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

[Marilynilpa]

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

That is a most interesting description of Anna's father and his "friend". Now I see why the sighting of the white van with two men is significant.

Did Anna see her father enough to willingly go with him?

That comment about him asking if he could discontinue child support really makes me sick.

 

[SadieJane]

Dr. D-- Thanks for posting all this information! The pictures of Anna at your link are absolutely precious. What a sweet little girl.

Her father and George Brody are VERY suspicious. I can definitley see Brody convincing her father to help him abduct Anna, given his obsession with her. Does Brody have a criminal history of violent behavior, pedophillia, etc? Was her father ever investigated/questioned by the police? Is he still alive? Did he or Brody have access to any property where they could have buried Anna's body, and has it been searched? Was Anna's DNA ever compared to Sharon Marshall's?

If you have contact with Anna's mother, please let her know that I hope her girl's case will be resolved one day!

 

[aussiegran]

Dr Doogie ,what information did the P.I come up with was he looking at the father too.this is a very sad story .I hope they find her one way or another .there are so many little ones never found its so tragic for their families.I wish these a$$holes on death row would tell where any bodies are for the families sake.

 

[Ella]

Anna's mother considered the possibility that Anna might be Sharon? The picture you have of them combined, looks like the same person. Of course I am not an expert.
Your research is very interesting. I hope Anna is still alive and will be reunited with her mother. She is a beautiful baby. How is Anna's mother? How does someone live all these years with all that pain and loss...never knowing. I can't even begin to imagine her pain. Please tell her that I have not forgotten Anna and will continue to pray for answers.

 

[shadowangel]

An article from the Oakland Tribune, dated Jan 17th, '73, states Anna's parents are Mr. and Mrs. Joe Ford??? How did they get that so wrong? Or could there be a clue there....

http://www.newspaperarchive.com/cache2/30332915.pdf (This link will time out after a period, if anyone wishes to view it after that let me know).

 

[HeartofTexas]

Shadow, I think Dr. Doogie said that Anna's mother had remarried by that point, so perhaps Joe Ford was Anna's stepfather?

 

[shadowangel]

That very well could be....The only name I've ever seen mentioned is Waters.

 

[Mr. E]

Anna's mother considered the possibility that Anna might be Sharon? The picture you have of them combined, looks like the same person.

Except Anna had a prominent mole on her cheek. No mole on Sharon.

 

[HeartofTexas]

There's a Joe Ford who's an FBI agent in the San Francisco FBI office. I guess that's just a coincidence?

 

[meggilyweggily]

Doogie, may I post the pictures of Anna and the information you gave on the Charley Project?

 

[Masterj]

Except Anna had a prominent mole on her cheek. No mole on Sharon.

Couldn't that be easily removed though?

 

[smile22]

yeah my aunt had one and they had cut it off my brother had one on his neck and got his cut off as well. would it possible to post the pic of the women who looks like ann and a pic of ann so that fellow ws could check it out. also this women who was adopted, and doesnt want to find out who her birth family is. wouldnt her parents know where they got her from? what if this agencey got the child and didnt realise it was stolen? what about sending her pic to various adoption agencys. that were around at the time of the 70's i would like more info on ann such as possible suspects any leads any clues

 

[Mr. E]

I thought the eye color was also different -- blue for Sharon and brown for Anna. Maybe I am mistaken. I'm on my break at work and the computer is very slow, so I can't check it at the moment.

 

[shadowangel]

I thought the eye color was also different -- blue for Sharon and brown for Anna. Maybe I am mistaken. I'm on my break at work and the computer is very slow, so I can't check it at the moment.

Sharon's eyes were blue, but others have posted here on WS that eye color can change in the first years of development. (Though this transition is usually gray to blue, or green to gray, more drastic changes have been noted). This is one of the reasons I have been trying to find more pics of Sharon in grade school. As I posted in Sharon's section, I would definitely like to see a DNA comparison here if for no other reason than to ease minds and direct energies elsewhere if there is no match...

 

[HeartofTexas]

Mr. E., you're correct... blue for Sharon and brown for Anna. I don't think eye color changes by that age; however, someone on WS (Shadow?) says eye color can change in the early years. I thought that only happened in babies, but I'm not all that well informed on the subject so will defer to Shadow.

 

[HeartofTexas]

Here's a little blurb on eye color changes in babies, but it's by no means a definitive answer.

When your baby is about six months old, you’ll have a better idea of eye color as pigmentation begins to form and brown or darker eyes might appear. The baby’s eye color should be determined by about age one, although some individuals may experience eye color changes through adulthood.

http://vision.about.com/od/childrenvision/f/eyecolorchange.htm

 

[shadowangel]

Here's a little blurb on eye color changes in babies, but it's by no means a definitive answer.


[url="http://vision.about.com/od/childrenvision/f/eyecolorchange.htm"]http://vision.about.com/od/childrenvision/f/eyecolorchange.htm[/url]

I won't go digging for the particular post, but someone on one of the Sharon threads (or Matt B's site) had written of their personal experience with eye-color change during, I believe, the toddler/pre-school years.
In the case of Sharon Marshall, anything is possible.

 

[Dr. Doogie]

Let me clarify a coupole of points that have been mentioned:

"Mr. & Mrs. Joe Ford": By the time of Anna's disappearance, Anna's mother had remarried Joe Ford (so Joe is Anna's step-father). I did not mention him by name because, even though I am in contact with the family, I have not yet had a chance to ask Joe's permission to post his name. However, you guys are too good - you researched out the name quickly.

In a case like this, it is natural for some suspicion to fall on a step-father. However, understand that Joe is one of the heroes in this story. He is the one who continued the scuba searches in the creek long after the sheriffs had quit. He personally trailed both George Waters and George Brody for months, even to the point of rent the room next to theirs in the seedy San Francisco hotel in an effort to observe them. Joe considered Anna his daughter and made extra-ordinary efforts to find her.

"Anna and Sharon Marshall a Match?": There has never been a DNA test done to compare Anna to Sharon Marshall. However, due to several factors, Gerry Nance at the NCMEC truely believes that Anna is not Sharon.

I first became aware of the Marshall case when I saw a TV show on it during the mid-nineties. I immediately thought of Anna and it ultimately is what has led me to investigate Anna's case. Further review has caused me to believe that the cases are not related, though I am more than willing to be proved wrong.

The posts concerning eye color are correct: Anna's are brown, while Sharon's were blue. One quick note about Anna's mole: all the pictures from the NCMEC depict the mole as much more prominent AND on the wrong cheek. At some point, artists at the Center added the mole to their photos based on a verbal description, but misplaced it. If you view the other photos that are linked above, you will not notice a mole.

My next post will continue the story of the two Georges....

 

[Dr. Doogie]

Doogie, may I post the pictures of Anna and the information you gave on the Charley Project?

Meggilyweggily:

Anna already has a listing with the Charley Project, but has pretty much only the info that is on the NCMEC poster. Feel free to pass along any additional info or photos that they could use.

 

[Shelby]

Is it known if Anna's father George is still alive and if so where does he stand in all of this? Also is it known when George Brody died and if any investigating was done with his possessions, etc. after his death to see if he had anything to do with Anna's disappearance?

It just baffles me as to why and how an older man could manipulate a younger man into becoming a totally different person, and what the details are about this situation.