Public Anguish Was a False Front

Well goodness gracious me! There are so many unnerving similarities in this story, and far too many to highlight, I'm at a loss how to describe it. Not deja vous, a script perhaps? Yes a script, because that's what it reads like, a script for grotesque theatre, only played out at a different place and time.

I can only hope though that this is a five act play, because at the end of act four the plot is exactly the same, both sets of parents are still at liberty.

What of act five?

Public anguish was a false front. You don't say?

Update full article bottom of page.

The key to the mystery lies "certainly with Kate, a very special and disturbed woman", guarantees José Cabrera Fornero to CM, a forensic psychiatrist who has been following the case since the beginning. The Spanish man attentively watched "the staged interview" that the couple gave to Antena 3, and its purpose was "to have the Spanish people on their side". But 70 percent of the viewers who called the channel believe the McCanns are lying, and the psychiatrist sides with them - "by crying without moving a single muscle, Kate looked like a poker player".

Public Anguish Was False Front, Indictment Alleges

St. Petersburg Times
September 11, 1999

TAMPA -- In scores of public statements and months of public appearances since their baby disappeared, Steve and Marlene Aisenberg steadfastly maintained their innocence.

But a federal indictment suggests that was merely a facade to hide their guilt.

What the Aisenbergs were saying publicly was far different from what they were saying in private, the indictment alleges.

The most damning evidence federal authorities revealed Thursday was a series of secretly recorded conversations suggesting the Aisenbergs schemed from the outset to get their alibis straight and point investigators in the wrong direction. But investigators were suspicious almost immediately.

On the evening of Nov. 24, 1997, for instance, just hours after Marlene Aisenberg reported her baby Sabrina had been kidnapped, the Aisenbergs gave a videotaped statement pleading for her safe return.

But in interviews with detectives the same day, the couple gave inconsistent statements about the events leading to Sabrina's disappearance, the indictment alleges. They first said they were awakened by a noisy fish tank. Later, Steve Aisenberg said his wife's screaming woke him, and Marlene said she had been awakened by a television alarm.

Marlene Aisenberg said the family dog, Brownie, was inside the house when she and her husband went to bed. She later said she got up in the middle of the night to let Brownie in after she heard the dog scratching at a door.

On Nov. 25, Marlene Aisenberg failed to produce a list the FBI had requested of people they thought might have been involved in the kidnapping. Instead, the indictment alleges, she continued to "socialize and watch television."

Three weeks after Sabrina disappeared, Marlene Aisenberg's friends described her as anguished, shut away for hours in her bedroom with her children and her prayers. But authorities say the couple were distancing themselves from investigators.

They "repeatedly retreated" to their bedroom and turned on the stereo so loudly that detectives awaiting a ransom call in the kitchen could not hear any conversation. Five days later, the Aisenbergs asked the FBI to leave.

On Dec. 23, the day after the couple took part in a candlelight vigil for Sabrina, they read a prepared statement at their lawyer's office, asking for the safe return of their baby.

The next day, investigators eavesdropping on the couple allegedly heard a startling conversation.

"The baby's dead and buried!" Marlene yelled to Steve, the indictment alleges. "It was found dead because you did it! The baby's dead no matter what you say -- you just did it."

"Honey," her husband allegedly replied, "there was nothing I could do about it. We need to discuss the way that we can beat the charge. I would never break from the family pact and our story even if the police were to hold me down."

As the investigation stretched into 1998, the Aisenbergs decided to break their silence and embark on a media blitz.

On Jan. 9, the Aisenbergs granted an interview to the St. Petersburg Times. The next day they went to the Missing Children Help Center in Brandon. Two days later, the couple appeared with their attorney, Barry Cohen, on NBC's Today Show.

But agents were still secretly listening in on what the couple was saying privately.

The day they appeared on Today, Marlene privately discussed "a problem with the timeline" given to investigators, the indictment alleges. Marlene had said she went immediately to check on Sabrina, then the other children the day the baby disappeared. In another interview, she reversed it, saying she checked Sabrina's crib last. Marlene told Steven she worried she might be trouble, the indictment says.

On Jan. 21, Hillsborough sheriff's investigators showed the couple enlarged photographs of Sabrina taken from a videotape made two days before the child's disappearance. The photos showed apparent injuries to Sabrina's head and face.

Marlene ran from the room while Steve sat "'red-faced, and nervously rapped a writing instrument on the table," the indictment says.

Later that night, the couple was secretly taped talking about the pictures.

Marlene cursed, referring to the photos as "them f------ pictures, them f------ pictures." She told Steve they would have to get their attorney to explain the injuries.

Later, Steve said to Marlene, "I wish I hadn't harmed her." A prosecutor said in court Thursday that he added, "It was the cocaine."

The next day, the Sheriff's Office announced that the investigation continued to point to the Aisenbergs.

Still, the couple kept a high profile.

On Jan. 26, they opened an account at NationsBank for donations to help in the search for Sabrina. The next day, they flew to Texas to tape an appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show. The couple said they knew nothing about what had happened to Sabrina.

But privately, the indictment says, they were still going over their story, especially now that they had been ordered to appear before a grand jury.

Steve worried about being overheard. On Jan. 31, the indictment alleges, he told his wife, "What we're gonna have to do is always turn on the radio if you presume they're listening."

On Feb. 17 authorities overheard the Aisenbergs discussing the grand jury, which they had appeared before six days earlier.

"'They don't know the truth, right?" Steve said to Marlene.

"Yeah," Marlene answered. "So, so in a way, you know, that means nobody knows what we did still."

"Exactly."

In March 1998, four months after Sabrina disappeared, the Aisenbergs went on ABC's 20/20. They marked their 11th wedding anniversary that month, which they had hoped would be a family celebration when Sabrina would be given her Hebrew name. The celebration was not to be.

The Aisenbergs also were busy keeping investigators off their trail, the indictment alleges.

During the first days of March, the indictments say, the couple "schemed about trying to wrongly blame a Michigan man" for Sabrina's disappearance.

Three months after they opened the bank account for Sabrina's return, authorities say, the couple began using the money to pay off their credit cards. Source and photo's

H/T Mari Welzel - Maren



And if you think that is something, you ain't seen nothing yet.

From: Unsolved: Sabrina Aisenberg A five-month-old infant is kidnapped from her crib.

Marlene Aisenberg:

"I believe that somebody came into our home and just took her. It had to be someone who wanted a baby so bad and they couldn't have one themselves or they needed money so bad that they would want to sell her."

Steve Aisenberg:

"It could be that somebody just watched Marlene and I, and saw our habits of occasionally leaving the garage open and knew we had a baby. Or, it could have been somebody that knew us casually and then through others knew our habits. So it, you know, anything is just pure speculation." unsolved.com

Priceless, the pair of you.

Have a little topping for your pudding.

Submitted by Linda (not verified) on Tue, 01/27/2015 - 02:01

I agree, same as the mccans, something just doesn't sit right with their story. They just happened to leave their garage door open the one night a mysterious baby napper is on the hunt. Snuck in past the dog and sleeping family, got the baby they magically knew was in its crib asleep and then snuck back out. It doesn't make sense. I think something happened to the baby and they were scared about their reputation and their daycare business so they covered it up. Much like the mccans. Their reputation is too important. I feel like also there was something wrong with Sabrina, maybe some sort of development issue that they didn't want to deal with. comment

Update I have resisted illustrating the article below, and it's not for want of material, quite the opposite in fact, I have probably got image that would be suitable for every paragraph, if not every sentence.

José Cabrera Fornero is a forensic psychiatrist, but I'm not. I don't have to be, not to evaluate the McCanns I don't.

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Kate cries like a poker player

Madeleine McCann Case: Kate cries like a poker player Correio da Manhã (article no longer available online)

26 October 2007
Thanks to Astro for translation

The key to the mystery lies "certainly with Kate, a very special and disturbed woman", guarantees José Cabrera Fornero to CM, a forensic psychiatrist who has been following the case since the beginning. The Spanish man attentively watched "the staged interview" that the couple gave to Antena 3, and its purpose was "to have the Spanish people on their side". But 70 percent of the viewers who called the channel believe the McCanns are lying, and the psychiatrist sides with them - "by crying without moving a single muscle, Kate looked like a poker player".

A specialist in facial expressions, Cabrera says that "the face of Kate is always the same, except for the tears - the first ones over the last five months, and curiously only after having been criticised for not crying". Now she did it but her face "doesn't express any emotion or feeling. When one cries, one's facial muscles move, and she didn't move a single muscle, just like poker players. That is highly significant", says the Spanish psychiatrist, and "brings us the certainty that she is hiding something".

Cabrera says the 30 minutes of conversation ended up being "a non-spontaneous interview, perfectly ordered in terms of the questions that were asked by the journalist. And it gives us the impression that the entire stance was staged by the couple".

The Spanish man even remembers Gerry's last sentence and even considers it "genial": "Don't talk until they take the microphone off you". This only proves that all of it was just a big theatre play, the entire interview was staged. That is clear".

José Cabrera noticed that "during half an hour of interview his only concern was to control her. It's extraordinary. Whenever she opened her mouth to speak, he squeezed her hand - and all of this because the key to this mystery certainly lies with her, she is a very special woman..."

Kate McCann "had psychiatric problems for a long time", the specialist guarantees, and "now they have become worse". Cabrera retained an interview that Maddie's grandparents gave to the Spanish television recently: "In their innocence, they said that Kate had told them, some time before the disappearance, that the little girl was looking increasingly like herself, which from a psychiatric point of view means a lot..."

For the Spaniard, the origin of a bad relationship between mother and daughter - that was reflected by the writings about Madeleine in Kate's personal diary - "which is highly significant" for all the specialists that have been following this case since early May".

Gerry's greatest concern has been "to control his wife's impulses in public - and that was once again well demonstrated throughout this interview", says José Cabrera Fornero. "He is the one who dominates the entire situation, he knows everything and he knows he must control her and her problematic personality, so she does not exceed herself in front of the cameras and talk too much..."

All the gestures and facial expressions "become fatal for someone who has something to hide" - this is dictated by the experience that was collected over the years by this specialist in forensic psychiatry. "And there is no way to avoid that."

Nothing moves José Cabrera "against this couple", whom he does not know, but he defended the McCanns' guilt in the 'Pros & Contras' show on RTP, when the Policia Judiciaria confirmed their suspicions on the couple - and yesterday he reinforced his theory to CM, one day after Kate and Gerry chose Spain for their first interview after becoming arguidos.

The English press itself confirmed yesterday that "70 percent of viewers that called Antena 3 believe the McCanns are lying", the online edition of the 'Daily Mail' announced.

José Cabrera was not surprised: "Any English person is cold, but there is something more to her - her personality is not normal. And she makes an impression by only worrying about her answers..."

"The interview was a circus act"

Moita Flores, criminologist, considers the interview was another act from the McCanns.

Correio da Manhã - What is your opinion about the McCanns during the interview they gave to Spanish television?

Moita Flores - The whole thing looked like a circus act to me, during which the couple repeated the usual commonplaces, once again escaping the essential. And once again they revealed that they have a lot to tell, but they don't want to...

CM - During this interview to Antena 3, Kate shows herself a lot more emotional that usual.

MF - But the curious thing was that even before this interview was made, it was known the lady was going to cry, which then happened. And she even managed to play the part well...

CM - Do you believe there was image staging during this interview?

MF - One should notice that it was known beforehand that the couple would take the opportunity to compliment the Portuguese police, which then happened...

CM - Gerry looks confident that the DNA tests cannot incriminate them.

MF - When he mentioned the tests, it was a silly reply to a docile interviewer. Everybody knows that DNA tests identify people, and they don't lie. But they do not condemn anyone on their own. That was miserable.

CM - How can the couple's statements be defined?

MF - It was an act that nobody believes in. After the kidnapping theory, now they insist on their innocence. An innocent person does not need this... http://www.mccannfiles.com/id210.html

OK, two then. But it is just this kind of facial expression that yer man is talking about. Kate McCann's grief is about as genuine as my pic; letterbox mouth as Anna Esse once described her.

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