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Brazilians doubt smuggler took infant

FORT MYERS - The Brazilian parents of a month-old boy who police said was kidnapped to settle a debt confirmed that they owed money to a smuggling ring that brought them illegally to the United States. But they don't think the smugglers took their baby.

Maria Fatima Ramos Dos Santos, 23, and Jurandir Gomes Costa, 26, told the News-Press of Fort Myers that they owed "coyotes" - human smugglers - a few hundred dollars, but they said it was unlikely that the men were behind the kidnapping of Bryan Dos Santos Gomes earlier this month.

They declined to say more. Family friend Keyla Desousa, 30, of Cape Coral said the couple feared that the smugglers will harm family members in their native Brazil.

"They are afraid to talk," Desousa said through a translator.

The search for the missing infant took a dramatic twist Saturday when Fort Myers police announced that they think the kidnapper belongs to a smuggling ring, despite their initial belief that the boy was likely taken by a woman looking to steal a baby to claim as her own.

Fort Myers police Chief Hilton Daniels declined to elaborate on the change in direction in the case, but said the information was based on new leads developed late last week.

Bryan has been missing since Dec. 1, when he and his mother, as well as another woman and a baby, were approached by a woman driving a black sport utility vehicle. The women, who did not know the driver, agreed to give directions and got into the SUV with their children, police said.

The driver, armed with a knife, later forced one mother and child out of the car and made off with Ramos and the baby, police said. Ramos was released south of Fort Myers shortly afterward, but the woman in the SUV reportedly kept the baby.

[Last modified December 11, 2006, 00:33:41]