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Search For Infant Continues

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Darlene McCormick / The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 26, 1997

VALRICO — Sheriff's deputies continue to look for clues in the puzzling case of a missing infant girl.

Friends and neighbors Tuesday visited the home of Steve and Marlene Aisenberg, bringing with them cards, food and hope that the couple's 5-month-old daughter will be found unharmed.

"We just keep praying," said John Martin, who works with Steve Aisenberg at MI Homes. He saw Aisenberg Sunday night, he said, just hours before baby Sabrina disappeared from her crib without a trace.

Marlene Aisenberg discovered Sabrina missing at 6:42 a.m. She told authorities she had last checked on her at midnight.

Martin and his family delivered a handmade card reading, "We are praying for her protection and safe return, we care for your family." Inside were angels drawn by children.

Sheriff's office divers searched shoulder-to-shoulder at two small lakes near the family's home at 3632 Springville Drive. Dogs combed nearby woods.

Sheriff's investigators said little about the puzzling case they are working as a kidnapping.

The infant's parents were questioned in a routine interview Monday, said sheriff's spokesman Lt. Greg Brown. Family vehicles were impounded for tests, but he wouldn't say if anything significant was found.

No note was found at the scene. And Brown said investigators aren't "working anything like that" when asked if the family received any calls demanding a ransom.

"We don't know where the child is," Brown said, adding the searches were a way for authorities to cover all their bases.

Family members say they believe someone familiar with the house snatched the little girl.

Neighbors in the area reported several attempted break-ins recently. Community Resource Deputy Peter Maurer said the area had also experienced several day burglaries, including one where a thief kicked in the front door.

Statistics show abductions of infants by someone other than family members are rare.

Since 1983, only 170 such cases have been reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. More than half of those were taken from health care facilities, spokeswoman D'Ann Taflin said. Fifty-six disappeared from their homes.

All but four of the 56 were found later, the center's statistics show. The Aisenbergs spent Monday night in their home after authorities cleared the scene. Family members stayed behind closed doors all day Tuesday in the company of FBI agents and other law enforcement officers.

Rabbi Marc Sack visited the house Tuesday, but declined to comment on the family's well being. Other visitors reported the couple was struggling with the situation.

The parents issued a plea for Sabrina's return and the infant's grandfather offered a $5,000 reward for her safe return.

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