Mystery girl not Sabrina, DNA shows

Testing finds no match between a 6-year-old girl in Illinois and the baby Marlene Aisenberg reported was taken from her crib in her Valrico home in 1997.

TAMPA - The mystery remains.

DNA tests proved Tuesday that a 6-year-old Illinois girl is not Sabrina Aisenberg, who vanished from the crib of her Valrico home in 1997.

The tests were conducted after a Michigan woman called Sabrina's parents, Steve and Marlene Aisenberg, in March. She told them a picture of a dark-eyed girl on a missing-children's Web site reminded her of Sabrina.

Authorities reopened the investigation and asked a court to approve DNA tests by the FBI.

The Illinois girl, known as Paloma Doe, has lived with guardians in Pontiac, Ill., since an unknown Mexican woman dropped her off in a Texas border town in 1998.

Tuesday's news came as no shock to the Aisenbergs, who knew the test was a long shot, said their attorney, Barry Cohen.

"Marlene and Steve are very disappointed," Cohen said. "They truly do believe that one day Sabrina will be returned to their family."

Sabrina's case began in November 1997, when Marlene Aisenberg reported her missing from her crib. She was 5 months old and has not been seen since.

After a long investigation, the Aisenbergs were indicted on federal charges of conspiracy and making false statements. The case crumbled in 2001 after a federal magistrate judge questioned the government's evidence and the way law enforcement went about collecting it.

Earlier this year, U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday said in a court order that the Aisenberg investigation lacked credible evidence. He referred to parts of the indictment as "trivial," "gratuitous" and "misleading."

He ordered the federal government to pay the Aisenbergs $2.9-million to pay for their legal fees and ordered the release of normally secret grand jury transcripts, saying the public had a right to know how things went so awry.

In a 5:50 p.m. news release, sheriff's officials said "the involved families and their counsel" had been notified of the results.

But Cohen said neither the Aisenbergs nor their lawyers were informed of the outcome before the Sheriff's Office made the test results public.

"I've stopped expecting anything decent out of that Sheriff's Office," Cohen said. "I think the Sheriff's Office will never do anything to help find Sabrina because finding Sabrina ... will only validate the miserable and fabricated investigation they conducted.

"It will only serve to increase the damages that they have coming against them. They have a financial interest in not finding Sabrina."

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