Possible Matches for Anna - #1

[Dr. Doogie]

When she told me about this, she explained that for some unknown reason, she remembers being taken away from her mom and placed in some type of facility for awhile and then she was returned to her mother.

The woman mentioned in my discussion with her that her mother was a "party girl", so it is possible that the woman was placed in a temporary foster situation while the mother was serving a short sentence on drug charges (or other substance abuse crimes).

She also remembers later that she had to go live with her grandmother for a period before being sent to an uncle's house, and then going home again.

This is somewhat problematic: this means that for this woman to be Anna, not only would the mother and father be involved (not to mention any older siblings who would have been of an age that it would have registered that something was not right about the situation), it would also require complicity by a grandmother and uncle in the deception. I have always imagined that if Anna was taken by a couple, that the couple would have been isolated from any other family so as to not create any prying questions about where Anna had come from.

Now, it is possible that entire families might be involved in criminal activities (including grandmothers and uncles), it does seem less likely that this would occur. I guess that it also would be possible that the couple may have "disappeared" from their family for a period of over five years, then re-established contact and introduced the family to their five year old daughter. However, this seems a stretch.

 

[RobinH]

This is somewhat problematic: this means that for this woman to be Anna, not only would the mother and father be involved (not to mention any older siblings who would have been of an age that it would have registered that something was not right about the situation), it would also require complicity by a grandmother and uncle in the deception. I have always imagined that if Anna was taken by a couple, that the couple would have been isolated from any other family so as to not create any prying questions about where Anna had come from.

Wouldn't it depend on which Grandma? Was it mom's mother, biological father's mother, or adopted father's mother? Adopted father's mother may not have a clue.

 

[Dr. Doogie]

Wouldn't it depend on which Grandma? Was it mom's mother, biological father's mother, or adopted father's mother? Adopted father's mother may not have a clue.

Good point. In my best Rosanna Rosannadanna impression: "Never mind..."

 

[Annasmom]

Robin, can you find out whether C. has a smallpox vaccination scar and if so, where? (Mine is on my leg, for instance, but lots of people have them on an arm or shoulder.) She must be medical records somewhere. Do you have to have a blood test in your state to get married?

 

[Annasmom]

As far as foster parenting in Michigan, I was a foster parent for 15 years in the 1970's and 80's. It required 3 visits from caseworkers to become licensed. It was not an easy task back then, and once becoming a foster parent, visits from caseworkers were very frequent.

Without creating a scenario where this might be the case, I think it is possible that all C's brothers and sisters are not blood relatives and that some kind of informal foster care could have taken place.

 

[RobinH]

Robin, can you find out whether C. has a smallpox vaccination scar and if so, where? (Mine is on my leg, for instance, but lots of people have them on an arm or shoulder.) She must be medical records somewhere. Do you have to have a blood test in your state to get married?

Yes, I will be seeing her tomorrow and will ask her about her smallpox scar. Although I do believe that our state was giving those shots mandatory during those years and didn't stop until around 1976. And yes, we used to need a blood test before marriage, however I don't know if that is still true. I will get that answer for you too.

 

[gardenmom]

I must have missed where C was adopted. Can someone tell me, so I do not have to backtrack, was the birth announcement for C for her bio family, or adopted family? I am confused.

 

[RobinH]

I must have missed where C was adopted. Can someone tell me, so I do not have to backtrack, was the birth announcement for C for her bio family, or adopted family? I am confused.

Sorry Gardenmom, Yes, C was adopted. She was told that her mother is her birthmother, but her stepfather adopted her after she was born. When she went to get her birth certificate, it was missing many pieces of information, and she had no clue where to find her original one before the adoption. I went to the public library using the names that she gave me, and found a birth announcement in the local paper for a girl born to the names that she had given me as her possible birth parents. The newspaper article was in a paper that was published 8 days after her birth date.

 

[Annasmom]

Sorry Gardenmom, Yes, C was adopted. She was told that her mother is her birthmother, but her stepfather adopted her after she was born. When she went to get her birth certificate, it was missing many pieces of information, and she had no clue where to find her original one before the adoption. I went to the public library using the names that she gave me, and found a birth announcement in the local paper for a girl born to the names that she had given me as her possible birth parents. The newspaper article was in a paper that was published 8 days after her birth date.

I thought the article in the paper only had the name believed to be that of her birth father and not the mother?

 

[Dr. Doogie]

I thought the article in the paper only had the name believed to be that of her birth father and not the mother?

The article lists the parents for all the births as "Mr. & Mrs. John Smith" (using only the fathers name), so the lack of a mother's name is not suspicious. It definitely was a different era...

 

[gardenmom]

The article lists the parents for all the births as "Mr. & Mrs. John Smith" (using only the fathers name), so the lack of a mother's name is not suspicious. It definitely was a different era...

So, was C's birth announcment listed as Mr. and Mrs. John Smith? If so, were they married? Or were they unmarried, but listed in the paper incorrectly? Has C ever met her birth father?

 

[Dr. Doogie]

So, was C's birth announcment listed as Mr. and Mrs. John Smith? If so, were they married? Or were they unmarried, but listed in the paper incorrectly? Has C ever met her birth father?

They were married (though the way the paper had the notices set up, they had no means of listing someone born to a single parent - as I said: "a different era"). One of the earliest memories that the woman has is of her supposed birth-father hugging her and her sister and saying that he would see them soon. She did not have any contact with him until decades later. The woman has stated that her "birth-father" is "not a nice man".

 

[RobinH]

So, was C's birth announcment listed as Mr. and Mrs. John Smith? If so, were they married? Or were they unmarried, but listed in the paper incorrectly? Has C ever met her birth father?

No, she has not met her father, she did not even know his last name until I found that article in the paper. When I told her the father's last name she said "Who's that?". The last name was correctly linked to her based on some internet searches that were done as well.

Also, received my last phone call from the schools she attended, no photos to be found. I have the option of contacting some of her family members for photos, and will do that next week. Also there is one more possibility, one of the elementary schools has an archive, but the woman who handles that is on vacation. Maybe when she gets back I can get her to search for me.

 

[Dr. Doogie]

No, she has not met her father, she did not even know his last name until I found that article in the paper. When I told her the father's last name she said "Who's that?". The last name was correctly linked to her based on some internet searches that were done as well.

I understood differently, but I may be wrong also. We should clarify this in our next conversation with her.

Also, received my last phone call from the schools she attended, no photos to be found. I have the option of contacting some of her family members for photos, and will do that next week. Also there is one more possibility, one of the elementary schools has an archive, but the woman who handles that is on vacation. Maybe when she gets back I can get her to search for me.

We will want to be real careful about who who speak to in her family if she may be Anna. We will need to make sure that they are aware of our search and are not part of any conspiracy to abduct Anna. The wrong information in the wrong person's hands could be quite dangerous.

 

[RobinH]

I understood differently, but I may be wrong also. We should clarify this in our next conversation with her.

I will ask her when I see her tonight again. I do know that she did not know the last name that she was given at birth. She knew her father's first name only.


We will want to be real careful about who who speak to in her family if she may be Anna. We will need to make sure that they are aware of our search and are not part of any conspiracy to abduct Anna. The wrong information in the wrong person's hands could be quite dangerous.

I have a plan, thought about this last night....C is getting married, I want a photo of her for a shower or wedding gift that I will be giving her.

 

[Dr. Doogie]

I have a plan, thought about this last night....C is getting married, I want a photo of her for a shower or wedding gift that I will be giving her.

Devious...I like it!

 

[RobinH]

I understood differently, but I may be wrong also. We should clarify this in our next conversation with her.

I stand corrected. C did meet her father when she was 30 years old. She has a few choice names for him.

 

[RobinH]

Robin, can you find out whether C. has a smallpox vaccination scar and if so, where? (Mine is on my leg, for instance, but lots of people have them on an arm or shoulder.) She must be medical records somewhere. Do you have to have a blood test in your state to get married?

Annasmom, yes, C does have a smallpox vacination on her upper left arm. No, blood tests are not required here to get married. Tonight when I spoke with her she called her Dr. to ask for her blood type. Dr. told her that she can get that information, but she must come to the office to request it. She wants me to ask if you know Anna's blood type. If you do, C will get her information for you.
C really is a sweetheart and wants to do anything she can to find out if she is Anna or not. Tonight she said, "Even if I am not Anna, I feel a kinship to her, and can't wait to meet her".
She says she has talked to everyone in her family and asked for pictures because she wants to do a slide show, but NO ONE has pictures of her. She recalls a picture of herself when she was younger with blonde hair and pigtails. For awhile she had the picture, but her older sister took it from her, and they do not talk today.
Another thing that she relayed is that everyone has always told her that as a youngster, she talked all the time.
That is the information that I have right now, except that the man we thought was her uncle is not at the company where my other friend works, however she does have at least 2 uncles there. It is a big company, and will take a little time to locate them, but C says they do not have pics either. We will try to locate them and ask anyway.

 

[Dr. Doogie]

I think that we may be getting down to DNA Test time. I know that C. has consented to submit a sample and this may be our best and quickest way to settle the question definitively. There is still the big question about the birth announcement, but so many other things are lining up that a DNA test seems to be the next logical step.

Any thoughts, fellow sleuthers?

 

[Annasmom]

I think that we may be getting down to DNA Test time. I know that C. has consented to submit a sample and this may be our best and quickest way to settle the question definitively. There is still the big question about the birth announcement, but so many other things are lining up that a DNA test seems to be the next logical step.

Synchronicity: Detective Gilletti just now left the house after collecting DNA samples from me. He says it's not like CSI; it will take about three months to process everything. He also took some shoes and boots of Anna's which his DNA experts believe may give us actual samples of hers. (I kept the cowboy boots which Annasfriend remembered, but gave them another pair of boots, two pairs of shoes and a fuzzy houseslipper.) He was as nice as he could be, and imparted some incidental wisdom such as the fact that the department is actually checking out an "Anna" reported from MySpace, investigated by Doogie more than a year ago. The department received this report independently and is acting on it, though we don't think the young woman is our Anna. (Doogie wrote them in order to avoid their going on a wild goose chase and they did receive his letter, but want to look into it anyway. ) Detective Gilletti specializes in missing persons for the department, and he also works with Explorer Scouts, who helped with the physical search of the farm in 1973. My cat, Mimi, absolutely loved Detective Gilletti, and I'm afraid he is going home with lots of cat hair on his trousers (but of course none in the sample kit, which is assembled with gloves and sterile procedure.) They have also contacted local authorities in order to take samples from Anna's brothers where they live near Seattle and Los Angeles.