexas]

I think we have a new member for Anna's forum... a poster named Annasfriend. She just signed on today. Welcome to WS, Annasfriend. If you have any questions re how the forum works, please feel free to ask. Any of us would be glad to answer your questions or offer any tips that might be needed.

 

[Buzz Mills]

Here are a few pictures of the canyon where the ranch we lived on is located. This will give you some idea of just how rural it is. Hope the URL works.
(click on pictures to enlarge)
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0BYs2jJoxYsXJw

Hi Joe Ford, I just stumbled across this thread. I live in Cupertino, and have hiked at Purisima Creek, both from Skyline, and from the bottom, quite a few times, so the pictures look familar, as I have probably been on that particular road a time, or two.

This is the first I have heard of this case, and I am glad I came across it. I haven't read through the entire thread; the last few pages seem to summarize the day of the disappearance fairly clearly.

I don't know of anything I can offer to the discussion, but I'll keep reading and see what comes up.

Thanks for the information Annasmom. I admire your strength, tenacity and courage, and I am so very sorry for your loss.

 

[Joe Ford]

Hi Joe Ford, I just stumbled across this thread. I live in Cupertino, and have hiked at Purisima Creek, both from Skyline, and from the bottom, quite a few times, so the pictures look familar, as I have probably been on that particular road a time, or two.

This is the first I have heard of this case, and I am glad I came across it. I haven't read through the entire thread; the last few pages seem to summarize the day of the disappearance fairly clearly.

I don't know of anything I can offer to the discussion, but I'll keep reading and see what comes up.

Thanks for the information Annasmom. I admire your strength, tenacity and courage, and I am so very sorry for your loss.

Thank you Buzz. I'm curious...how did you come across this site? Thought you might enjoy some pictures of Purissima Creek taken in the summer months.http://www.photobird.com/jf1077/Purissima_Creek/
Looking forward to your comments and suggestions. Never know what might be helpful.

 

[mysteriew]

Thank you Buzz. I'm curious...how did you come across this site? Thought you might enjoy some pictures of Purissima Creek taken in the summer months.http://www.photobird.com/jf1077/Purissima_Creek/
Looking forward to your comments and suggestions. Never know what might be helpful.

Buzz is a regular poster here, but doesn't often come down to the Cold Case files. Different posters here may have different interests, and stay within a particular area, but make occasional forays out to see what the others are doing.
Welcome, Buzz, glad you checked in. Being you are familiar with the area in question you may have some insights that others won't know to consider.

 

[viking]

Hello all! Gosh it has taken forever for me to finally come onboard. Thanks, Joe Ford, and all. It was me who brought up to Joe on his blog about questioning the friends and neighbors and the guy who last saw Anna alive at th door.
Anyways, Anna's mom; I would like to say that I have known about this case from the beginning. I grew up in Lafayette, CA. and heard about Anna at my dinner table. I was born at Children's Hospital in San Francisco in 1966. My dad knew alot of Law enforcement and my grandma lived in San Mateo. Dad told us about Anna and it scared me because I was close to her age. Years later here in Colorado I began reading cold cases on Websleuths. I am familiar with the case and have read all posts. You are an amazingly strong woman and I cannot even begin to imagine what you have all been through. I asked Joe today if it were possible if you remember all names of employees and families and all people who had access to the ranch at the time. Tall order, yes? I was wondering if we could do a background check. The hardest of all, Anna'smom, is even having to rule out dear frineds who have been helpful and supportive throughout the invesigation. Even if we are adamant that there is no way in heck they could be possibly involved, they all need to be re-examined. If I sound to harsh, please forgive me. I just want so badly to find a resolution for you and if we are going to go all the way, I believe this needs to be done. That said, on to Waters and Brody. I cannot rule them out, at all. My mom, who remembers the case clearly, had this to say:"What about Waters brother and wife, his parents. Maybe Waters had them take Anna simply out of spite to you, or they had enough money to support her and all of his earnings could go to Brody? Maybe they helped him because they had the money and loved her and knew Waters was getting crazier than ever? Terrible thought, I know, because you said her parents have grieved along with you. Or, was the woman who tried to entice Anna to the car a follower of Brody paid to get hold of Anna? Time has a funny way of altering things and people. Who has Waters papers? his effects? I wasn't clear on that. I know little remains, but who has them? I wish you could scan them for us and we could see them because what seemed normal to you, something might look strange to us. Another pair of eyes . . so to speak. Are Ann's brothers from a first marriage by you? Sorry to have gone on so long, I have just been dying to ask this for so long. I think Anna was a beautiful girl and is now a gorgeous woman. I think you are an inspiration and her brothers are devoted to this day. To have Joe on the case as well, is a testimony to Anna and your family as well. Hang on, we WILL help you and we won't stop until you get answers. I have a few cool connections in Northern California who may be abl to help!
Sincerely and with the most respect,
MAry Green

 

[HeartofTexas]

Welcome, Mary/Viking. It's so encouraging, and such a tribute to Anna and her family, to have so many people joining the forum that either knew Anna, knew of her case, or care about her. Hopefully, your connections in Northern California will come in handy.

 

[Buzz Mills]

Thank you Buzz. I'm curious...how did you come across this site? Thought you might enjoy some pictures of Purissima Creek taken in the summer months.http://www.photobird.com/jf1077/Purissima_Creek/
Looking forward to your comments and suggestions. Never know what might be helpful.

Joe, thanks for the pics. I first joined W/S during the early stages of the Peterson case, and other than a temporary absence, where I had to reregister upon my return, I have been an active member of W/S. To my recollection, I haven't ever participated in the Cold Case Files before, and I really don't know how, or why, I happened to open this thread, but when I saw it was local, I became interested.

I don't remember hearing about this case at the time, but that could have been for any number of reasons.

I haven't read back through all of the posts. Is there a definite timeline during the immediate period leading up to Anna's disappearance??

 

[Annasmom]

The possibility that she fell into the creek and washed all of the way to the ocean is possible but very remote in the eyes of those of us that have searched the 3 mile length of the creek scores of times. As mentioned earlier even if the water level was high enough to acheive this there were numerous snags along the way each of which were searched the final drop into the ocean as shown by the pictures Joe posted is 30 ft or so and a shallow waterfall. There is a dam before this point at about 1/2 mile upstream. Anything is possible but I personally feel this avenue has been pretty well covered.

I am recopying Annasbro’s message (Post #501) because some forum members don’t seem to have seen it.

A man once lost his key in his front yard. A neighbor, seeing him searching in his house, asked what he was looking for. “The key I lost in the yard,” the man said. “Why are you looking in the house if you lost it in the yard?” the neighbor asked. “Because the light is better in here,” the man replied.

We are seeing a twist in the forum which has become very familiar to the family over the years. Even though the creek has been all but ruled out, people turn back to the idea of the creek because the light is better, or because it’s there, or...you tell me. Perhaps you are out of ideas, or perhaps you just don’t want to think about it any more. In this case, all I can do is thank you for your questions, your compassion and your ideas. We have managed to rule out quite a few things in this mystery and have progressed toward our goal of leaving no stone unturned.

 

[gardenmom]

Hugs to you annasmom, I think you might need one today. I can sense you are frustrated right now. We really do have the best intentions, but I know it's frustrating for you to pound the same dirt over and over again. Please forgive us.

 

[Dr. Doogie]

I have been away from the computer for a couple of days and wanted to jump in with my two-cents on recent posts.

For three decades, there has been literally no direct evidence of what happened to Anna. Because of this lack of any clues, all possibilites were open for review - family abduction, stranger abduction, fell in the creek, etc. The wildest theories were equally as valid as the most simple and direct.

With the recent revelations by Annasbro, the scattered approach to her investigation now seems unproductive. We have uncovered that someone, one month before Anna disappeared, attempted to lure her into a vehicle. I cannot believe that this event and her disappearance are unrelated. To believe otherwise would mean that Anna was a "magnet" for unrelated misfortunes: Her birthfather goes schizo and abandons the family, she is almost abducted by strangers, and she falls into a creek and drowns, but searchers never find her body. No, until I can be shown to be wrong, I believe that these events are all related - and that is where I plan on focusing my efforts.

Let me respond quickly to some of the major points brought up in the last week:

Fallen into the Creek: A search of the creek began within hours of Anna's disappearance and continued for several days. Subsequent searches by Joe Ford and Anna's brother (plus other volunteers) failed to turn up any evidence that Anna had gone into the creek. The every inch of the creek was searched on foot and by scuba from the farm to the ocean. The ocean was even searched by local commercial fisherman who scoured the area where the creek entered the sea right after Anna disappeared. It is possible that everyone involved missed her body, but extremely unlikely. Nothing short of extremely expensive infra-red examinations of the creek by the air or complete excavation of the creekbed for its entire length will ever totally satisfy this question. It is my opinion that these options are not realistic.

Manure Pile: Except for some chickens and a few horses and cows, there were not a large number of animals - certainly not enough that would have created the sort of pile necessary to have completely covered and smothered a small child. Even if there were such a pile, Annas body would have been discovered in the subsequent years when the pile decomposed or was moved.

Open Well: It has not been mentioned in the forum (yet), but there were no open wells (active or abandoned) on the property. Even if there were, the search dogs would have traced Anna's scent to an open hole where she would have been discovered.

Wild Animals: There were never blood puddles or any of Anna's clothing discovered in the numerous searches of the area. No one heard any screams from her that would have happened with an animal attack.

It seems clear to me that Anna was taken by the couple in the green or silver Chevy Impala. It is the only thing that makes sense.

 

[PonderingThings]

Anna's mom sorry about going over ground that you have already treaded. I know I've asked some questions that I believed I already knew the answers to (and I did) but needed confirmation so I could cross those possibilities off my list.

Meanwhile I've been exploring other avenues... I'm looking for graves of young girls that died in San Francisco around the time that Anna disappeared. They would have to have been born around when Anna was, but would have died between July 1972 and November 1972. Why? Because I want to search for their names on the adoption pages... I figure that a possible trigger to the abduction was that they (the Georges) had a copy of the birth certificate of a child who died and adopted Anna out under that name. I haven't shared this before because its a crazy search

and I've only had limited success... but I am working on it.

I am also curious about the other little girls who were kidnapped from the west coast. I find it hard to believe all of them were kidnapped by pedophiles and murdered... and there does seem to be a systematic approach (almost like a shopping list - same MO, same "type" of little girl)... but again, I'm just getting started and have nothing to report.

Besides the weird Kabain guy I met, I once got drunk with another weirdo guy who would go to Mexico every year. He showed me a photo of his previous girlfriend, who was from Mexico, who he was crying in his beer about. I was stunned as the girl had long blond hair (not a bleached blond).

I expressed my surprise and he told me that there were a lot of blonds in the interior of Mexico (not in the tourist area)... I had never heard that before or since... he then clammed up, he acted as if he had said too much and refused to talk about any of it anymore. I tried to get a town out of him and nothing.

This guy was weird but the conversation always stayed with me. I knew people who travelled in Mexico and asked if they knew of this "blond tribe" (my words) and no one did. I know there are some blond people who live in Mexico but it was alluded to that this is where they are FROM (like a village). This weirdo guy was educated, had money, and was connected...

There is also the case of the woman who was kidnapped and taken to Mexico when she was 2 years old. She's 23 now and just found out that her parents never adopted her, they kidnapped her instead - the story is in the Cold Case forum I posted it this weekend.

These are all the kind of things that makes me go Hmmmmm. My questions about the terrain had to do with eliminating the obvious, possible hazards, and to get an idea of the "stake out" location - because someone had to have staked it out - they moved too quick when an unplanned opportunity arose.

There is a saying that "Luck favors the one who is prepared". Where Anna lived, the fact that she was outside on a rainy day, the fact that you were busy in the house at that particular time, the fact that she vanished in minutes, the fact that you lived in a remote area, leads me to believe this wasn't just coincidence - to me it seems planned. IMHO

Anyway... that's why I've been asking the questions. Thank you for all your indepth responses I can't hug you over the internet (I don't have the smilely) so please accept this kiss

 

[Dr. Doogie]

Meanwhile I've been exploring other avenues... I'm looking for graves of young girls that died in San Francisco around the time that Anna disappeared. They would have to have been born around when Anna was, but would have died between July 1972 and November 1972. Why? Because I want to search for their names on the adoption pages... I figure that a possible trigger to the abduction was that they (the Georges) had a copy of the birth certificate of a child who died and adopted Anna out under that name. I haven't shared this before because its a crazy search http://www.websleuths.com/forums/images/smilies/crazy1.gif and I've only had limited success... but I am working on it.

PT: This doesn't sound crazy to me. Whoever was behind the kidnapping of Anna had to create a paper trail showing "who" this girl was once she re-entered the school system. Your line of research sounds pretty reasonable to me. Thanks!

There is also the case of the woman who was kidnapped and taken to Mexico when she was 2 years old. She's 23 now and just found out that her parents never adopted her, they kidnapped her instead - the story is in the Cold Case forum I posted it this weekend.

The reference to the 23 year-old who thought that shew was adopted, not kidnapped is very interesting to me. This would fit into my theory of what Anna must believe today. Good work.

 

[Buzz Mills]

I have been away from the computer for a couple of days and wanted to jump in with my two-cents on recent posts.

For three decades, there has been literally no direct evidence of what happened to Anna. Because of this lack of any clues, all possibilites were open for review - family abduction, stranger abduction, fell in the creek, etc. The wildest theories were equally as valid as the most simple and direct.

With the recent revelations by Annasbro, the scattered approach to her investigation now seems unproductive. We have uncovered that someone, one month before Anna disappeared, attempted to lure her into a vehicle. I cannot believe that this event and her disappearance are unrelated. To believe otherwise would mean that Anna was a "magnet" for unrelated misfortunes: Her birthfather goes schizo and abandons the family, she is almost abducted by strangers, and she falls into a creek and drowns, but searchers never find her body. No, until I can be shown to be wrong, I believe that these events are all related - and that is where I plan on focusing my efforts.

Let me respond quickly to some of the major points brought up in the last week:

Fallen into the Creek: A search of the creek began within hours of Anna's disappearance and continued for several days. Subsequent searches by Joe Ford and Anna's brother (plus other volunteers) failed to turn up any evidence that Anna had gone into the creek. The every inch of the creek was searched on foot and by scuba from the farm to the ocean. The ocean was even searched by local commercial fisherman who scoured the area where the creek entered the sea right after Anna disappeared. It is possible that missed her body, but extremely unlikely. Nothing short of extremely expensive infra-red examinations of the creek by the air or complete excavation of the creekbed for its entire length will every totally satisfy this question. It is my opinion that this options are not realistic.

Manure Pile: Except for some chickens and a few horses and cows, there were not a large number of animals - certainly not enough that would have created the sort of pile necessary to have completely covered and smothered a small child. Even if there were such a pile, Annas body would have been discovered in the subsequent years when the pile decomposed or was moved.

Open Well: It has not been mentioned in the forum (yet), but there were no open wells (active or abandoned) on the property. Even if there were, the search dogs would have traced Annas scent to an open hole where she would have been discovered.

Wild Animals: There were never blood puddles or any of Anna's clothing discovered in the numerous searches of the area. No one heard any screams from her that would have happened with an animal attack.

It seems clear to me that Anna was taken by the couple in the green or silver Chevy Impala. It is the only thing that makes sense.

Hi Dr. Doogie, I am not aware of the vehicle you mentioned, or the prior attempt at abduction, (I haven't read back through the thread) but I agree that abduction is the most likely cause for Anna's disappearance. In the 60's and 70's, and even later, the Santa Cruz Mountains were a magnet for the hippie generation, and for people who wanted to escape from the everyday trials, and tribulations, of society. I don't know that Purisma Creek was one of those areas, at the time, but there is still some indication that it may have been. I am wondering if anyone has set up a website, listing all of the pertinent facts, pictures, and links that might be helpful in this case. If not, that should be done. Yahoo has free websites that could be used for this purpose. I wouldn't want to be the one to initiate this, as I am not knowledgeable about this case, but if someone wants to register a website, and share the username/password, I wouldn't mind helping a little along the way. There isn't anything that beats having all of the known facts in one link, available to everyone; that's the beauty of the internet.

 

[HeartofTexas]

I agree, Dr. Doogie. Another thing I would like to point out is that Anna was wearing rubber boots/galoshes on the day she disappeared. If she had been swept into the creek, I think the power of the creek sweeping toward the ocean would have ripped the boots off of her (much like shoes often fly off of people in automobile accidents) and they would have lodged in the creek dam or some other place thick with limbs/debris. The fact that no trace of the boots, or any of her clothing, has ever been discovered in the creek makes me think Anna did not fall into the creek.

 

[Dr. Doogie]

Hi Dr. Doogie, I am not aware of the vehicle you mentioned, or the prior attempt at abduction, (I haven't read back through the thread) but I agree that abduction is the most likely cause for Anna's disappearance.

Buzzm1: Thanks for your interest in the case. I recognize that with 22 pages and growing, it is difficult to spend the time to review all of the postings. I plan on posting a "state of the case" message very week or two to help newcomers keep up on where we are at without having to cover all 500+ posts. I am also going to contact the administrators of WS to see if maybe we should move Anna's forum to its own section (a'la Sharon Marshall). I will let everyone know how that goes.

In the 60's and 70's, and even later, the Santa Cruz Mountains were a magnet for the hippie generation, and for people who wanted to escape from the everyday trials, and tribulations, of society. I don't know that Purisma Creek was one of those areas, at the time, but there is still some indication that it may have been.

Your analysis of the people in the area is correct. Many of the locals in the extremely rural areas were refugees from the Haight and the whole hippie scene. Anna's family would also probably fit the description (though I should point out that they were not "drop-outs" from society. Joe held a regular construction job and the children all attended regular school).

 

[Mr. E]

Maybe this has been said before and I missed it, but is there a sketch available of the people who tried to lure Anna into their car?

 

[Dr. Doogie]

Maybe this has been said before and I missed it, but is there a sketch available of the people who tried to lure Anna into their car?

There is no sketch of the couple in car. I have cut & paste Annasbro's account of what happened (including his description of the woman and the car):

"As far as I remember it here is the accounting of the incident with the car luring Anna towards it: It seemed like the middle of the day. Maybe it was a Sat. or Sunday. We used to like to walk towards the end of the canyon down the road heading east. The house where we lived was about 1.5 miles from the end of the canyon. We were approximately 1/4 mile from our house when a car passed us and pulled infront of us about 25 ft. Saturn the dog barked at the car as a woman wearing a loose fitting white shirt with embroidery on it and long dark hair opened up the back door. She spoke to us from within the car, a 4 door american sedan that was a dark green or gold. Somehow I remember it as a chevy impala late 60s - it was not new. I know cars pretty well. I thought it had the old style washington plate - white with green letters - I can't be sure about that.

When we got the dog settled down she made small talk and addressed Anna primarily - I believe . I answered for her but she continued to address Anna with small talk and questions - do you live here?, where do you go to school?, do you walk down the road often? at that point she asked if she wanted her (us - I can't remember) to ride to the end of the road with her. This creeped me out sufficiently to turn our party around and head back home. The woman closed the door and the car scooted off quickly towards the end of the canyon. I don't remember if and how I relayed the story at the time to my parents.

I didn't think much of it. I knew some creepy people would travel down that road every once in a while. A body was dumped closer to the entry of the canyon earlier that year. I just knew there was no way any of us was going to get into a car with people we didn't know and kind of put it behind me. I wish now I had played closer attention to everything."

 

[itsreenw]

I am recopying Annasbro’s message (Post #501) because some forum members don’t seem to have seen it.

A man once lost his key in his front yard. A neighbor, seeing him searching in his house, asked what he was looking for. “The key I lost in the yard,” the man said. “Why are you looking in the house if you lost it in the yard?” the neighbor asked. “Because the light is better in here,” the man replied.

We are seeing a twist in the forum which has become very familiar to the family over the years. Even though the creek has been all but ruled out, people turn back to the idea of the creek because the light is better, or because it’s there, or...you tell me. Perhaps you are out of ideas, or perhaps you just don’t want to think about it any more. In this case, all I can do is thank you for your questions, your compassion and your ideas. We have managed to rule out quite a few things in this mystery and have progressed toward our goal of leaving no stone unturned.

Annasmom,
I can't imagine how painful this must be for you and my heart aches for you, but please understand that while you have been over every square inch of the property many times, we have never been there. You have seen the letters and other items of evidence, we only have statements and newspaper articles to go by.

Although I don't know the identities of all the members that post on this thread, I feel safe in assuming that the majority of us are not professional investigators and we are working with limited resources.

If we come up with a theory , we often post it here for discussion or debate. We then share info from our different resources and decide individually whether we wish to pursue a particular theory.


We are not dismissing your thoughts of what happened or did not happen to Anna, we are methodically considering all possibilities and including/excluding them as we go. It's not easy to 'take someone's word for it' as it doesn't give (me) the feeling that I have been thorough in my research.

Please be tolerant, we only want to help. Hugs to you.

 

[Annasmom]

Annasmom,
I can't imagine how painful this must be for you and my heart aches for you, but please understand that while you have been over every square inch of the property many times, we have never been there. You have seen the letters and other items of evidence, we only have statements and newspaper articles to go by.

Although I don't know the identities of all the members that post on this thread, I feel safe in assuming that the majority of us are not professional investigators and we are working with limited resources.

If we come up with a theory , we often post it here for discussion or debate. We then share info from our different resources and decide individually whether we wish to pursue a particular theory.


We are not dismissing your thoughts of what happened or did not happen to Anna, we are methodically considering all possibilities and including/excluding them as we go. It's not easy to 'take someone's word for it' as it doesn't give (me) the feeling that I have been thorough in my research.

Please be tolerant, we only want to help. Hugs to you.

ItsreenW: There had not been any posts for days, and I thought everyone had given up. Obviously I was wrong! What an amazing amount of material you all have covered. I am deeply grateful.

 

[Annasmom]

Hugs to you annasmom, I think you might need one today. I can sense you are frustrated right now. We really do have the best intentions, but I know it's frustrating for you to pound the same dirt over and over again. Please forgive us.

I could feel that hug way over here. It cheered me up a lot!