Baby Lisa Irwin Missing: Police Sergeant Says Baby Lisa Probably Dead
A retired Kansas City police officer familiar with the investigation for missing baby Lisa Irwin says there is little chance the toddler is still alive.
Dave Bernard, a former sergeant in the police department's homicide unit, said he hopes Lisa is found alive but his instincts tell him it is not likely.
"You know, at this stage, I don't know. I doubt it. I doubt that she's still alive," he told KMBC News.
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Bernard led the investigation of the Erica Green murder case in 2001. The case lasted four years until the parents were found responsible for the killing.
Bernard says he knows exactly what authorities are dealing with.
"I know what they're going through and believe me, I feel for them," he said.
Bernard retired from the Kansas City Police Department shortly before Lisa disappeared, according to the report. He doesn't have inside information on the case but has experienced similar investigations.
"You can speculate on whether she was taken and abducted and whatever, but you concentrate on what is probable, what most likely happened here, and see where that takes you," he said.
Police have gone through thousands of leads and have exhaustively searched the area where Lisa went missing.
"Behind the scenes, I mean, you've got all these investigators that are out running down leads," Bernard said. "Calls may be coming in requiring further investigation, so they're out doing that or maybe a piece of evidence they've come across needs to be analyzed or tested, that sort of thing. So yeah, there's a lot of stuff going on that the public doesn't see."
The focus of the case recently shifted to a mysterious phone call made from the cell phone of Lisa's mother, Deborah Bradley, on the night Lisa went missing from her Missouri home. The phone was thought to be stolen along with Lisa.
Megan Wright, the owner of the phone that received the call, claimed she shared the phone with seven other people. She also said a man named “Dane” had her cell phone on both Oct. 3 and Oct. 4.
Bradley admitted to passing out drunk the night Lisa vanished. Lisa's father, Jeremy Irwin, worked an unusual night shift and did not return home until 4 a.m. He noticed his daughter was not in her crib and called the authorities.
Lisa has been missing since Oct. 4. She turned 1-years-old on Nov.11.
