Did you ever eat one those meals that you asked yourself why you wasted your calorie intake and money on that? The Dr. Phil Show interview today with Lisa Irwin's parents, media representative, but mostly starring their attorney made me feel like I had empty calories. I will never get that hour back.
There was really no new information that we were led to believe forthcoming. That is kind of like going to Wal-Mart and expecting customer service. I knew better.
I'm confused. Family attorney Joe Tacopina told Phil McGraw that the parents have answered questions from the Kansas City Police Department once, twice and three times, and there is no need to talk to them further (yet a conversation was held yesterday). If that is the case, then why answer the same questions on The Dr. Phil Show for the fourth or more time? I am not joining the dog pile, but it makes one or more participants look narcissistic. However, the Dr. Phil staff has been after the family and extended family for some time now to do their show.
Host McGraw asked Lisa's mom, Deborah Bradley, why wait until now to get excited about trying to find their daughter. Her reply was "things needed to quiet down." Really? If my baby was missing, things would not get quiet. I would be raising hell and I would not care what people thought about me. Yes, I might need to be on Zoloft, but I would be stirring the pot.
Others who know more about statement analysis and body language are far more qualified to dissect the performance than I, so I will leave it to them. But it sure did not look good that attorney Tacopina answered most of the questions. It either looks like damage control or an epsisode of "All About Joe."
Why do the interview? As I said in an interview with Jane Velez-Mitchell on HLN today, that is not the way you find a baby unless she is truly abducted and alive. Is she? The Dr. Phil Show can get your baby's face out there but it cannot find the abductor, whether Lisa is alive or not. However, in fairness, Deborah Bradley told Phil McGraw she did not care who took her daughter, merely that she was returned safely, somewhere.
Also on the show was formerly touted as a private investigator, then security consultant, now taking back the title of investigator Bill Stanton. The New York-based licensed "security guard-unarmed" led McGraw to believe that he has been seeking the truth. That sounds good until you know that I have spoken with both Megan Wright (the woman with the cell phone who was the intended recipient of a call from Bradley's phone that night) and potential eyewitness Mike Thompson (the motorcyclist) who both tell me they have never spoken to Stanton or any member of his "team". Both have spoken with Cyndy Short, the Kansas City attorney that was fired off the case the end of October 2011 after her and Tacopina disagreed on their roles.
Yes, I have spent some time with family members on this case. On my own dime, I have tried to find answers and be objective while trying to be true to myself. Initially, I was not asked by anybody to get involved in this case until I started having success in finding answers. To be clear, I can ask questions to find answers on this case with or without being hired. The difference is if I am hired, I would not have as much freedom to talk openly as a reporter/blogger.
As you can tell by my comments here, I do not work for Tacopina or Stanton. I am also not against them. Whatever would find this baby and bring the person to justice, whether it be an abductor or a family member, I am all for. But, folks, we have to talk and not in a sanitized television studio. Let's do the right thing.
Showing posts with label Mike Thompson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mike Thompson. Show all posts
Friday, February 3, 2012
Friday, January 20, 2012
Confident He Saw a Live Baby. Was it Lisa Irwin?
Sometimes in the confusion and rush for information in the early part of a case, things get overlooked. Interviews conducted by reporters are often edited for time or the euphoria of the scoop overshadows the detailed questions that need to be asked. With those things considered, I thought several things that came out early in the disappearance of Lisa Irwin merit reexamination.
I reached out to Mike Thompson for just that reason. If you remember, Mike is one of what I think may be two credible sightings in the overnight hours that Lisa went missing. The first interesting sighting, for me, is the 12:15 report by neighbors on Chelsea Street. The surveillance video at the BP gas station has become what many of us feel as nothing.
When I called Thompson, he was most cooperative. I wanted to meet him at the intersection of NE 48th St. and N Randolph so he could show me the exact locations of what he saw just after 4 a.m. on the morning of October 4, 2011.
We met today. A much colder day than the lower 50's the night Lisa went missing. But that night was cool enough a baby should have had more than just a diaper on.
Mike was getting off of work driving due south on his motorcycle on Hwy 435 taking the off ramp at NE 48th St. in Kansas City, Missouri. As he slowed down to turn west on NE 48th St., he saw a man walking from the south side of 48th, crossing the road, and heading north on N. Randolph. Mike stopped his motorcycle at the intersection. It was very well lit with street lights. By this time a man, carrying a baby was probably around 20 to 30 yards north of the intersection walking on N. Randolph. Mike says he hollered, "Are you okay?" The man turned toward Thompson, a baby clearly visible in his arms, only in a diaper, sitting straight up in his arms and alert. The man responded only with a nod.
Mike says the man had salt and pepper hair; short hair, but long enough for a comb. It was not a buzz cut. He is confident the man not only had a baby in his arms, but a live baby. The baby's body was clearly visible, not mistaken for a bag.
After he got the nonverbal response, Thompson recalls telling the man that he better get a coat or a blanket or something to that effect on the baby. He found it odd. Mike then drove off, westward down NE 48th Street to visit a cousin. The man continued to carry the baby north on N. Randolph.
Mike told his cousin what he saw but never thought much more about it for another week. As awareness of Lisa Irwin's disappearance increased over the week, Mike's cousin, told him he thought he should call the Kansas City police department (KCPD). He did.
Thompson says two KCPD detectives then visited his home some 90 miles from the sighting. Mike describes their reaction to his sighting as interested but not excited. As his observations were made public, the media onslaught began. Good Morning America took him out to dinner to woo him. He laughs and said I would have talked to them anyway.
Mike was shown photos by child advocate Gil Abeyta. In both Abeyta's presentation and the subsequent one by the KCPD when family former attorney Cyndy Short took him back to the KCPD, Thompson pointed to photos of James Brando, the estranged husband of then-next door neighbor Samantha Brando. Samantha has since filed for divorce and James is back living next door.
I met James Brando in early December 2011. At that time, some two months after Lisa's departure, his hair was short, close cropped. It is entirely possible that Thompson was not shown a photo of the man he saw that night and picked out someone who looked the closest.
Thompson says the man was wearing a white shirt and light colored pants. He guessed his height at around 5'7".
The direction that the man was heading, north on N. Randolph, was away from World's of Fun amusement park and certainly not in the direction of two abandoned cemetaries and adjacent areas that have been futilely searched. The direction the man was heading was to a residential area.
Thompson says he has seen photos of Jersey and the man he saw was not him. However, why would the person Thompson saw that night be on foot? It seems like it would have been someone that did not have transportation. By the streets, this location is three miles from the home of Jeremy Irwin and Deborah Bradley, Lisa's parents. If they walked the entire distance, it seems like a long way as well as dangerous to be spotted, if they did not have access to a vehicle.
Mike told me his heart really goes out to the family. He says he knows what he saw that night and wants to help in any way he can. Maybe by sharing this additional information publicly someone else who saw something that night will speak up, or if there is another explanation for a man walking with a baby, that man will step forward.
I reached out to Mike Thompson for just that reason. If you remember, Mike is one of what I think may be two credible sightings in the overnight hours that Lisa went missing. The first interesting sighting, for me, is the 12:15 report by neighbors on Chelsea Street. The surveillance video at the BP gas station has become what many of us feel as nothing.
When I called Thompson, he was most cooperative. I wanted to meet him at the intersection of NE 48th St. and N Randolph so he could show me the exact locations of what he saw just after 4 a.m. on the morning of October 4, 2011.
We met today. A much colder day than the lower 50's the night Lisa went missing. But that night was cool enough a baby should have had more than just a diaper on.
Mike was getting off of work driving due south on his motorcycle on Hwy 435 taking the off ramp at NE 48th St. in Kansas City, Missouri. As he slowed down to turn west on NE 48th St., he saw a man walking from the south side of 48th, crossing the road, and heading north on N. Randolph. Mike stopped his motorcycle at the intersection. It was very well lit with street lights. By this time a man, carrying a baby was probably around 20 to 30 yards north of the intersection walking on N. Randolph. Mike says he hollered, "Are you okay?" The man turned toward Thompson, a baby clearly visible in his arms, only in a diaper, sitting straight up in his arms and alert. The man responded only with a nod.
Mike says the man had salt and pepper hair; short hair, but long enough for a comb. It was not a buzz cut. He is confident the man not only had a baby in his arms, but a live baby. The baby's body was clearly visible, not mistaken for a bag.
After he got the nonverbal response, Thompson recalls telling the man that he better get a coat or a blanket or something to that effect on the baby. He found it odd. Mike then drove off, westward down NE 48th Street to visit a cousin. The man continued to carry the baby north on N. Randolph.
Mike told his cousin what he saw but never thought much more about it for another week. As awareness of Lisa Irwin's disappearance increased over the week, Mike's cousin, told him he thought he should call the Kansas City police department (KCPD). He did.
Thompson says two KCPD detectives then visited his home some 90 miles from the sighting. Mike describes their reaction to his sighting as interested but not excited. As his observations were made public, the media onslaught began. Good Morning America took him out to dinner to woo him. He laughs and said I would have talked to them anyway.
Mike was shown photos by child advocate Gil Abeyta. In both Abeyta's presentation and the subsequent one by the KCPD when family former attorney Cyndy Short took him back to the KCPD, Thompson pointed to photos of James Brando, the estranged husband of then-next door neighbor Samantha Brando. Samantha has since filed for divorce and James is back living next door.
I met James Brando in early December 2011. At that time, some two months after Lisa's departure, his hair was short, close cropped. It is entirely possible that Thompson was not shown a photo of the man he saw that night and picked out someone who looked the closest.
Thompson says the man was wearing a white shirt and light colored pants. He guessed his height at around 5'7".
The direction that the man was heading, north on N. Randolph, was away from World's of Fun amusement park and certainly not in the direction of two abandoned cemetaries and adjacent areas that have been futilely searched. The direction the man was heading was to a residential area.
Thompson says he has seen photos of Jersey and the man he saw was not him. However, why would the person Thompson saw that night be on foot? It seems like it would have been someone that did not have transportation. By the streets, this location is three miles from the home of Jeremy Irwin and Deborah Bradley, Lisa's parents. If they walked the entire distance, it seems like a long way as well as dangerous to be spotted, if they did not have access to a vehicle.
Mike told me his heart really goes out to the family. He says he knows what he saw that night and wants to help in any way he can. Maybe by sharing this additional information publicly someone else who saw something that night will speak up, or if there is another explanation for a man walking with a baby, that man will step forward.
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