Anna Christian Waters

Anna Christian Waters (September 25, 1967 – disappeared January 16, 1973) was an American child and kidnap victim. She was five when she disappeared from Purisima Canyon, a rural area near Half Moon Bay, California, on January 16, 1973. Her kidnapping was highly covered by the press of that time. However, she has not been found.

Background

Anna's parents were married in March 1965. In ca. the summer of 1967, Anna's father, Dr. George Waters, met an older man who called himself "George Brody" and began a relationship with him.^[1][2]

Anna was born at University of California Hospital in San Francisco, on September 25, 1967, at 4:44 pm local time.^[3] Her parents decided to pronounce her name with a broad A, "as in swan".^[3] At home, Anna had two brothers, Nonda, 9, and Eddie, 6, born in Athens and Thessaloniki, from the time their mother spent in Greece.^[3] In 1968, George Waters left the family home and divorced Benedict in November 1969. In 1971, Benedict met Joseph Ford, who would become active in the search for Anna. She would later marry him. In September 1972, Anna started kindergarten at Hatch School in Half Moon Bay.^[4] Her 1972 kindergarten picture would later become the picture on her missing persons poster. In December 1972, Anna was walking with her half-brothers towards the end of the canyon, when a couple tried to lure Anna into their car. This memory was repressed by Nonda for more than 30 years.^[1][2] It is unknown if the couple had anything to do with Anna's disappearance.

Disappearance

On January 16, 1973, Anna returned home from kindergarten by school bus at about 12:20 pm.^[5] Earlier that day, some family friends came for a visit.^[5] After coming home, Anna put on a pair of jeans, a blue and white striped T-shirt, oversized black rubber boots and a red coat.^[1][5] At about 1:30 pm, Anna went inside and took off the red coat. At approx. 2:00 pm, Benedict heard Anna talking outside, possibly to the family cats.^[5] However, between 2:15 and 2:20 pm, Benedict no longer heard Anna making any sounds. The family dog, Saturn, was a puppy and didn't always bark at strangers, so Benedict wasn't alarmed by anything of the sort.^[5] At 2:20, Benedict and Ford went outside to search for Anna. At 2:45, after having found nothing, the San Mateo police department was called and the official search began.^[5]

Theories

Purisima Creek

One original fear was that Anna had simply wandered off and fallen into the nearby Purisima Creek and drowned. It had been raining that day and the creek was in flooding state.^[6] Benedict stated that she somehow felt that the Creek was a danger for the family. Divers searched the waters and the area was thoroughly searched for four days. No trace of Anna was found.^[6] Family friend Doug French has been active in the search for Anna and he believes that the Purisima Creek had nothing to do with the disappearance. The Half Moon Bay Review published an article on January 25 and called the search for Anna "the greatest search in coastside history".^[7] The article also implied that Anna had indeed fallen into the Creek and drowned.

George Waters and "George Brody"

Both Anna's family and Doug French have felt that Anna's birth father and his friend are strongly involved with Anna's disappearance.^[1][8] "Brody" is described as manipulative over Anna's father, having allegedly caused the divorce between him and Benedict. "Brody" was interested in Anna and believed her to be the reincarnation of a woman he had once lived with. He tried to make Benedict change her daughter's name to "Eifee". The word had no meaning. "Brody" simply wanted to do this so, numerologically, Anna's name would add up to his own name.^[1] A young man and an old man were seen in the vicinity the day Anna disappeared. A spokesman from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has said that Anna may well still be alive. Officially the case is considered a "probable non-family abduction". "Brody" died of cancer in December 1981 and a short time later Waters, who had signed Brody's death certificate, was also found dead.

San Gregorio State Beach remains

On March 26, 2006, at approx. midnight,^[9] a passer-by found a part of a child's skull (zygoma, maxilla and teeth) on a stretch of land between San Gregorio State Beach and Pomponio beach.^[9] No date was established for the skeletal remains, but the age of the individual was put at 5–7 years. No other part of the skeletal remains were located. After a very long delay, DNA evidence proved that the skeletal remains were not those of Anna, but rather belonged to an unidentified young boy.

Bibliography

• Benedict, Michaele (2008). Searching for Anna. California: Lulu.com. ISBN 1-4357-1017-7. 

See also

• Bobby Dunbar, another child who was either abducted or drowned.
• List of people who disappeared mysteriously
• List of kidnappings

References

External links

• Anna Seek, a blog maintained by Joe Ford, Anna's stepfather.
• Anna Christian Waters WebSleuths forum.
• Anna Waters at the NCMEC