True Crime Database

Sabrina Aisenburg

Throughout the years of modern history, a common trend with the mainstream media is to sensationalise cases involving children, whether the children are the killers, have been killed or have been victims of other crimes. The cases of James Bulger, Jon Benet Ramsey, Shannon Matthews, Madeleine McCann etc have been tugging on the public's heartstrings and fuelling our news networks for years. Yet when you say the name Sabrina Aisenburg, in a case with just as much speculation and mystery as the likes of Madeleine McCann, it doesn't ring a bell.

Sabrina Aisenburg was the youngest daughter of three children. Born to Steve and Marlene Aisenburg in May 1997, she was 5 months old when on November 24th 1997, she was found missing from her crib, her other siblings being left alive and unharmed. The family were a normal, quiet family, residing in Tampa, Florida during the time of Sabrina's disappearance.

On that dreaded morning, Marlene, who had woken up before her husband and children at around 6:30am. When she went to check on Sabrina, she noticed that the 5 month old was missing from her crib – having been too young to have left by her own will, Marlene knew something was wrong and she phoned the police. Marlene and Steve admitted that the garage door to the house had been open that night, leading them to believe that an intruder had snuck into the house, without forcing entry, and kidnapping Sabrina.

Steve also ran to his next door neighbour's house, Scott Middleton, a police officer. One of the first things he noted was that neither Steve or Marlene were showing any actual emotion, which he considered to be odd considering their child was missing. A video clip circulated of Steve smiling at one point during the ordeal. Audio clips from the 911 call, however, show Marlene in an obvious state of distress and panic – she has also insisted that she was absolutely hysterical that day.

Detectives arrived to the scene and searched the house from top to bottom. The house was not clean in the slightest, giving detectives the impression that it was under neglect, which would have made it harder to determine if there was any sign of breaking and entering. According to neighbours, that was just how Marlene was; she wasn't immaculate and was quite a messy person.

By the end of the day, the police and the media pushed for the Aisenberg's to do a national appeal, pleading for their daughter's return and to bring attention to the public to look out for her. The parents complied but people were shocked to see how cold their behaviour was, how it lacked emotion, which turned a lot of people against them. Marlene claims it was due to her being in a state of shock, while Steve suggests that the police were just trying to frame them as being more guilty than they were and just wanted to score a conviction. Suspicion also rose when their dog, Brownie, who was a noisy dog and barked at everyone, didn't seem to be alerted by the alleged intruder.

The Aisenburg's proclaim their innocence and were cooperative with the police, allowing them to wiretap their phones in case a call from the kidnapper came. However, while Steve was on the phone to his brother David, a lawyer, there was an incoming call on the other line which Steve completely ignored. To the police, it seemed suspicious as, if you were a concerned parent believing your child had been abducted and that person could potentially call, you'd answer any call coming your way. Police came to the conclusion that Marlene and Steve knew more about their daughter's disappearance than they were letting on.

Police also took the two through lie detector tests, which, when leaked, said Marlene's tests came back as deceptive, although she claimed to be told they were inconclusive. With this in mind, Steve and Marlene believed that the police were more interested in convicting the two of them rather than actually finding Sabrina. Marlene told interviewers that police were ignoring tip-offs of potential sightings of Sabrina and were instead looking for a body and that the investigation had shifted towards them rather than a random abductor. Steve hired Barry Cohen, a successful, combative lawyer, who came to the conclusion that there was no evidence to suggest that the parents had anything to do with Sabrina's disappearance and that the police were more involved with trying to frame Steve and Marlene.

Police were still convinced that they had their two suspects, so they issued a warrant to secretly plant bugs in places surrounding the house in order to record their conversations that could potentially incriminate them. Usually, this is a highly unusual method of obtaining evidence, however the police were at a low blow; they had no eyewitness statements, no witnesses, no ransom note etc. With these bugs in place, they were listening to over thousands of conversations within the home for nearly 3 months.

Around this time, a federal jury was set up to examine Sabrina's case. Barry Cohen advised Marlene and Steve not to attend, which they didn't. His reasoning for this was that the lead of the case for the prosecution, Steven Kunz, was a disgrace to the system and profession.

Many members of the public had already decided that Steve and Marlene were guilty; vicious rumours were spread about them, they were shunned in their community, and they had even received a visit from Child Services to investigate whether their two eldest children were being mistreated. With this, the family packed up and moved to Steve's hometown in Bethesda, Maryland.

For a few months, family life in Maryland seemed to be normal. That was until, on September 9th 1998, Barry Cohen received a call from Marlene, in which she frantically claimed that uninvited visitors had entered her house, gone through her things and were pointing a gun in her face – these people claimed they were FBI agents. Steve was also arrested, strip-searched and had fingerprints and photos taken from him. They were indicted upon conspiracy and lying towards authority figures – a 2,600 page document, filled with incriminating statements the police had recorded that gave way to a conspiracy to cover up their daughter's disappearance and murder, was used against them. A prosecutor had told the judge that she had heard Steve say, "I wish I hadn't harmed her. It was the cocaine."

Despite this indictment and their own statements being used against them, Steve and Marlene still vehemently denied being responsible and thought that the police were simply willing to go to great lengths to convict them. However, their own supporters, including Barry Cohen, were beginning to lose their faith in the couple. Steve maintained that this alleged confession had no truth to it and that he would be willing to take drug tests from now to the entire future to prove his innocence.

Two years after Sabrina's initial disappearance, Marlene and Steve appeared in court, facing charges on conspiracy and contempt. The leading argument of the prosecution was the tapes from the bugs planted in their home back in Tampa – there was no doubt in the prosecution's mind that anyone could come to any other conclusion than guilty.

However, once the judge, jury and public had heard the tapes, people were confused; they were unclear, voices sounding muffled and were barely coherent. It was unlikely that anyone could have actually made a proper conclusion out of them. Barry Cohen, nevertheless, brought in audio experts – their reaction to these tapes was that they were "the worst transcription he has ever seen" and that there was no evidence in these tapes to implicate Marlene and Steve whatsoever. This allowed Cohen to argue to the jury that the couple had been framed. The defence won and the charges against the two were dropped and were free to go.

It has been 20 years since Sabrina's original disappearance and she still has not been found. Marlene and Steve are still hopeful and believe that she is alive and healthy. In 2006, a couple in Illinois, who were looking to adopt a 6 year old girl with no birth certificate, brought in more hope that Sabrina was alive and investigations went underway. Yet the DNA of this 6 year old girl did not match with Sabrina's. Despite this, not all hope has been lost and, with facial recognition posters still posted all around the country, Marlene believes that Sabrina will find her way back to her.