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.