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Jahessye Shockley's grandmother fights for attention for her missing grandchild.
You know life in America is screwed up when a headline like that sounds like it’s from The Onion, but it’s totally real. Jezebel noted late on Friday that Jahessye Shockley, a 5-year-old black girl from Phoenix, has been missing since October 11, and her grandmother has been pleading for investigators and the media to pay more attention to her case.
It’s especially disconcerting that Shockley’s disappearance has been ignored when viewed in comparison with the coverage of missing baby, Lisa Irwin. Even if you haven’t followed our posts on Irwin’s story, chances are you saw her face while getting groceries or gas this weekend, since “What Happened to Baby Lisa?” is the headline blaring on the front of this week’s People magazine underneath a photo of the 10-month-old. Continue reading »
Lisa Irwin's mother reveals she was drunk the night her daughter disappeared.
Lisa Irwin has been missing for nearly two weeks.
As I first reported, Deborah Bradley tells police she put the 10-month-old in her crib and eventually went to bed. Jim Irwin, Bradley’s fiancé and Lisa’s father returned from work around 4am and says the baby was missing so he immediately called police.
In the days after Lisa Irwin’s disappearance the couple appeared to be upset about how police were treating them. At one point police say the couple stopped cooperating with the investigation, however Irwin and Bradley say that isn’t true.
Now, Deborah Bradley is telling PEOPLE magazine exactly what happened the night her daughter disappeared, revealing that she “drank enough wine at home while relaxing with a neighbor that she has no recollection of whether or not she checked on her daughter or turned off the house lights before she went to bed.”
Bradley says the alcohol may have even caused her to black out. “It’s a possibility,” Deborah Bradley tells PEOPLE. Continue reading »
Deborah Bradley, missing baby's mom, and husband Jeffrey Irwin appear at a press conference.
In an exclusive interview last night with ABC’s Good Morning America, Lisa Irwin’s aunt said Deborah Bradley expects to be arrested in the case of her missing baby. Lisa, a 10-month-old who disappeared from her crib overnight, has been missing since last Tuesday.
Ashley Irwin, the sister of Lisa’s father Jeremy Irwin, said the police are focusing in more and more on the family, and Deborah Bradley in particular, because they have no leads and “have to pin it on somebody.” In the interview, she insisted that Bradley is innocent and is comfortable with her belief that the family has nothing to do with the mystery.
FOX News, however, just reported that no arrest is “imminent”:
“Kansas City police denied a claim Tuesday that the mother of missing 10-month-old Lisa Irwin is preparing to be arrested and charged in connection with the child’s disappearance.
Sgt. Stacey Graves with the Kansas City Police Department told FoxNews.com that, “We have heard nothing from detectives to lead us to believe an arrest is imminent.”
Amber Alert issued for 10-month-old.
An Amber Alert has been issued after the parents of 10-month-old Lisa Irwin reported her missing early this morning.
As the Huffington Post reports, a frantic search is underway in Kansas City, Missouri for the little girl who was last seen by her mother, who laid her down to sleep at 10:30 p.m., Monday night. The child was reportedly discovered missing by her dad when he came home from work at 4 a.m. The parents immediately called police.
Police think the kidnapper may have gotten into the Irwin home through a window in the baby’s room, which reportedly showed signs of tampering. Continue reading »
Antonio Diaz Chacon
Stranger abductions are incredibly rare, but they do happen.
Antonio Diaz Chacon witnessed one the other day, when he saw a man throw a little girl into the back of a van and speed off. So he did the right thing. While his wife called 911, he leapt into his truck and gave chase.
Diaz Chacon pursued the kidnapper until he crashed his van into a pole and fled into the desert, giving Diaz Chacon a chance to rescue the frightened child.
Elizabeth Smart joins ABC News staff.
The Hollywood Reporter just announced that ABC News has hired kidnapping victim Elizabeth Smart as a contributor. Smart “will comment on missing persons cases and could debut on the network in the next couple weeks.” According to THR, Smart “has become an advocate for tougher missing persons legislation” and “will be focused on looking ahead, not looking back at her own story.”
Indeed, Smart has made it clear on multiple occasions that she doesn’t wish to rehash the horrid details of her 2002 abduction and subsequent 9-month captivity. Smart should serve as a calm, collected antidote to pundits like Nancy Grace, who has been criticized for her coverage of the Casey Anthony trial. When Smart appeared on Grace’s HLN show in 2006 to support Sexual Predator Legislation and the AMBER Alert system, Grace pushed Smart to talk about how she felt while in the hands of her captors, and Smart politely but pointedly refused in what many have described as a “smackdown.” Their interview footage reveals what will surely be clear differences in style between the two crime commentators. Take a look: Continue reading »
I snapped this with my phone earlier today.
She was just 14-years-old when she was kidnapped from her room at knife point in 2002.
Nearly nine years later, justice has finally been served. Brian David Mitchell has been sentenced to life in prison for transporting a minor across state lines for purposes of sex.
I was a brand new producer at the Salt Lake City FOX affiliate the year Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped. In fact, I lived a few blocks from the Smart family when she was taken. Honestly, we never thought she’d be found alive. No one did. The odds were not in her favor.
I was in the newsroom nearly nine months after she went missing when our assignment editor answered the phone and then shouted to the newsroom, “Elizabeth Smart has been found alive!”
We all laughed at what we thought was a joke. But he was serious. The next hours passed in a blur of news scripts and live shots as a flabbergasted nation watched Elizabeth Smart reunite with her family.
Today FOX called and asked if I could field produce reporters and photographers stationed at the courtroom awaiting the sentencing of Brian David Mitchell. Three this afternoon found me camped outside with a mob of reporters, waiting to hear the judge’s decision. Continue reading »
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