Missing Baby Lisa: Police, Family at Odds Over Whether Parents Are Still Cooperating

Oct. 6, 2011 — -- Police tonight said the parents of 10-month-old Lisa Irwin, missing since Monday, have ended their cooperation with authorities -- but the baby's family later disputed the claim.

"We have never stopped cooperating with the police," said the baby's aunt, Ashley Irwin. "We have been cooperating since day one and we continue to assist the police with the investigation."

That conflicted with what Kansas City, Mo., police Capt. Steve Young said just hours earlier.

"The mother and father no longer want to talk to detectives," Young said. "From an investigative standpoint, we enjoyed their cooperation. So far, [it] has been very beneficial to the case. But yeah, you can imagine it doesn't help the case" that the cooperation has ended.

The parents, Deborah Bradley and Jeremy Irwin, brother of Ashley Irwin, still are not considered suspects, Young said.

"The investigation is directed and led by hard information," Young added. "Again, we don't have any suspects. If we had enough to charge anybody with, we probably would be issuing charges."

Ashley Irwin said her brother and Bradley would release a new statement on the case on Friday.

The dispute over whether Bradley and Irwin were cooperating came after ABC News learned the couple was trying to make lists of possible suspects for police by thinking about all of the people they cross paths with on a daily basis. That meant they were listing every grocer, utility worker who may have been in the house, former friend, classmate, neighbor or acquaintances who may have wanted a child.

They were trying to remember if anyone every took particular interest in their little girl who was last seen by Bradley on Monday night when she put Lisa to bed at the family home.

Little by little, details have emerged about the mysterious events of Monday night.

The parents revealed this morning that their cell phones were missing when they frantically tried to call 911 after discovering that their "Pumpkin Pie" was not in her crib.

Lisa's visibly shaken father also told reporters about the "unusual" state he found his home in Monday night.

"The windows were open and lights were on and she was nowhere to be found," Irwin told "Good Morning America" today. "We've been going over everything in our minds. We just don't have any idea."

Irwin said that his front door was unlocked when he returned home from work as an electrician at 4 a.m. to find his daughter missing.

"They took her and took all of our phones so we couldn't call anybody," Irwin said, according to ABC News' Kansas City affiliate KMBC.

The Search for Baby Lisa

Bradley said that she had left three cell phones on the kitchen counter, where she had been re-programming the numbers.

"We were running around the house and were screaming for [Lisa] and she was nowhere," Bradley said. "Then I said, 'Call 911, call 911.' But Jeremy couldn't find the cell phones. They were gone."

She also described to "Good Morning America" how two other children from previous relationships who live in the house have been handling the situation.

"They were crying and asking where [Lisa] was," Bradley said through tears. "My 8-year-old, who's usually really strong, he kind of fell apart. We call her Pumpkin Pie and he said, 'Where's Pumpkin Pie, Mom?' And I couldn't tell him."

"Please. She has a family who loves her very much," Bradley cried. "Take her somewhere safe. Take her to a church, a hospital, a fire department. Just drop her off with somebody and then leave, no questions asked. We just want our baby back."

Bradley described the last time she saw her daughter and how she put her to sleep after changing her and putting her in fresh clothes. She said she put her daughter in her crib with her pacifier, blanket, glow worm toy and a Barney stuffed animal she loves to sleep with.

"I gave her her bottle and put her to sleep, and that was when we last saw her," Bradley said.

The case has baffled police, who still have no hard leads and no suspects, Young told ABCNews.com this morning.

"There's nothing new to talk about," Young said at the time.

Kansas City police and FBI agents continued their investigation today with shoulder-to-shoulder searches through the dense woods behind the family's home. More than 300 law officers have been using helicopters, all-terrain vehicles and door-to-door interviews in the hunt for Lisa.

"We are interviewing family and friends just to eliminate everyone that's close to the family as suspects," Officer Darin Snapp said.

Ernie Allen of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children said that infant abduction cases are relatively rare. There have been 278 documented cases in which newborns or infants have been abducted since 1983.