The 16 dots on the logo of Michael and Cindy Leas' child ID business stand for the age of Molly Bish when she disappeared in 2000.

Bish, who grew up in the same town as Michael and whose brother was Michael's good friend, was found dead three years later in the woods near a Warren, Mass., pond at which she had been lifeguarding the day she went missing.

Her murder is still unsolved.

"She was just a couple of grades below me," Michael said. "Just going through that kind of stuck with me. Now that we are parents, it just kind of hits home."

In 2010, the husband-and-wife tandem started Breadcrumbs Child ID Service.

The couple collects identifying and medical information on USB drives resembling dog tags, bracelets or credit cards, which parents hang onto in case of an emergency.

Operating out of their home, the Leases go to businesses—mostly day cares—to reach out to people about their services.

The Leases use software called EZ Child ID to take children's photographs and scan all 10 of their fingerprints.

On one 52 megabyte USB drive, the Leases can store 10–15 profiles of children, complete with medical history, physician information, medicines the child may be taking and family contacts.

Born in Worcester, Mass., Michael was raised in Warren where he bounced around foster homes.

On the path to a troubled life until age 13, when he landed in a home that actually felt like home, Michael's experience in foster care and the pangs of loneliness from living away from his only biological family members—his three siblings—inspired him to get involved in the business of child identification, he said.

"I know what it's like to be a 6-year-old, 8-year-old, 13-year-old child and not knowing where other people in your family are," Michael said.

The Leases began the business in Houston and were doing well there, he said.

They had put six months of work into marketing in Houston, but then, as Michael puts it, "Life happens, and we had to move in with Cindy's family in Austin."

Since then, it has been slow going for the Central Texas iteration of Breadcrumbs.

"It's not an easy business to start, but it's something we feel is extremely important," Michael said.

The Leases hope to breathe new life into Breadcrumbs. The duo plan on working on an app for iPhone and Android devices.

Another of the couple's goals is to apply for and receive nonprofit status, which would allow them to provide their USB identification drives for free.

Since becoming parents, the Leases have become keenly aware of the dangers children face every day, they said.

They recalled an instance when they were on the road and spotted a boy, about 10 years old, doing what they presumed to be hitchhiking. A driver picked him up, and that's when they called the police.

Coming from Houston, one of the largest ports in the world, they know the dangers that abductors pose, and Michael said I-35 is a major corridor for child abduction.

"We really want to be child advocates in general," Michael said. "That's goal No. 1 for Breadcrumbs."

Breadcrumbs Child ID Service, 512-635-0412

www.breadcrumbschildid.com, Twitter: @breadcrumbsid