Where Is Baby Lisa? New Show Spotlights Disappearance

On October 3, 2011, a 10-month-old baby girl was snatched from her crib in the middle of the night, in a suburban area of Kansas City, Missouri. Her parents, still desperate for answers, are hoping a new investigative show will bring their daughter back in spotlight, in hopes of locating her.

People reports that Deborah Bradley and Jeremy Irwin have been searching for their daughter, Lisa, known as “Baby Lisa,” for five years. They’ve watched their little girl grow, but only through age-progression software provided by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

“Watching your child grow up through technology is never something a parent should ever have to go through,” said Bradley. “But if that’s all we’ve got right now, we’ll take that over nothing. We want to see her in person, and we want to take pictures of her ourselves.”

Who Took Baby Lisa?

Since her disappearance, numerous speculations and theories surfaced about the person responsible for taking Lisa. Shortly after Baby Lisa vanished, authorities began treating Bradley as a person of interest, since she was the last person to see the little girl.

Huffington Post reports that Bradley said she was drinking wine on the night the baby disappeared, and admitted that she couldn’t remember the exact amount she consumed. Her story also began to change. She initially told police she checked on the baby around 10:40 p.m., shortly before she went to sleep. Later, she admitted she may not have checked on her at all after 6:40 p.m.

According to Bradley, who claimed she was willing to do anything to help find her daughter, the FBI told her she failed a voluntary, police-administered lie detector. It was later alleged that she actually passed the test.

“They said that I failed when they asked me where she was (and) if I knew where she was.”

Bradley said detectives became so aggressive with her that she finally asked for an attorney. She felt that authorities were wasting their time by keeping their focus on her, while her baby was out there somewhere.

Gone Without a Trace: Have You Seen Baby Lisa Irwin? https://t.co/0x9KwNfiit @people #PeopleMagazineInvestigates pic.twitter.com/en54wEe8fn

— Investigation Discovery (@DiscoveryID) November 13, 2016

“I had absolutely nothing to do with it. It’s a waste of time, money, energy and focus and people should be looking for [Lisa].”

Detectives, however, continued to search the Irwin home, including an all-day aggressive search of the interior of the home and the backyard. They also sent in a cadaver dog, who circled around and sniffed an area beside Bradley’s bed. Baby Lisa’s crib was in another room, yet the dog continued to focus on Bradley and Irwin’s room. Despite their efforts, there was still not enough evidence to suggest that Bradley was involved in her daughter’s disappearance.

A break came in when witnesses described a bald man carrying a baby in the area on the night when Baby Lisa disappeared. Detectives matched the possible suspect to a man named John “Jersey” Tanko, who allegedly used Bradley’s stolen cellphone to call a former girlfriend. Tanko’s ex-girlfriend said she didn’t know Bradley or Irwin, but that Tanko may have known them, since he was a handyman in the area.

Yet, Tanko had an alibi for October 3, 2011, and while some witnesses said he fit the description of the man they saw that night, others weren’t so sure when they looked at photos of him. Eventually, police cleared him as a suspect, although many still think he was involved, after he allegedly told a friend that he was paid $300 to kidnap the baby.

#PapersReportsReview Family marks five years since Baby Lisa disappeared: Deborah Bradley and Jer… https://t.co/l75GjYV4GU via @KCStar

— Dan Oluseyi (@DanOluseyi) October 4, 2016

Reward Offered For Baby Lisa’s Return

Without any new leads and desperate for answers, Baby Lisa’s family is offering a $100,00 reward for her safe return. According to Irwin, there will be no questions asked. He just wants his daughter back.

“We have no evidence, no leads and no idea where she is. We need everyone’s help to keep an eye out for her and bring her home as she could be anywhere. There is a $100,000 reward for her safe return. The offer of dropping her off somewhere safe, no questions asked, is still applicable.”

People Magazine Investigates will be running an episode about Baby Lisa on Monday night, at 10 p.m. ET, on Investigation Discovery. Online viewers can watch the full episode on ID Go.

[Featured Photo by the Kansas City Police Department]