It has been twenty years since a Florida couple woke up to find their baby girl had been stolen from her crib while they slept.
Since that harrowing night, parents Marlene and Steve Aisenberg have gone through hell trying to find their daughter Sabrina Aisenberg.
The couple were even accused of perjury in 1999 – two years after their daughter disappeared – when cops investigating her kidnapping claimed they had a tape of them discussing the ‘murder’ of Sabrina.
But the charges were all dropped after two judges found the tapes were intelligible, while the Asienberg’s lawyers insist the detectives were lying and had ‘wanted to blame the mother and father for killing or selling that baby,’ WTSP reports.
Marlene and Steve Aisenberg are appealing for anyone who recognizes their daughter Sabrina (left) to come forward after she was stolen from their crib 20 years ago. An age progression photo (right) shows what she would look like now
Parents Marlene and Steve Aisenberg (pictured) have gone through hell trying to find their daughter Sabrina
‘When you’ve done nothing wrong, you know eventually the truth will come out,’ said Steve.
Now, two decades after their five-month-old baby was ripped from their lives, Marlene and Steve are still focused on finding Sabrina.
After working with the center for missing and exploited children to create age progression pictures, they are appealing for anyone who recognizes their now 20-year-old daughter to come forward.
They have also registered with a DNA data website in the hopes Sabrina might one day check it and they could be reunited.
The parents say they will never give up hope of being reunited with Sabrina, and just hope for now, their daughter is ‘in a place where she’s been taken care of and loved.’
Sabrina (pictured) was taken from her crib at her home in Valrico, near Tampa, on November 24, 1997
The five-month-old’s disappearance sparked a huge manhunt and a public outpouring of sympathy for the stricken parents
The Asienbergs (pictured as a whole family, with the couple’s other two children and baby Savrina in 1997) said they heard no unusual noises and saw no sign of a break in when their daughter was abducte
Marlene (pictured with Sabrina) was hysterical when she called the cops to report her daughter missing
Sabrina (pictured as a baby) would be 20 years old today but the couple are still holding out hope for her return
Sabrina was taken from her crib at her home in Valrico, near Tampa, on November 24, 1997.
Her parents only discovered she was gone the next morning when they made a hysterical 911 call to report her missing. The Asienbergs heard no unusual noises that night and police found evidence of a break-in at the time.
The five-month-old’s disappearance sparked a huge manhunt and a public outpouring of sympathy for the stricken parents.
But the sympathy later turned to suspicion and the pair were interviewed by police time after time, even under polygraph tests, but nothing was found to charge them.
Yet Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office remained suspicious and were granted warrant to bug their home. In 1999 a federal indictment charged them for allegedly lying and conspiracy, claiming they had a tape of the couple arguing about Steve killing their daughter while high on cocaine.
The couple were even accused of perjury in 1999 (pictured) – two years after their daughter disappeared – when cops investigating her kidnapping claimed they had a tape of them discussing the ‘murder’ of Sabrina
Marlene, who Maryland with her two children, William and Monica, now both adults, and Steve, to ‘start over’ after the trauma
But both Steve and Marlene remain hopeful that one day they will see their daughter again
That tape was later thrown out and all charges dropped after it appeared that only the investigators looking into the case could make out such a conversation.
The Aisenbergs later sued and in February 2004 an appeals court ordered the government to reimburse them almost $1.5 million for defense fees.
The last development in the case came in 2008 when a police informant reportedly said his cellmate had bought a boat from the Aisenbergs in a scheme to dispose of Sabrina’s body in Tampa Bay.
‘It’s ridiculous to begin with,’ Steve told ABC News. ‘If police had done due diligence, they would have found that we didn’t have a boat or any contact with this person.’ All it did was ‘rub salt into an already deep wound,’ he said.
Despite the police’s actions, Marlene says she hopes that the investigators are now on their side and ‘want (Sabrina) home too’.
‘We knew we had nothing to do with the disappearance, we knew our family was not involved… we knew we needed to start over,’ added Marlene, who moved to Maryland with her two children, William and Monica, now both adults, and Steve, who is a realtor, as is his wife.
They may have moved home, but Sabrina is still with them, in pictures all over their home and in their hearts.
‘She’s a part of our everyday life,’ they say. ‘We believe she will get home to us.’
shes 20 ys old now, shes goina be 21
we hope shes
she feels soemthing insie of her liek shes knows she not wher eshe shoudl be
we have to hop ethey wanty her home too
look for a baby, not just ta body we will nto give up hope and we believ she will ge thome to us