The parents of missing baby Lisa Irwin spoke out for the first time in months Friday in an emotional interview with Dr. Phil McGraw, trying to correct what they called “misinformation” about the case and begging whoever has their daughter to give her back.
Appearing with attorney Joe Tacopina and private investigator Bill Stanton on the “Dr. Phil Show,” Debra Bradley and Jeremy Irwin insisted they had no idea what happened to baby Lisa and said the Kansas City police have not treated them fairly. They reported her missing around 4:00 a.m. on October 4 and told police she vanished from their home while Bradley was sleeping and Irwin was at work.
“There’s nothing but misinformation out there,” Bradley said. “…it’s just become a joke. And it’s not a circus. It’s not a game …This is my baby.”
Bradley acknowledged that she got drunk the night Lisa went missing and, while she said her behavior was irrelevant to the disappearance, she admitted that she is living with the guilt of knowing that she might have heard Lisa’s abductor if she had not been drinking. Still, she said the fact that she was drinking with a friend that night has been overblown on the Internet into “a theatrical giant theory-fest.”
Bradley and Irwin denied that there were inconsistencies between versions of their story they’ve given in different interviews. While initial reports indicated that there may have been something suspicious about the lights in the home being on when Irwin came home that night, Bradley told McGraw they were actually just the same lights that she leaves on every night. She also dismissed the discrepancy between her first saying that she checked on Lisa around 10:30 that night and later saying that she last remembered seeing her when she put her to sleep at 6:40 p.m.
“It is literally impossible to remember every single detail and say it exactly the same every single time,” Bradley said. “…If I had done something, I’d be in jail by now.”
Tacopina denied reports that Bradley failed a police polygraph test and said he was never shown the results by police to prove it.
“I defy them to show me a failed polygraph,” Tacopina said.
McGraw showed photos of Bradley and Irwin holding Lisa for the first time soon after she was born and asked the couple what they were thinking in that moment.
“How lucky I was,” Bradley responded. “How beautiful she was. How I’ve always wanted a little girl and I finally got her.”
“She was perfect,” Irwin said. “…It seemed like everything was going to be alright from there on out, that our family was complete.”
Less than a year later, Lisa was gone.
The parents said they still believe the girl, who would have turned one year old in November, is alive and they urged her abductor to drop her off at a church or hospital.
“We don’t want you. We want her. Just please bring her home,” Bradley said.
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