Sabrina Aisenberg may be alive and well in Illinois

Attorneys for the Aisenbergs tell us authorities are now trying to determine if a little girl currently living in Pontiac, Illinois is Sabrina.

The migrant worker gave the baby to a nurse after she learned she was going to be deported. The nurse, instead of turning the baby over to a welfare worker, gave the baby to her sister in Pontiac, Illinois.

A woman recognized the baby from age-progression pictures distributed on missing children's websites and posters as looking like Sabrina Aisenberg.

The Aisenberg's attorney says the couple as optimistic and excited about the possibility the child is theirs. He said pictures of the 6-year-old girl in Illinois resemble Sabrina's baby pictures, and she's the right age.

The Illinois family has raised the child since about late 1998, but a judge would not allow them to adopt her because the family didn't have a birth certificate.

The Pontiac Police Department is conducting an investigation into the identity of the little girl. Major developments in the Aisenberg case

Steve and Marlene Aisenberg The Saga began November 24th of 1997 when Steve and Marlene reported baby Sabrina missing. A grand jury probe started February 4th, 1998. The Aisenbergs testified before that grand jury on February 11th. A year and a half later a federal indictment was filed and the couple was arrested on September 9th 1999. In January of 2000, transcripts of the secret audiotapes were released to the media. The tapes were heard once by a judge July 17th. In February of 2001 a judge threw out the secret tapes as evidence in the case. Later that month all charges against the Aisenbergs were dropped. In December 2001 detectives who handled the Aisenberg case were cleared of any criminal wrongdoing. The next major development happened in February of 2002, the actual audio tapes investigators made of the Aisenbergs were released. Then in January of this year the Aisenbergs were awarded $2.8 million to reimburse their attorney and court fees. The U.S. Attorney asked the Department of Justice to handle the appeal for that ruling. Steve and Marlene Aisenberg now live in Maryland.

Sabrina Aisenberg may be alive and living in Illinois an ABC Action News report 5/01/03

This picture of the girl, now called Paloma, bears a resemblance to Sabrina

TAMPA - Sabrina Aisenberg may be alive after all.

The 5-month-old disappeared from her Bloomingdale home in November of 1997. However, ABC Action News has learned that investigators are looking into the possibility that she is alive and currently living in Illinois.

In the eyes of Tampa police, Sabrina's parents were the top suspects in her disappearance. The investigation was admittedly botched by detectives, however, and no charges were ever prosecuted.

The Aisenbergs' attorneys won a nearly $3-million award for a frivolous and bad faith prosecution in January. The couple now lives in Bethesda, Maryland.

The latest chapter in this saga begins in Illinois, where a woman browsing a Web site that lists missing children spotted a photo of a girl labeled as unidentified. The woman thought the picture resembled Sabrina Aisenberg, so she contacted the family.

The story of the child in the picture spans several states and years. In McAllen, Texas, just months after Sabrina disappeared, a young girl turned over a baby to a friend, claiming she was too young to care for the child. That friend was deported seven months later, and the baby was turned over to a nurse at a migrant clinic.

The nurse, in turn, gave the baby to her sister in Pontiac, Illinois, who was unable to bear children naturally. That child is now six years old, the same age Sabrina would be.

It is unclear how a picture of the girl ended up on the Web site, but the strong resemblance to Sabrina was enough to give the Aisenbergs hope.

"You put all that together, and there's something very unusual about the way this woman in Illinois acquired the baby. And the resemblance, when you factor that in, it gave us some optimism that maybe this is a promising lead," explained the couple's attorney, Todd Foster.

Now, the Aisenbergs are asking for DNA testing to find out if the girl in Illinois, who has been named Paloma, is actually Sabrina. Those tests could take weeks to be completed.

Lawyers: Child in Illinois May Be Aisenbergs' Missing Daughter
By Mitch Stacy Associated Press Writer
Published: May 1, 2003

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - Lawyers for a couple whose daughter disappeared six years ago are asking for DNA testing to determine if a girl that turned up recently in Illinois is theirs.
Steven and Marlene Aisenberg, once considered suspects in the 1997 disappearance of 5-month-old Sabrina from their suburban Tampa home, are "hopeful" about the discovery, said Todd Foster, one of their attorneys.

"They're optimistic, and they are excited about it," Foster said Thursday. "They've been waiting for a break to occur since that morning in November 1997 when they noticed their daughter missing, and they hope this is it."

Police in Pontiac, Ill., told the Aisenbergs' lawyers that the child came to a family there through a woman in McAllen, Texas, who was being deported. A nurse in Texas then took the child and gave her to a sister in Pontiac who wanted a baby but couldn't conceive.

Foster said pictures of the 6-year-old girl named Paloma in Illinois resemble Sabrina's baby pictures, and she's the right age. The child was also passed around with no birth certificate or other legal identification, "which is something you'd expect with a child that was kidnapped," he said.

The Illinois family has raised the child since about late 1998, but a judge would not allow her adoption because she didn't have a birth certificate. The judge ordered a search for the child's parents, and her picture was posted on a missing children's Web site.

Foster said he did not know girl's or the family's last name.

Foster said a woman called the Aisenbergs in mid-March to tell them a picture of the little girl on the Web site resembled Sabrina's baby photos.

Lawyers wrote a letter to police in Pontiac asking them to begin the process of getting a DNA sample from the girl, Foster said. A judge likely will have to order it because the child does not have a legal guardian, he said.

He said he didn't know how long it could take. A message left with police officials in Pontiac was not immediately returned late Thursday.

After Sabrina's disappearance, Hillsborough County sheriff's investigators suspected the Aisenbergs and got a judge's permission to put listening devices in the couple's kitchen and bathroom. Two years later, a grand jury indicted the couple on charges of conspiracy and making false statements.

But a federal judge found the tapes mostly inaudible, and they were thrown out as evidence when it was determined that detectives lied to get permission to bug the home.

The federal government was ordered in January to pay $2.8 million in legal fees to the Aisenbergs, who now live in Bethesda, Md.

...taped conversations from their home come to mind.

From another article:
After Sabrina's disappearance, Hillsborough County sheriff's investigators suspected the Aisenbergs and got a judge's permission to put listening devices in the couple's kitchen and bathroom. Two years later, a grand jury indicted the couple on charges of conspiracy and making false statements. But a federal judge found the tapes mostly inaudible, and they were thrown out as evidence when it was determined that detectives lied to get permission to bug the home. The federal government was ordered in January to pay $2.8 million in legal fees to the Aisenbergs, who now live in Bethesda, Md.

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