Several posters here had suggested that we take a closer look at Craig Barrick (who was the last person to see Anna). I decided to examine Mr. Barrick's background to see if anything was there that warranted deeper examination. Up front, let me say that nothing that we previously knew about Craig was suspicious - investigating any possible involvement was based solely on the fact that he was present when Anna disappeared.
There were a couple of things that led me to believe that Craig needed further examination:
(Please note that the following contains numerous wild speculations which have been shown to be false. I include them so you all can see where and why my investigation followed the trail that it did.)
Craig was there that day because he was visiting a "pretty neighbor" of the Ford's. I discovered that Craig was in fact legally married on January 16th, 1973, though his wife had filed for divorce on January 11th, 1973 (five days before the disappearance). Because of the closeness of this date to Anna's disappearance, I wondered if the filing of the papers may have prompted Craig to conspire with someone (his wife?) to abduct Anna to try and preserve his marriage. Craig might have come for a "visit", distracting the family while someone else actually snatched Anna.
Craig has a daughter who is roughly the same age as Anna. Neither Annasmom, Joe Ford, or the "pretty neighbor" recalled him ever mentioning that he had a daughter, even though their friendship continued for several years after the disappearance. Because of the closeness in age and that Craig had never mentioned anything about her existence, I wondered if she was, in fact, Anna.
These two bits of information led me to speculate that Craig was worthy of a closer review. Remember that the two above "suspicious" bits of data could also be explained away with some very plausible and reasonable alternate interpetations.
I realized that the key was in the court documents filed five days before Anna disappeared. If they contained any mention of custody or support for a minor child, then the daughter was not Anna. However, if no mention was made in the paperwork, then I felt that we had solved the case. I travelled to the courthouse today to review the files and the case definitely mentions the daughter. That means that she is not Anna, since the paperwork was dated and stamped five days before Anna disappeared.
Once that key bit of information was discovered, the alternate explainations of Craig's actions become the logical answers. Craig had not mentioned that he was married on that day because he had been seperated from his wife for a period of time and knew that she had filed for a divorce. He did not volunteer the information so as to not screw up his chances with the pretty neighbor (What, you think he is the only married man to not be completely forthcoming about his marital status when he has a chance with a pretty lady?) And because his daughter was in the custody of the mother, it would also be logical that he wouldn't mention it unless specifically asked merely to keep that aspect of his history private.
So in conclusion, nothing in Craig's background would indicate him being anything other than an innocent witness to the events of that day. The reports of Annasmom and Joe that Craig was a very nice guy were accurate. I hope that (if he sees this), he will understand the necessity of this examination and is not offended.