Police to again search Mo. home of missing baby
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Investigators on Wednesday launched another search of the Kansas City home of a family who say their baby was abducted two weeks ago, but this time with a warrant that bars the parents from immediately returning.
Shortly after sunrise, FBI crime scene trucks and trailers pulled up outside the house and a phalanx of FBI agents and Kansas City police officers gathered at the property. Officers use yellow tape to cordon off about a half block perimeter around the house, pushing back the ever-present abundance of reporters and media trucks packing the street.
“We have a warrant for the house,” city police spokesman Capt. Steve Young told The Associated Press. He did not explain why a warrant was necessary. There was no indication that the family has tried to block investigators’ access to their home, which has already been scoured by FBI agents with dogs.
FBI spokeswoman Bridget Patton said the search is not based on any sort of tip. Patton said they were restricting media access because agents are using a procedure involving dogs that they don’t want taped. She declined to elaborate.
Lisa Irwin was 10 months old on Oct. 4 when her parents reported her missing. Her father, Jeremy Irwin, said he returned home from a late shift to discover the lights on, a window tampered with, the front door unlocked and Lisa gone. The baby’s mother, Deborah Bradley, and Lisa’s two older brothers had been asleep elsewhere in the house. Bradley has admitted she drank heavily that night and may have blacked out.
The parents insist their baby was snatched by an intruder.
Police, FBI agents, officers from area law enforcement agencies and the Missouri National Guard, have searched the family’s home, neighborhood, nearby wooded areas, a landfill and abandoned homes. Police have refused to discuss any evidence gathered in the searches, saying only that they remain without a suspect.
Young said all previous searches of the house have been conducted with the family’s consent. The warrant prevents anyone except those involved in the investigation from entering, meaning family members — who have returned home from time to time to collect clothes and other belongings — may not go back inside until the search is over.
The family’s lawyer, Joe Tacopina, told AP early Wednesday that he had not heard about the warrant except through media reports.
“I don’t know why a warrant is needed. They can go in and out any time,” Tacopina said. “They have had unfettered access because we want answers.”
He said the family hasn’t been back to the house in the past couple of days because they don’t want to interfere with the investigation.
On Tuesday, Young said Bradley and Jeremy Irwin had not sat down face-to-face with investigators since Oct. 8, and had only responded to questions seeking clarification on tips.
It’s been 10 days since the couple have answered police questions on “things that we believe only they would know about,” he said.
Much attention has focused on a rash of recent TV interviews the parents have given in which Bradley admitted she had consumed several glasses of wine the night that Lisa disappeared. She also told NBC that she did not see the baby after putting her to bed at about 6:40 p.m. — roughly four hours earlier than the time she originally gave police. She didn’t explain the difference.
Tacopina has said Bradley’s candid words indicate the parents have nothing to hide.
Bradley has said she expects to be arrested in her baby’s disappearance.