KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Isabelle Zehnder reporting) -- The past seven weeks in the case of missing Missouri baby Lisa Irwin has been fraught with twists and turns, and around every corner it seems there are more questions than answers.
Things moved very quickly in the case of missing St. Louis baby, Tyler Dasher. His mother, 20-year-old Shelby Dasher, told police he was abducted from his crib Monday night while she slept.
Very fortunately one of the first responding detectives had extensive experience working with abused and neglected children. He realized quickly this was no abduction and police mobilized very quickly.
It wasn’t long before two women walking their dogs came upon Tyler’s body, and that police were not only able to get a confession from his mother, but she also led them to his body. Read: 2 Missouri babies missing, Baby Lisa and Baby Tyler: Cases eerily similar.
Sadly, things have moved much slower in Baby Lisa's case.
Baby Lisa’s parents, Deborah Bradley, 25, and Jeremy Irwin, 29, say their baby was abducted from her crib between the hours of 6:40 p.m. Oct. 3, and 3:45 a.m. Oct. 4. Their inconsistent stories and refusal to cooperate with police have placed them under a cloud of suspicion by both police and the public.
On Oct. 3, Jeremy arrived home at around 2:30 p.m. from his day job and played with his kids. Between the hours of 4 and 5:30 p.m. the couple’s next door neighbors, James and Samantha Brando, returned home from a counseling session and announced they would be separating. Deborah and Samantha are very close friends.
Deborah and her brother left to the store where she was seen purchasing a box of wine and baby products. They returned home shortly, Deborah's brother left, and she prepared dinner for her family, Samantha, and her 4-year-old daughter.
Samantha reports the last time she saw Baby Lisa was 4:30 p.m., and the last time her daughter saw Lisa was 6:30 p.m.
Jeremy left for his first overnight shift at a local Starbucks. Shortly after he left Samantha went to the store to purchase her own alcohol. There was no mention where her 4-year-old daughter was at this time.
Samantha returned and from about 6:30 p.m. to about 10:30 p.m. she and Deborah sat on the front stoop of Deborah’s home. Deborah claims the last time she saw Baby Lisa was at 6:40 p.m.
The women smoked cigarettes, drank, and talked. It was reported that at some point Deborah’s 5-year-old son, Jeremy’s 8-year-old son, and Samantha’s daughter were in the boys’ room watching a video. It was not reported when Samantha’s daughter left the room or if she went home that night.
During the time the ladies sat on the front stoop, a new neighbor named Shane came and visited with them. Deborah claimed she went inside at 10:30 p.m. and went to bed.
At that time Shane and Samantha reportedly went to Samantha’s house where they sat outside talking until about 11:30 p.m. At 10:33 p.m. Samantha received a text from her husband, she texted him back at 10:54 p.m. Samantha says she remembers seeing lights out at Deborah’s. She said she believes whatever happened had to have happened after 11:30 p.m.
Deborah and Jeremy’s New York-based defense attorney, Joe Tacopina, said the original 8:30 p.m. time that Megan Wright’s phone received a call from Deborah’s phone was incorrect, and that the correct time is actually 11:57 p.m.
At 12:15 a.m. a couple living around the corner from the Bradley/Irwin home reported the following morning seeing a man walking with a baby. The man was dressed in dark pants and a white t-shirt, they said, and from what the y could see, the baby was dressed in only a diaper.
At 2:15 a.m. what appears to be a person wearing white was seen on surveillance video emerging from woods behind a gas station about ½ mile from the Bradley/Irwin home.
At 2:30 a.m. a dumpster just blocks away was on fire, and the person who reported the fire said they believe propellants were used to start the fire.
Megan Wright claims she went to the Waffle House restaurant at 3 a.m. because she was irritated with her roommates. She said a man named Dane had recently moved into the home where she was living temporarily. He used her cellphone that evening and she was irritated that he deleted her call log.
Tacopina said cell phone records show someone tried to access Deborah’s voicemail at 3:17 a.m. and 3:22 a.m., and that between those times they tried to access the internet five times.
Police verified Jeremy was at Starbucks until 3:30 a.m. At 3:45 a.m. Jeremy returns home from work. Though he was unable to reach Deborah by phone that night, she said she wasn’t alarmed he hadn’t called to tell her he would be home so late.
When Jeremy returned home he noticed the front door was unlocked, lights were on in the house, and a front window was open. As he walked down the hall he looked into his son’s room and saw his son in his bunk bed. He said Deborah’s son was in bed with her. However, he later said both boys were in bed with Deborah.
When he walked into his bedroom he saw a stray cat asleep at the foot of the bed. He became irritated about the cat and the lights because the family was struggling financially. He realized he had not checked Baby Lisa’s bedroom so went back down the hall and discovered she was missing from her crib.
He told Deborah she was missing and said they panicked. Within moments they were running around the house screaming her name and looking for her. They noticed three cellphones missing from their kitchen counter. Deborah said she was reprogramming the numbers the night before.
Jeremy ran next door to Samantha’s house and, according to one report, demanded to know where Baby Lisa was. Samantha said she didn’t know and wondered why he would ask her that. He then took his work cellphone and called 911.
At 4:10 am. Mike Thompson, who lived 90 minutes from Kansas City, said he was riding his motorcycle and exited off I-530 freeway at 48th Street. At the intersection of 48th and Randolph he said he saw a man walking with a baby. The man was dressed in white pants and a white t-shirt and the baby was dressed in a white t-shirt and diaper, he said. He reported what he saw a week later.
The first reports on Oct. 4 were that Baby Lisa was likely abducted, but that changed very quickly and by Oct. 5 police were already saying the timeframe of the baby’s abduction was an ‘investigative challenge.,’ Their focus quickly shifted to the parents who were questioned late into the night, though they said the parents were still being cooperative at that point. They had little to go on.
On Oct. 5, the couple plead for their daughter's safe return.
By Oct. 6 police said the parents were no longer cooperating. Things went from bad to worse and Baby Lisa’s parents have not agreed to speak with police since Oct. 8, stating they were not comfortable with police questioning and interrogation tactics.
On Oct. 7 a landfill close to the Bradley/Irwin home was searched for a second time. Deborah claimed she took and failed a lie detector test.
Oct. 8 is the last time baby Lisa’s parents met with police. Police were glad the lines of communication seemed to be reopened, but as quickly as they were reopened, they were closed for good.
On Oct. 9 police returned to the home to re-enact a possible abduction scenario.
On Oct. 10 a drainage ditch was searched near the family's home.
Oct. was Lisa's 11-month birthday. Surveillance video of Deborah seen purchasing a box of wine and some baby products on Oct. 3 was released. Local media were subpoenaed for all their interview footage of the parents and friends to police.
On Oct. 12 New York private investigator Bill Stanton says he has been hired by a private benefactor to work with Jeremy and Deborah.
Oct. 14 the anonymous donor offers a $100,000 reward for the return of Lisa.
On Oct. 16 a local homeless handyman, ‘Jersey,’ was arrested on unrelated charges and questioned about Lisa’s disappearance. The National Guard joined in the search for Baby Lisa.
Police continued searching the family’s home, property, surrounding areas, landfills, emptied a lake – all to no avail.
On Oct. 17 Deborah announced on national TV that she had been drinking the night her baby went missing, was drunk, and might have blacked out. She said she feared she’d be arrested, continuing to claim she had nothing to do with the baby’s disappearance.
That day, New York defense attorney Joe Tacopina stepped in and took over. Police continue requesting parents come in to answer questions. Parents continue to refuse.
Oct. 17 is also the day the FBI cadaver dog hit on deceased human decomposition in an area on the parent’s bedroom floor. There was much debate about whether the hit meant anything or not. Some say yes, some say no.
The parent’s attorney, Tacopina, claimed cadaver dog hits mean nothing and that they could have hit on a dirty diaper or toenails.
That brought up the question: Would the FBI spend the money and time training these dogs if they hit on every diaper and toenail in their path? Some say if that were the case the dogs would be worthless. These dogs, trainers say, are very accurate and are trained to detect deceased human decomposition.
On Oct. 18 searches continued with police issues no-fly zones in their search areas. Reports began emerging about Deborah’s inconsistent story.
On Oct. 20 police conducted a 17-hour search of the Bradley/Irwin home.
By this time the finger was pointed at the parents. The public could not understand why these parents would not speak with police when police were saying they had questions only the parents could answer.
They didn’t understand why, when their two sons ages 5 and 8 were in the house at the time of the alleged abduction, these parents would not allow them to be re-interviewed by specialists trained in interviewing young children.
They could not understand why the parents would not allow the boys to provide DNA tests using safe, non-invasive Q-Tip swab testing. Police said they had DNA samples in the lab that they had not been able to rule out, and that it might have belonged to the boys.
On Oct. 21, Mike Thompson appears on national TV claiming he'd seen a man with a baby the night Baby Lisa disappeared.
On Oct. 28 Tacopina announces he’d fired local attorney Cyndy Short. Cyndy’s husband fired back saying he couldn’t fire her because he didn’t hire her. Cyndy stepped down saying she could not work with Tacopina. She said that though she was stepping down, she would continue searching for Baby Lisa as a citizen. Gil Abeyta, who came from Colorado to offer his assistance, said Cyndy was the best thing that happened to the case. He was sad to see her step down, though he understood why she felt she had to.
By Oct. 29 we learned about the mystery call made from Deborah’s cellphone to the cellphone of Megan Wright, someone Deborah claims she never knew.
By Nov. 2 local defense attorney John Picerno was added to the legal team.
On Nov. 5 it was announced that a potential suspect profile was submitted to police by Gil Abeyta's team.
On Nov. 9 Megan Wright said she went into panic mode when she found out the call from Deborah’s phone was made to her phone. Megan was living in a home with several other adults who had access to her phone that night.
Nov. 11 was Baby Lisa’s first birthday. Her brothers were finally interviewed the evening prior. Her parents did not participate in any public celebration for their daughter’s birthday.
On Nov. 13 it was reported that a custody battle was brewing over Baby Lisa’s father, Jeremy Irwin’s 8-year-old son.
On Nov. 15 Jeremy’s 8-year-old son’s mother filed for custody of their son. That same day, Deborah, Jeremy, and their two sons returned to the family home where Lisa was abducted. They had previously said they’d never return to the home. Some questioned if moving back was a strategical move suggested by the family’s legal team.
On Nov. 18 it was reported that handyman ‘Jersey’ bragged about being paid $300 to steal Baby Lisa. The report came from the parents’ local attorney, John Picerno, who alleged that the mother of a teenage girl told him that the girl’s boyfriend said he heard local handyman ‘Jersey’ brag he was paid $300 to steal Baby Lisa.
This created controversy over the fact that the information was third-hand.
On Nov. 19 Local KSHB NBC Action News investigative reporter Russ Ptacek reported that he met up with the teen’s boyfriend. At that point, it was reported Picerno did not have the male teen’s name and had not yet spoken with him. Ptacek spoke with the gentleman who adamantly denied saying Jersey bragged about receiving $300 for Baby Lisa. The teen’s boyfriend said he told someone that Jersey was the kind of person who could do something like that, not that he had actually done it.
Public skepticism
Experts say no one wants to believe a mother could harm her child. However, the public is skeptical since the Casey Anthony case, and others, where either they strongly believe the mother was involved, or it was proven the mother was responsible for their child's abduction and/or death.
Shelby's lies about her baby’s abduction will only add to the public's skepticism and their failure to react in a way that is most beneficial to the missing child - help find the baby instead of focusing on the family drama.
It was not police that found Baby Tyler's body. It was two citizens out walking their dogs. And it was very fortunate that in this case, the baby was quickly found. "We knew if we didn't act quickly we could have another Baby Lisa case on our hands," St. Louis County Police spokesman Rick Eckhardt said during a phone interview Thursday. Read: Cause of MO baby's death: Blunt force trauma; mom charged with 2nd-degree murder.
Volunteer ground searches, coordinated with police, can be beneficial in gathering evidence in a timely manner. Where were the search parties in Baby Lisa's case? They were virtually non-existent other than the few people who performed small searches for the baby.
For more details on the timeline of the day, night, and early morning hours surrounding Baby Lisa's disappearance read: Baby Lisa's disappearance: Tightening the timelline.
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Baby Lisa Irwin was reported missing Oct. 4, 2011, at around 4 a.m. Her parents, Deborah Bradley and Jeremy Irwin, say she was abducted from her crib. Their repeated inconsistent stories and refusal to cooperate with police have placed them under a cloud of suspicion by police and the public.
An anonymous donor has offered a $100,000 reward for the safe return of Baby Lisa or for information that leads to a conviction of her abductor.
Anyone with information about this case is asked to contact the TIP Hotline at (816) 474-TIPS.
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