KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - The parents of a Kansas City baby missing since October said Friday they believe the child is alive and pleaded for her safe return.
Deborah Bradley and Jeremy Irwin reported their 10-month-old daughter, Lisa Irwin, missing from their home Oct. 4. Police and the FBI have conducted several searches and cleared hundreds of leads in the baby's disappearance but have not identified any suspects in the case.
"My daughter is missing ... she is OK somewhere because nobody kidnaps a 10-month-old beautiful little girl to hurt her," Bradley said in a taped interview on the "Dr. Phil" show. "She is out there somewhere, and I am desperate to find her ... I just want my daughter home."
Bradley reiterated that she was drunk the night of the baby's disappearance and said she will "have to live with" that "even when (the baby) comes back."
Bradley did most of the talking during the interview and cried at a few points. She also defended inconsistencies in her stories about the events surrounding the evening of the disappearance, particularly about whether the house lights were on or off when Jeremy Irwin returned home late at night.
"People don't understand just how difficult it is to wake up and find out that someone has came into your house and taken your baby, and then you are accused of doing something to her or covering something up or whatever theories, insane theories, they come up with ...," Bradley said.
"And then I do all this media and be on TV for the purpose of hoping and praying that somebody ... has seen someone with her, and it is literally impossible to remember every single detail and say it exactly the same every single time."
Joe Tacopina, a lawyer for Bradley and Irwin, also appeared on the show and said police told him Bradley did not fail a polygraph test when police asked her if she knew where the baby is. Bradley said early in the investigation that police told her she failed the polygraph.
Tips increased dramatically Friday after the show began airing, up from about seven calls since early January to about 44 in a couple hours after the show, said Det. Kevin Boehm, coordinator of Kansas City's Crime Stoppers TIPS Hotline.
"What we're looking for is specific information about where she is or who was involved," Boehm said.
Sgt. Stacey Graves, Kansas City police spokeswoman, said in a statement that "our one and only goal, from day one, has been to find out what happened to Lisa Irwin."