No sign of missing baby found in search of well

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Crews spent hours Tuesday emptying and then searching a 36-foot well at an abandoned home in the neighborhood where a 10-month-old girl was reported missing a week ago, but once again authorities came up empty-handed.

Authorities said the house had already been condemned, and about an hour after the search ended, wrecking crews came in, demolished it and carted the pieces away in dump trucks. A caller had suggested police search the property.

"There was no reason not to search it," said Capt. Steve Young, spokesman for the Kansas City Police Department. "We did everything we could to check it out, and there was nothing there. And we're moving on to the next lead."

Tuesday's search was among the more elaborate efforts authorities have made in their search for Lisa Irwin.

Her parents reported her missing after her father got home from work about 4 a.m. Oct. 4. Deborah Bradley and Jeremy Irwin said a window on their home had been tampered with, and they believe someone abducted Lisa while Bradley and the couple's two sons slept nearby.

Police have searched the couple's home, nearby wooded areas, an industrial park, landfills and sewers. They've checked out more than 300 tips, including at least one report of suspicions about a couple with a child near Lisa's age.

None of their efforts have turned up any clues, and they still have no suspects, they said Tuesday.

The search of the abandoned property came a day after a court ordered Kansas City television stations to submit all footage of interviews with the girl's family and friends.

Grand jury subpoenas from Clay County Circuit Court were sent late Monday to at least four network affiliates in Kansas City, according to their websites. The subpoenas asked the television stations to submit "all footage, including raw footage of any interviews or statements given by neighbors, family or friends of the family, regarding missing baby, Lisa Irwin."

The subpoenas, which were requested by the Clay County prosecutor's office, ordered at least two of the stations to appear with the footage in court on Oct. 18.

Jim Roberts, a spokesman for the prosecutor's office, said the subpoenas were needed to prevent broadcasters from destroying video they might otherwise discard because it could be needed later. The subpoenas were issued by a sitting grand jury, not one called specifically for this case.

Bryan McGruder, vice president for news at WDAF, said the station would provide all footage it had aired about the case. But he said the station would not hand over raw footage because workers "routinely recycle what we use."

R. Michael Cassidy, a professor at Boston College Law School, said investigators may want the footage to find inconsistencies in the parents' accounts of their daughter's disappearance.

"It could mean that they have one or both of the parents as suspects, and they are developing evidence of everything they said in the past and prior to the arrest," Cassidy said Tuesday. "To show that someone's story has shifted over time can also be very damning."

Neither parent has been named as a suspect, but Bradley has said police told her she failed a lie-detector test. They did not show her paperwork supporting that claim, however.

Police also may want the footage to review "the landscape around the house," shortly after the disappearance was reported, Cassidy said.

"It could be that these visuals of the immediate area are important," he said.

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Reporter Bill Draper in Kansas City, Mo., contributed to this story.