On the eve of the one-month anniversary of baby Lisa Irwin’s disappearance, Kansas City police said they are no longer actively searching for her. KMBC reported the announcement on its live blog last night. The news that the active search is over was coupled with a statement that baby Lisa Irwin’s parents still are not cooperating with the investigation.
This announcement is the latest twist in a standoff between the baby’s parents, Jeremy Irwin and Deborah Bradley, and law enforcement. Bradley and Irwin have refused independent interviews with police since Oct. 8. Since taking charge of the case Oct. 17, the couple’s lead attorney, Joe Tacopina, has declined to make baby Lisa’s parents available for interviews with detectives. He promised to reschedule interviews for Bradley’s and Irwin’s 8- and 5-year-old sons this week, but as of this morning those interviews have not happened.
Local counsel John Picerno joined the Bradley-Irwin legal team Tuesday. Picerno had previously told the Kansas City Star, “My own view is that my clients should never talk to police. I tell them, ‘The prisons are full of people who talked to the police. The police are going to do what they are going to do, with or without your cooperation and your statement.’”
The end of the active police search does not mean the investigation is dead altogether. But after tireless weeks of ground and air searches that covered hundreds of homes, miles of woods, dumpsters, sewers, waterways, landfills, and industrial parks, police have little left to search without fresh leads to give them direction.
Detectives spent two hours with Bradley’s brother Phillip Netz this week, questioning him about his trip to Festival Foods with Bradley on Oct. 3. Netz and Bradley were seen on surveillance video buying a box of wine. Bradley suggested she may have been blackout drunk that night in media interviews, and her brother allegedly confirmed this information for police. But it’s unclear how useful Netz’s alleged confirmation may be. Bradley does not appear intoxicated on the 4:45 p.m. surveillance video, and her brother left her a half-hour after they arrived back at her home. He told police he spent the evening sleeping, according to KSDK. Bradley has said she spent her evening drinking and smoking on the front stoop with neighbor Samantha Brando for about five hours after Netz left. Could Netz really have seen Bradley blackout drunk at 5:30 p.m.?