Searching For Anna - #3

[iNTERESTEDWOMAN]

Blessings to Anna and her family on this sad day in their family history. By this time next year, let us be rejoicing. I have faith the answers will come soon.

 

[Annasmom]

Blessings to Anna and her family on this sad day in their family history. By this time next year, let us be rejoicing. I have faith the answers will come soon.

Thank you so much.

 

[Gina_M]

Anna's family, my thoughts are always with you, and especially today on the 35th anniversary of Anna's disappearance.

 

[SherlockJr]

I received an e-mail thru the sfa website a couple weeks ago from a person who reads the forum. This person informed me of a 39 y/o woman who resembles the age progression who has been a family friend for some time. Further investigating on the informants part, ruled out this woman as being Anna. My point for posting this is to bring out the fact that not only members here looking for Anna, but our readers are also.

 

[Gina_M]

I am currently moving across the country, driving my car with my Searching For Anna bumper sticker on the rear bumper. By the end of the week, it will have been seen in 10 different states. I hope it piques someone's curiosity and they come check out the website!

 

[Annasmom]

I am currently moving across the country, driving my car with my Searching For Anna bumper sticker on the rear bumper. By the end of the week, it will have been seen in 10 different states. I hope it piques someone's curiosity and they come check out the website!

Gina, I hope you had a safe journey and that you're settling in. It's so odd to me that nobody here EVER mentions the bumper sticker, though I park all over town and I know they have seen it. I guess people just don't know what to say to me, but it makes me feel strange (and estranged).

 

[itsreenw]

Gina, I hope you had a safe journey and that you're settling in. It's so odd to me that nobody here EVER mentions the bumper sticker, though I park all over town and I know they have seen it. I guess people just don't know what to say to me, but it makes me feel strange (and estranged).

Annasmom, don't feel strange. The most important thing is that they've seen it. That just may trigger something in someone's memory and that's what we want.

 

[Cubby]

"1. The best people for investigations of very old cases of this sort are cold case units or retired detectives willing to work for a fixed fee...
"2. Focus on what could have drawn Anna out of the house or the yard. Despite the dog handler's reservations, (the prosecutor) says that the tracking dogs are usually extremely reliable, even several rainy days later, and the path they traced probably more significant than anybody thinks. Could somebody Anna knew have been waving at her down by the creek, enticing her out of the yard?
"3. Focus on school, community--the creek and the crazy father might have been too much of a distraction. (The prosecutor) says school bus drivers, teachers and acquaintances frequently figure in these cases. Anna was beautiful, charismatic and gregarious, and had recently figured in an amateur theatrical that attracted a lot of attention. Did anyone suddenly leave the school, either an employee or a student's family around that time?"

The above is a direct quote from my friend, whom I am calling "Polly" in this post. She and the lawyer had other suggestions which we have tried to no avail (such as having DNA extracted from Anna's possessions. I gave up three little pairs of shoes with some reluctance, but the labs were not able to get anything from them.)

One thing I have become aware of recently is the personal impact Anna's case has made on my friends and their families. Many of them have for years been very fearful for their own children because we have not been able to find answers to Anna's disappearance. This is, of course, something they would not want to tell me about directly, but I am now beginning to see this secondary shock wave very clearly.

I am deeply appreciative to "Polly" and her expert for her observations and suggestions.

Since finishing the searching for Anna book, several questions and things have come back to mind, at least for me and some possible unanswered questions that I may have missed. I've spent some time reading some old posts too, to refresh my memory on what has been done.

Based on the prosecutors suggestions, a few things have come to me. I've always wondered why someone would choose a rainy Tuesday to abduct Anna. Then I thought maybe it was someone who knew you, or of you and just enough of your daily routine they would have known you were with Anna at school on Mondays and were unsure if Joe Ford would have worked a full day or not with the weather. The white van got me thinking about contractors/construction workers. Many are typically in a white van. It was a rainy day, trades people were off work who were working in the immediate area. Did Mickles have work going on around the farm in the days or weeks just prior to Anna going missing? Did any of the neighbors or anyone in the immediate area? Perhaps individual names may not be recalled from that long ago, but maybe a name or company name could. Maybe someone who walked off the job before the project was finished? Perhaps searching for a news article with the company name or person with some old criminal history might be worth investigating. I'm not sure if anyone had considered that angle. Might be worth contacting or writing Mickles...... he was overseeing any construction at that time.

The two horsemen who helped with the search. Are you still in contact with them Annasmom? I wonder if they might recall some contact people or names, associations with members of the horse club and possibly the motorcycle club. Anyone disappear unexplained about that time?

Along the same lines as a possible contractor/construction worker angle, anything unusual happen to any family, friends or acquantainces of anyone in your immediate circle or Anna's peers. Maybe someone she had a play date with in the days or weeks prior to going missing? An acquaintance, friend, family member of anyone she was in contact with? any one with "troubles" that maybe they felt uncomfortable with or uneasy about but dismissed as being related to Anna? Maybe something a little hush hush but gossiped among locals?

I also can't get it out of my mind that Anna was so close to the front gate and guest parking when she was last seen. How was Anna with guests? Where these visitors friends that she saw regularly and knew as family friends? Was the activity with the number of visitors that day somewhat usual? Something is telling me perhaps just after the last visitor arrived, someone else pulled near the guest parking or an area not seen from the house and Anna mistakingly greeted them as another visitor. Which would lead her out of the yard and possibly explain the short time between her last being seen and missing.

A BFH guestion..... was there any car rental receipts? Anything to indicate the two G's would have rented a van near that time? Not that I have any idea what we would do with that, other than a tie to the two G's. Was it ever verified in any way other than the medical paperwork found in the BFH GW was really at work that afternoon? would it be possible to find out from whereever he was working at the time this many years later?

This next one is difficult for me to ask. Feel free not to answer if you like.

Lastly, GW's animosity towards you, and the venom you have said he spewed at times verbally. I'm wondering if it was planned numerically or an odd coincidence that Anna went missing on the same date of the month that you and Joe had married just a few months later. Something is not sitting with me right about either of the G's thoughts on another man raising GW's daughter. The comments in the book about GW's feelings of guilt for taking her brothers away from their father got me thinking along this line. It doesn't seem to me there was much time between GW being aware of your remarriage and Anna going missing. I'm not sure how that will help.... but it has been bothering me.

Just thinking outloud..... for more possibilities and ideas.

ETA: Sorry for the lengthy post.

 

[smile22]

don't know why i didn't think of this sooner but do u supposed they wanted to pick a day with rain heavy that it would flood the creek so that when anna went missing and le/pd were called the focus would be on the creek the rainboots were they close to the creek when found. could someone have gotten anna and the other person placed the boot there so the creek would be the main focus.

 

[Dr. Doogie]

Early on in my involvement in the case, I had a discussion with Joe Ford where he speculated that the abductor may have also been involved with construction. He referred to a case that he had read about where criminal profilers identified a pattern in a series of crimes that occured on weekdays where there were heavy rains. The profilers determined that the perp may have been involved in a job like construction that would free him up on days that a job site was rained out. This narrowed LE's focus and they eventually caught the perp - a construction worker.

And a quick note: our tipster who claims to have seen Anna two years after her abduction says that the abducter "Bill" was a construction worker.

 

[Annasmom]

Since finishing the searching for Anna book, several questions and things have come back to mind, at least for me and some possible unanswered questions that I may have missed....Perhaps searching for a news article with the company name or person with some old criminal history might be worth investigating. I'm not sure if anyone had considered that angle. Might be worth contacting or writing Mickles...... he was overseeing any construction at that time.

The two horsemen who helped with the search. Are you still in contact with them Annasmom? I wonder if they might recall some contact people or names, associations with members of the horse club and possibly the motorcycle club. Anyone disappear unexplained about that time?

Along the same lines as a possible contractor/construction worker angle, anything unusual happen to any family, friends or acquantainces of anyone in your immediate circle or Anna's peers. Maybe someone she had a play date with in the days or weeks prior to going missing? An acquaintance, friend, family member of anyone she was in contact with? ...


A BFH guestion..... was there any car rental receipts? Anything to indicate the two G's would have rented a van near that time? Not that I have any idea what we would do with that, other than a tie to the two G's. Was it ever verified in any way other than the medical paperwork found in the BFH GW was really at work that afternoon? would it be possible to find out from whereever he was working at the time this many years later?

This next one is difficult for me to ask. Feel free not to answer if you like.

Lastly, GW's animosity towards you, and the venom you have said he spewed at times verbally. I'm wondering if it was planned numerically or an odd coincidence that Anna went missing on the same date of the month that you and Joe had married just a few months later. Something is not sitting with me right about either of the G's thoughts on another man raising GW's daughter. The comments in the book about GW's feelings of guilt for taking her brothers away from their father got me thinking along this line. It doesn't seem to me there was much time between GW being aware of your remarriage and Anna going missing. I'm not sure how that will help.... but it has been bothering me.

Just thinking outloud..... for more possibilities and ideas.

ETA: Sorry for the lengthy post.

Your letter was a great checklist, and the fact that you had all these questions after reading the book just makes me feel that the book is doing its job. I do need to go and read the microfilm for 1972 in the library. I read it for the year that the "informant" said she saw Anna, but did not look at older copies.

I recently had contact with the individual who was overseeing construction at the farm. He had been a neighbor at the time, and I was trying to fill in a map of all the neighbors. He didn't have anything unusual to report, though he did furnish some names that I hadn't had before.

Thank you for all these questions. I'll keep them in mind and have yet another go at the BFH, argh.

 

[christine2448]

Poppin' in just to send some love....also, encouragement...you all are unbelievable. So awesome to watch you all. Thanks.

 

[Dr. Doogie]

I'll keep them in mind and have yet another go at the BFH, argh.

I would recommend wearing a necklace made of garlic and keeping a wooden stake handy.

 

[Rhett]

Is there by chance anything more to be gleaned from the girl who said she saw Anna with Bill? Would she be willing to undergo hypnosis maybe? Maybe talk to her father if he is still living and try to find out Bill's name.

 

[Mischa]

Lastly, GW's animosity towards you, and the venom you have said he spewed at times verbally.

Did it ever occur to you that George Waters probably dreamt of Anna’s Mom becoming his disciple, too? His was very fond of much younger women. Perhaps taking Anna was his revenge for her mother not falling for "fabulous George".
(Sorry, Ms Benedict if I scared or offended you, but I think this thought is to important for not being mentioned)

Regards from Germany

M.

 

[Cubby]

Is there by chance anything more to be gleaned from the girl who said she saw Anna with Bill? Would she be willing to undergo hypnosis maybe? Maybe talk to her father if he is still living and try to find out Bill's name.

I had the same thoughts. I wonder if she could provide addresses or tenant names of his investment properties, and wonder if there was a way to search for them if she was unable to... with the full privacy and trust from the core group.

 

[Annasmom]

Did it ever occur to you that George Waters probably dreamt of Anna’s Mom becoming his disciple, too? His was very fond of much younger women. Perhaps taking Anna was his revenge for her mother not falling for "fabulous George".
(Sorry, Ms Benedict if I scared or offended you, but I think this thought is to important for not being mentioned)

Regards from Germany

M.

Mischa, I don't know about the revenge motive, but certainly he wanted to enlist me as a disciple and had nothing good to say about me when I categorically refused to let him take over my life, as he put it. If you've ever read any of the Faust stories, that is what it was like. He also had an annoying way of seeming to pick a piece of lint off your sweater or something, so that he was touching you without permission, and yet you couldn't quite say anything. Awful.

 

[Dr. Doogie]

Is there by chance anything more to be gleaned from the girl who said she saw Anna with Bill? Would she be willing to undergo hypnosis maybe? Maybe talk to her father if he is still living and try to find out Bill's name.

The woman's father was suffering from alzheimers when we last spoke to her, so that would not be an option. I do not know if she would be willing to undergo hypnosis, but she was very cooperative with our questions.

For me, the question of the validity of this woman's story is still up in the air. The story seems almost too good to be true, but those parts that can be confirmed have proven to be truthful. Some research into her background uncovered some hint that her memories may be suspect, but too much of what she said has been verified to dismiss her outright. We have not done much followup after our initial interviews with her simply because we are not sure which way to go with her information other than giving extra attention to any connections involving a "Bill" or a "William" who may have been a construction worker and who lived in or immediately around the city of San Mateo.

In short, I believe that she believes that the information that she has provided is correct. Her sincerity or intent is not in question, only whether the content is factual or something else.

 

[Dr. Doogie]

In reading both from the BFH and Annasmom's book, it seems that revenge probably did play some factor - if it truly was the two Georges behind Anna's abduction. Waters' letters to his parents (which were undoubtedly dictated by Brody) contained horribly insulting references to Annasmom, beyond even what someone might expect during an unfriendly divorce. Evidently, Brody was not happy with this turn of events

I also noticed that coincidence of Anna's disappearance occuring exactly four months to the day after the marriage of Annasmom and Joe Ford. I do not know if this was by design or coincidence, but I do believe that the marriage actually set off the series of events that culminated with Anna's disappearance. Right after the marriage, Annasmom sent Waters a letter informing him of the marriage and that he could discontinue his alimony payments. Having been relieved of an alimony payment of $125, I suspect that the two Georges felt that it was time to be releived of the $175 child support payment also. This motive, coupled with removing Anna as a potential heir to Waters' estate, is what lead to the crime.

 

[Mischa]

Mischa, I don't know about the revenge motive, but certainly he wanted to enlist me as a disciple and had nothing good to say about me when I categorically refused to let him take over my life, as he put it. If you've ever read any of the Faust stories, that is what it was like. He also had an annoying way of seeming to pick a piece of lint off your sweater or something, so that he was touching you without permission, and yet you couldn't quite say anything. Awful.

Well - thinking of the necklace of garlic and the stake Dr. Doogie proposed for the dead George- The best way to deal with the living George propably would have been a solid hammer.