Missing Person Photos
A missing person is a person who has disappeared and whose status as alive or dead cannot be confirmed as their location and condition are unknown. A person may go missing through a voluntary disappearance, or else due to an accident, crime, death in a location where they cannot be found (such as at sea), or many other reasons. In most parts of the world, a missing person will usually be found quickly. While criminal abductions are some of the most widely reported missing person cases, these account for only 2 to 5 percent of missing children in Europe.
By contrast, some missing person cases remain unresolved for many years. Laws related to these cases are often complex since, in many jurisdictions, relatives and third parties may not deal with a person's assets until their death is considered proven by law and a formal death certificate issued. The situation, uncertainties, and lack of closure or a funeral resulting when a person goes missing may be extremely painful with long-lasting effects on family and friends.
A number of organizations seek to connect, share best practices, and disseminate information and images of missing children to improve the effectiveness of missing children investigations, including the International Commission on Missing Persons, the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), as well as national organizations, including the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in the US, Missing People in the UK, Child Focus in Belgium, and The Smile of the Child in Greece.
Resources for Missing Persons
According to current statistics, 4,000 people in the United States go missing every day.
Sometimes a child suddenly vanishes from the bus stop or the local park or even from their own yard or bedroom. Or a teenager doesn�t return home after a walk to the neighborhood grocery store or a bike ride or a party with friends.
Other times, an adult is mysteriously absent from their job or neighbors haven�t seen them for several days, and family and friends haven�t heard from them either.
Missing Person Photos
Anna Christian Waters
Anna, date, approximate 1973; Age-progression at age 49 (date, approximate 2016)
Date Missing 01/16/1973
Missing From
San Mateo County, California
Missing Classification Non-Family Abduction
Sex Female
Race
White
Date of Birth 09/25/1967 (55)
Age 5 years old
Height and Weight 3'8, 40 pounds
Clothing/Jewelry Description A blue and white striped t-shirt, blue trousers or Levi's jeans, and oversized black rubber boots.
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Blonde hair, brown eyes. Anna has a mole on her cheek and dimples on her face. Her first name is pronounced with a broad A, as in "swan."
Details of Disappearance Anna was last seen playing in the backyard of her family's home on Purissima Creek Road in rural San Mateo County, California on January 16, 1973. She had arrived home from her kindergarten class at Alvin Hatch Elementary School at 1:00 p.m., changed her clothes and went outside to play. Her mother and stepfather were both inside the house.
At 2:20 p.m., Anna's mother noticed she was no longer in the yard. The police were informed at 3:00 p.m. after her mother's search proved to be in vain. The authorities sounded a siren in the neighborhood with the hopes of attracting Anna by the noise, but she has never been heard from again.
A creek ran through the Waters family's property and was in the flooding stage in January 1973. However, an extensive search of the creek turned up no sign of Anna. Purissima Creek Road is not a major thoroughfare and few cars travel on it.
A friend of the Waters family reported he saw two men, one of them much younger than the other, in a white panel truck on the road just minutes before Anna vanished, but the men have never been identified and it is unclear whether they were involved in her disappearance.
Anna's younger half-brother later remembered that, about a month before Anna went missing, a man and a woman tried to lure her into their vehicle on the road near her home, in the presence of both of Anna's half-brothers. He described the car as a 1960s model Chevrolet Impala with Washington license plates.
The woman had long dark hair and wore a loose-fitting white shirt with embroidery. Anna's brother could not describe the man. Anna refused to get into the vehicle and the couple drove away. The couple and their car have never been identified and it has not been proven that they were involved in Anna's disappearance.
There is speculation that Anna's biological father, George Henry Waters, was involved in her disappearance. George, a doctor, began behaving erratically after Anna's birth and was eventually diagnosed with schizophrenia. His family refused to have him committed to a mental hospital, however, as this would have caused him to lose his license to practice medicine.
George had a relationship with another, older man who called himself "George Brody." Anna's family believes this name was an alias. They describe Brody as a manipulative man who exercised a "cult of personality" over Anna's father, which led to his divorce from Anna's mother.
George moved into a cheap hotel in San Francisco, California with Brody after the divorce, although, as a practicing physician from a wealthy family, he could have afforded better lodgings. He supported Brody financially and reportedly did not make any decisions without consulting him.
Brody was interested in Anna, and believed her to be the reincarnation of a woman he had lived with. He made Anna's mother ly change her daughter's name, adding the word "Eifee" as Anna's middle name. The word apparently has no meaning; Brody merely wanted the letters added to Anna's name so her name would numerologically add up to his own name.
George never contacted his ex-wife after Anna's disappearance to offer sympathy or ask for on the . His only known reaction to his daughter's abduction was to ask his attorney if he could discontinue his child support payments. Brody died of cancer in December 1981. His death certificate showed no birthdate, no known relatives and no Social Security number.
After Brody's death, George destroyed most of the papers relating to himself, Brody and Anna, except those which were stored in a safe deposit box. Approximately two weeks after Brody died, George committed suicide by drinking poison in his hotel room. His exact date of death is unknown, as his body was not discovered for about a week.
Police investigated George and Brody for evidence of involvement in Anna's disappearance and could find none; and neither could a private investigator. Anna's mother and stepfather believe she is still alive and may not know she is a missing child.
Anna was born in San Francisco and traveled around the country with her family prior to her disappearance. Her remains unsolved.
Investigating Agency
San Mateo County Sheriff's Office
415-364-1811
Other
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
California Attorney General's Office
WebSleuths Crime Sleuthing Community
Anna Christian Waters
The Half Moon Bay Review
MySpace Page for Anna Waters
Missing Person Photos
A missing person is a person who has disappeared and whose status as alive or dead cannot be confirmed as their location and condition are unknown. A person may go missing through a voluntary disappearance, or else due to an accident, crime, death in a location where they cannot be found (such as at sea), or many other reasons. In most parts of the world, a missing person will usually be found quickly. While criminal abductions are some of the most widely reported missing person cases, these account for only 2 to 5 percent of missing children in Europe.
By contrast, some missing person cases remain unresolved for many years. Laws related to these cases are often complex since, in many jurisdictions, relatives and third parties may not deal with a person's assets until their death is considered proven by law and a formal death certificate issued. The situation, uncertainties, and lack of closure or a funeral resulting when a person goes missing may be extremely painful with long-lasting effects on family and friends.
A number of organizations seek to connect, share best practices, and disseminate information and images of missing children to improve the effectiveness of missing children investigations, including the International Commission on Missing Persons, the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), as well as national organizations, including the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in the US, Missing People in the UK, Child Focus in Belgium, and The Smile of the Child in Greece.
Resources for Missing Persons
According to current statistics, 4,000 people in the United States go missing every day.
Sometimes a child suddenly vanishes from the bus stop or the local park or even from their own yard or bedroom. Or a teenager doesn�t return home after a walk to the neighborhood grocery store or a bike ride or a party with friends.
Other times, an adult is mysteriously absent from their job or neighbors haven�t seen them for several days, and family and friends haven�t heard from them either.
Missing Person Photos
