Missing Baby Lisa: Family Attorney Questions 'Massive, Public' Search

Oct. 24, 2011 — -- An attorney for the family of missing 11-month-old Lisa Irwin questioned the motivations behind what she called the "enormous, massive, public" search of the family's Missouri home.

"It almost seemed as if that was more for the public's benefit than for the benefit of doing a thorough search of this house," attorney Cyndy Short told "Good Morning America."

"It was interesting to watch the activity outside of this house when they were conducting the search. There were so many crime scene people that were seen outside, and seen coming in and out of this house…carrying a rolled up rug," Short said. "It really gave the impression that there was a lot going to be removed from this house."

This is the second time that legal representatives for parents Deborah Bradley and Jeremy Irwin have criticized the Kansas City Police Department's investigation into the Lisa's disappearance.

Joe Tacopina, the high-profile New York defense attorney representing the parents, expressed a desire for a more "boots on the ground" approach last week and said he wished certain things would have been done earlier.

The Kansas City Police Department could not be reached for comment Monday morning.

Short gave "Good Morning America" an exclusive tour of the house after the police search.

According to an affidavit regarding the search, a cadaver dog searching for evidence "indicated a positive 'hit' for the scent of a deceased human" next to her mother's bed. Questions have arisen about the accuracy of of the scent dogs.

Short pointed out in her walk-through of the house that the carpeting in Deborah Bradley and Jeremy Irwin's room was intact.

Baby Lisa Probe Criticized Again By Parents Legal Team

"The number one thing in walking through this room and having an opportunity to look at it that stood out to me, is that the carpet has not been collected. There are no swatches of the carpet taken out," Short said. "There's no evidence of where in the world this dog was supposed to have alerted."

Video footage had previously showed investigators carrying a rolled up carpet out of the home, but Short said the carpet had been sitting in the garage and while searchers did look at it, they did not ultimately take it with them from the house.

Short also pointed out that there were very few places around the house where fingerprint powder indicated investigators had collected fingerprints.

"It would seem to me that there would be attempts to lift prints from a variety of surfaces in this house because you're looking for unknown prints—prints that don't belong here. So if you only check [at the door] and at the light switch, it would seem you would miss the potential of unknown prints," Short said.

The walk-through also revealed that police had left the box of wine in the kitchen that Bradley has admitted to drinking from the night Lisa disappeared. The wine bag was removed from the box and Short believed police may have emptied the remaining wine in an attempt to measure how much Bradley had consumed.

The six items removed from the home were a multicolored comforter, purple shorts, a Disney character shirt, a glow worm toy, a Cars-themed blanket, rolls of tape and a tape dispenser.

"The search itself lasted 17 hours. That's a very long time, and would suggest a very thorough search. But now having been in the house and seen how many items they took out of the house, it's frankly surprising," Short said.

Though suspicions have surrounded Lisa's parents, surveillance video footage obtained by ABC News over the weekend also fueled speculation that the toddler was snatched from her crib by a stranger.

Surveillance video from a gas station obtained over the weekend has raised questions about grainy footage of a figure in white emerging from the woods not far from the Irwin home, which could support eyewitness accounts of a man carrying a baby late at night around the time Lisa disappeared.

As the search for Lisa enters its fourth week with no suspects and no trace of the little girl, her parents made an appearance Sunday night at a vigil outside the family's home. They did not speak, but Bradley sobbed and trembled as Irwin held his arms around her.

Lisa has been missing since the night of Oct. 3 and an anonymous benefactor is offering a $100,000 reward for Baby Lisa's safe return or the conviction of whoever took the little girl.