FORT MYERS, Fla. — Two months ago, Fort Myers Police Department released a new age-progression photo showing what a baby, kidnapped in 2006, might look like today. His name is Bryan Dos Santos Gomes. The image, created by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, has generated several tips.
"Someone has that thread to this case that we're looking for," said Mike Iarossi, cold case detective with the Fort Myers Police Department.
Since releasing the photo in April, investigators have received what they describe as five substantive leads from Florida, Michigan, Texas and Louisiana.
"We did send DNA for a boy who lives in Louisiana," said Rich Harasym, cold case detective with the Fort Myers Police Department.
Fox 4 Senior Reporter Kaitlin Knapp sat down with the detectives about the new leads in the case:
In another tip, detectives say a high school teacher reported a student who resembles the age-progression photo. Despite these leads, detectives had hoped for more information from the public.
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"Nothing's really jumped out yet, but you have to press on," Iarossi said.
The case dates back to December 1, 2006, when Bryan was kidnapped at just 2-months-old. According to detectives, a woman in a car asked Bryan's mother, Maria, for directions to Pine Manor to find her mother. Maria got into the car with Bryan, her friend, Janice, and Janice's baby.
During the drive, the suspect made a phone call using Janice's phone, acting like she was going to call her mother. Detectives say the call was a ruse that went to a pole shed at Shore Irrigation or Griffin Industries. The call was cleaned up by the Secret Service and you can hear the woman talk about Cleveland Avenue.
The woman also claimed she was from Tampa and had a baby named Jose Guadalupe. Here's the catch: a person with the same name lived next to the pole shed.
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Eventually, the woman dropped off Maria's friend, took Maria at knifepoint, and later left her at a church in Estero, but kept Bryan.
Despite the passage of time, investigators remain optimistic.
"We haven't come across anything that changes our position that Bryan Dos Santos is still alive," Iarossi said. "Every lead is critical."
Detectives continue to work the case and urge the community to come forward with any information.
"Whatever the end result may be, the mother and father deserve closure whether we find Bryan a good way or we find Bryan a bad way," Harasym said. "We want people to really devote time to thinking about this."
Anyone with information about the kidnapping of Baby Bryan is asked to call the Fort Myers Police Department or CrimeStoppers at 1-800-780-TIPS.
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