Baby Lisa’s parents plead on TV for her return

In a television appearance Friday, the mother of a missing Kansas City, Mo., toddler maintained that she had nothing to do with her daughter’s disappearance and pleaded for the child’s return.

Lisa Irwin was reported missing Oct. 4. On Friday, the baby’s parents, Deborah Bradley and Jeremy Irwin, appeared in a taped interview on the “Dr. Phil” show. It was the first broadcast interview the couple has made in three months.

“She is out there somewhere,” Bradley said. “I am desperate to find her. I am clinging onto a shred of sanity. I just want my daughter home.”

Lisa was 10 months old when her parents reported her missing from the home. Investigators met with the couple Thursday for the first time since Oct. 8 but said they did not learn anything significant.

“Our one and only goal, from the beginning, has been to find out what happened to Lisa Irwin,” Capt. Steve Young said after the program aired. “We remain committed to that goal.”

Bradley told show host Phil McGraw that the public’s perception of her conduct on Oct. 4 was inaccurate.

“There is nothing but misinformation out there,” Bradley said. “There are people making outright lies. It has become a circus. It is not a circus, it is not a game. This is my baby.”

McGraw spent the program discussing the events that led up to Lisa’s disappearance. Bradley said there was new information about the case but declined to provide details.

Bradley admitted that she had been drinking the night Lisa disappeared but said she did nothing to harm the toddler or Lisa’s brothers.

“The only thing that I am guilty of is drinking too much,” she said.

John Picerno, the parents’ local attorney, said the television appearance gave the public a different picture of the couple and highlighted their desire to find Lisa.

The couple said they think an intruder took Lisa. On Friday, they again pleaded for Lisa’s return.

“She needs and wants to be with her brothers and parents,” Bradley said. “We love her. … I would do anything to see her again.”

This story was originally published February 4, 2012 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Baby Lisa’s parents plead on TV for her return."