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

[Dr. Doogie]

I am starting a new thread concerning Anna Christian Waters who disappeared from her front yard January 16, 1973 in Half Moon Bay, San Mateo County, CA.

Here is her NCMEC missing poster: http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PubCaseSearchServlet?act=viewPoster&caseNum=601935&orgPrefix=NCMC&searchLang=en_US

I have been researching this case for the last nine months with the help of Anna's family and a private investigator who has been involved since the late 1970's. I will be posting as much information as we have been able to find that we feel would be useful.

It would be appreciated if the Websleuthing Community could put your collective brain-power toward solving this case.

 

[shadowangel]

You brought up some excellent points about this case in the Sharon Marshall threads. Maybe you could post them here?

 

[meggilyweggily]

I wish I knew more about Anna's disappearance. There's so little info available and I could not find any articles on her.

 

[Dr. Doogie]

I will be posting a series of topics that I have uncovered relating to Anna's disappearance very soon, hopefully starting today. Due to computer problems on my part, I can only stay connected to the internet for short periods of time before my computer crashes, so I am having to compose my posts offline and then cut-and-pasting them here.


I have numerous pictures of Anna and other players in this mystery that I will be posting here (once I recieve permission from Anna's mother). The mother has provided me with her diary of the search for Anna, plus I will also post what I and the private investigator have discovered.

Stay tuned for lots of info.

 

[*02]

Very interested to hear what's new on Anna, Dr Doogie- hope you get the computer problems fixed.

 

[Dr. Doogie]

Anna's family lived in a rural part of coastal San Mateo County near Half Moon Bay, CA. On the day of her disappearance, Anna arrived home via her schoolbus at about 1PM on January 16, 1973. She changed her clothes and went out into the yard to play. Both her mother and step-father were home and inside the house at the time.

At 2:20, her mother noticed that she did not hear Anna playing anymore. A quick search of the immediate propertywas done, but Anna was not there. The San Mateo County Sheriffs were called at 3PM and arrived at 3:15PM. Immediately upon arrival, the sheriffs deputy sounded his siren in an attempt to attract Anna's attention in case she had wandered off.

The mother felt that the most immediate danger to Anna was a creek that ran through thier property that was at flood stage on that day. All inital efforts were directed toward searching the creek and its banks. All subsequent searches of the creek have not turned up any evidence that Anna fell into the creek - this includes scuba searches and several foot-by-foot searches of the entire length of the creek from the point of Anna's disappearance to the mouth of the creek where it discharges into the Pacific Ocean. Anna's body would have washed up on the banks or been trapped in underbrush or the several dams that existed between the property and the ocean.

It was not until the searching of the creek was completed that the focus fell on a possible abduction. Unfortunately, that was several days after her disappearance.

 

[smile22]

your link in the last posting is not working its the last pic or something, anways id be really intrested in helping solve this case. some other cases from the 70s that im also researching that could be linked to annas case the only thing that wouldnt link them is the distance these cases happend in the new england east coast area. janice pockett age 7, 1973 riding her bike- tolland ct lisa white 13 years old comming home from a friends 197? Rockville ct, andy pugliese age 10 i belive lawrence mass. 197? on his way home from the pool.

 

[Dr. Doogie]

The San Mateo County Sheriffs Department lists the disappearance of Anna as a "probable stanger abduction", meaning that she would have been taken by someone other than a family member.

A friend of the family who was on his way to visit passed on the road a white panel van coming away from the direction of the house containing "a young man and an old man" five minutes before Anna was noticed to be missing. They were not residents of the immediate area.

Purissima Creek Road is not a major thoroughfare - a person would be on this road only if they had a reason to. It is unlikely that a predator looking to kidnap a child would travel this road. It would make much more sense to search for prey in a park or a school area where one would know that children would most likely be.

Because of this fact, I believe that Anna was not taken by a stranger. No, somebody wanted her specifically and knew where to find her. But who? And why?

 

[Dr. Doogie]

your link in the last posting is not working its the last pic or something, anways id be really intrested in helping solve this case. some other cases from the 70s that im also researching that could be linked to annas case the only thing that wouldnt link them is the distance these cases happend in the new england east coast area. janice pockett age 7, 1973 riding her bike- tolland ct lisa white 13 years old comming home from a friends 197? Rockville ct, andy pugliese age 10 i belive lawrence mass. 197? on his way home from the pool.

Smille22:

The name of the photo is "Last Photo", meaning this was last picture taken before her disappearance (within two weeks). It seems to be working when I click on the link. If you continue to have trouble with it, let me know and I can email it directly to you.

It is stunning the number of missing children from the 1970's and 1980's - before we had Amber Alerts, the NCMEC, Megan's Law, etc. There were an alarming string of child abductions in Northern California alone. However, I do not believe that Anna was taken by a stranger, as coming posts will demonstrate.

 

[mere]

This is what I get when I click the link.

you do not have permission to access this page. This could be due to one of several reasons:

1. Your user account may not have sufficient privileges to access this page. Are you trying to edit someone else's post, access administrative features or some other privileged system?
2. If you are trying to post, the administrator may have disabled your account, or it may be awaiting activation.

 

[*02]

Smille22:

The name of the photo is "Last Photo", meaning this was last picture taken before her disappearance (within two weeks). It seems to be working when I click on the link. If you continue to have trouble with it, let me know and I can email it directly to you.

It is stunning the number of missing children from the 1970's and 1980's - before we had Amber Alerts, the NCMEC, Megan's Law, etc. There were an alarming string of child abductions in Northern California alone. However, I do not believe that Anna was taken by a stranger, as coming posts will demonstrate.

I am having the same trouble, it says we don't have permission to access the file. I think you might have to copy and paste or upload to a picture sharing site and insert for it to work properly.

 

[shadowangel]

It is stunning the number of missing children from the 1970's and 1980's - before we had Amber Alerts, the NCMEC, Megan's Law, etc. There were an alarming string of child abductions in Northern California alone. However, I do not believe that Anna was taken by a stranger, as coming posts will demonstrate.

In just a very quick cross-reference in my files, I found these around the time of Anna's disappearance on the west coast-
June '71-Debra Pscholka from Corona, CA (12 years old)
Jan '73-Anna Waters
Jan '74-Donna Packenham from Vallejo, CA (13 years old)
March '74-Heidi Peterson from Seattle WA ( 4 years old-remains found 11 months later in a garbage can near her home)
April '74-Cindy Sumpter from San Jose CA (5 years old)
June '74-Michelle Booher from Long Beach, CA (4 years old, later recovered from William Clifton Knapp living in a boarding house under false ID)
Oct '74-Patricia Kompas from Woodland Hills, CA (10 years old)
March '77-Brandi Summers and her youger sister Tiffany Wise from San Bernandino, CA (4 years old-mother had been killed in the home, a baby was left alive in the home)

Distances vary, but just this short list seems like a lot for the time frame...

 

[Marilynilpa]

In just a very quick cross-reference in my files, I found these around the time of Anna's disappearance on the west coast-
June '71-Debra Pscholka from Corona, CA (12 years old)
Jan '73-Anna Waters
Jan '74-Donna Packenham from Vallejo, CA (13 years old)
March '74-Heidi Peterson from Seattle WA ( 4 years old-remains found 11 months later in a garbage can near her home)
April '74-Cindy Sumpter from San Jose CA (5 years old)
June '74-Michelle Booher from Long Beach, CA (4 years old, later recovered from William Clifton Knapp living in a boarding house under false ID)
Oct '74-Patricia Kompas from Woodland Hills, CA (10 years old)
March '77-Brandi Summers and her youger sister Tiffany Wise from San Bernandino, CA (4 years old-mother had been killed in the home, a baby was left alive in the home)

Distances vary, but just this short list seems like a lot for the time frame...

Oh my god, reading that list just gave me the chills. So many little girls missing, and you say that is just a short list! How awful.

 

[Dr. Doogie]

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.

 

[Marilynilpa]

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.

You stated that you don't think this was a stranger abduction because the road is not a major thoroughfare. Is this an area where everyone knows each other, recognizes the cars that belong in the area, etc.?

 

[Dr. Doogie]

I am starting to post the photos on a Yahoo Pic site that will allow anyone to access. I will include the links as I post future pics, but here are the previous pictures.

The last photo of Anna before here disappearance: http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/drdoogief/detail?.dir=aac9&.dnm=4481.jpg

A map of the road where she disappeared:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/drdoogief/detail?.dir=aac9&.dnm=f237.jpg&.src=ph

 

[docwho3]

I am starting to post the photos on a Yahoo Pic site that will allow anyone to access. I will include the links as I post future pics, but here are the previous pictures.

The last photo of Anna before here disappearance: http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/drdoogief/detail?.dir=aac9&.dnm=4481.jpg

A map of the road where she disappeared:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/drdoogief/detail?.dir=aac9&.dnm=f237.jpg&.src=ph

Very interesting.

 

[Dr. Doogie]

You stated that you don't think this was a stranger abduction because the road is not a major thoroughfare. Is this an area where everyone knows each other, recognizes the cars that belong in the area, etc.?

Marilynilpa:

The mother stated that approximately 200 cars a day would travel this road. Because of the fact that there are much quicker and shorter routes between the two end-points of the road, almost everyone who would travel it either lived on the road or had some business to conduct somewhere along the way. Yes, most people on the road would have known each other (at least by sight, if not by name), so strangers would have been noticed. That is why the two men in the white panel truck stood out to the neighbor.

One quick note: the information about the two men in the panel truck did not come to light until several days after Anna's disappearance - remember that this was first investigated as a possible drowning. It was not until that posssibility had been discounted that a kidnapping investigation was started.

 

[Marilynilpa]

Marilynilpa:

The mother stated that approximately 200 cars a day would travel this road. Because of the fact that there are much quicker and shorter routes between the two end-points of the road, almost everyone who would travel it either lived on the road or had some business to conduct somewhere along the way. Yes, most people on the road would have known each other (at least by sight, if not by name), so strangers would have been noticed. That is why the two men in the white panel truck stood out to the neighbor.

One quick note: the information about the two men in the panel truck did not come to light until several days after Anna's disappearance - remember that this was first investigated as a possible drowning. It was not until that posssibility had been discounted that a kidnapping investigation was started.

So anyone trying to get from Point A to Point B would have much quicker ways of getting there than taking this particular road. In that case, it sounds like Anna was taken by someone who either lived in the area, or frequently had business in that area.

I feel so bad for her family - at first they go through the nightmare of thinking their little girl had gotten swept away in a flood-level creek, then have to deal with the terrible reality that their daughter had been abducted. What a horrible situation.

 

[Dr. Doogie]

Anna's birth father was named George Henry Waters. He married Michaele B. in 1964 in New York City while attending Columbia Medical School. The family moved to San Francisco for him to complete his residency where Anna was born September 25, 1967.



Around the time of Anna's birth, George Waters met an older man by the name of George Brody (probably an alias). Brody was a man in his sixties at that time who immediately started to manipulate Waters and his family into his small cult of personality. Marital strains caused by Brody's manipulation and increasingly paranoid behavior by Waters led to Anna's parents divorcing shortly after her birth.



Although Waters came from a well-to-do family and was a physician working at three different facilities, he moved into a seedy hotel in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco with Brody as his roommate. Brody, who appears to have never worked a day in his life, was completely supported financially by Waters. Waters appears to have not made any moves or decisions with the full approval of Brody. (It should be clarified that even though these were two adult men living in very close arrangements, there has never been any evidence or hint that their relationship was sexual. It appeared to be more a twisted version of guru and disciple.)



Brody showed an disturbing level of interest in Anna. He believed that Anna was the reincarnation of a woman that Brody had lived with for several decades (this despite the fact that Anna was born before the woman in question had died). At Brody's and Water's insistence, the mother agreed to let Anna's name be legally changed, adding the nonsense word "Eifee" as middle name. This was demanded by Brody so that Anna's name and his name would "numerologically" add up to the same number.


In the few years after Anna's birth, George's behavior became more irrational: demanding money from his family, complaints to Anna's mother concerning what was a small child support payment for Anna, crazy accusations toward any and all who used to be his friends. Waters was finally diagnosed as a paranoid-schizophrenic. His family decided against having him committed (even though he had shown himself to be a danger to himself and others) in an effort to let him maintain his doctor's license.

Water's devotion to Brody and Brody's unusual attention to Anna lead back to the sighting of "a young man and an old man" driving a white panel truck in the vicinity of Anna's disappearance. Waters was in his thirties while Brody was in his seventies. Interestingly, after Anna's disappearance, Waters never contacted the mother to see what had happened or to offer condolences. His only known reaction was to contact his attorney to see if he could discontinue his child support payments.

Attached is a picture of George Waters circa 1964:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/drdoogief/detail?.dir=aac9&.dnm=43ea.jpg

Attached is a picture of George Brody from 1974:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/drdoogief/detail?.dir=aac9&.dnm=b94f.jpg&.src=ph