Note from April 2007: This
"finding" from the spring of 2005 is the most bizarre in the
history of the search. I hasten to add that both of my private
investigators were unable to find anything from either the same data
base, or other data bases to verify it. I also wish to add that the
source(s) of this information, in my opinion, are prone to fearful,
hysterical, and extreme reactions. One of them has a background in
corrections and obviously views the entire world as a criminal place.
(Intelligent people realize that you project to the world what you
are and it all comes back to you.) Yes, the link to Daniela's old
Framingham cell phone number is an eye opener, but I had no way of
verifying it. My advice to the reader: take everything you read in this
article with a huge grain of salt. I continue to make it available
for one reason: it's just another incident I've had to endure in the
long history of this search to find someone I care about.
May 2-5, 2005: The most important
information breakthrough in the 10-month history of this search has
occurred.
A "Daniella Costa or Sousa" of prime
significance is discovered in a data base with a Lowell, Massachusetts
address
Let me begin by stating
that the past 30 day period of my life has been one of the most bizarre
of the past 30 years. It began with the startling suicide of the owner
of
the store where I work. Now it is ending with information that,
once again, rocks this investigation to its foundation and changes the
entire paradigm of what really happened over the past year.
I assumed that this mission would be taking an advertising and
publicity approach from here on out, both locally and in Rio. But when
you sow the seeds of the investigative approach for three solid months,
it can take on a life of its own. During the first weekend in April
- the same weekend of the death
of my former boss - I was approached by someone familiar with and
sympathetic to this mission who has close ties to - let's say - "the
information and resources of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts." The
individuals involved were made aware of this website, as well as the
financial limitations of the mission, and offered their assistance. "We
can find ANYONE," was the message they relayed, "and it won't cost you
a cent."
After the constant frustration and disappointment this mission has
endured, I took their offer and claims with a huge grain of salt. I
have had two private investigators working on this case, one formally
and one informally. In spite of the fact that Bianca has/had been a
resident of Massachusetts for five years, neither of these
investigators could come up with anything. Of course, this is unusual.
Whether you are here legally or not - with ANY kind of SSI or visa -
you are bound to show up in the data somewhere. You would have to spend
your entire life under a rock to not show. (I have lived in this
state for 22 years, and the information on me would undoubtedly fill a
textbook.) Understandably, my attitude toward their offer was "been
there, done that."
But I was certainly not going to discourage them either. So
I gave them some of the basic information about Bianca and what we had
uncovered, informed them of this website, and wished them the best.
It took four weeks for a significant composite of information from
their research to reach me. But now, it certainly has, and the long
term
implications for Bianca - if indeed we have found her - are ominous. In
a conversation I had at the club, Michelle had remarked,
"I just want to know she [Bianca] is safe and well." On a day to day
basis,
chances are Bianca IS okay. Given the circumstances, she undoubtedly
relies on her "street smarts." But street
smarts only gets you so far. Sooner or later, somebody somewhere is
going to make a mistake, and all the street smarts in the world is not
going to prevent some unfortunate soul - perhaps Bianca herself - from
being hurt or killed in the process.
The investigators found the most significant pieces of information
under the spelling "Daniella" (with two "l's"). They came up with a 26
year old Brazilian woman living on a particular street in Lowell who is
using a green card. She is also linked to a Brazilian boyfriend, 46
years of
age.
Now, here is the great "smoking
gun:" Bianca's old Framingham cell phone number, which this
investigation uncovered back in January, matches EXACTLY a number
linked
to this 46 year old boyfriend (ex-boyfriend, whatever).
The neighborhood in Lowell where this Daniella apparently resides is
regarded as
one of the worst sections of the city and is well known for its crack
and cocaine dealing. Basically, no one in their right mind lives there
unless they are involved in the "goings on" of the neighborhood. But
the most troubling aspect of this information is the
arrest record of this 46 year old boyfriend/ex-boyfriend. In the words
of one of the researchers, he is an extremely dangerous individual with
"a rap sheet as long as your arm." His offenses range from drug
trafficking to assault and battery. In fact, this researcher even fears
that if I try to contact Bianca/Daniella, this guy may come after me.
It is quite possible that in the five years Bianca has known this
boyfriend/ex-boyfriend, he has not turned any of his aggression
directly on her. But when you are living in the shadow of a powder keg,
all that is required is one false "strike of the match" - something
perhaps you couldn't possibly anticipate - and it will all blow up in
your face. Just the appearance in his eyes that she may be double
crossing him would be all that is needed.
The fact that a woman with her personality and nature can end up in the
shadow of an individual like this is one of the great social
ironies.
But she is still young, she is naive, she lacks confidence in who she
truly is, and she is too dependent on other people and substances not
naturally residing in her own body to give her life meaning and
fulfillment. As a result, she seeks men who can be both a "father
figure" and a lover because she knows that's what she needs. (He's 46
and I'm 50, although I fool everyone.)
All of the individuals involved in
this research firmly believe that if this is our Bianca, she quit her
job at the
club and
disappeared without a trace because she was trying to
protect me. Based upon similar situations they have seen in the past,
and the information they have uncovered, they believe that she truly
did care about me and didn't want me to be harmed in any way by the
activities of this boyfriend/ex-boyfriend. She was even willing to
sacrifice her job at the club to insure it. I can't come up with
anything that can refute their belief. In fact, as I think back upon my
interactions with her, a few things now make more sense.
One
of those interactions occurred on only the second night we were
together at the club. It was obvious that she was infatuated with me
and had been thinking about me for weeks. Likewise, I had sensed that
she was special. But after she told me about her insurance job, she did
something that startled me a bit - something I thought was a little
inappropriate for only the second meeting with a customer: She asked me
for my registration plate number. (Image what would happen if one of us
guys asked a dancer for her registration plate number on only the
second private dance? Good luck getting a third!) Yes, she was
very charming and entertaining about it. But when a young woman from a
third world country with questionable visa status asks for such
information, as an American man, my guard goes up. The first thing I
thought was, "Oh no, she's after my credit cards!" I had to think about
it for a week, but my instincts kept telling me that she was
trustworthy. My instincts have not been wrong. Nothing has been
tampered with over the past ten months. But in light of this new
information, isn't it obvious why she wanted to use the resources of
her insurance job to check me out right near the beginning? She
certainly wanted to avoid getting involved with another man who
had a history of criminal activity and violence.
At this point in time, I have had a couple of days to let this new
information settle in. (In fact, it's about all I can think about.
Everything else has been put on hold.) From the evidence, I am now 75%
convinced that this Daniella residing in Lowell is my long-lost Bianca.
When you start to assemble even just the facts available to me at the
current time - let alone what the actual researchers found and are
still not divulging - the argument is difficult to dismiss for the
following reasons:
1) This woman's name IS "Daniella Costa or Sousa." Although spelled
with two "l's"
instead of one, as our witness thought, it nevertheless was this
witness's testimony of the name(s) seen on the AAA card that Bianca
carried.
2) This woman is EXACTLY the same age that I have narrowed down Bianca
to be at this time.
3) She is a Brazilian and her boyfriend/ex-boyfriend is also a
Brazilian. This collaborates with what Bianca told me and many others
at the club.
4) The cell phone number that Bianca used prior to last August is
directly traceable to this boyfriend/ex-boyfriend through this data.
Given just these facts alone, what are the chances that this woman is
NOT Bianca? With item number four in the mix, I'd say it's somewhere in
the one in hundreds of thousands range.
The only thing that doesn't seem to fit - and this threw me off at
first - is the visa data. Bianca told me that her visa had expired
quite some time ago and that she was undocumented. But there are
several possible explanations for this discrepancy. She may have been
"using" a green card (the term used by one of the researchers) but the
card is actually fraudulent, stolen, or in some way, no longer valid.
If that's the case, then she is categorically undocumented and she
really wasn't lying. Or, she saw a window of opportunity to make a
clean break from this boyfriend/ex-boyfriend last spring, and she
embellished the truth in hope that it would conjure my sympathy and I
would fall in love with her more quickly. Or, this
boyfriend/ex-boyfriend finally did something worthy of true manhood and
found a way for her to qualify for a green card sometime over the past
ten
months. Those are just some of the possible explanations.
Obviously, I need more information from the researchers to complete the
many missing pieces of this puzzle. If I can get motor vehicle
information on these two individuals, and a vehicle similar to the one
described in the primer
shows up, that will put us over the top with 100% certainty. Also I
need employment information. If Daniella has employment at insurance
firms on her record, that would also put us over the 100% mark in my
estimation.
But at the moment we have a problem. The most valuable
human link in this information chain has gotten cold feet and has
refused to route any more information my way
because she fears for my safety. This informant has a background in
corrections and has seen horrors that most of us will never see. I want
to assure that informant that if I wanted to be stupid, I know enough
already to get myself into a lot of trouble. At this stage, MORE
knowledge is the greatest assurance of safety and wise decision making,
not less.