Missing Baby Lisa Irwin: Eyewitnesses Revealed, Cadaver Dog Detects Scent

Missing Baby Lisa Irwin: Eyewitnesses Revealed, Cadaver Dog Detects Scent



By Julia Greenberg | October 21, 2011 4:08 PM EDT

While police continue to investigate parents, Deborah Bradley and Jeremy Irwin, ABC News reports Friday that three eyewitnesses claim to have seen a baby matching Lisa Irwin's description on the night of her disappearance.

(Photo: Reuters / Ho New)
While police continue to investigate parents, Deborah Bradley and Jeremy Irwin, ABC News reports Friday that three eyewitnesses claim to have seen a baby matching Lisa Irwin's description on the night of her disappearance. Mike Thompson told ABC that he saw a man in a t-shirt at 4 a.m. carrying a baby wearing a diaper on the night baby Lisa went missing. The police affidavit also revealed that "an FBI cadaver... dog indicated a positive 'hit' for the scent of a deceased human in an area of the floor of Bradley's bedroom near the bed."

While police continue to investigate parents, Deborah Bradley and Jeremy Irwin, ABC News reports Friday that three eyewitnesses claim to have seen a baby matching Lisa Irwin's description on the night of her disappearance. Mike Thompson told ABC that he saw a man in a t-shirt at 4 a.m. carrying a baby wearing a diaper on the night baby Lisa went missing. The police affidavit also revealed that "an FBI cadaver... dog indicated a positive 'hit' for the scent of a deceased human in an area of the floor of Bradley's bedroom near the bed."



Mike Thompson told ABC that he saw a man in a T-shirt at 4 a.m. carrying a baby wearing a diaper on the night baby Lisa went missing. Thompson said he considered giving the man -- who appeared to look between 30 and 40 years old -- and baby a ride, but could not because he was on a motorcycle. Thompson also said that he waited a week before telling police because he did not immediately make a connection between his sighting and baby Lisa's disappearance.

An unnamed couple also claims they saw the same image, a man walking with a baby in a diaper, down the street from the Bradley-Irwin home a few hours before Thompson spotted the pair.

"It was shocking because I couldn't imagine anybody outside walking with their baby in the cold like that with no clothes on," the woman told ABC News.



The couple reported this incident to the police on Oct. 4 and the female witness says police have interviewed her four times.

Despite the eyewitnesses' reports, authorities seem to have kept their focus on baby Lisa's parents and their home in Kansas City. After obtaining a warrant to prevent Bradley and Irwin from returning to their home until police completed their investigation, authorities scoured it looking for evidence in her disappearance on Oct. 17.

KMBC News reports that court documents released Friday indicate that a "multicolor comforter, purple shorts, a Disney character shirt, a Glo Worm toy and a "Cars"-themed blanket, among other items, were removed from the home to be kept as evidence."

The police affidavit also revealed that "an FBI cadaver dog was brought into the residence upon consent of [Jeremy] Irwin and Bradley. The cadaver dog indicated a positive 'hit' for the scent of a deceased human in an area of the floor of Bradley's bedroom near the bed."

"Investigative interviews with the people involved revealed conflicting information for clear direction in the investigation," the affidavit supporting the warrant also indicated. "[Deborah] Bradley made the statement she did not initially look for her baby behind the house because she 'was afraid of what she might find.'"

Shirley Pfaff, who describes herself as Bradley's former best friend from college, told The Huffington Post that this comes as no surprise.

"She was my friend at one time and I loved to be around her, but when I [saw] the other side of her and got to know the true Debbie, I couldn't even believe I trusted her with anything," Pfaff said.

Bradley has been the focus of heavy attention by police and media alike. She admitted to drinking heavily on the night Lisa disappeared and says she may have even "blacked out." She claims she did not see the baby after putting her to bed around 6:40 p.m, though she initially told the police she had put her daughter to sleep around 10:30 p.m.

Bradley was also seen on security footage of a local supermarket shopping for boxed wine, baby wipes and baby food with a mysterious man, who was later confirmed as her brother, hours prior to baby Lisa's disappearance.

Baby Lisa's parents claim the 11-month old mysteriously disappeared from their home late Monday night or early Tuesday morning over a week ago. Irwin, an electrician, maintains that he returned from work around 4 a.m. Tuesday to discover baby Lisa missing. 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.

Police say they still have no leads or major suspects in the missing baby Lisa case.