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To be honest, I wasn’t even sure I should add this to my blog page. After my research, it was hard to tell if this was a crime or a tragic accident. But there were enough suspicious elements in the story to make me suspect something illegal had happened back in January of 1973 on a rural road near Half Moon Bay.
What do you think? Crime or no crime? Let me know in the comments section below.
The story was this: on January 16, 1973, at about 2:00 in the afternoon, 5-year-old Anna Waters vanished from her home near Half Moon Bay. She was out in the backyard of her house playing with the family cats when her mother and stepfather noticed an eerie quiet and the suspicious lack of Anna’s chatter out back. They went looking for the child and didn’t see her anywhere. After a fruitless 40-minute search they called the authorities to help in a search of the area.
The Purisima Creek runs near the property and originally it was thought by some that Anna might have slipped into the waters and been carried away. The local woods were also thoroughly searched to no avail. But the alleged sighting by a neighbor of a white truck with two men in it (one much older than the other) right before Anna’s disappearance brought a more sinister possibility to the minds of the police. Additionally, one of Anna’s half-brothers reported that a few weeks before Anna’s disappearance a man and a woman tried to lure Anna into their car but the young girl wisely refused.
Anna’s father, who was divorced from her mother, had apparently formed a strong bond with a man named “George Brody,” which some believed was an alias (indeed, when Brody died in 1981 his death certificate listed no Social Security Number, no known relatives and no birthdate). Brody was much older than Anna’s father, causing law enforcement to suspect they might have been the pair in the white truck allegedly seen when Anna vanished. Anna’s father would commit suicide soon after Brody’s death – but not before destroying a stack of papers relating to Anna.
Anna’s mother eventually wrote a book, Searching for Anna, chronicling her experiences concerning the story.
Anyone believing they have information on the situation is encouraged to contact the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office to resurrect this cold case.
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This story has been updated to include information from Anna's family.
