Missing Baby Lisa's Parents Make Emotional Plea for Her Return
Ten-month-old Lisa Irwin disappeared from her Kansasa City crib Monday night.
Oct. 5, 2011 -- The mother of 10-month-old Lisa Irwin clutched a Barney stuffed animal today and pleaded for the life of her missing girl.
"We just want our baby back," said Lisa's mother, Deborah Brandley through sobs and tears while hugging the Barney plush toy. "Please. Bring her home. Our two other boys are waiting for her."
The infant disappeared from her crib in the couples home in Kansas City, Mo., after being put to bed by her mother.
"On Monday night or Tuesday morning, our daughter Lisa was taken from our home and we just urge anyone with any information as to where she is or who she's with to please call the tip hotline or the police," said Lisa's father Jeremy Irwin in a trembling voice. "Anything, even the smallest bit of information, could help lead to her return."
"Anybody that might have her, they can drop her off anyplace safe, fire station, hospital church, no questions asked," Irwin said.
The parents, who are engaged to be married, did not stay in their home last night, according to ABC's Kansas City affiliate KMBC. They returned to their house around noon today to pick up some baggage, but they are staying at an undisclosed location.
Baby Lisa's Parents Plead for Her Return
They were interrogated by police late into Tuesday night, but police said they are not suspects.
"The truth is that the family...[has been] cooperative since the get-go," Police Capt. Steve Young said. "That being said, everything is still on the table. We frankly don't have anything to justify elimination [of any possible scenario]."
Police are baffled by the case and have admitted that they have "next to nothing to go on."
At the news conference, Police Capt. Steve Young said police have received 47 tips and over 300 law enforcement officials have been involved. However, the massive police and FBI search has come up empty so far. There are no suspects and no leads, police said.
"Everything we've thought of doing, we've done two or three times at this point," Young said. "With any investigation, the longer time goes on without a conclusion, the more difficult it becomes. But that doesn't mean we're letting up. We're doing everything we can possibly think of."
Police cancelled the Amber Alert Tuesday night on what they call a technicality. Authorities say Amber Alerts are most useful in the hours following a disappearance when a suspect may be attempting to flee with or harm a child. It is a way of immediately alerting the public to increase vigilance.
Once 12 hours have passed, Amber Alerts are often called off as searches continue. Kansas City police said that cancelling the Amber Alert does not change the nature of the search.
"Lisa Irwin is still considered a missing/endangered juvenile," police Sgt. Stacey Graves said in a news release.
Lisa was last seen at 10:30 p.m. on Monday asleep in her crib at her parents' home. When her father arrived home at 4 a.m. from an overnight shift as an electrician, he discovered that Lisa was missing. The parents immediately called police.
While police initially fixated on a window and screen in the bedroom that appeared to have been tampered with and may have been where a kidnapper entered and exited, they are not certain that this was the case.
Massive Search for Baby Lisa
The massive search has included canines, mounted patrol, a fugitive unit, and a narcotics and vice unit. Today, FBI agents in white hazmat outfits entered the house to retrieve scent evidence for search canines.
Young confirmed that a neighbor said they saw someone walking down the street at night with a baby in a diaper, but the information hasn't led to any new developments.
"Unfortunately it hasn't … We followed that and several other leads, but nothing has turned into any hard info," Young told "GMA. "We're not sure the only thing were certain of is that there's a 10-month-old that's not at home where she should be."
Investigators have gone through the neighborhood multiple times knocking on doors, interviewing neighbors and searching homes. Canines have searched a wooded area behind the house several times. Investigators also spoke to two other children who were in the house at the time, but have not released any information about the conversations.
"We are interviewing family and friends just to eliminate everyone's that close to the family as suspects," Snapp said. He described the family's neighborhood as a "middle class, very quiet neighborhood."
Police are asking for the community's help in finding the little girl.
"We have no eyewitnesses and a six-hour time frame when the child could have been abducted," Officer Darin Snapp said. "We need any help at all."
Lisa has blue eyes, blonde hair, is 30 inches long and weighs between 26 and 30 pounds. She was last seen wearing purple shorts and a purple shirt with white kittens on it. She has two bottom teeth, a small bug bite under her left ear and a beauty mark on her right outer thigh. She also has a cold with a cough.
"We are pleading that if anyone saw anything, to contact us," Snapp said. "It might be that small piece [of information] that puts everything together."