COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- More than two decades have passed since 7-month-old Christopher Abeyta vanished from his parents' Colorado Springs home on Ashwood Circle.
Friday, July 15, 2011 marks 25 years.
Those 25 years have been extremely difficult for Christopher's family.
They said in addition to the heartache of missing a part of their family, they have also been haunted by the thought that police mistakes and the lack of key information from a prime suspect has kept them from their son.
Still, his parents said no matter how much time passes they won't give up hope that their son will be found.
"You never forget the first days and the first hours of what happened. You don't believe it, you're in shock," Gil Abeyta, Christopher's father, said.
Gil said on July 15, 1986 he woke to his wife Bernice panicking.
"I could hear it, I could feel it," he said.
Christopher was gone.
Gil said they think somewhere between midnight and 6 a.m. someone snuck into their home and snatched their son, who was sleeping only a few feet away in a crib.
He said he and his wife Bernice didn't hear a thing.
"We were used to house noises. We had kids living there that were going in and out. The door was open. Whoever prepares for somebody walking into your bedroom and doing something like that?" Gil asked.
As the minutes turned into hours, and then days, panic and desperation turned into questions.
"Who would do it? Why would they do it?" Gil said.
Bernice Abeyta, Christopher's mother, also had lots of questions.
"Is he warm? Does he have his blankets? Winter had come and you'd wonder about that," she said.
The Colorado Springs Police also had questions of their own.
Gil said his entire family underwent lie detector tests. Bernice took two.
"In my opinion she was the main suspect from the start, and for what reason? None," Gil said.
As suspicions swirled around everyone close to Christopher, the Abeytas came up with their own suspect: Emma Bradshaw.
Gil admitted to having an affair with her.
When asked why Gil suspected her so much, he said it was because she had the profile and back history of everything fitting a kidnapper.
He said he thinks she wanted a lasting relationship with him, and Christopher got in the way.
"I wasn't gonna abandon him. I had no other plans, so she knew that and she knew how I felt, and he became in the way, Gil said. "I have to get rid of him because he's going to affect my life, and I believe that was the reason that she went in and got him," Gil said.
Despite taking their concerns to the police, there was no hard evidence Bradshaw had anything to do with Christopher's disappearance.
"Rest assured we have thoroughly interviewed Mrs. Bradshaw, and we do not have probable cause to make an arrest," Sgt. Steve Noblitt with the Colorado Springs Police Department said.
But he added that nobody, including Bradshaw, has been ruled out as a suspect.
"At this point in time we're not ruling anybody out as a possible suspect, because we don't know," Noblitt said.
Gil said he is still suspicious.
"In 25 years our prime suspect, who we worked on, and we have a lot of information, and we gave a lot of this to the police department, she has been interviewed twice, in her house," Gil said.
To make things worse, in 2006 the CSPD revealed that they accidentally destroyed thousands of pieces of evidence, including evidence in Christopher's case.
"Now what police department does that?" Gil asked.
Noblitt admits that mistakes were made, but he said he doesn't think the loss of the evidence destroys the case. He said the incident happened several years after Christopher's disappearance, and all of the evidence would have been documented somewhere else.
"At trial time it will be a hurdle, but it shouldn't be something that completely cripples the case and makes it unsolvable," Noblitt said.
Despite frustrations the Abeytas and the CSPD share the same goal: finding Christopher.
"It's just very unfortunate and upsetting to everyone that we haven't been able to get to the bottom of it. You're not gonna find anybody outside of the family more upset that we haven't been able to solve this crime," Noblitt said.
They all also refuse to give up.
"I may not be living here tomorrow. I've got to get this thing taken care of. I will not die with this being left open like this," Gil said.
Gil and Bernice believe Christopher is still alive and may be living in Texas.
"Maybe he's been told lies, that his family didn't want him. Well he's got six siblings that want him, 10 nephews and nieces that want him," Bernice said.
The Abeytas said more tips have come in about Christopher from Dallas and Irving, Texas than anywhere else.
"He would do so much for so many people by coming back, even the community, and we love him very much and looking forward to seeing him, and I know he's got his own life and that's okay. I won't step on your life," Bernice said.
The Abeytas have been given new hope as well. The CSPD has given the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children permission to take a look at Christopher's case.
"We're more than willing to have more eyeballs on it and have more people looking at it to see if there's anything that we can do to learn what happened to Christopher," Noblitt said.
Gil said he is thrilled with this latest development.
"These are the experts, the best that we got. These are the best guns there are, and I am so happy about that," he said.
The Abeytas said they are hopeful that the team of experts will bring them one step closer to closure.
"If you have a son, and he gets killed in an accident it's not natural, but it's an accident, and he dies. You accept it. You don't like it, but you deal with it. When you have a missing son you don't know whether he's alive or dead, forever," Gil said.
Gil and Bernice said their biggest fear is that they will run out of time.
FOX21 News tried to contact Emma Bradshaw several times for her side of the story, but she did not return our calls.
Anyone with information about Christopher is asked to call 1-800-THE-LOST.
TV Station Profiles & Public Inspection Files forKXRM