Questions for CNN reporter Jim Spellman - Q & A Only **NO DISCUSSION HERE PLEASE**

[Jim Spellman CNN]

Attempting to clear this up. About a week before Shane was named as the neighbor, this article from a "source" came out, with this info:



http://www.kctv5.com/story/15940122/source-says-4-hour-window-for-abduction

Since the time that Shane was introduced, the information from Jim has been that Shane went inside after 1 cig per Jim's tweets. That quote from the article suggests that Shane and SB were both outside until 11:30. This is where the confusion is coming from, best I can tell. Looks like the source was wrong or something got lost in translation. Obviously Jim's info directly from Shane is more credible than the info from the source, as I'm sure everyone would agree.

whew, hope that clears it up.

This does sound like the source of the confusion. I have never spoken to Samantha so I don't know what her version is, but i've interviewed many people over the years and it is really hard for people to pin down times. Easy for people to know if it was dark yet, or when TV shows come on or things like that, so it is easy to see there being discrepancies of an hour or so with out it being too significant.

 

[Jim Spellman CNN]

Did Jersey have his own phone?

Per Megan Wright he did not have his own phone , at least up until when they broke up about a week before the disappearance.

 

[Jim Spellman CNN]

Jim, do you happen to know if there was a running vehicle at the house that night other then Jeremy's work van after he came home?

I believe their regular car was there. They have 2 other vehicles parked at the bottom of the driveway too. One clearly doesnt run. I dont know about the other, but i suspect it doesnt run because it never moved while we were there.

 

[Jim Spellman CNN]

That poor woman.....I'll bet you were freaking out.

Was this before the FBI called the Craigslist ad, or after?

After craigslist but before I found her...it forever to track her down since she pretty much lives off the grid.

 

[Jim Spellman CNN]

Mr Spellman, THANK YOU for this informative post. That really helps a lot.

I agree about the sighting by Samantha's 4 yr old. How credible can the timing really be?

My pressing question is when did Samantha herself last see baby Lisa? I find it odd that the only sighting I have seen mentioned is the one where she said she saw her in the crib at 4:30ish.

If she had dinner there at 5:30 and was with DB until 10:30, wouldn't she have seen or at least heard the baby at a later time?

Good questions all, but as i've mentioned I have never spoken to Samantha, though I certainly would like to.

 

[norest4thewicked]

I believe their regular car was there. They have 2 other vehicles parked at the bottom of the driveway too. One clearly doesnt run. I dont know about the other, but i suspect it doesnt run because it never moved while we were there.

So, just to clarify...there was their regular vehicle there (I'm assuming this one ran then) and then there were two other vehicles parked at the bottom of the driveway but at least one of them didn't work out of the two at the bottom? Is that right?

 

[vlpate]

Thank you for coming back and responding to all these questions, I know your time is valuable. I have another, well two.

1. Do you know why an area by a casino was searched? Was this a psychic tip?

2. Was Jersey's alibi that night a Casino?

Ty!

 

[Jim Spellman CNN]

So, just to clarify...there was their regular vehicle there (I'm assuming this one ran then) and then there were two other vehicles parked at the bottom of the driveway but at least one of them didn't work out of the two at the bottom? Is that right?

Correct

 

[DeAnn]

Thank you for coming back and responding to all these questions, I know your time is valuable. I have another, well two.

1. Do you know why an area by a casino was searched? Was this a psychic tip?

2. Was Jersey's alibi that night a Casino?

Ty!

Thank you Jim for all the information you are sharing. It's very enlightening. I appreciate and respect your professionalism and dedication to this case.

2) That was the rumor that Jersey was on camera and had been involved in an incident at a casino. North Kansas City Police Department had no records for anything like that for several days before and after Lisa went missing much less the night of Oct. 3 and morning of Oct. 4. NKCPD had no records of Tanko. NKC is where Harrah's is and Harrahs was the rumor. Just down 210 is Ameristar. Both Harrahs and Ameristar officials said they had no record of any incident involving Tanko or being contacted by Kansas City police. They seemed genuinely surprised by the questions. Didn't check Riverside PD where Ameristar is located since Ameristar folks were emphatic. Don't know about Argosy and Isle of Capri which are farther away. The assumption would be Tanko went to a casino closer to him and Harrahs was specifically mentioned in the rumor.

The other rumor was he was at North Kansas City Hospital and because of HIPPA hospitals don't discuss such information.

KCPD isn't saying what his alibi is. The official stance is he cooperated and they "moved on."

 

[hambirg]

I still have questions about 10/6. It was said that DB/JI had a heated argument/discussion(?) with LE that day and went racing off to the command center. Do you have any idea what that could have been about?

I find that day to be very curious. It's also the day that. . .

JI said the window was not tampered with,
LE claimed the parents had stopped co-operating,
and LE shut down the command center.

On 10/7 it was announced that the parents had hired a lawyer.

All of that makes me wonder what the heck happened on 10/6, maybe even 10/5. :waitasec:

 

[highflyer]

Everyone I've spoken to has been interviewed by LE long before I got to them. I don't know if they specifically investigated the person in the car.

If I came across something the cops didn't know about I certainly would go to them first and before I reported anything about any of these people I checked it out with LE.

I will pass on an anecdote...at some point we knew that someone named Megan Wright was involved with the phones, but just had a name and didn't know where to find here so we were running down all the Megan Wrights in the KC area. My producer and i would just drive around to these addresses we had and knock on doors. Arduous to say the least.

Anyway, we go to a small apartment building , find M. Wright on the mail box and go knock. No one answer but i can hear rustling around inside and I'm pretty sure someone is there but no one comes to the door, so i leave my business card with a little note and we go to a few other place before deciding to go back to the apartment.

This time a woman in her early 20s comes to the door but just opens it a crack.Its the middle of the day but all the lights are off and the curtains are drawn in the apartment and she is a little weird. Then out of nowhere a baby starts crying and i have to admit it really freaked me out. Was that Lisa crying? My spidey sense was definitely tingling. She explains how she has been staying in the apartment with the kid because when she goes out everyone thinks its Baby Lisa so she is just avoiding seeing people.

We leave and call the KCPD and tell them about the visit...we felt kind of silly calling them but we knew we had to. Obviously it wasn't the right Megan Wright and the police checked her out and everything was cool, but it was definitely a weird moment.

Wow. Wow.

 

[iamnotagolem]

You have mentioned that the all of their extended family (Netz & Irwins) believe DB to be innocent, what about JI?

 

[vlpate]

Thank you Jim for all the information you are sharing. It's very enlightening. I appreciate and respect your professionalism and dedication to this case.

2) That was the rumor that Jersey was on camera and had been involved in an incident at a casino. North Kansas City Police Department had no records for anything like that for several days before and after Lisa went missing much less the night of Oct. 3 and morning of Oct. 4. NKCPD had no records of Tanko. NKC is where Harrah's is and Harrahs was the rumor. Just down 210 is Ameristar. Both Harrahs and Ameristar officials said they had no record of any incident involving Tanko or being contacted by Kansas City police. They seemed genuinely surprised by the questions. Didn't check Riverside PD where Ameristar is located since Ameristar folks were emphatic. Don't know about Argosy and Isle of Capri which are farther away. The assumption would be Tanko went to a casino closer to him and Harrahs was specifically mentioned in the rumor.

The other rumor was he was at North Kansas City Hospital and because of HIPPA hospitals don't discuss such information.

KCPD isn't saying what his alibi is. The official stance is he cooperated and they "moved on."

Q&A thread for Jim Spellman Thanks.

 

[vlpate]

Jim - Do you know if there were any certain cars searched (more than just peripherally), at the apartments on 37th? TIA

 

[iamnotagolem]

Do you know how long Megan Wright had that phone number, do you know who had it before her?

 

[Jim Spellman CNN]

Thank you for coming back and responding to all these questions, I know your time is valuable. I have another, well two.

1. Do you know why an area by a casino was searched? Was this a psychic tip?

2. Was Jersey's alibi that night a Casino?

Ty!

Area around the one-time casino was searched by volunteers. It was covered by local news but i wasn't there. I think a psychic was involved some how. You can find local news stories about it.

DeAnn covers question #2 in anther post.

For a long time someone online...here at Websleuths I think, who said they worked somewhere in LE ( cant remember but not a cop exactly, maybe a parole officer or something) repeatedly posted, in an uncomplimentary fashion about how the media could find out where Tanko was that night and alluded to a casino and some log books at a police station and had several people get in touch with me to pass on these vague riddle-esque "tips" but for some reason kept posting about it mysteriously and never just got in touch and clearly said what was on their mind.

As always if someone wants to send something my way I'll do whatever I can to check it out.

 

[Jim Spellman CNN]

I still have questions about 10/6. It was said that DB/JI had a heated argument/discussion(?) with LE that day and went racing off to the command center. Do you have any idea what that could have been about?

I find that day to be very curious. It's also the day that. . .

JI said the window was not tampered with,
LE claimed the parents had stopped co-operating,
and LE shut down the command center.

On 10/7 it was announced that the parents had hired a lawyer.

All of that makes me wonder what the heck happened on 10/6, maybe even 10/5. :waitasec:

Who said they had a heated discussion? Anyway, I don't know anything about that. I didn't get on the story until a couple days after that....sorry.

 

[Jim Spellman CNN]

You have mentioned that the all of their extended family (Netz & Irwins) believe DB to be innocent, what about JI?

No one in the the family that I am in contact with think either one of them had anything to do with it.

 

[Jim Spellman CNN]

Do you know how long Megan Wright had that phone number, do you know who had it before her?

Hmmm. I can;t find it in my notes, but i know I asked her that, probably on camera in one of my interviews with her. I searched the number to try find if it popped up anywhere but i didn't find out anything about it.

 

[KsStormy]

Jim, thank you SO much for your dedication to this case! I am a mother of 4 who lives a little over an hour away from Lisa's home, & have been following this story from day one. Do you happen to know if the only time the parents went back to KCPD since October was the day of the Dr Phil show? Also, DB had stated that they had "started doing media again", & we have not seen anything except the short interviews from KCTV 5 , of the parents hyping the show, I believe.