Missing Baby Lisa: Police Stage 'Break In" at Family's Home

Investigators have staged a re-creation of what could have been the kidnapping.

ByABC News
October 10, 2011, 4:40 AM

Oct. 10, 2011— -- Nearly a week since the mysterious disappearance of 10-month-old Missouri baby Lisa Irwin investigators searching for new clues have staged an unusual recreation of what could have been the kidnapping.

Detectives and FBI agents showed up on Sunday at the Kansas City, Mo., home of the missing girl's parents Jeremy Irwin and Deborah Bradley to restage what may have happened on the night of October 3 when baby Lisa went missing.

Pretending to be intruders, investigators climbed through a window in order to gain access to Irwin and Bradley's home. The "break-in" was no easy task, as the detectives climbing through the window needed to be boosted in, and afterwards the window slammed down on the detective's legs.

The staged break-in was undergone by investigators to test the story told by Lisa's parents -- that a kidnapper entered their home and snatched Lisa away while Jeremy Irwin was out working an overnight shift and Bradley was sleeping. Police believe that the re-enactment may help validate or discredit the parents' story.

On Tuesday, Jeremy Irwin said he came home from working an overnight shift as an electrician and found his daughter's crib empty, the front door to the house unlocked, a window open and the family's three cell phones gone.

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

In the scenario re-created by investigators, the intruder could have come in through the window -- which had been tampered with -- then would have walked through the kitchen, through another doorway and toward the nursery.

Police, however, have been suspicious of the parents' story; Bradley said that police accused her of having done something to her child, and also accused her of failing a polygraph test. Police said they could not comment on this claim, but said Bradley is "free to say whatever she wants."

The relationship between police and the parents soured last week when police said the couple had stopped cooperating -- but by Saturday Jeremy and Deborah were again meeting with investigators.

Police have said that in the week since baby Lisa disappeared over 250 tips have come in -- including one about a couple in California seen with a baby that closely resembled Lisa, and another about a teenage neighbor who knew the family's garage access code.

"We're chasing down the ones we can but still unfortunately nothing has really come from them," said Capt. Steve Young of the Kansas City Police Department.

So far police have only hit dead ends in their investigations, but friends and family have faith Lisa will be found alive. They spread the word Sunday by passing out fliers to NASCAR fans, and through prayer. People from the community gathered Saturday night to attend a candlelight vigil for baby Lisa.

"We are so heartbroken for this little girl. We just hope and pray that wherever she is, she's safe and if she can come home that she does," Kathy Tauer, who travelled to the vigil with her husband, told ABC News.

ABC News' Dan Harris, Daria Albinger, Michael S. James and Leezel Tanglao contributed to this report.