A Colorado Springs family has a unique perspective on what the family of Gannon Stauch is going through right now. As the search for the missing 11-year-old from Security enters the second week, the Abeyta family is talking to News5 about their loss of baby Christopher in 1986 when they say he was kidnapped from his crib.
The Abeytas are keeping hope alive all these years later and that is their message to the Stauch family.
Denise Alves, Christopher's sister, said, "It's unimaginable. You don't believe what's going on."
That's how she describes the day her baby brother went missing from their home in Colorado Springs.
Alves said, "We put him to sleep July 14th. We woke up July 15th and he was missing...we didn't hear anything. We heard no noises. The neighbor's heard nothing...we were thrown into a world that we had never been thrown into before."
Over the almost 34 years since Christopher's disappearance she says tips and leads have surfaced but nothing that has led law enforcement to find her brother.
"We have not lost any hope that we would have answers and information."
It's a sentiment she wants the Stauch family to take to heart.
"When they wake up in the morning they probably are waking up and wishing it was a dream...their mind is wandering. They don't know if their son is okay. There's so many unanswered questions."
As they wait for answers her advice is to "keep Gannon at the forefront and focus. That's your focus is his safe return home...what they can do is they can be proactive in the search for their son. That's going to help them...it's gonna help them be, to be sharing on social media, their son's information, disseminating information just to be active so that they're being productive and not just putting it completely on law enforcement's hands, but working together with them."
Finally - she doesn't want them to ever give up.
"The status of Christopher's case right now is there is a person of interest. We still don't know his fate. We don't know Christopher's fate."
Like his case and now Gannon's, the hope for everyone is that the answer to that question is revealed soon and that the waiting and wondering comes to a close.
There has been a tremendous amount of community support in the search and emotionally for the family which Alves says is so important.
Learn more about all 73 children from Colorado currently being sought with the help of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, click here.
We'll have more on our interview with Denis Alves Tuesday on News5.
Click here to follow News5 coverage on the search for Gannon Stauch.
