FORT MYERS, Fla. — FORT MYERS, Fla. — Behind every face and every action, there's a name. The search for those names is where the journey begins.
Fox 4's Senior Reporter Kaitlin Knapp is on a mission to get to know the names we know, and perhaps find the ones we don't, along with the detectives working in the same communities you call home.
In Fox 4's series called "Sunshine Crimes," we are going across southwest Florida to tell the stories of people waiting for justice.
Not every cold case starts with a murder and ends with the search for a killer. This one is about the kidnapping of 4-week-old Baby Bryan 18 years ago.
He's an adult now, and Fort Myers cold case detectives believe he's still out there...somewhere...alive.
WATCH BELOW TO SEE WHY DETECTIVES THINK BRYAN DOSSANTOS-RAMOS IS ALIVE:
On November 3, 2006, Maria Dossantos Ramos brought Bryan into the world.
"He's their first child," said cold case detective Michael Iarossi.
Not even a full month later, the unthinkable happened.
"Their entire world was just shattered," Iarossi said.
On December 1, 2006, the infant, Maria, her friend Janice and her baby girl walked to the family health center in Fort Myers before heading to a bus stop on Cleveland and Edison avenues.
Out of nowhere, a black SUV pulled up.
"This is where the unsub's vehicle came in to stop and ask them for directions" said cold case detective Richard Harasym, describing the area at the scene with Knapp.
Unsub — or the unidentified subject — was a woman, who asked how to get to Pine Manor.
Haraysm says the women were offered money to help, but they said no.
"They both get on the bus and according to them, they get off at the bus stop at Linhart," Harasym explained.
Not too far behind was the same SUV coming from the opposite direction. The detectives say it was a 1998 or 1999 black Ford Explorer.
"I don't know why the sub would know that they would get off at this particular bus stop, unless she was following the bus," Harasym said.
Harasym says the women then followed them to Maria's house, and asked them, again, to help her get to Pine Manor.
"Both Janice and Maria get into the backseat of the SUV with their children," Harasym said.
As they were driving, the woman behind the wheel told Maria and Janice she gave birth to a baby boy 11 days ago.
But, was it true? Well, Harasym says there was a car seat, a diaper bag and a teddy bear in the SUV.
"She says that her baby boy's name is Jose Guadalupe and the baby's being kept at a home in Pine Manor where her mother lives, but she doesn't know where the house is," Harasym said.
At one point, the woman used Janice's phone. She said she needed it to call her mom, but Harasym says that was a ruse.
Harasym says the woman was speaking Spanish with a little English, pretending to be on the phone with her mother.
"That phone call is later on found to go to a what's called a pole room where people congregate who are landscapers or irrigation," Harasym said.
Police say she left two voicemails and knew no one would pick up the phone.
When they got to Pine Manor, they drove around, but didn't find the house the woman claimed to be looking for.
So, the driver took Maria and Janice back home.
Harasym says Janice and her daughter were told to get out of the car.
"Maria is told to stay in the car with Baby Bryan, then the woman takes off and makes a right," he said.
Janice frantically flagged down a father and son, who followed the SUV, but they ended up losing them in traffic.
The SUV was caught on camera going south on Cleveland Avenue, before it stopped at a church in Estero near Three Oaks Parkway and Estero Parkway.
"She says that the unsub has a knife in her hand and threatens to hurt her if she doesn't get out of the car," Harasym said.
Maria got out and asked the woman how she's going to call for someone to get her.
The woman gave Maria five quarters so she can call home...home, without Bryan.
In a second, he was gone and that's where the manhunt for Bryan began.
"Some of the characteristics of this case are extraordinary," Iarossi said.
There was a lot of speculation in this case and theories the detectives say could get in the way of a good investigation.
Knapp asked if there's any reason to believe Bryan was targeted.
"We don't know that," Harasym said. "We know back in 2006 they both — the mother and father did come into the country via coyotes."
But, they question why coyotes would kidnap a baby.
"I don't know if coyotes would want to pick up a kid 3-weeks-old, unless they could put that child on the black market to sell," Harasym said.
Beyond the theories, the detectives say they are sticking to what they do know.
Remember that name, Jose Guadalupe? The woman said that was her baby's name.
"We feel as though there's a nexus between her making this telephone call to the pole shed," Iarossi said. "One of the people who actually stayed and lived at a house next to that pole shed — his name was Jose Guadalupe."
The man who lived there has a son who worked at the pole shed.
"We suspect that whoever may be involved in this may have some type of connection to Shore Irrigation," Harasym said.
Shore Irrigation is a company with Griffin Industries, which has workers at the shed.
What the connection is in total — well, that's what detectives are trying to figure out.
"We enhanced the voice message that was left," Harasym said.
They're also looking to identify the woman who Maria says kidnapped Bryan. Detectives are also looking at prior kidnappings around the country.
"This helps us gauge what we're looking for, you know, has someone done it before?" Iarossi said.
There's reason to believe the woman accused of taking Bryan did this before in Fort Myers, or at least try to.
That's because the same day Bryan was kidnapped, another woman reported a similar crime.
Police say a woman, in a black SUV, went up to a grandmother with a stroller and asked for directions. But, she did not get in the car.
And remember those quarters? Detectives are sending them off to test for DNA, along with Maria's dress.
They're also planning to polygraph Bryan's father again.
He showed deception, and while detectives say they put weight into a failed polygraph, the goal is to find out why the person appeared deceitful.
"Is it the questioning during the polygraph test? Is it the language barrier in the polygraph test?" Harasym said.
The main goal either way: find Baby Bryan.
"We haven't uncovered anything that says Bryan is deceased," Iarossi said.
An age progression photo from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children shows what he may have looked like at 14-years-old.
Now, they're working on a new photo of him — this time at 18-years-old.
Iarossi has this message for Bryan, who is hopefully still out there and reading this.
"Your family is here. They love you, they miss you and they want nothing more than to reunite with you," Iarossi said.
"We're not going to give up," Harasym said.
Detectives say if Bryan takes an ancestry test, he would pop in the system.
As for those enhanced voicemails and the new picture of what Bryan might look like now — we're still waiting for those to be released to the public.
But, for now, if you know anything about Bryan's kidnapping, call Fort Myers Police or Southwest Florida Crime Stoppers at 1-800-780-TIPS.
