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(AP/CBS) KANSAS CITY, Mo.
- An FBI cadaver dog reacted to the scent of a dead body inside the
Kansas City home where a baby girl disappeared nearly three weeks ago,
according to a police affidavit released Friday.
The affidavit was filed to
support a search warrant request for the home of Deborah Bradley and
Jeremy Irwin, who reported their 10-month-old daughter, Lisa Irwin,
missing Oct. 4. They said someone must have crept into the home and
taken the girl while the mother and two other boys slept.
According to the affidavit,
the dog was taken into the house Monday, where it indicated a "positive
'hit' for the scent of a deceased human in an area of the floor of
Bradley's bedroom near the bed." A judge approved the warrant Tuesday
and police and the FBI conducted a daylong search Wednesday.
Court documents filed
Friday said police took blankets, toys and clothing from the house, as
well as rolls of tape and a tape dispenser.
Police declined to discuss
what they found.
"We aren't able to talk
about specifics of the case," said police spokeswoman Stacey Graves.
"The documents that were made public will have to stand on their own."
The FBI dogs, which often
are used at both disaster and crime scenes, are trained "specially to
recognize the scent of decaying, decomposing human flesh," retired FBI
special agent Jeff Lanza said Friday.
"That's what they hit on.
What the dogs are saying is that they smell that scent," Lanza said.
"That can be the scent of an actual body decomposing, or residual scents
after the body is no longer there."
Wednesday's search was
perhaps law enforcement's most aggressive yet at the parents' home,
drawing officers armed with shovels, rakes and other tools who hauled
off bags that appeared to be full of potential evidence.
Police also brought in a
bomb and arson truck to assist the search, though spokesman Capt. Steve
Young said there were no indications of explosives in the house. Some
bomb detection devices use X-ray technology to scan solid objects to
reveal items concealed within. An AP reporter saw investigators carrying
at least a dozen thin, black rectangular sheets away from the home
during the afternoon.
Attorney Joe Tacopina told
The Associated Press late Friday he considers the report meaningless.
Tacopina says cadaver dogs are trained to detect decomposing flesh. He
adds that even if the baby had died, decomposition could not have
happened so quickly. |
