Bryan Dossantos-Gomes’ earliest moments were like most others — captured on home video in a hospital bed alongside a smiling mother.
But his young life would soon become anything but ordinary.
In December 2006, just four weeks after baby Dossantos-Gomes was born, he vanished.
Archived NBC2 footage from that time period showed the desperate efforts to find the baby.
"I appeal to anybody looking to us at this particular time, please bring the baby back," the Rev. Israel Suarez said in a news story from 2006.
Suarez helped bridge the language gap between Dossantos-Gomes' Brazilian parents and the Fort Myers community. He still remembers the fear when the boy went missing 18 years later.
“People were scared," Suarez recalled. "It could happen to my kid. It could happen to your kid. This was a big situation here.”
‘PEOPLE DO STEAL CHILDREN’: THE WOMAN IN A BLACK SUV
On Dec. 1, 2006, Bryan Dossantos-Gomes’ mother, Maria, told police they got into a black SUV after a Hispanic woman repeatedly stopped to ask for help with directions.
Once in the vehicle, things took a strange turn. The woman eventually drove Maria and Bryan Dossantos-Gomes south, stopping near a church off Three Oaks Parkway.
That’s when Maria said the woman pulled a knife, forced her out and sped off with Bryan Dossantos-Gomes inside.
He was never seen again.
Sunday marked 18 years since his disappearance. Bryan Dossantos-Gomes would now be an adult.
“This case occupies an entire wall in the office of filing cabinets,” Michael Iarossi, a cold case detective with the Fort Myers Police Department, told NBC2.
Iarossi and Detective Richard Harasym have since taken on the investigation.
“Does it sound bizarre, like the whole scenario? Yes, it does,” Harasym said.
Still, detectives said at this point, they have no reason to doubt the mother’s story.
“People do steal children for a variety of reasons,” Iarossi said.
AGE PROGRESSION AND A VOICE MESSAGE: DETECTIVES IMPROVE OLD EVIDENCE
All these years later, the investigators are still exploring new avenues.
An age progression photo was made around the time Bryan Dossantos-Gomes would have turned 14 years old. A new one is being developed now that he would be 18.
Detectives are again meeting with Bryan Dossantos-Gomes' parents, who still live in the area.
And maybe most importantly, investigators are working to get a clearer version of a key piece of evidence: the voice of the suspected kidnapper.
Police said the woman made phone calls to no one while Maria was in the SUV to try to convince her of the story she had told.
The messages were left on a phone at a pole shed in Fort Myers.
If detectives can figure out why that particular number was dialed, it could help break open the case.
“After 18 years, it's likely that someone is out there that heard something, knows something,” Iarossi said.
“For the family, that's who we do it for,” Harasym explained. “Not for us. We do it for the family. And we do it to find baby Bryan."
IF BABY BRYAN IS STILL ALIVE, WHERE IS HE?
Eighteen years after he went missing, one thing remains: the belief that Bryan Dossantos-Gomes is out there somewhere.
“We haven't seen any evidence that this baby is deceased. We're treating it as a missing persons cases,” Iarossi said.
“He's not dead. That's the feeling I have in my soul. I know he's not dead,” Suarez said.
Still, Suarez worries Bryan Dossantos-Gomes, wherever he is, may never find out about his real family.
“Pray that God can make a miracle. That's all,” Suarez said.
If you have any information that can help investigators, please contact Crimestoppers at 1-800-780-TIPS.