April Fool's Day On North Lister

This Tuesday night/Wednesday morning marks six months since anyone reported seeing Baby Lisa Irwin alive.  When she was last seen at her Kansas City home, she was ten months old. If she is alive now, she could look much different than her photos.  That is, if she is alive.

I was at the picket protest today in front of the Bradley/Irwin home on N. Lister to observe.  You would recognize the residence. It is the one that does not have its lawn mowed with a few signs in the windows.
A silver vehicle stopped at a nearby intersection in the street, apparently curiosity seeking during the early minutes of the protest.  When persons in attendance walked that direction, the vehicle left, reportedly snapping photographs of license plates of those in attendance.  It appears it MAY have been the owners of a pro-Deborah Bradley website.

When this occurs, you have to ask why? Were they attempting to intimidate the peaceful protestors by snapping the photos? What do they plan to do with the license plate photos?  Not just anyone can LEGALLY run license plates and, those who can, must have permissible purpose. Once again, those supporting the family's view of what happened that night are making those who do not drink the kool-aid into those that are demonized.

Another protestor believed they saw a relative of Deborah Bradley's drive by and give a finger of disapproval to those in attendance. I hope they were wrong.

It appears there are two "teams".  Those who are for finding out who is responsible for the disappearance of Lisa and those who support Lisa's parents, Deborah Bradley and Jeremy Irwin, and squelching any kind of progress in this case.  Progress would instead be answering those questions posed by law enforcement.

We keep hearing that the parents are cooperating with law enforcement.  Their version of cooperation appears to be feeding information to law enforcement that has them go in any direction except culpability of Lisa's parents.  If I were asked my definition of cooperation with law enforcement, it would be answering any questions law enforcement has.

Deborah and Jeremy, here's a novel idea for a compromise.  Take your local attorney John Picerno with you to the police station and with him by your side, talk to law enforcement separately. That way if they do not ask the softball questions that Dr. Phil asked, you can take the cafeteria-style pick and choose approach to what you answer.  Then, we can line up all of the reporters along the street outside of the police station getting video of you leaving and being whisked away in a black SUV by "consultant" Bill Stanton.

Deborah and Jeremy, you said in the Dr. Phil interview that you were waiting for things to calm down.  Congratulation, they have calmed down.  When I was at the noon start of the picket today, there were less than ten persons walking in front of your house with signs.  I no longer sit at the counter of the Corner Cafe listening people talk about your daughter.  It is hard to get any public interest in it because many of us have, like you, gone on with our lives.  I congratulate you.  If my children were still young and I claimed one was abducted, even after six months, I would be spending a lot of nights in the corner of my home crying, praying, and I would have lost weight due to the inability to even care about my own needs.  I would be spending my days annoying the hell out of both national and local media, as well as law enforcement.  They would be looking in the mirror in the mornings wondering not if, but when, they would be hearing from me each day.  Congratulations. Things have calmed down.

As a former broadcast journalist, if I were Dr. Phil and if Joe Tacopina, your attorney, would have allowed me to (since he was kind enough to grant us the pleasure of your presence), I would have pressed as to why things needed to calm down?  When media attention of your absent baby was at its height, why did you not take full advantage of that, particularly in the local media who wanted to help you so badly?   Yet, you snubbed the local media.

How bad, Deborah and Jeremy, do you want your baby back home?  Your actions continue to speak volumes that you do not believe she is alive to be able to come home.  Tell me this is not true.

Deborah, when we met over the course of several hours, why did I not see you cry as much for Lisa being gone as I did when you bitched about what people online were saying about you?

As to today's picket protest, it does not matter whether the family members were home or not.  What matters is the message.  There are still people out there that do not buy what you are selling Deborah and Jeremy.  You and I can agree that maybe the way the message is sometimes delivered gets the histrionics in the way of the message, but the listen to the message. It is clear.  Your actions are offensive.  Those close to you, who support your latest version of what happened appear to be less interested in finding the truth that they do demonizing anybody who does not believe you.

I have personally spoken with Megan Wright (the former pink haired girl with the cell phone), members of Megan's former household, possible eyewitness Mike Thompson, your friends and family members, and even you Deborah.  I have spoken to those persons that say they have access to both Megan's cell records and Jeremy's business cell records.  While I am a Missouri licensed private investigator, I have done this in the role of a reporter/blogger, since nobody hired me.  I have put information out there in hopes someone who knows something could add to it.

Why has your "team" not spoken to these people?  What is Bill Stanton's role, since it now appears the title of private investigator was something he acquired out of thin air and appears to have no license?  Why has  benefactor Kristi Schiller never transferred the $100k reward to crime stoppers to make the reward real?  Why, Deborah, is your cousin Mike Lerette reportedly "courting" (sorry for the old-fashioned word, but I wanted to use a polite term) your former next door neighbor Samantha Brando who was with you the night anyone reportedly last saw Lisa when she could be considered a potential witness?

I know Jeremy and Deborah will not answer my questions.  But these are very good questions that remained unanswered.  As for Lisa, many of us are sorry.  We are sorry that many persons choose to put on rose colored glasses, rather than work toward making someone pay for whatever happened to you the night you were reportedly last seen.  Named for your deceased grandmother, Lisa, you deserve far better.

Dr. Phil: Much Ado About Nothing

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.