10 yrs since Baby Lisa vanished, family hopes for her return
By Angie Ricono, Cyndi Fahrlander
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KANSAS CITY, Missouri (KCTV) — This week marks ten years since Lisa Irwin, known nationwide as Baby Lisa, vanished from her crib in the family’s Northland home. She was just ten months old.
But as the anniversary of her disappearance is marked, the family struggles to go on.
“It’s been a long time and it’s been hard on all of us,” said Jeremy Irwin, Baby Lisa’s father. “We try to keep her around. We talk about her frequently. We still do all things that we would do if she was around—you know, Happy Birthday, or a Christmas present…but it’s difficult—going on this long without really knowing a while lot.”
What Jeremy does know is that when he came home from work in the early morning hours of October 4, 2011, the front door was unlocked, lights were on, Deborah and two other children were sleeping, but his daughter was missing. The family reported three cell phones were also missing, but nothing else was taken.
Police issued an Amber Alert. Pictures of Baby Lisa with her big blue eyes went out nationwide. The family was under intense scrutiny from investigators and media. The family was tormented and accused of having some responsibility for what happened.
“I really don’t care what they say as long as they’re talking about Lisa,” said Deborah Bradley, Baby Lisa’s mother. “That means there’s awareness happening, as long as they don’t forget Lisa–that’s what ‘s most important.”
Baby Lisa’s family believes she was sole reason for the break-in. They believe she was taken and then sold. They also believe she is still alive and that she will return home—someday.
Every three years, a new progressive rendering is released, showing what Baby Lisa might look like as she gets older and keeping attention on the case.
“It’s hard to keep positive when something drags on for so long,” said Irwin. “But there’s new things coming into play, like she is now 11, almost 11 years old. She might find herself. She might see something on the internet or TV.”
“We absolutely have hope,” said Bradley. “You know, missing people are finding themselves.. you know, social media, they’re seeing themselves out there. We’re just hoping that someone sees her, or maybe she’ll see herself.”
“I do believe that she will find us,” said Bradley. “We’ve sent our DNA to ancestry, and we’re hoping that if all else fails, maybe someday she’ll get interested in doing that. I hope that she gets to a point as she gets older, that maybe she can sense something and maybe she will find herself.”
“There is no moving on. There is no closure and we’re going to continue to wait for her until she’s back.”
The family believes there is someone will out there that knows something about their baby’s disappearance.
“It’s definitely out there, and especially with as many people that there has to be involved in this,” said Jeremy Irwin. “There’s got to be somebody sooner or later that’s going to blow the lid off the whole thing.”
Kansas City Police say there is still an active, open investigation on the case. Anyone with information about the case is urged to call the Missing Persons Office directly at 816-234-5136.
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