Lisa Irwin Case: Do You See What I See?

Saturday was a cold, wet day here in Kansas City.  Over 20 cars pulled in the parking lot at the former Sam's Town Casino with hope; hope of bringing closure to the Lisa Irwin case while having an overriding hope that they wouldn't find her....hope that she is still alive.

I arrived around 10 a.m. and stayed about 40 minutes because I had a commitment I could not get out of.  I spoke to several people who were bundled up and checked in at a canopy with a few volunteers, as we tried to keep the canopy from blowing away.

Every person I spoke to that was there told me they did not believe that Texas woman who suggested this search as a result of a what she labeled a psychic vision.  However, like me, their attitude was "what the heck".  What harm does it do to try yet another avenue no matter how it was suggested?  Personally, as I told a reporter for Examiner.com yesterday, I think Google and Google Earth are a psychic's best friend.

We have heard that law enforcement officials sometimes use psychics in missing person cases.  Why?  Is it because of public pressure?  Is it because they don't have to show them their files unlike willing profilers who would lend a hand?

I am not going to be one of those who speak poorly of the FBI or the KCPD.  I have said time and again that I have the utmost respect for them.  After all, we do not know nor should we know all of the nuances of the case and the information they have gathered from witnesses or searches.  There is no reason they should play their hand while they seek a suspect in whatever happened.  If possible, however, perhaps the release of some non-compromising tips would prompt others to consider they may have saw a piece of that puzzle that night and be able to add to it.

Why not ask the good folks at Texas Equine Search to assist?  Again, like the "vision", what is the harm other than cost?

On another note, I have reached out to the man that was using Megan Wright's cell phone the night Lisa disappeared; the phone that someone using Deborah Bradley's phone attempted to call.  I have texted Dane's new cell number and have not yet received a response.  He could very easily minimize the continuance of his name being brought up in this whole affair if we knew the person(s) he was speaking with off and on that night before reportedly crashing on the couch around 5 a.m.  Maybe he refuses to reply since it was me bringing another of Megan's temporary roommates to a Fox4KC interview where his name was then first inserted into the dialogue.

I see a missing baby case that's visibility is rapidly evaporating.  The networks have all packed up and left town.  The local TV stations no longer have it as their lead story. And, rightfully so.  Having been in the news business, I understand that when there is nothing new happening, there is no news to report.

I see a curious person whose name has been brought up into this case that may not be out of jail for a while.  John "Jersey" Tanko has a court date on unrelated charges for April 8, 2012.  He is in Clay County jail on $10k bond and is being represented by a public defender.  Jersey may very well have answers to this case that he refuses to share with law enforcement.  On the other hand, he may be another unlucky person who was an easy scapegoat for lawyers looking to pin public perception of culpability on anybody but their clients.

My office is less than 10 miles from the crime scene.  I have visited with and traded speculation off camera with local and network reporters for weeks about this case.  Even having followed this case at ground zero, there are far too many variables to pinpoint blame in any one direction definitively.  There continue to be too many unanswered questions, so that is why so many good-hearted people got their feet wet Saturday and decided "let's just look".  They would rather be wrong about looking than wonder if they missed an opportunity to do the right thing for an innocent baby who did not ask for any of this.

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.