Baby Lisa Irwin Missing: Parents Offer Reward, Police Find New Leads
Police are investigating two new leads Saturday in the story of missing baby Lisa Irwin while her parents, Deborah Bradley and Jeremy Iwrin, announced they are organizing a monetary reward hoping it will lead to more information.
Baby Lisa's parents claim the 10-month old mysteriously disappeared from their home late Monday night or early Tuesday morning.
A teenage neighbor of Bradley and Irwin was questioned by police on Friday. Forensic experts took a DNA sample, a source told ABC News. Authorities say the neighbor was at the Irwin home the day baby Lisa vanished. The neighbor also allegedly knew the access code to the family's garage.
Authorities are also investigating reports from the west coast of a couple seen with a small child fitting Lisa's description, ABC News reported.
The new leads could be the first real progress since Tuesday. However, police still do not have any suspects.
If we had enough to charge anybody with, we probably would be issuing charges, Police Capt. Steve Young told ABCNews.com this morning.
Brad Garrett, FBI Special agent and ABC News consultant, believes the first lead of the teenage neighbor is more feasible than the second from California.
I can tell you based on experience of working high profile abductions that you get leads from literally all over the world. Is that possible? Of course it's possible. Is it likely? I don't think so, Garrett said. I think this situation is probably going to stay within the Kansas City area.
FBI agents and police searched a landfill a second time on Friday with no results. They also searched the back of the home shared by baby Lisa's parents with metal detectors.
Police contend that Bradley and Irwin have not reached out to them since Thursday although the unhappy parents told Matt Lauer on the Today show Friday that they have not ceased cooperating.
If they say they're willing to continue speaking with detectives, I say great. Our door is open, Young said this morning. Their involvement in the case is the best thing for this case. Our only goal is to find this little girl.
The parents had telephone conversations with the police on Saturday but have not met with them in person.
Like I've said before, the cooperation of the parents is -- they live in the house. They intimately have information of what's been going on. They know the child. They were maybe one of our best bets to help find this child, Young said. [Their failure to cooperate] doesn't help the investigation.
Bradley and Irwin maintain that they are doing everything they can to cooperate.
We continue to ask, answer all the questions the best we can and do everything they tell us to do and so I mean, we've done everything we can do, Bradley said.
Mike Lerette, a family spokesman, said Saturday that baby Lisa's parents are working to establish a trust fund. He also said Bradley and Irwin will be giving fewer media interviews as they want the full attention focused on finding their daughter.
Irwin, an electrician, maintain that he returned from work around 4 a.m. Tuesday to discover baby Lisa missing. Bradley claimed she last checked on her daughter around 10:30 p.m., before falling asleep in her bed with her six year old son.
The parents say they searched frantically for baby Lisa early Tuesday morning, but found only the front door unlocked, a window opened, house lights turned on, and three cell phones missing.
Baby Lisa Irwin, nicknamed pumpkin pie, is described as white, with blond hair and blue eyes, about 30 inches tall and weighing 26-30 pounds. The family says that she was last seen wearing purple shorts and a purple shirt with white kittens on it.
If you have any information on the girl's whereabouts call the TIPS Hotline at (816) 474-TIPS.
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