U.S. couple thinks "Maria" could be their daughter
(CBS News) Authorities in Greece are getting tips from all over the world, as they try to identify the young girl called Maria found living with a Gypsy family. They're looking closely at about 10 cases of missing children, including one in the U.S.
Who is "Maria"? Greek police sorting through tips in effort ID girl
Newly-emerged video appears to show Maria in the Gypsy camp where she was raised before she was taken into protective custody by the Greek authorities.
One U.S. couple has been sharing their hope that Maria could be their missing daughter. The parents of Lisa Irwin, who disappeared from her Kansas City home two years ago, believe Maria could be their missing daughter.
"I started comparing pictures of her and Lisa and doing comparison pictures and pictures of Lisa before she was kidnapped, compared to little Maria's picture and then, that's when I started to think this really could be Lisa," said Lisa Irwin's mother, Deborah Bradley, on CNN.
The FBI has passed on information about Lisa to the Greek Police, but the problem is that she'd now be nearly three years old, while doctors believe Maria is actually five or six.
Lisa is just one of eight missing children who might be Maria, according to the Greek charity that's now caring for the little girl.
Two of the other U.S. girls on the charity's list also appear on an Interpol website of missing children, but the agency says they are not matches for Maria.
The couple who were discovered raising Maria said they informally adopted her as a baby when her birth parents, also Gypsies, abandoned her.
Gypsies in Maria's camp insist blond girl was informally adopted
Greek police have charged them with child abduction, but told CBS News that it is possible the girl was given to the couple by other Gypsies.
If Maria's biological parents did abandon her then they may never come forward, but because this case has had so much media attention, it's given hope, perhaps false hope, to the parents of missing little girls all over the world.
For Holly Williams' full report, watch the video in the player above.