What Should Have Happened – Polly Klaas

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What Should Have Happened – Polly Klaas

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On October 2, 1993 Polly and the two girls who spent the night at her slumber party woke up at about 9:00 am, rolled up their sleeping bags, washed up, brushed their teeth and ate blueberry pancakes for breakfast. They’d been up the night before playing Nintendo and a favorite board game called Perfect Match. After Kate and Gillian left about an hour later Polly helped her mom Eve and half-sister Annie pack for their weekend trip to Monterey, about three-hours down the coast from their home in Petaluma, CA. On the way to the car Polly locked the back door, which had been left unlocked the night before. Polly was spending the weekend with her dad in Sausalito

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This should have happened because Richard Allen Davis was properly denied parole at a hearing three months previously. Davis was a known threat to society. When he was a child Davis tortured and killed animals. During the course of his extensive criminal history he was sentenced to more than 200 years behind bars. In 1978 he was diagnosed as a sexually sadistic psychopath. He chose to victimize women who were isolated and alone.
On June 27, 1993 Davis was paroled after serving less than half of a sixteen-year-sentence for kidnapping, pistol whipping, and robbing $6,000 from his victim. During August and September 1993, many people in Petaluma crossed paths with Richard Allen Davis. On September 27, Daryl Stone went to Wickersham Park, diagonally across the street from Polly’s house. He passed within twenty feet of Richard Davis who was sitting on a park bench with a heavy set, ruddy complexioned woman about a hundred and fifty yards from Polly’s house. Davis was wearing dirty jeans and a sweatshirt with cut sleeves. They were drinking liquor from a bottle in a paper bag, talking loudly. Their demeanor and attitude disgusted Stone. He did not want to be in the park with the crude couple, so he went home, one block away.
What should have happened is that he called the police who then dispatched a patrolman to the scene. Because the interaction was prompted by a citizen complaint the officer had probable cause to run a criminal history on the crude, disheveled drifter whose arms were covered in prison tattoos. The officer arrested him on the spot because Davis, who did not live in Petaluma, was in violation of his parole. The career criminal was returned to San Quentin prison to serve out the remainder of his sentence for kidnapping and pistol whipping his previous victim.
California lawmakers, unconcerned with public safety, released Davis from prison in 2001. Three months later Davis was loitering in Sausalito, California’s Dunphy Park. He had been spending quite a lot of time in that park lately because he had his eye on a pretty and carefree twelve-year-old girl who passed by daily. It was a balmy spring afternoon when he stole a bicycle that belonged to one of a group of boys that were fishing along the shoreline. He was immediately arrested.
Given the nature of his criminal history the Marin County District Attorney decided to prosecute Davis under California’s Three-Strikes-and-You’re Out penalty enhancement statute. Davis was convicted and sentenced to twenty-five-years to life in prison. He died before his sentence was completed.

This is what should have happened. Too bad reality got in the way and no one was held accountable and hearts were broken. Life goes on.
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My Name is Lloyd Jones and I Murder Children

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I knew that what I was doing was wrong, but amazingly, it wasn’t against the law. After all, I’d been convicted of rape ten years before. They say that I’m a predator, but I’m simply taking advantage of an opportunity to find women…or girls to have sex with. That’s why I have so many profiles on social networking and dating sites. That’s why I posted a picture of my junk on one of them. That she was only sixteen-years-old and I’m thirty-six isn’t my problem. I mean, she came to me of her own free will. She even got into the car. That was probably her biggest mistake. It was certainly her last mistake.
Next time I’ll have to remember to cover my tracks better, because if I had been more careful, I probably wouldn’t be in jail facing the death penalty right now. You know, get a disposable phone, and bury my identity even deeper when I create a social networking profile online. I probably should have thought it through and established a somewhat viable alibi. Next time I won’t bury the evidence on family property.
It wasn’t really worth it, but God, do I love fresh meat. You know, chickens and girls really are alike. They both squawk when you wring their necks. That’s when she became disposable. What did she think anyway, that I wanted to meet her that night to go out for a Coke? Oh, wait! That is what I told her isn’t it? Whatever! If she could have keep her mouths shut and do as I told her everything would have turned out okay.
Well, not really, because the thrill really is in the kill. You know, the end game. To have the power of God: Hell I am God. She was mine and I pulled the plug on her worthless life: hehehehe! Her neck was so soft, so pliable, delicate and small. Another beautiful memory to ensure that I will not be alone in my cell: something divine to carry to my grave.
Sometimes life is sweet. I sure hope that they don’t execute me. Wait! Of course they won’t. They don’t execute anybody anymore. Hehehehe! Life is really and truly sweet. After all, I do have my memories.
At approximately 7:30 pm on February 10, 2012 36-year-old convicted rapist Lloyd Jones lured 16-year-old Angela Allen to her death. He didn’t lurk in the bushes outside her home. Instead he used a social networking profile under the guise of a teenaged boy. If you live in California sign the CASE Act petition today so we can vote for a safer California in November. If you live in Alabama, support the Alabamians Against Sexual Exploitation Act that just sailed through the State senate. Both of these pieces of legislation will require registered sex offenders to include Internet identifiers as a component of their annual registration procedure. This will allow social networks to monitor or eliminate relevant profiles from their online communities.
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Baby Ayla and the Code of Silence

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I had a long phone conversation with Justin DiPietro the other day. He seems like a genuine fellow and readily answered the questions I posed to him regarding the disappearance of his daughter baby Ayla. I am not going to divulge anything that is not already in the public arena as I don’t want to betray his confidence. However, the one thing that I continue to find troubling about this case is the code of silence that Justin adopted early on. Whether it was self-imposed or requested by law enforcement, the collateral damage done to his character and reputation is as large as it is far reaching.

It has been more than four weeks since baby Ayla disappeared from her bedroom in the house that she shared with Justin, and he has only recently made himself available to the press. In the meantime baby Ayla’s mother Trista Reynolds has attacked Justin as relentlessly and effectively as General Sherman scorched the earth on his march against the Confederate states in the Civil War. On December 19, two days after the little girl was reported missing in Waterville, Maine, Trista told Nancy Grace that Justin was “vindictive” and “verbally abusive”. She further claimed that he has refused to let her have Ayla for even one day since he took custody of her in October and that Ayla would return from visits with Justin, “With bruises on her or…with a pulled muscle”.

The next day, on December 20, Justin issued a statement through the Waterville Police Department saying that he “has no idea what happened to Ayla,” and disputing prior media claims by Reynolds that the two hadn’t been in communication with one another in recent weeks. On December 23, Trista told the Today Show, “I trusted him to keep her safe, and now she is missing and I don’t know where she is. I blame him right now. He did not protect her the way he was supposed to.”On the 28th, Justin issued a second statement through Waterville police, repeating that he doesn’t know what happened to Ayla and thanking community members for their support. The next day Trista told Matt Lauer, “He says he’s not in hiding, but why won’t he come out, why won’t he talk to me? What’s he so afraid of?” On Dec. 30, the State Police take over jurisdiction after it is announced that they now suspect foul play in the disappearance of baby Ayla.
Finally, on Jan. 2, Justin appeared on the Today Show justifying his silence, saying that in the first few days, “I was emotionally incapable of coming out to do an interview.” He also said that the police initially advised him against doing media interviews because it could hinder the investigation. Within the last several days Justin has been embroiled in a public controversy over the results of his polygraph exam. My advice to Justin, and to Trista is to keep it simple and tell the truth. If you do that you won’t have to backtrack.

Justin’s public appearances have been erratic and forced, but ineloquence is not a crime, it is simply an inconvenience. However, one thing does stand out: he has refrained from attacking Trista Reynolds. He has not mentioned her substance abuse issues, her lack of a permanent address, or her failure to travel fifty-miles to the scene of the crime to physically confront him. Instead he kept the focus on his missing daughter. I believe that speaks to his credit.

I have long believed that the parents have a duty to advocate on behalf of their missing children. Even if you are paralyzed by grief and fear it is important to find the strength within to be there for your child. You want to get the public invested and you want to ensure that law enforcement maintains an aggressive and active investigation. As baby Ayla’s case demonstrates, public advocacy also provides you with an opportunity to defend yourself. To fail to do so is to create, as Justin succinctly put it, “A helpless situation”.

Is Justin DiPietro involved in baby Ayla’s disappearance? I have no way of knowing, just as I have no way of knowing if Trista Reynolds has any anything to do with this ongoing mystery. However, I do know a few things. I am absolutely convinced that this is not a stranger abduction. Strangers don’t lurk in sub-zero temperatures any more than they target children with broken arms. I also know that these are troubled young adults who have a toxic relationship. I still believe that the universe of potential suspects is small and that the answer to what happened to baby Ayla exists within the murky waters of dysfunction. We need to stop chasing shadows and leave the investigation to the authorities.  If they dig deep enough they will learn the truth.
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The Devil Next Door

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From the killers Facebook page

Who rolled out the red carpet for this monster? 9-year-old Aliahna Lemmon is dead. Her babysitter, 39-year-old Michael Plumadore, has been arrested for murdering her.

From the killers MySpace page

But, it gets worse: much worse. Despite having three felony convictions for battery, auto theft and forgery, Plumadore was deemed fit to not only care for, but have unsupervised access to three defenseless young girls. According to Aliahna’s grandmother Aliahna and her two six-year-old sisters were staying with Plumadore for about a week because Aliahna’s stepfather works at night and sleeps during the day and her mother was recovering from the flu. Plumadore was the last person to see Aliahna, who suffered from both physical and emotional problems, alive.

Aliahna was reported missing on 12/23, and on 12/26 Plumadore admitted that he killed her by “striking her in the head multiple times with a brick while she was standing on the front steps of his residence.” He subsequently dismembered her body by cutting it up with a hacksaw and placed small pieces of her body in freezer bags and disposed of them in a dumpster located nearby. Finally, he kept her head, feet and hands in the freezer at home.
Defense attorneys love to point out that our prisons are filled with individuals who have been caught in indiscretions. That hard luck men and women have been driven by circumstance to commit crimes. However, as this and so many other cases point out, the truth is much harsher and more difficult to accept: evil exists! There are certain individuals with a propensity to victimize others. Many of these individuals go through their lives committing crime after crime after crime with no consequence for their actions. Occasionally, they will get caught breaking the law. Then the criminal justice system will work with them to mitigate the nature of the crime, allow them to plea down to a lesser offense, and oftentimes escape prison altogether. This is why individuals with horrific criminal pasts are walking free to commit these horrific atrocities.
I know all too well the horror of losing a child to violence, but what was Aliahana’s mother thinking when she allowed her three daughter to stay with Plumadore for a week? Did she know that he was a three time loser? Surely, she knew that their trailer park was a haven for registered sex offenders. I understand that she was getting over the flu, but that does not justify shirking her parental responsibility. At best it provides a pitiful excuse.
It is our responsibility as adults to ensure the safety and well being of children. In cases where families fail government agencies are supposed to step in and fill the gap. Her mother sent her to sleep with the devil and government failed to protect her from a three time loser.   In Aliahna’s case both family and government failed and the result is a horror beyond imagination.
As government budgets are cut dramatically the release of vicious criminals is easily justified. We must be vigilant to ensure that the safety of children is not compromised by bottom line politicians who use budget shortfalls to justify the release of violent criminals.

 

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The Hand that Rocks the Cradle

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On October 11, 2011 five-year-old Jahessye (Jessie) Shockley seemingly fell of the face of the earth. One month later her mother Jerice Hunter stared into the lens of a television camera and declared, “Jahessye, mama coming to get you. Mama coming!”


America is in denial that evil exists in the hand that rocks the cradle. We prefer to think of our monsters as shrouded, faceless men lurking in the dark. However, a current case illustrate that as convenient as this perception may be, moms and dads can also be infected with anti-social impulses, destructive compulsions, and violent tendencies.

It was reported that Jahessye disappeared from the family home under the care of three siblings while her mother ran errands. There were no signs of forced entry so police initially believed that Jahessye had walked out through the front door and wandered away when no one was paying attention. A hastily issued Amber Alert and thorough search of her Glendale, Arizona neighborhood provided no leads to her whereabouts.

No suspect or person of interest was named, yet within days Jerice Hunter accused the authorities of unfairly focusing their investigation on her, because of her criminal past. Jerice’ mother Shirley Johnson further charged the police and media with racism, claiming that the case was not receiving much deserved attention because the little girl was black. On November 21, 2011 Jerice Hunter was arrested on child abuse charges directly related to Jahessye’s disappearance. The authorities announced that they do not expect to recover Jahessye alive.

In 2005 Jerice Hunter was charged with torturing another 7-year old daughter and causing corporal injury her other three children. Her mother Shirley Johnson told the police that Jerice whipped the child with an extension cord while the child was being held down by her husband, registered sex offender George Shockley. In 2006 torture charges were dropped in exchange for a “no contest” plea. Hunter was subsequently sentenced to 8-years in prison and denied her parental rights because she was considered a threat to the well being of her children. Jerice justified her criminal behavior by claiming that she had been abused as a child.

Jerice Hunter’s mother Shirley Johnson, the woman who taught Jerice how to discipline and abuse kids, received custody of the four children named in the criminal complaint. Little Jahessye, born shortly before her mother went to prison, was turned over to other relatives. Upon her release from custody four years later Jerice moved to Arizona where grandma Shirley decided to ‘reunite the family’ without going through legal proceedings. Upon an order from Phoenix Police little Jahessye was turned over to her mother in August, 2010. Jerice now had total control over the children she had gone to prison for abusing and the daughter who would disappear within the next ten months.

Jerice was eight months pregnant when Jahessye disappeared, so she was not allowed to take the polygraph she said would prove her innocence. By the time Jerice gave birth at the end of October, Arizona Child Protective Services (CPS) had removed the other three children from her custody and placed them in foster homes. They quickly did the same with her infant. Jerice now refuses to take a polygraph exam.

Once free of her mother’s control Jahessye’s thirteen-year-old sister told her foster mother that Jahessye was kept in a bedroom closet and deprived of food and water and that she had seen her with black eyes and bruises and cuts to her face and body. She also reported that clumps of Jahessye’s hair had been pulled out. She went on to say that Jahessye did not look alive, that she looked like a zombie and that the closet where Jahessye was kept looked like a grave and smelled like dead people.

The sister said that a few days before Jahessye was reported missing Jerice spent the entire day cleaning the apartment and cleaning her shoes from the closet with soap and bleach. The police found a receipt that showed Jerice bought a bottle of bleach two days before she reported Jahessye missing. Jerice was arrested for child abuse on November 21. She has since been released and has not been charged with Jahessye’s disappearance.

This case oozes deferred responsibility. It wasn’t Jerice Hunter’s fault that she tortured and abused her kids: after all, that’s how she was treated when she was a child. It’s not Phoenix PD’s fault that Jahessye was returned to her mother because children belong with their parents. California CPS wasn’t responsible for actions that took place in Arizona, and Arizona CPS couldn’t prove abuse despite numerous complaints and repeated reports documenting Jerice’s sad and sordid history with children.

The disappearance of Jahessye Shockley is a familial and institutional failure. Her mother has proven unfit time and time again. The court knew it, but failed to take appropriate action. Jerice Hunter had been reported to CPS more than once, yet they failed to take appropriate action. The police who ordered Jahessye return to her abusive mother now scramble to locate the little girl whose disappearance has rocked a community.

We only know two things for certain. Jahessye Shockley did not fall of the face of the earth, and her mother should never have been allowed to regain custody of her children.

One November 9, 2011Jerice Hunter stared into the lens of a television camera and declared, “Jahessye, mama coming to get you. Mama coming!”
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It Came From Hell!

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He’s only twenty-years-old, slight of frame, with a receding hairline and a bad complexion. His name is Ryan Brunn and he possesses qualities that are both unique and rare to mankind. He lacks conscience and receives great joy from inflicting pain and suffering upon others. Such great joy, in fact, that his most recent bloodlust was only satisfied after he had kidnapped, bludgeoned, raped, stabbed and murdered seven-year-old Jorelys Rivera. Then he disposed of her remains by tossing her into a dumpster, compacting her tortured little body and hoping that his crime would not be discovered. But it was.

Brunn was not regurgitated from Hell last Thursday so that he could attack little Jorelys on Friday. He had been preparing for his moment for two decades. As the authorities retrace the steps of his sordid life they will no doubt uncover other victims who were able to escape the full wrath of his budding sadism. The human victims may be able to assist in peeling back the layers of his grotesque life. Unfortunately, as they do so they will be forced to relive their own pain, suffering and extreme victimization. The animal victims will not. Perhaps it was while torturing and killing animals that he first became sexually aroused. If so, he would not be the first as this is a common trait among sexual sadists.  

Jorelys is not dead simply because Brunn wanted to eliminate witnesses to his rape. If it were that simple he would have strangled her to death. Instead he leveled incalculable violence upon her little body in the form of blunt force trauma and stab wounds. It was only in the throes of this massive perversion that he was able to achieve the sexual release that was the goal of his attack. Had he not been captured he would have repeated this scenario again…and again…and again ad nauseam.   

So, it is the memory of little Jorelys that will sustain him for the next several decades. He will sit in his cell and relive his greatest triumph through dreams, masturbation, and other facets of his twisted imagination. It is only the death of her victimizer that will finally free Jorelys from her ongoing victimization. When his eyes become as unblinking and unseeing as her, that Jorelys torment will finally end once and for all.

How do I know these things to be true? Fifteen years ago I spent six months sitting in a courtroom as prosecutors built the case against my daughter Polly’s killer. I listened to psychiatrist after psychologist detail the mind of a sexually sadistic psychopath. Their arguments were so convincing that he was sentenced to death. He still sits on death row and, as he told Psychiatrist Lewelen Jones, “Masturbates twice daily and thinks of tying up female victims of past crimes.” I can think of no better justification for the death penalty.
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Baby Lisa and the Loss of Faith

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babylisa_224Baby Lisa’s parents have asked supporters not to hold any more vigils for the missing one-year-old on their front lawn. Really? So there are people trying to help; trying to keep the story alive in hopes of recovering the little girl and the family is asking them to stop. A family spokesperson said that the vigils made a return to normalcy impossible and that the vigils were upsetting Lisa’s half brothers. Meanwhile the authorities have reported no new developments in the case.

 

Volunteers who are invested in the safe return of baby Lisa need support from the family, not indifference or condemnation, yet they have been blown off by Jeremy and Deborah After all, it has been demonstrated time and time again that the recovery of an abducted child requires a full team effort that includes volunteers. But no: instead of assisting in baby recovery, the volunteers are told that they are making it impossible for the family to return to a normal routine.

 

How normal can life be if your home has been broken into, your infant has been kidnapped and remains missing and your other children are left to believe that an evil boogeyman who has already stolen your sister remains at large? If your lawyer and not your heart speaks on your behalf then your sense of normal probably belongs in a courtroom, not a living room. If you can convince yourself that a return to normal means that there should be no more vigils on your front lawn then you are either in denial or something more sinister is afoot. It took many years after my daughter Polly’s tragedy before Violet and I were able to adjust to our new normal. We had lost a piece of our soul, our vision of the future severely challenged our faith.

 

What must the step-brothers think of this most recent development? It seems like vigils on their lawn would be the least of their worries. We know that five and eight-year-old children register fear, have nightmares and are totally dependent on their parents for their survival. So I have to wonder what Jeremy and Deborah are telling them about the disappearance of their little sister. I also wonder if they have asked, “What would you do if I was kidnapped?”

 

How would you like Jeremy and Deborah to be your parents? It would be like hovering off the edge of a cliff with a severe case of vertigo and no one to hold onto.

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Where Have All The Children Gone?

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I approach Thanksgiving with mixed feelings. On one hand it reminds me of the family that I no longer have and that makes me feel sad and self-pitying. Thanksgiving also means getting together with family, whatever that happens to mean, and engaging over a sumptuous feast and that makes me feel optimistic and hopeful about the future. However, I cannot shake the feeling that there are missing children who have been forgotten or dismissed by society who will not have an opportunity to break bread with their families this year and members of those families are at best complacent about this sad turn of affairs.

In Gilbert, Arizona the mother of five-year-old Jhessye Shockleyhas been arrested on child abuse charges “directly related” to little Jhessye, and the authorities don’t believe they’ll find the child alive. This shouldn’t come as a surprise because the mother has already spent four-years in a penitentiary for child abuse. What is surprising is that she had custody of Jhessye, three of her siblings and was eight-months pregnant at the time of the little girl’s disappearance. How could a racist spewing, child abusing ex-convict who was married to a registered sex offender gain control over a precious five-year-old girl who required nurturing and not torturing. Society failed to protect Jhessye from a monster.

We need to own this. We cannot allow unfit parents or guardians to regain custody of children in the aftermath of a history of abuse, criminal behavior and neglect. Our tax dollars pay the family judges, child protection services and other entities designed to protect children from those who would do them harm, yet they are nowhere to be found when they are needed most.  

In Kansas City, Missouri the parents of baby Lisa Irwin have circled the wagons, shut out the authorities, and refused to do media interviews because life isn’t fair. Instead, they have chosen to allow a ‘defense’ attorney from New York orchestrate a sham campaign designed to complicate the truth. Now the case is losing momentum, the investigation seems stalled in its tracks, and hired guns are calling the shots. Baby Lisa deserves way more from her family.

I learned a long time ago that life is not fair. We don’t get what we deserve and we cannot withdraw goodwill from a savings account. Sometimes we find ourselves thrust into situations that are beyond our control without the skill set required to respond effectively. Sometimes shit happens…and just we have to deal with it. If the parents of the missing child are not publicly fighting for her return, then how motivated will the rest of us be? Baby Lisa’s parents have not owned their reality. They are not dealing with it, they are hiding from it. The bottom line is that Lisa has missed her first birthday and will not spend Thanksgiving with her family.

In Bellevue, Washington the mother of two-year-old Sky Metalwala is nowhere to be found. Remember that early on the morning of November 6, her car ran out of gas as she was taking her sick child to the hospital. So, she left the toddler strapped in his car seat, left the car door unlocked and walked a mile with her four-year-old daughter to the nearest gas station. When she returned an hour later the little boy was missing, prompting a massive search effort that has thus far turned up nothing. Funny thing though: the car had plenty of fuel in the gas tank, and she did not return with a gas can. The little boy disappeared, or was reported missing four days after contentious divorce mediation. In 2010, mom was involuntarily committed to a mental health center after her husband claimed she had dreams about killing her children. She also has a profile on a ‘sugar daddy’ website where she is apparently offering herself to the highest bidder. In response Sky’s mom has said that her husband was a “sadistic Muslim Pakistani” and no one had “any idea” how “difficult” the whole affair had been. Dad, who has attended a local Christian church since 2006, has fully cooperated with the authorities since day 1. Trouble is, he is not going to spend Thanksgiving with the little boy the courts refused to allow him to visit.

Certain bio-moms and bio-dads seem to think that they can dispose of their children without consequence as long as they lawyer up and refuse to speak with the authorities. Why does Sky’s mother feel that she can get away with this kind of criminal behavior? Because we live in a post Casey Anthony era where criminal behavior is condoned, excused or otherwise justified. Silence buys freedom and the U.S. Constitution buys cover. If you can’t find the body, you can’t prove the crime. 

In light of Penn State and Syracuse University allegations we need to pay more attention to our institutions. Not only institutions of higher learning, but also those whose job it is to protect children from abuse, neglect and abduction. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is the most high profile of those institutions. In fact the term exploited children is in their name, but what exactly are they doing to protect children who are clearly being exploited?

Are they writing legislation that will hold family judges accountable or make child protection services more responsive? Are they educating society to the danger signs of exploitation or abuse? As I see it, they are simply waiting until the ultimate abuse has occurred and posting pictures of children who are already dead or missing on their website? We owe it to our children to ask the hard questions and hold somebody accountable for this obvious social failure.
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Baby Lisa and the Superman Syndrome!

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Baby Lisa’s parents have resisted the authorities attempts to re-interview Lisa’s half brothers, who were in the home when she was snatched, saying they were concerned for the boys’ well being. Tomorrow law enforcement will finally have an opportunity to re-interview the boys for the first time since she disappeared on October 3 or 4. The boys, eight and five-years-old, have only been interviewed for fifty and thirty-minutes respectively.

Wouldn’t it be to the children’s benefit to help solve the case rather than have suspicion focused on the family and an evil mystery lingering over their heads forevermore? Little boys long to be Batman, Superman or Captain America. They fantasize about “saving the day” and rescuing the damsel in distress. Baby Lisa’s brothers will never have a better chance to turn fantasy into reality than they have right now. They need to be talking about what they do or don’t know; trying to solve the case and understanding the evil that lurked within. Only then will they be able to mature knowing that they did everything that they could to help find their little sister.

There are viable techniques for interviewing children that are gentle, non-invasive, and non-threatening. Originally developed to draw out information from child sexual abuse victims without re-victimizing them, forensic interviewing of children has broad acceptance in the criminal justice community. Typically, a specially trained interviewer will sit down with child in a comfortable, home like setting. Oftentimes interviews are videotaped, and other interested parties including law enforcement, prosecutors, medical personnel and defense attorneys monitor the interview. This is to guarantee the interviewers objectivity, ensure that he/she employed non-leading techniques and that relevant case information was not overlooked. The goal of the interview will determine levels of victimization and elicit information that will stand up in court.
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Baby Lisa and the Loss of Urgency!

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Baby Lisa’s parents have circled the wagons, hired a platoon of lawyers and consultants, and cut off communications with media and law enforcement. Critical decisions are made by committee. Their other two children are off-limits to law enforcement, mommy’s story shifts and shudders, and her commentary reveals more questions than it answers. Access to the house is restricted and a cadaver dog picked up the scent of decaying human remains in the master bedroom.

The abysmal choices and questionable behavior of baby Lisa’s mom and dad have left them exposed. One result of their failure to eliminate themselves as suspects in baby Lisa’s disappearance is that her parents are being tried and convicted in the court of public opinion. They and their representatives claim that they are being scapegoated; that the authorities have to pin the crime on someone and that the parents are the obvious choices.

However, there are too many law enforcement professionals with too much experience from too many agencies for that to be true. The FBI, who has been involved since the beginning of the investigation has prioritized missing children since 1993. They have a written protocol and agents that are specifically trained in missing child investigations. Given their standing in the law enforcement community and the resource that they bring to bear on missing person cases, it would be counterproductive and reflect badly on the agency to force blame on innocent and suffering parents.

No, I believe that the family’s failure has been home grown and nurtured with ignorance and bad advice. Jeremy Irwin and Deborah Bradley’s choice to allow others to make critical decisions relevant to their daughter’s disappearance hinders the case and undermines their moral authority. It appears as if their needs take precedent over the recovery of their daughter. It replaces a sense of urgency with a need for caution.

82% of all abductions involve a family member. Therefore, once a child has been reported missing law enforcement is going to focus resource and attention on family members. To do otherwise would be irresponsible. It is in the best interest of the child, the family and the investigation for family members to fully cooperate with the authorities so that they can eliminate themselves from suspicion and allow law enforcement to focus on other possible scenarios. That is what I did, and that is what hundreds if not thousands of other parents have done when their child or children mysteriously disappear. That is not what baby Lisa’s parents are doing.
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