If Anna were taken by someone and raised as their child, the most logical explaination for her memories of an earlier family would be "you were adopted". On that basis, we began reviewing adoption reunion websites to see if Anna could be out there looking for her birth family.
I discovered postings on several sites from a "Susan Ward". She was born in San Francisco on Sept. 25, 1967 (both the same as Anna). With the possibility that George Waters and George Brody were involved with Anna's disappearance, it was conceivable that they would not have changed Anna's birth place and date due to an occult belief in the importance of those two items. Susan listed her hair color and eyes as brown - the same as Anna (Anna had blonde hair at the time of her disappearance, but her family has the trait of hair darkening over the years and her age-progressed photo reflects the darker hair).
Unfortunately, the postings were dated from 2001 and the contact information given was not current. I was able through court documents to establish a married name and was able to locate an avenue to contact her through Reunion.com. However, she did not review her emails for a few weeks, during which I continued my research of her as possibly being Anna.
I travelled to her hometown library and reviewed high school yearbook pictures to see if she could be Anna. The pictures were inconclusive - not close enough to break out the champagne, but not far enough off to dismiss her as a candidate.
Ultimately, she did respond to my communications. It turned out that she had been with her adopted family since shortly after birth. She had pictures with that family at an earlier age than could possible if she were Anna. And her adopted parents were very open and supportive of her attempt to locate her birth parents - something that abductors would not be.
Susan Ward is a very nice young lady who is desperately seeking her original family, but she is not Anna.
