Thread: Baby Bryan investigation enters new phase

http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll ... 10343/1075

A refocused police investigation is trying to penetrate the shadowy world of human smuggling as the hunt for a kidnapped Fort Myers baby extends into its eleventh day.

And the hunt for month-old Bryan Dos Santos Gomes has attracted national media attention, with news outlets CNN, MSNBC and Fox News Channel all beginning to highlight the case.

News-Press staffer Ed Johnson is to discuss the case on MSNBC this morning at 9 and again at 1 p.m.

Reinforced by agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the task force looking to bring Bryan home is now focusing on a human smuggling ring that brought the baby's parents into the country, police say.

Jurandir Gomes Costa, 26, and Maria Dos Santos, 23, were smuggled into the country, police chief Hilton Daniels has said.

The public face of the case has been one of contradiction, with investigators rapidly shifting from a hunt for a lone kidnapper to this new phase. In this phase there, too, have been contradictions. While the police chief has said the motive for the kidnapping is reprisal for money not paid to smugglers, the baby's father has denied that.

"It's a lie," he said in a Sunday interview with news-press.com and The News-Press.

The source of the new information remains a closely guarded secret within police headquarters, although some close to the investigation note the shift came less than 24 hours after a $21,000 reward was posted for Bryan's safe return.

The parents' immigration status, glossed over by police in the first phase of the investigation, is now being highlighted as investigators probe the secretive and violent world of those whose networks bring illegal immigrants into the country.

FROM TODAY'S EDITIONS OF THE NEWS-PRESS

As investigators switch gears in the kidnapping case of infant Bryan Dos Santos, the boy's father said allegations that he and his son's mother owed money to smugglers was untrue.

"It's a lie," Jurandir Gomes Costa, 26, told The News-Press through a translator Sunday.

Saturday, police said the motive for the Dec. 1 kidnapping of baby Bryan was a reprisal because his parents had not paid smugglers, or coyotes, who brought them to the United States. Before then, investigators had said the baby had been kidnapped by a woman who most probably yearned for a child of her own.

Police would not discuss the case Sunday.

Because of the human smuggling development, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are now helping Fort Myers police and the FBI investigate, said Barbara Gonzalez, the agency's acting regional director for the southeast United States.

"We are assisting the Fort Myers Police Department with this investigation," she said. "Our agency is committed to investigating human smuggling networks. These people have no regard for human life."

Meanwhile, on Sunday Costa said he gave Fort Myers police confidential information, but he would not say what that was, claiming he was told not to by the FBI and Fort Myers police.

Costa refused to answer questions about whether he and Bryan's mother, Maria Dos Santos, 23, had been smuggled into the country. He also refused to answer whether he is here legally.

"The police know all about that," he said.

Costa said there have been no ransom demands or requests for money since a woman in a sport-utility vehicle stopped Maria Dos Santos and a friend for directions to the south Fort Myers neighborhood of Pine Manor and kidnapped Bryan at knifepoint.

Costa also would not say whether he had received demands for money before Bryan was taken.

A $21,000 reward is being offered for the baby's safe return.

Costa also said he and Dos Santos had lived on Eighth Street in Pine Manor south of Fort Myers prior to moving to the Tropical Trailer Park on Linhart Avenue in Fort Myers about 11 months ago.

Costa did not attach any significance to the kidnapper's request for directions to Pine Manor.

He became upset with questions that dealt with human smuggling or payments to smugglers.

"These questions hurt him," said Costa's friend, Carlos Rocha. "He says they have nothing to do with helping Bryan."

SHIFTING GEARS

If human smugglers are responsible for the abduction of baby Bryan Dos Santos Gomes, investigators are going to have to shift gears quickly and refocus the investigation, experts say.

"Trying to crack into a smuggling group is a lot different than hunting a woman who just wanted a baby," said John Rabun, executive vice president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which has been assisting Fort Myers police. "This would be a whole new investigation."

Officials would not comment on whether this development lessens the chances of a safe return, but Rabun said the lack of contact with the kidnappers does not "bode well" for the baby.

Until Saturday, the investigation had been right out of the FBI handbook for infant abductions, experts say.

Police made extensive efforts to keep the case in the public eye and had Bryan's mother make tearful appeals for her son's return. A sketch of the suspect was released last week.

"Those were all the steps designed to find a woman who had abducted a baby to keep herself," Rabun said. "Now it sounds like you have something very different. It will be a different type of investigation."

Still, many of the steps the police have followed would have been done in a human-smuggling investigation, experts said.

"You'd still have to check out the tips off the composite sketch," Rabun said. "A lot of those leads would have to be done anyway. They didn't waste their time."

Police have said the woman depicted in the sketch is still believed to be the kidnapper, adding she is suspected to be part of the smuggling group.

Gonzalez, of ICE, acknowledged that some investigative steps would be different, but she refused to elaborate how human -smuggling cases are investigated.

"I don't want to detail the tools that we use," she said, "but, like any investigation, you have to gather evidence, follow leads, and we will be vigorously working in that direction."

She would not say how many ICE agents are assigned to the case.

"That information is law- enforcement sensitive," she said.

A human-smuggling investigation would also require a collaborative effort between local and federal agencies, said Steve McDonald, a spokesman for the U.S. Border Patrol, which handles the overland aspects of smuggling investigations.

Saturday, Fort Myers police Chief Hilton Daniels said Bryan's parents had been smuggled into the country, but offered no specifics of how.

"If you're trying to get human smugglers who are holding someone, you have to actually target the smuggling operation," McDonald said. "You have to develop information on the size and nature of their organization."

None of the law-enforcement representatives or experts interviewed had ever heard of a smuggling group abducting a baby in the United States.

"I've heard of it in other countries, but not here," Rabun added.

SMUGGLING QUESTIONED

Some members of the Brazilian community questioned this latest development Sunday.

Lucia Chermot, who lives in the Tropical Trailer Park off Linhart Avenue in Fort Myers, said she had worked with Bryan's mother cleaning houses.

"She was a very calm lady, a very nice nice lady," Chermot said through a translator. "There is no coyote involved here. Not with a baby."

Chermot said if a smuggler were involved, he would have tried to turn in the baby for the reward money. "I think one person did this," she said.

The $21,000 reward comes from the FBI, Fort Myers Police, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Carol Sund/Harrington Foundation and an anonymous donor. It will be paid to someone who returns Bryan safely or provides information that leads to his safe return, officials said.

"I believe this is one evil action by one lady," said Rocha, Costa's friend. "She could see that (Dos Santos) is a very shy, very simple lady. This lady used psychology to get this baby. I think the baby is still in Florida and God is watching over him."

Costa and Rocha come from Itaipu, a city of about 12,000 people. Rocha described it as a community of mostly poor migrant workers about 700 miles south of Sao Paulo.

Costa said he has worked as a day laborer, laying tile for various contractors.

Since the abduction he has not worked. The family's financial needs are being met by area church groups, according to the Rev. Israel Suarez of the Nations Association, a community group in Fort Myers.

This case is not what it seems and it just doesn't make sense. If the child was kidnapped there would have been a ransome letter or the parents would have gotten a message saying we have your child. Smugglers are like mob people and don't want to let others see that you can rip them off. They would have killed one or all of them or a relative back home to send a message to others.

This is my opionion on what I really think happened. The baby has been sold for adoption or a person known to them has the baby. The story is just that, a story. They are using this so called victimization to gather sympathy and get their residency so they can be legal. There is alot of fear in the illegal communities as ICE has been picking up alot of people lately and it has been making the news. This is only my theory but with my background I wouldn't be surprised if I was correct.

I believe you could very well be correct the illegals are very desperate...since public pressure has been forcing ICE to do its job. I too believe the Illegal Aliens will use any avenue they can to gain sympathy... and who knows what the true story is with even the police department glossing over facts.

At first I thought the story might be plausible because of those children that were slaughtered (nearly decapitated in fact) which authorities believed was retaliation for their parents failure to pay their smuggling debt. Was this another MSM fueled message from smugglers to pay up...or else?

But then I kept thinking...who in the heck would voluntarily get into the vehicle of a total stranger, with their infant no less, in order to assist said stranger with driving directions? And why did the first woman, who was forced out with her child, fail to get a license number or immediately notify authorities. And lastly, the woman abducter would have to had more than a knife to separate me from my baby!

Greyparrot; I looked at the case the same way. I have dealt with illegals in the past and many seemed more suspicious of people and things than we would be.
These parents obviously knew that they still owed money to the smugglers so you would think that they would always be looking over their shoulders. Smugglers would gain nothing by taking the baby as once it hit the media people would feel sorry for the parents. That is the last thing smugglers would want. I can't wait to find out what really happened.

Here’s the links to the other local news stations. Sometimes we suffer from some bias reporting here.
http://www.nbc-2.com/index.shtml
http://www.naplesnews.com/
http://www.abc-7.com/
http://winktv.com/

Another interesting observation about this case. The mother does not speak English and the woman she helped spoke Porteguese, the national language of Brazil. All other countries in South America speak Spanish. The other thing is that the police only learned that they were illegal after they received an annonymous tip. This is odd as many times in cases like that or even domestic violence cases people will tell the police that they are illegal as they could get help to remain in the United States even if it may be temporary.