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12/12/04 At
the club's
wild
and festive Christmas party, Bianca's best friend among the dancers says to me, "I
know
Bianca was
very fond
of you and
she talked about you all the time. I fell in love with Bianca and I
miss her so much." This friend had returned to the club's regular
lineup several weeks earlier after an absence of three months.
12/19/04 Bianca returned to Brazil in mid to late July. I am now 90% sure of it." Click here for my complete statement.
12/29/04 Monaco Graphics completes work on an artistic image of Bianca. It debuts on the home page of this website.
1/5/05 A Massachusetts based private investigator is hired and his retainer fee is posted. Investigator says research of the vehicle I discovered in Brighton on July 9th should be no problem. An in person meeting with the investigator is likely on 1/10 or 1/11.
1/6/05 Through my own research, I am now almost positive I have Bianca's real first name, and I have her last name narrowed down to two common Brazilian surnames. This information comes from a knowledgable source and should aid my investigator's work if it is needed.
1/11/05 I have my first meeting with the Massachusetts based private investigator. In spite of some surprises with the registration, the investigator is convinced the car I discovered in Brighton on July 9th is linked to Bianca and someone who assisted her. He will begin in-person research.
1/14/05 I have discovered another piece of information that may aid the investigation. That is all I am at liberty to reveal at this time.
1/17/05 The private investigator reports that he found the car I discovered in Brighton on July 9th, but it belongs to the employee of a neighborhood beauty salon who has no connection to Bianca. After six months of assuming this was my best lead, it's a bit of a disappointment. It also means that Bianca never received the note I left on that car. The geographic area of insurance agencies where Bianca could have worked will now have to expand to include those right on or near Commonwealth Avenue. The information discovered on Thursday 1/13 now emerges as the strongest lead. But I am also working on an email message to the investigator outlining five other avenues of research that could be explored if needed.
2/3/05 I receive an update from my private investigator on recent activity. The request pertaining to the information discovered on 1/13 had to be re-submitted to insure a correct time frame. It remains the prime lead. Also during the discussion, another fascinating avenue of investigation emerged. As told in the essay, "My Experience of Bianca," it is very likely that Bianca accessed my motor vehicle data at her insurance job. It is within my "privacy rights" to know which agencies have accessed my record, and I can request that information in person at a Registry office. If I pursue this information, it is highly likely that we will find the agency for which Bianca worked. We have yet to know if we will need it, but it is available to us.
2/14/05 My private investigator informs me that the data base involved with the information discovered on 1/13 cannot be accessed in the correct time frame. The record involved is no longer current, and any attempt to recover a non-current account of this kind requires an enormous amount of effort and expense. This is disappointing, but the finding is consistent with our conclusion of mid December that Bianca returned to Brazil in mid to late July. The emphasis of the investigation now shifts to my own motor vehicle registration and dealing with the maze of confusion known as the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles. Last week, a Registry employee told me that my driving record would include a list of agencies that have accessed it. But it turned out that not a single insurance agency was listed on this record, not even my own. My private investigator assures me, however, that my VEHICLE registration record will list everyone who has accessed it, including Bianca and the insurance agency where she worked.
2/16/05 At the suggestion of my private investigator, I contact an ombudsman at the Registry of Motor Vehicles. The ombudsman says the Registry has a rickety system based on 1980's DOS technology that he wish would be replaced. Nevertheless, the system does log any changes that are made to a registration record. However - and this is what's critical - if no changes are made in a record by someone viewing it, nothing gets logged. So, anyone can simply access and view a record at any insurance agency, and even print it out locally, without the system knowing that someone accessed it. If Bianca accessed and made even one accidental change, such as erasing a single character and retyping it, it WILL log the change and where it came from. If she simply viewed and printed it, there will be no record of it. The ombudsman says he will check my records and see if there was any change logged during June and early July 2004.
2/17/05 I received a call back from the Registry ombudsman. He had checked through both my registration and driver's license records and there were no changes made by any agency back in June or early July 2004. Apparently, Bianca had simply called up my record and printed it.
At this point, the investigation has exhausted all clear, straightforward clues currently available to it. It now comes down to this: If Bianca's disconnected home phone number is not made available to the investigation by those who hold it, we will never find her or know for sure what happened to her. It is that simple. Her American dream and my future hang in the balance. That number will almost certainly lead to her ex-boyfriend in a few days' time. My job is to convince those likely sitting on it that this is a highly unusual circumstance involving an undocumented foreigner who doesn't have a legal leg to stand on. I will have to do some educating about the laws and protocol of private investigation and demonstrate that cooperating with this effort will result in a win-win situation for everyone. That opportunity may be coming shortly.
Meanwhile, I have turned my attention back to the local Brazilian press and I have sent a proposed new ad to Adriana Senna at Ta Na Mao. As far as ads are concerned, we have more going for us now than we did for the first round back in November. We know her real first name, we have an illustration, and we have a private investigator on retainer for increased credibility. These are big improvements.
2/23/05 The information I discovered on 1/13 is not dead yet! While at work the evening of 2/22, I started thinking about the information and I realized that only a single, generic database has been exhausted. A particular retail store in Framingham should have a wealth of information in their records on Bianca, quite likely including her old home phone number and a confirmation of her real name. I have come up with an easy way to find that store. I ran the scheme by my private investigator. He says it is an "excellent idea" and will begin work on it.
2/24/05 I had a long overdue conversation with my friend Jim, host of this website, holder of his own private investigor's license, and an expert in the field relating to the information discovered on 1/13. Thanks to research conducted while on the phone with Jim, the retail store in Framingham we must identify has been narrowed down to three possibilities, with one more likely than the other two. All three outlets are located on Route 9. I email the findings to my regular Massachusetts private investigator. (Jim is based in Canada.)
3/1/05 My Massachusetts investigator reveals that he has found and spoken to the current holders of an account that once belonged to Bianca (or someone close to her) and may have been obtained through a retail store in Framingham. The current holders obtained the account from an on-line source in August 2004 when they moved to Framingham from a different state. They have no knowledge of Bianca and never met her. Jim finds it somewhat baffling that an account of this nature would return to a pool and be reassigned to someone else so quickly.
3/5/05 The investigation has reached a stage where both the people involved and the activities of the investigation itself need to be kept strictly confidential. It is becoming increasingly difficult to report developments in the "Breaking News" section of this website without sounding even more euphemistic and generic than I already have. If no new entries appear in "Breaking News" over the next two or three weeks, it does not mean that I have quit or that the investigation went on hiatus. As soon as there is a development that can be made public, I will report it here right away.
3/18/05 Financial pressures have reared their ugly head. It has been a long, VERY stressful, but also an enlightening week, punctuated by a letter to Nadia and long phone conversations with Robin and my two investigators, Jim and Paul. All issues and developments remain far too sensitive to publish in this forum. I may have a headache right now after all of this, but the investigation is far from dead yet.
3/20/05 At this time, I wish to send a special "thank you"to Bianca's former coworker and friend Michelle. The value of the advice and support she has contributed becomes more apparent with each passing day. I hope to have the opportunity to communicate with her again in the forseeable future, hopefully under much better circumstances (in both of our lives). I send her my love and wish her nothing but the best.
Also, as of tonight, I feel that Bianca's chances of ever dancing again at the club are a flat 0%. In addition, as our efforts will, once again, begin to encompass more of the MetroWest Brazilian community, I feel the time has arrived to divulge Bianca's likely real names publicly on this web site. Those names are:
DANIELA COSTA
DANIELA SOUSA or SOUZA
The investigation picked up on this information very early on (in early January) from an AAA membership card I knew she had and had used in the early half of 2004. I urge ANYONE in the MetroWest area who knew a young, attractive Brazilian woman by either of those names to contact me.
3/21/05 In the aftermath of a turbulent week, a spiritual advisor who was first informed of this case back in late July, sends these words of encouragement to me: "I think it is remarkable that you have been as dedicated to her as you have been.... It still is possible... Hang in there!"
3/23/05 I made an overdue return pilgrimage to downtown Framingham and visited Valadares Travel & Brazilian General Store, armed with full size copies of Bianca's illustration and several posters in both English and Portuguese for their employees. If she returned to Rio as we believe, there is a good chance she booked the flight through this agency. I had a long, productive chat, mostly with Marcos and one other employee. They were very kind, sympathetic, and even a bit touched by my story and dedication. As it turns out, Valadares only keeps such records for a four month period because the tickets must be used by four months and are non-refundable after that time. But Marcos mentioned that American Airlines had the most economical rates to Rio during 2004, followed by Delta and the Brazilian airline Varig. He recommended checking passenger lists, particularly with American Airlines, for last July. Marcos also provided me with tips and resources for utilizing the Brazilian branch of Google. He also remarked that if Bianca is pretty, she is likely also dancing in Rio because there are probably few other options available to support herself and her birth family.
3/24/05 Jim discussed long term strategy over the phone today. From here on out, the investigation is - once again - going to be far more media driven and far less undercover detective driven than it has been in recent months. Depending upon the progress I make with the airlines, and one final shot at finding that "Russian- owned" insurance agency where she may have worked (I'm planning visits similar to the one to Valadares), our final targets are likely to be: 1) long term efforts with the Rio de Janeiro media, particularly print, and 2) presenting this case to an American "reality" TV talk show and using their resources to find her, which Jim remarked are often much more effective than even the FBI's.
In light of my discussion with Jim, it's important to keep in mind that you can't write this off as a typical case of a young Brazilian woman coming to America on a work visa, living under an assumed name and a rehearsed set of alibis, who then suddenly disappears without a trace because she was only here to earn money for her impoverished family. There is FAR too much in this story that falls outside of that box. First of all, the first visible sign I saw that Bianca had a crush on me was, ironically, when I admitted the financial problems I had been having and that I obviously wasn't rich. If her number one concern was earning money to send back to her family, she would have been hustling harder for private dances at the club instead of spending the majority of her time in the company of a "poor" boy like me. (AND she wouldn't have been "talking about me all the time" with other dancer friends, either!) Secondly, she told me flat out that her goal was to become an American citizen, and obviously she knew that a single American man was one sure way to that goal. What advantage would there be for her to lie about that? If your ultimate objective is to "take the money and run," you certainly don't want to leave any yearning, broken hearted Americans behind. That's asking for trouble. Finally, from conversations with her during her last week at the club, it was apparent that whether she was sending money to them or not, members of her close-knit family were BEGGING her to come home after a five year period where she wasn't able to visit them even once. The pressures were strong and she was missing them a great deal. (I saw it in her face on our last night.) She made her final decision rather quickly, and there was no time to notify her American friends with "good-byes" that undoubtedly would have made the parting all the more difficult. Who knows if she would ever see any of us again? These are the details of this case, as outlined in "My Experience of Bianca" and the immigration proposal, that we must always keep in mind.
3/28/05 Email or postal mail inquiries regarding passenger lists, and airline policies concerning them, are sent to American Airlines, Delta, and Varig.
4/1/05 An email reply is received from Varig Airlines. The two issues would be that searching has to be done by date or flight (apparently not by name). The second is that they are bound to passenger privacy and can only release the information to legal authorities.
4/1/05 On a rare visit back to New England, P.I. and internet hosting friend Jim visited my home for our first in person meeting in almost seven years. During our discussion, Jim mentions that he had just discovered an article on line about an American gentleman who had fallen in love with a young Brazilian woman under circumstances and a time frame similar to mine. That woman also suddenly disappeared with a minimum amount of information available. Once the American gentleman figured out she had returned to Brazil, he eventually purchased print advertising in the area he knew she was from and began searching on line resources. It took him TWO YEARS, but eventually he found her by discovering a friend of hers through an on line source. When the Brazilian woman was informed by her friend, as well as the fact that her American suitor had been searching for her for two years, she was UTTERLY SHOCKED. Although she was fond of him, she had assumed that given the way she had left the situation, plus the fact she had given him some false information in order to protect herself, he would no longer want to have anything to do with her. But apparently he understood and forgave all of it, and loved her enough to keep trying. Eventually, he succeeded. A computer glitch has prevented Jim from returning to the article but if we find it again, I will contact this gentleman and politely BEG him to become a consultant to this mission.
4/4/05 A phone message is received from a customer service representative at American Airlines that basically mimics the same obstacles mentioned in the email message from Varig Airlines. They include the difficulty with searching the passenger database by name, and the privacy provisions which prevent them from divulging the information without obtaining a subpoena.
This message from a customer service lady at American Airlines was particularly thoughtful and sympathetic, but it is also indicative of the kind of society we have become where everyone wants to seal themselves into a box of complete privacy and not be available to anyone for anything. It's no surprise computer hackers make such big money in the underground economy and it is only going to get worse the more stringent the privacy laws become. Prohibition is the driving force of the underworld.
I can't help but think that had this experience occurred 50 years ago, not only would people be sympathetic. They would have been free to act upon that sympathy without getting into trouble. We would have had fewer resources (especially the internet), but we would have gotten MUCH farther with each of them, and I honestly think we would have found her by now.
I have received no reply from Delta at this point, but I'm sure it will not differ from AA and Varig. It only underscores recent strategy discussions I have had with Jim that the greatest chance for a breakthrough will be with media resources, especially print and internet blogs, both in eastern Massachusetts and in Rio de Janeiro, and not with the investigative approach.
5/2-5/05 MAJOR DEVELOPMENT: A "Daniella Costa or Sousa" of significance is found in a data base with a Lowell, Massachusetts address. Click here for Jeff's statement.
5/8/05 An investigation of utility-based data sources reveals that there is no telephone or cable service at the address of this "Daniella" in Lowell. In fact, no utility services show up until the "20's" on this particular street and this residence has a number lower than that. Like it or not, this is going to require eye witnessed information. Perhaps a bogus address appeared on the documents that referenced the other data base, or some other discrepancy occurred. I'm glad the fear and sensationalism of the past week's developments have settled down and we can now return to a rational approach concerning these matters."
5/12/05 THE ADDRESS IS BOGUS! A visit to the street in Lowell confirms the accuracy of the utility-based data sources. The number listed for the residence of "Daniella" and the boyfriend/ex-boyfriend is a parking lot. Yes, it is possible that a big computer glitch happened when the data was called up that revealed this 'Daniella' to us, but I think it is more likely that these are real people, that this Daniella is Bianca, and that this non-existent address in Lowell may have been used on various documents to hide immigration problems and the boyfriend/ex-boyfriend's activities. In recent days, I've come to believe BOTH that Bianca returned to Brazil last July, and that the 'Daniella' in this data is real and is her. If I am correct, it is becoming a little more clear just how her life in America was collapsing in upon her, thanks in large part to this boyfriend/ex-boyfriend. She was only 20 when she met him and she trusted him to be the gateway to her dreams. He was, in her own words, her 'first chance to have a boyfriend in America.' Instead, he apparently demolished those dreams and has caused heartache and discord among people he doesn't even know. It's very, VERY sad.
5/14/05 9 PM In quiet, symbolic ways - and with a generous dose of humorous irony - I celebrated the first anniversary of the weekend I met Bianca at The Other Side in Fitchburg. In fact, it was this very hour on this same Saturday night last year that I first saw her. Needless to say, I would rather be at the club discovering Bianca (in all of her glory) than at my computer reminiscing, but it HAS been a truly good day.
This morning, I ended up doing the same thing I did on this Saturday last year: I held a yard sale. I like the symbolism of having a yard sale on the day you meet someone destined to have a profound impact on your life. You are clearing out and selling off the old to make room for a new, more meaningful experience.
This year, nearly all of my items were music CD's and 45 RPM records. My final customer was a white, American male like myself, probably in his early 40's, who knew his way around the music business. He looked vaguely familiar and I think I've seen him before. After a couple minutes of browsing, he asked, "Would you happen to have any Brazilian music, or anything Latin?" A few minutes later, I queried him. "So, how did you develop an interest in Brazilian music?" "Oh," he replied, "through women I've dated." My quick, smiling retort was, "Isn't it that way with EVERYTHING?" For several minutes after he left, all I could do was pace around the grounds laughing to myself. His timing was impeccable.
From now through early July, I am committed to focusing as much as possible on this search and one other priority in my life, being as mindful and productive in each day as absolutely possible, savoring each moment and anniversary as it arrives, and making time pass as slowly as possible.
5/16/05 A check of data bases available to local P.I. Paul indicates that several other individuals have been listed as residents of the address in Lowell linked to the "Daniella" of significance, but no information appears after the year 2000. Paul muses that the building may have existed up to that time, but was torn down and replaced with the parking lot that exists there today. (According to Bianca's own story, she would have arrived in America around 1999 and her relationship with her ex-boyfriend began shortly after her arrival.)
Through an email message from one of the participants, I discover that since December, both me and this website have been the subject of "flaming" by exotic dancers who participate in the Stripperweb.com blog. The fact that these participants have actually wasted this much time trying to discredit me and this effort is highly unfortunate. But the greatest damage is not to me, but to themselves and their own occupation. Their cynical assumptions and public admission of outright deceit only serve to reinforce the notion that strippers are brazen manipulators only after the money of desperate men whom they assume are too inferior to find relationships elsewhere. They obviously have not read this website very carefully or thought very deeply about all the circumstances and complexity of this case.
Come on, get real, ladies! No dancer in her right mind turns in her phone numbers, quits both her club and her day job, possibly even gets her name scrubbed from most public records, and then disappears without a trace just because her favorite customer suddenly said something that might be interpreted as... "creepy." Furthermore, if my intentions are not pure and authentic, then why am I taking the risk of putting all this up on the internet? Do "stalkers" put up web sites to advertise their targets? You need to go to the library, open up a big, fat dictionary, and look up the meaning of the word "stalk." Note carefully that a "stalker," BY DEFINITION, intends to at least harm, if not KILL its target, and uses stealth-like tactics to do so. If one of these elements is missing, then it is NOT "stalking!" Call it what you may, it does not meet the definition! I'd be VERY careful about throwing such an ominous word at individuals who are simply trying to find a person they care about. Their improper use of the word borders on hysteria.
I hasten to add, however, that without the aid and sincere support of exotic dancers who actually KNEW both me and Bianca, the investigative aspects of this mission would have been a complete lost cause. Unlike the jaded con artists on Stripperweb (who apparently have no other life), I cannot praise enough the dancers I have patronized regularly over the past year. They are not only beautiful and erotic. They are spirited and obviously genuine.
5/17/05 Access to the database containing the "Daniella of significance" is divulged to both P.I.'s, Jim and Paul. Both Jim and Paul have the proper licenses and I.D's to gain access, and they can do so for a limited period at no charge.
5/22/05 In a phone conversation, Jim makes some notable observations and ponders some possibilities. After studying several entries for a "Daniela Costa or Sousa" in eastern Massachusetts, Jim says he has the impression that many of them may be the same person, because the differences between them are minor. This same Daniela may spell her name with two "l's" in one place and only one in another. She may give her birth year as 1978 in one place and 1979 in another. She may say she lives in Westboro, but actually lives in Shrewsbury or another neighboring town. She apparently does this to "fool" the entries that end up in public records. I find it interesting that Jim has picked up on this possible pattern, because I first sensed it way back last July when I was trying to find Bianca's insurance employer. She had told me that her agency was in Brighton, that it was "owned by Russians," and that she commuted up Commonwealth Avenue to get to work. But when I asked an employee at one of the agencies in Brighton if she had ever heard of another Brighton agency that was "owned by Russians," she replied that she may have, but thought that it was probably over in Brookline. I've been told recently that Brookline has a large Russian population - sort of what Framingham is for Brazilians. If Bianca's agency was in Brookline (which neighbors Brighton), she would still commute up Commonwealth Avenue to get to work. I have also been told that this "neighboring" tactic is often used by new immigrants for self protection, especially if they are involved in or surrounded by a lot of illegal activity, or have a lot to risk.
Jim also mentioned the existence of firms that act like private sector versions of the Federal Witness Protection Program in the sense that they can largely scrub an individual from public records data bases. According to Jim, such services often cost less than what I have spent so far in this search. Given the existence of such firms, I consider the information we discovered from Lowell a fortunate break that may have slipped through the cracks.
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12/19/04 Bianca returned to Brazil in mid to late July. I am now 90% sure of it." Click here for my complete statement.
12/29/04 Monaco Graphics completes work on an artistic image of Bianca. It debuts on the home page of this website.
1/5/05 A Massachusetts based private investigator is hired and his retainer fee is posted. Investigator says research of the vehicle I discovered in Brighton on July 9th should be no problem. An in person meeting with the investigator is likely on 1/10 or 1/11.
1/6/05 Through my own research, I am now almost positive I have Bianca's real first name, and I have her last name narrowed down to two common Brazilian surnames. This information comes from a knowledgable source and should aid my investigator's work if it is needed.
1/11/05 I have my first meeting with the Massachusetts based private investigator. In spite of some surprises with the registration, the investigator is convinced the car I discovered in Brighton on July 9th is linked to Bianca and someone who assisted her. He will begin in-person research.
1/14/05 I have discovered another piece of information that may aid the investigation. That is all I am at liberty to reveal at this time.
1/17/05 The private investigator reports that he found the car I discovered in Brighton on July 9th, but it belongs to the employee of a neighborhood beauty salon who has no connection to Bianca. After six months of assuming this was my best lead, it's a bit of a disappointment. It also means that Bianca never received the note I left on that car. The geographic area of insurance agencies where Bianca could have worked will now have to expand to include those right on or near Commonwealth Avenue. The information discovered on Thursday 1/13 now emerges as the strongest lead. But I am also working on an email message to the investigator outlining five other avenues of research that could be explored if needed.
2/3/05 I receive an update from my private investigator on recent activity. The request pertaining to the information discovered on 1/13 had to be re-submitted to insure a correct time frame. It remains the prime lead. Also during the discussion, another fascinating avenue of investigation emerged. As told in the essay, "My Experience of Bianca," it is very likely that Bianca accessed my motor vehicle data at her insurance job. It is within my "privacy rights" to know which agencies have accessed my record, and I can request that information in person at a Registry office. If I pursue this information, it is highly likely that we will find the agency for which Bianca worked. We have yet to know if we will need it, but it is available to us.
2/14/05 My private investigator informs me that the data base involved with the information discovered on 1/13 cannot be accessed in the correct time frame. The record involved is no longer current, and any attempt to recover a non-current account of this kind requires an enormous amount of effort and expense. This is disappointing, but the finding is consistent with our conclusion of mid December that Bianca returned to Brazil in mid to late July. The emphasis of the investigation now shifts to my own motor vehicle registration and dealing with the maze of confusion known as the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles. Last week, a Registry employee told me that my driving record would include a list of agencies that have accessed it. But it turned out that not a single insurance agency was listed on this record, not even my own. My private investigator assures me, however, that my VEHICLE registration record will list everyone who has accessed it, including Bianca and the insurance agency where she worked.
2/16/05 At the suggestion of my private investigator, I contact an ombudsman at the Registry of Motor Vehicles. The ombudsman says the Registry has a rickety system based on 1980's DOS technology that he wish would be replaced. Nevertheless, the system does log any changes that are made to a registration record. However - and this is what's critical - if no changes are made in a record by someone viewing it, nothing gets logged. So, anyone can simply access and view a record at any insurance agency, and even print it out locally, without the system knowing that someone accessed it. If Bianca accessed and made even one accidental change, such as erasing a single character and retyping it, it WILL log the change and where it came from. If she simply viewed and printed it, there will be no record of it. The ombudsman says he will check my records and see if there was any change logged during June and early July 2004.
2/17/05 I received a call back from the Registry ombudsman. He had checked through both my registration and driver's license records and there were no changes made by any agency back in June or early July 2004. Apparently, Bianca had simply called up my record and printed it.
At this point, the investigation has exhausted all clear, straightforward clues currently available to it. It now comes down to this: If Bianca's disconnected home phone number is not made available to the investigation by those who hold it, we will never find her or know for sure what happened to her. It is that simple. Her American dream and my future hang in the balance. That number will almost certainly lead to her ex-boyfriend in a few days' time. My job is to convince those likely sitting on it that this is a highly unusual circumstance involving an undocumented foreigner who doesn't have a legal leg to stand on. I will have to do some educating about the laws and protocol of private investigation and demonstrate that cooperating with this effort will result in a win-win situation for everyone. That opportunity may be coming shortly.
Meanwhile, I have turned my attention back to the local Brazilian press and I have sent a proposed new ad to Adriana Senna at Ta Na Mao. As far as ads are concerned, we have more going for us now than we did for the first round back in November. We know her real first name, we have an illustration, and we have a private investigator on retainer for increased credibility. These are big improvements.
2/23/05 The information I discovered on 1/13 is not dead yet! While at work the evening of 2/22, I started thinking about the information and I realized that only a single, generic database has been exhausted. A particular retail store in Framingham should have a wealth of information in their records on Bianca, quite likely including her old home phone number and a confirmation of her real name. I have come up with an easy way to find that store. I ran the scheme by my private investigator. He says it is an "excellent idea" and will begin work on it.
2/24/05 I had a long overdue conversation with my friend Jim, host of this website, holder of his own private investigor's license, and an expert in the field relating to the information discovered on 1/13. Thanks to research conducted while on the phone with Jim, the retail store in Framingham we must identify has been narrowed down to three possibilities, with one more likely than the other two. All three outlets are located on Route 9. I email the findings to my regular Massachusetts private investigator. (Jim is based in Canada.)
3/1/05 My Massachusetts investigator reveals that he has found and spoken to the current holders of an account that once belonged to Bianca (or someone close to her) and may have been obtained through a retail store in Framingham. The current holders obtained the account from an on-line source in August 2004 when they moved to Framingham from a different state. They have no knowledge of Bianca and never met her. Jim finds it somewhat baffling that an account of this nature would return to a pool and be reassigned to someone else so quickly.
3/5/05 The investigation has reached a stage where both the people involved and the activities of the investigation itself need to be kept strictly confidential. It is becoming increasingly difficult to report developments in the "Breaking News" section of this website without sounding even more euphemistic and generic than I already have. If no new entries appear in "Breaking News" over the next two or three weeks, it does not mean that I have quit or that the investigation went on hiatus. As soon as there is a development that can be made public, I will report it here right away.
3/18/05 Financial pressures have reared their ugly head. It has been a long, VERY stressful, but also an enlightening week, punctuated by a letter to Nadia and long phone conversations with Robin and my two investigators, Jim and Paul. All issues and developments remain far too sensitive to publish in this forum. I may have a headache right now after all of this, but the investigation is far from dead yet.
3/20/05 At this time, I wish to send a special "thank you"to Bianca's former coworker and friend Michelle. The value of the advice and support she has contributed becomes more apparent with each passing day. I hope to have the opportunity to communicate with her again in the forseeable future, hopefully under much better circumstances (in both of our lives). I send her my love and wish her nothing but the best.
Also, as of tonight, I feel that Bianca's chances of ever dancing again at the club are a flat 0%. In addition, as our efforts will, once again, begin to encompass more of the MetroWest Brazilian community, I feel the time has arrived to divulge Bianca's likely real names publicly on this web site. Those names are:
DANIELA COSTA
DANIELA SOUSA or SOUZA
The investigation picked up on this information very early on (in early January) from an AAA membership card I knew she had and had used in the early half of 2004. I urge ANYONE in the MetroWest area who knew a young, attractive Brazilian woman by either of those names to contact me.
3/21/05 In the aftermath of a turbulent week, a spiritual advisor who was first informed of this case back in late July, sends these words of encouragement to me: "I think it is remarkable that you have been as dedicated to her as you have been.... It still is possible... Hang in there!"
3/23/05 I made an overdue return pilgrimage to downtown Framingham and visited Valadares Travel & Brazilian General Store, armed with full size copies of Bianca's illustration and several posters in both English and Portuguese for their employees. If she returned to Rio as we believe, there is a good chance she booked the flight through this agency. I had a long, productive chat, mostly with Marcos and one other employee. They were very kind, sympathetic, and even a bit touched by my story and dedication. As it turns out, Valadares only keeps such records for a four month period because the tickets must be used by four months and are non-refundable after that time. But Marcos mentioned that American Airlines had the most economical rates to Rio during 2004, followed by Delta and the Brazilian airline Varig. He recommended checking passenger lists, particularly with American Airlines, for last July. Marcos also provided me with tips and resources for utilizing the Brazilian branch of Google. He also remarked that if Bianca is pretty, she is likely also dancing in Rio because there are probably few other options available to support herself and her birth family.
3/24/05 Jim discussed long term strategy over the phone today. From here on out, the investigation is - once again - going to be far more media driven and far less undercover detective driven than it has been in recent months. Depending upon the progress I make with the airlines, and one final shot at finding that "Russian- owned" insurance agency where she may have worked (I'm planning visits similar to the one to Valadares), our final targets are likely to be: 1) long term efforts with the Rio de Janeiro media, particularly print, and 2) presenting this case to an American "reality" TV talk show and using their resources to find her, which Jim remarked are often much more effective than even the FBI's.
In light of my discussion with Jim, it's important to keep in mind that you can't write this off as a typical case of a young Brazilian woman coming to America on a work visa, living under an assumed name and a rehearsed set of alibis, who then suddenly disappears without a trace because she was only here to earn money for her impoverished family. There is FAR too much in this story that falls outside of that box. First of all, the first visible sign I saw that Bianca had a crush on me was, ironically, when I admitted the financial problems I had been having and that I obviously wasn't rich. If her number one concern was earning money to send back to her family, she would have been hustling harder for private dances at the club instead of spending the majority of her time in the company of a "poor" boy like me. (AND she wouldn't have been "talking about me all the time" with other dancer friends, either!) Secondly, she told me flat out that her goal was to become an American citizen, and obviously she knew that a single American man was one sure way to that goal. What advantage would there be for her to lie about that? If your ultimate objective is to "take the money and run," you certainly don't want to leave any yearning, broken hearted Americans behind. That's asking for trouble. Finally, from conversations with her during her last week at the club, it was apparent that whether she was sending money to them or not, members of her close-knit family were BEGGING her to come home after a five year period where she wasn't able to visit them even once. The pressures were strong and she was missing them a great deal. (I saw it in her face on our last night.) She made her final decision rather quickly, and there was no time to notify her American friends with "good-byes" that undoubtedly would have made the parting all the more difficult. Who knows if she would ever see any of us again? These are the details of this case, as outlined in "My Experience of Bianca" and the immigration proposal, that we must always keep in mind.
3/28/05 Email or postal mail inquiries regarding passenger lists, and airline policies concerning them, are sent to American Airlines, Delta, and Varig.
4/1/05 An email reply is received from Varig Airlines. The two issues would be that searching has to be done by date or flight (apparently not by name). The second is that they are bound to passenger privacy and can only release the information to legal authorities.
4/1/05 On a rare visit back to New England, P.I. and internet hosting friend Jim visited my home for our first in person meeting in almost seven years. During our discussion, Jim mentions that he had just discovered an article on line about an American gentleman who had fallen in love with a young Brazilian woman under circumstances and a time frame similar to mine. That woman also suddenly disappeared with a minimum amount of information available. Once the American gentleman figured out she had returned to Brazil, he eventually purchased print advertising in the area he knew she was from and began searching on line resources. It took him TWO YEARS, but eventually he found her by discovering a friend of hers through an on line source. When the Brazilian woman was informed by her friend, as well as the fact that her American suitor had been searching for her for two years, she was UTTERLY SHOCKED. Although she was fond of him, she had assumed that given the way she had left the situation, plus the fact she had given him some false information in order to protect herself, he would no longer want to have anything to do with her. But apparently he understood and forgave all of it, and loved her enough to keep trying. Eventually, he succeeded. A computer glitch has prevented Jim from returning to the article but if we find it again, I will contact this gentleman and politely BEG him to become a consultant to this mission.
4/4/05 A phone message is received from a customer service representative at American Airlines that basically mimics the same obstacles mentioned in the email message from Varig Airlines. They include the difficulty with searching the passenger database by name, and the privacy provisions which prevent them from divulging the information without obtaining a subpoena.
This message from a customer service lady at American Airlines was particularly thoughtful and sympathetic, but it is also indicative of the kind of society we have become where everyone wants to seal themselves into a box of complete privacy and not be available to anyone for anything. It's no surprise computer hackers make such big money in the underground economy and it is only going to get worse the more stringent the privacy laws become. Prohibition is the driving force of the underworld.
I can't help but think that had this experience occurred 50 years ago, not only would people be sympathetic. They would have been free to act upon that sympathy without getting into trouble. We would have had fewer resources (especially the internet), but we would have gotten MUCH farther with each of them, and I honestly think we would have found her by now.
I have received no reply from Delta at this point, but I'm sure it will not differ from AA and Varig. It only underscores recent strategy discussions I have had with Jim that the greatest chance for a breakthrough will be with media resources, especially print and internet blogs, both in eastern Massachusetts and in Rio de Janeiro, and not with the investigative approach.
5/2-5/05 MAJOR DEVELOPMENT: A "Daniella Costa or Sousa" of significance is found in a data base with a Lowell, Massachusetts address. Click here for Jeff's statement.
5/8/05 An investigation of utility-based data sources reveals that there is no telephone or cable service at the address of this "Daniella" in Lowell. In fact, no utility services show up until the "20's" on this particular street and this residence has a number lower than that. Like it or not, this is going to require eye witnessed information. Perhaps a bogus address appeared on the documents that referenced the other data base, or some other discrepancy occurred. I'm glad the fear and sensationalism of the past week's developments have settled down and we can now return to a rational approach concerning these matters."
5/12/05 THE ADDRESS IS BOGUS! A visit to the street in Lowell confirms the accuracy of the utility-based data sources. The number listed for the residence of "Daniella" and the boyfriend/ex-boyfriend is a parking lot. Yes, it is possible that a big computer glitch happened when the data was called up that revealed this 'Daniella' to us, but I think it is more likely that these are real people, that this Daniella is Bianca, and that this non-existent address in Lowell may have been used on various documents to hide immigration problems and the boyfriend/ex-boyfriend's activities. In recent days, I've come to believe BOTH that Bianca returned to Brazil last July, and that the 'Daniella' in this data is real and is her. If I am correct, it is becoming a little more clear just how her life in America was collapsing in upon her, thanks in large part to this boyfriend/ex-boyfriend. She was only 20 when she met him and she trusted him to be the gateway to her dreams. He was, in her own words, her 'first chance to have a boyfriend in America.' Instead, he apparently demolished those dreams and has caused heartache and discord among people he doesn't even know. It's very, VERY sad.
5/14/05 9 PM In quiet, symbolic ways - and with a generous dose of humorous irony - I celebrated the first anniversary of the weekend I met Bianca at The Other Side in Fitchburg. In fact, it was this very hour on this same Saturday night last year that I first saw her. Needless to say, I would rather be at the club discovering Bianca (in all of her glory) than at my computer reminiscing, but it HAS been a truly good day.
This morning, I ended up doing the same thing I did on this Saturday last year: I held a yard sale. I like the symbolism of having a yard sale on the day you meet someone destined to have a profound impact on your life. You are clearing out and selling off the old to make room for a new, more meaningful experience.
This year, nearly all of my items were music CD's and 45 RPM records. My final customer was a white, American male like myself, probably in his early 40's, who knew his way around the music business. He looked vaguely familiar and I think I've seen him before. After a couple minutes of browsing, he asked, "Would you happen to have any Brazilian music, or anything Latin?" A few minutes later, I queried him. "So, how did you develop an interest in Brazilian music?" "Oh," he replied, "through women I've dated." My quick, smiling retort was, "Isn't it that way with EVERYTHING?" For several minutes after he left, all I could do was pace around the grounds laughing to myself. His timing was impeccable.
From now through early July, I am committed to focusing as much as possible on this search and one other priority in my life, being as mindful and productive in each day as absolutely possible, savoring each moment and anniversary as it arrives, and making time pass as slowly as possible.
5/16/05 A check of data bases available to local P.I. Paul indicates that several other individuals have been listed as residents of the address in Lowell linked to the "Daniella" of significance, but no information appears after the year 2000. Paul muses that the building may have existed up to that time, but was torn down and replaced with the parking lot that exists there today. (According to Bianca's own story, she would have arrived in America around 1999 and her relationship with her ex-boyfriend began shortly after her arrival.)
Through an email message from one of the participants, I discover that since December, both me and this website have been the subject of "flaming" by exotic dancers who participate in the Stripperweb.com blog. The fact that these participants have actually wasted this much time trying to discredit me and this effort is highly unfortunate. But the greatest damage is not to me, but to themselves and their own occupation. Their cynical assumptions and public admission of outright deceit only serve to reinforce the notion that strippers are brazen manipulators only after the money of desperate men whom they assume are too inferior to find relationships elsewhere. They obviously have not read this website very carefully or thought very deeply about all the circumstances and complexity of this case.
Come on, get real, ladies! No dancer in her right mind turns in her phone numbers, quits both her club and her day job, possibly even gets her name scrubbed from most public records, and then disappears without a trace just because her favorite customer suddenly said something that might be interpreted as... "creepy." Furthermore, if my intentions are not pure and authentic, then why am I taking the risk of putting all this up on the internet? Do "stalkers" put up web sites to advertise their targets? You need to go to the library, open up a big, fat dictionary, and look up the meaning of the word "stalk." Note carefully that a "stalker," BY DEFINITION, intends to at least harm, if not KILL its target, and uses stealth-like tactics to do so. If one of these elements is missing, then it is NOT "stalking!" Call it what you may, it does not meet the definition! I'd be VERY careful about throwing such an ominous word at individuals who are simply trying to find a person they care about. Their improper use of the word borders on hysteria.
I hasten to add, however, that without the aid and sincere support of exotic dancers who actually KNEW both me and Bianca, the investigative aspects of this mission would have been a complete lost cause. Unlike the jaded con artists on Stripperweb (who apparently have no other life), I cannot praise enough the dancers I have patronized regularly over the past year. They are not only beautiful and erotic. They are spirited and obviously genuine.
5/17/05 Access to the database containing the "Daniella of significance" is divulged to both P.I.'s, Jim and Paul. Both Jim and Paul have the proper licenses and I.D's to gain access, and they can do so for a limited period at no charge.
5/22/05 In a phone conversation, Jim makes some notable observations and ponders some possibilities. After studying several entries for a "Daniela Costa or Sousa" in eastern Massachusetts, Jim says he has the impression that many of them may be the same person, because the differences between them are minor. This same Daniela may spell her name with two "l's" in one place and only one in another. She may give her birth year as 1978 in one place and 1979 in another. She may say she lives in Westboro, but actually lives in Shrewsbury or another neighboring town. She apparently does this to "fool" the entries that end up in public records. I find it interesting that Jim has picked up on this possible pattern, because I first sensed it way back last July when I was trying to find Bianca's insurance employer. She had told me that her agency was in Brighton, that it was "owned by Russians," and that she commuted up Commonwealth Avenue to get to work. But when I asked an employee at one of the agencies in Brighton if she had ever heard of another Brighton agency that was "owned by Russians," she replied that she may have, but thought that it was probably over in Brookline. I've been told recently that Brookline has a large Russian population - sort of what Framingham is for Brazilians. If Bianca's agency was in Brookline (which neighbors Brighton), she would still commute up Commonwealth Avenue to get to work. I have also been told that this "neighboring" tactic is often used by new immigrants for self protection, especially if they are involved in or surrounded by a lot of illegal activity, or have a lot to risk.
Jim also mentioned the existence of firms that act like private sector versions of the Federal Witness Protection Program in the sense that they can largely scrub an individual from public records data bases. According to Jim, such services often cost less than what I have spent so far in this search. Given the existence of such firms, I consider the information we discovered from Lowell a fortunate break that may have slipped through the cracks.
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