The Baby Lisa Irwin Investigation: Megan Wright Reacts to Dane

The information continues to trickle out about the events surrounding the disappearance of baby Lisa Irwin.  Yesterday, Russ Ptacek, NBC Action News investigative reporter at KSHB-TV in Kansas City, spoke with the man who was reportedly on Megan Wright’s cell phone much of that tragic evening.

Dane spoke with Ptacek via text message and Dane’s father had a brief conversation with Ptacek face to face.  If you missed that episode, here is the link to that exclusive story: 

http://www.nbcactionnews.com/dpp/news/local_news/investigations/baby-lisa-mystery-phone-man-acknowledges-having-phone-that-received-call-from-irwin-family-cell

In the continuing saga of trying to keep our scorecards up to date, I spoke with Megan Wright this morning and shared Russ’ story with her.  While speaking with me over internet instant messaging (remember her cell phone was confiscated by law enforcement), she discussed her reaction to Dane’s comments.

Rugen:  What do you make of that?  I thought somebody else had said that Dane was on the phone with his girlfriend that night but wasn’t she downstairs with you clipping coupons?

Wright:  He was pissed at me for telling the police that he was the one who I was told had my phone all night. The last time I saw Dane, he glared at me before getting pissy and walking away.

She isn't his girlfriend, although she tried.

Rugen:  Okay.  So who is his girlfriend?

Wright:  From what Dane said to me, she wanted a relationship, he wanted his baby momma back. Or the woman he was with before, the girl with the restraining order on him.

Rugen:  So Dane had a baby with the woman who filed the restraining order against him?

Wright:  I don’t think she was the mother of his child, but she had a child the same age that they raised together, while they were together, as I understood it.  And Dane straight lied to Russ (Ptacek).

Rugen:  The same age as whom?  Which part of what Dane said was lies?

Wright:  He used my phone to call his mom to try to get his phone turned back on, she told him to act like a grown up and get it done himself. I witnessed the conversation.; the same age as Dane's daughter.

Rugen:  What time did he call his mom roughly?

Wright:  Hell if I know, that boy had my phone more than I did.

Rugen:  Any idea if it was early in the evening or after midnight or...?

Wright:  A different day.  TOTALLY DIFFERENT DAY.

Rugen:  So, you are saying that he lied when he told Russ Ptacek he was trying to get his service on that night and that is not true?

Wright:  It was not that night. He called his mother on a totally different day. Mid-morning, I'm not sure the date.

Rugen:  Before or after Baby Lisa's disappearance?

Wright:  After, if I remember correctly.

Rugen:  One of your former roommates tell me that the day after the disappearance the FBI called your cell, Dane answered, and gave them a fake name? Do you know anything about that?

Wright:  Yes. Dane mentioned it to me, and when I was downtown for my interrogation on the 8^th, the detectives lied at first, saying that there was no phone call.  Then, less than 5 hours later, told me that it was true. Apparently, they talked for over 20 minutes, Dane gave them a fake name and thought the whole thing was a joke.

Rugen:  Did Dane ever go downtown to talk to law enforcement?

Wright:  Not that I was ever aware of, but I haven't talked to him since the day law enforcement talked to him in the yard. He left late that night, and I stayed away from him because he was constantly glaring at me.

Rugen:  And what day was that.

Wright:  On the second or third time the police came to the house. Close to the (October)12th or 14^th, if I had to ball park it.

Rugen:  Okay. Can I ask you a few things about Jersey? When did you all break up again? I'm unclear.

Wright:  About a week and a half before Lisa went missing.

Rugen:  Okay, so when is the last time you saw Jersey or heard from him? Anytime after that?  A next door neighbor, said Jersey came over once, got mad and left on a bicycle yelling at you and fell off the bike. 

Wright:  That was the day we broke up. I chased him out of the house and he jumped on his bike and fell on his face in the middle of the street, not even 10 feet from the driveway. I laughed my ass off. I giggled and screamed "karma is a bitch, and it didn't even take that long this time" as he got back on his bike and left.

 

Rugen:  And you did not hear from him or see him after that?

Wright:  Like I told you before, he walked up the street about a week later. People in the house let him in. I went to my room (upstairs at the time) and locked myself in. Jersey ended up getting into a fight with my buddy from down the street. Jersey was forced to leave, and I came out of my room. Jersey had tried talking to me, but I could see that he was drunk and belligerent and didn't want to deal with him. That's why I locked myself in.

Rugen:  Then he tried to see you a few days after Lisa disappeared, arriving in what he claimed was a stolen minivan driving it in the yard, but your roommates at the time chased him away?

Wright:  From what I was told, he pulled up into the yard, almost hitting the porch, and no one recognized Jersey at first. Then a friend of mine realized who it was, told a former roommate, and they came downstairs to let me know that Jersey was there. I ran upstairs only to find out that he had been chased away before I got there.

Rugen:  Do you know if Jersey knows Dane or if they have ever met?

Wright:  To my knowledge, they never met while Jersey and I were together, or at the house I was living at, or since then. But I don't know everything about either of them.

Rugen:  Did Jersey have a friendship with anybody else who would have been at the house that night besides you?

Wright:  Not that I was aware of. Jersey had just met the home owners when he had come to visit me from the release center.

Rugen:  Release center?

Wright:  The halfway house on Mulberry street.

Rugen:  What was he there for?

Wright:  He was supposed to be there (not sure the charge) before he met me. He left one day and ended up getting arrested for absconding, and was taken back about three months into our relationship.

Rugen:  And he met you when again?

Wright:  I met Jersey toward the end of March. We started dating the beginning of April.

Rugen:  Okay. And did he live for a period of time in the abandoned house that had the well behind it that authorities searched?

Wright:  Not while we were together; possibly after we broke up.

Rugen:  You have seen and heard so much these last few weeks, any gut instinct or guess as to what you think could have happened that night?

Wright:  I'm still trying not to speculate. I want to stick to just facts. I have my ideas, but I'm keeping them to myself.

Rugen:  Do those ideas involve Jersey?  Any gut feeling that Dane may have just been the unlucky guy using your phone that night when someone tried to call your number

?

Wright:  I'd rather not hint at my speculations. I won't even tell the guy I’m seeing now!

Rugen:  Has anybody from the Bradley/Irwin family, Stanton, or Tacopina, visited with you about what you know?

Wright:  If I had any information, believe me, I'd put it on blast. I'm not in this for money. Just wanting to do anything and everything in my power to help.

Nope.  Short and Short.  That's about it

.

Rugen:  Cyndy Short, or a detective for them?

Wright:  Cyndy Short and her sister Mary K.

Rugen:  Is her sister Mary an attorney?

Wright:  I spoke with Mary K many times, and she brought her sister, Cyndy the last time I spoke with her in person.

Rugen:  When was that?

Wright:  I'm not sure. I'll check her business card. Be right back…

"Mary K. Poirier. Mitigation Specialist. The McCallister Law Firm, P.C."

That was a few days before moving out of the house.

Rugen:  Are you sure about the date on that? Because wasn't Cyndy Short no longer representing the family a few weeks before you moved out?  Didn’t you move out last week?

Wright:  Yes, they were still working, even though they were not on the investigation any more.

Rugen:  Did they say why?

Wright:  It was the right thing to do.

Rugen:  And remind me again when you moved out of that house?

Wright:  Just a second, I'll look up the date.

Sunday, the 6th this month.  That evening. I stayed with a friend until Thursday, when I moved to Springfield.

Rugen:  By the way, do you know if Jersey knows or ever met James Brando?

Wright:  Not that he ever mentioned.