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

[Jim Spellman CNN]

Just a comment

If I were working the case, I would like nothing more then to get the outtakes on all the interviews of people involved in the case. It would be a treasure trove.

Media are denying access from what I heard. Can you imagine how much info is there if they interview for an hour and only broadcast x5min...wow! They do so much clipping and snipping that oftentimes the message is not clear.

You mean TV interviews? Most of the interviews I did ran either in their entirety or were trimmed a bit. The HLN format makes it easy to do that, not so easy for other programs. Not sure how much of those whole interviews were posted online though. I'm some of them are.

 

[Jim Spellman CNN]

What was Tamara Sparks cause of death and is there any progress in solving her murder? Yes I realize there has been nothing official tying her to the missing Lisa Irwin case. Its just that I can only handle a certain number of coincidences in a case.

Sorry, I don't know who that is.

 

[Jim Spellman CNN]

Thank you Jim!

Do you remember how many vehicles the family had access to? I remember watching you do a walkabout and a drive through the area. You showed a vehicle up on blocks in the driveway. I think it was a white vehicle.

In their parking lot there was one car on blocks and an SUV that never moved in the 5 weeks I was there. They had another car that they drove around in and sometimes they were in a minivan. Don't know whose that was. Sometimes they would be driven around by various family members or attorneys.

 

[~n/t~]

Jim, after following this case like so many of us from the very start, you must have an opinion of what happened to Lisa and whether or not she is still alive.

Are you able to share your opinion with us? If not, I understand.

 

[KsStormy]

There has been a lot of talk about the cadaver dog hit. Do you know if this was a hit by a single dog, or backed up by another dog(s)? Are you aware of how soon after the 9/11 call SAR dogs were brought in?

 

[Jim Spellman CNN]

Jim, after following this case like so many of us from the very start, you must have an opinion of what happened to Lisa and whether or not she is still alive.

Are you able to share your opinion with us? If not, I understand.

If I had an opinion I wouldn't share it but I can honestly say that I just don't know. Sorry I don't have a better answer LOL.

Also on the other page you posted that maybe we have different takes on what a witness is. That could indeed be. I think of it as someone who MAY have information pertinent to the investigation. Heres the list off the top of my head so you know who I have interviewed and who I haven't. I'm going by memory so I apologize if I misspell a name:

-Megan Wright-everyone knows who she is
-Several of Megan's housemates
-James Brando-Next door neighbor, husband of Samantha who by many accounts was with Deborah that night.
-Shane Beagley-neighbor next house over. Says he was with DB and SB part of that night.
-Mary Hurt-Neighbor. Saw Jersey that day because he was turning sprinklers on and off in her next door neighbors house. Mary was the one that told me Jersey and Megan had dated and that they often cut through the next door neighbors yard. Very helpful.
-Dennis Watson and his wife ( whose name escapes me...stars with a D) Next door neighbor of Mary Hurt. They hired Jersey from time to time. They were away at their lake house when Lisa disappeared. LE took foot prints from the dirt in their yard. It was Tanko and Megans regular cut-through from the neighborhood to an apartment complex. They were hostile but answered questions.
-Neighbors on the other side of Mary. Name escapes me. The wife at this house saw Jersey walking away with Mary Hurts dog the day Lisa disappeared. the dog turned up several miles away a few days later.
-Lisa and her husband- Lisa is the 12:15 witness along with her husband. They saw a man, with baby walking up their street and turning into the yard shared by Mary Hurt and the Watsons.
-Mike Thompson-4am witness on motorcycle.
-Gil Abyeta- Child advocate from Colorado that showed Mike Thompson some photographs in a sort of line up. Mike IDed a man. I spoke with that man and he denied it was him. I wont say who that was but it wasn't Jersey.
-Cyndy Short- Former attorney for DB and JI. Gil came to her with Mike Thompson and she took him to the KCPD.
-Dane Greathouse's brother. I cant remember his first name...Zach I think. Doesn't look to be too pertinent.
-Manager of BP who had the surveillance tape.
-Clerk and manager of supermarket where Deb bought wine.

My wonderful producer also spoke to Tankos PDs and the people at Jeremy's work.

I may be forgetting someone but i think this is most of the important people. Stanton spoke with none of them based on my interviews with them and Vinnie Politan asking Stanton on the show in December. He;s under no obligation to do so at alll, but it makes it hard to figure out what exactly he is doing.

Now, maybe more important are the people I HAVE NOT interviewed: Deborah. Jeremy, Samantha Brando, John Tank, Dane Greathouse. A couple chats with Deb, but nothing significant

And of course I've spoken to many cops, feds, firefighters, court clerks, jail staff etc. I have omitted all the neighborhood folks with no pertinent information and people I spoke to pursuing leads that didn't pan out as well as the people I speak to on background or off the record, though there arent many.

I list these so you can have context of what may have info on and what I don't have info on. All of my interviews with the above list were in the record without restriction so i can answer anything about those conversations.

 

[Jim Spellman CNN]

There has been a lot of talk about the cadaver dog hit. Do you know if this was a hit by a single dog, or backed up by another dog(s)? Are you aware of how soon after the 9/11 call SAR dogs were brought in?

I think it was a single dog. I can find the arrest warrant affidavit. I'm not sure exactly what happened immediately after the 911 call, but several neighbors told me their homes were searched in the hours after the 911 call adn sometimes dogs were used, so i think they got to it pretty quickly. Local media reporting should have that pretty well laid out.

 

[katydid23]

"-Lisa and her husband- Lisa is the 12:15 witness along with her husband. They saw a man, with baby walking up their street and turning into the yard shared by Mary Hurt and the Watsons."

I just keep coming back to this possible sighting. Does it seem credible? Do you believe it happened the way it has been described?

 

[Jim Spellman CNN]

"-Lisa and her husband- Lisa is the 12:15 witness along with her husband. They saw a man, with baby walking up their street and turning into the yard shared by Mary Hurt and the Watsons."

I just keep coming back to this possible sighting. Does it seem credible? Do you believe it happened the way it has been described?

I think they are very credible. The next morning as soon as they woke up and saw the hubub in their neighborhood they immediately went to police. Could they have been mistaken about what they saw or could the sighting have some other explanation? Definitely, but I have no indication that anyone in LE thinks they were lying or exaggerating.

 

[~n/t~]

If I had an opinion I wouldn't share it but I can honestly say that I just don't know. Sorry I don't have a better answer LOL.

Also on the other page you posted that maybe we have different takes on what a witness is. That could indeed be. I think of it as someone who MAY have information pertinent to the investigation. Heres the list off the top of my head so you know who I have interviewed and who I haven't. I'm going by memory so I apologize if I misspell a name:

-Megan Wright-everyone knows who she is
-Several of Megan's housemates
-James Brando-Next door neighbor, husband of Samantha who by many accounts was with Deborah that night.
-Shane Beagley-neighbor next house over. Says he was with DB and SB part of that night.
-Mary Hurt-Neighbor. Saw Jersey that day because he was turning sprinklers on and off in her next door neighbors house. Mary was the one that told me Jersey and Megan had dated and that they often cut through the next door neighbors yard. Very helpful.
-Dennis Watson and his wife ( whose name escapes me...stars with a D) Next door neighbor of Mary Hurt. They hired Jersey from time to time. They were away at their lake house when Lisa disappeared. LE took foot prints from the dirt in their yard. It was Tanko and Megans regular cut-through from the neighborhood to an apartment complex. They were hostile but answered questions.
-Neighbors on the other side of Mary. Name escapes me. The wife at this house saw Jersey walking away with Mary Hurts dog the day Lisa disappeared. the dog turned up several miles away a few days later.
-Lisa and her husband- Lisa is the 12:15 witness along with her husband. They saw a man, with baby walking up their street and turning into the yard shared by Mary Hurt and the Watsons.
-Mike Thompson-4am witness on motorcycle.
-Gil Abyeta- Child advocate from Colorado that showed Mike Thompson some photographs in a sort of line up. Mike IDed a man. I spoke with that man and he denied it was him. I wont say who that was but it wasn't Jersey.
-Cyndy Short- Former attorney for DB and JI. Gil came to her with Mike Thompson and she took him to the KCPD.
-Dane Greathouse's brother. I cant remember his first name...Zach I think. Doesn't look to be too pertinent.
-Manager of BP who had the surveillance tape.
-Clerk and manager of supermarket where Deb bought wine.

My wonderful producer also spoke to Tankos PDs and the people at Jeremy's work.

I may be forgetting someone but i think this is most of the important people. Stanton spoke with none of them based on my interviews with them and Vinnie Politan asking Stanton on the show in December. He;s under no obligation to do so at alll, but it makes it hard to figure out what exactly he is doing.

Now, maybe more important are the people I HAVE NOT interviewed: Deborah. Jeremy, Samantha Brando, John Tank, Dane Greathouse. A couple chats with Deb, but nothing significant

And of course I've spoken to many cops, feds, firefighters, court clerks, jail staff etc. I have omitted all the neighborhood folks with no pertinent information and people I spoke to pursuing leads that didn't pan out as well as the people I speak to on background or off the record, though there arent many.

I list these so you can have context of what may have info on and what I don't have info on. All of my interviews with the above list were in the record without restriction so i can answer anything about those conversations.

Awesome thank you! So of course my next question is why haven't you interviewed the major players? You probably expected this question.

I'm guessing Jersey is because he's in jail and you mentioned trying but what about the others? Are they refusing interviews? If so, did they give you reasons besides the "I'm not allowed"?

Did anything come to you as a "aha" moment when you interviewed some of these witnesses?

 

[Jim Spellman CNN]

Awesome thank you! So of course my next question is why haven't you interviewed the major players? You probably expected this question.

I'm guessing Jersey is because he's in jail and you mentioned trying but what about the others? Are they refusing interviews? If so, did they give you reasons besides the "I'm not allowed"?

Did anything come to you as a "aha" moment when you interviewed some of these witnesses?

Deb refused in person and both Deb and Jeremy's attorneys refused official repeated requests through attorneys. Jersey because I couldn't get to him, Dane because he was MIA while I was in KC and once he reappeared i was back in Denver and on another story. Samantha is someone I haven't ever met face to face and my attempts to reach her have been unsuccessful. I don't think she was too happy that her husband spoke to me. I don't think she has given any interviews. I'm not too worried about Dane, but the other four I would of course love to interview.

Lots of a-hah moments ...the biggest one was when Megan told me Jersey was her ex boyfriend. Safe to say that certainly changed the story.

 

[Jacie Estes]

Re:the Ford plant...yes I'm familiar, just wasnt sure if it was inside the KC city limits.

Anyway, as for Megan I am in regular contact with her and have spent a lot of time with her. I don't have any indication that she moved away to try to hide or anything like that. She is probably the most accessible person in this whole case. She leads a pretty unstable life and obviously bounces around a lot. She came back to KCMO for Christmas then went back to Springfield. She says she would like to come back to KCMO when she can get some money together or find a job there.

She is no doubt an important part of the case because of the phone calls, I don't know in what way. As I said before despite all the bits of info out there about the phones that whole thing remains a mystery to me i that I have no idea what , if anything, it all means.

As fro Shane Beagley, I'm not sure what you mean by flying under the radar. He was interviewed by multiple LE agencies, gave DNA and continued to come and go in the neighborhood. He didn't ant to go on camera but I interviewed him off cam and spoke with him less formally several other times and he answered all my questions in a straight forward way and the parts of it that i could confirm with others seemed to line up just fine. When I interviewed him I don't think he had spoken to any other media because no one knew that he was involved until I interviewed James Brando..not sure if either of those guys have done interviews since they spoke to me. They both came and went all the time and certainly weren't hiding.

As for the KCPDs investigation, all I can say is that every person I interviewed had already been interviewed by KCPD and often the feds as well and some gave DNA or did lie detector test. There were also extensive physical searches of various wooded areas around the neighborhood. So, I certainly can't draw any conclusions but I can say that I saw many signs of a vigorous and thorough investigation.

BBM

Thank you for your answers. What I meant about the under the radar; Shane was in close proximity to Deborah that night but has not been very visible afterwards. Your answer, that he did not want to go on camera, gives me a clearer picture.

I do hope the phone thing is cleared up, as well. I had wondered if Lisa and/or the phones were, at any time, at the house where jersey did work. Could explain the close pinging, until the batteries went dead.

 

[vlpate]

If I had an opinion I wouldn't share it but I can honestly say that I just don't know. Sorry I don't have a better answer LOL.

Also on the other page you posted that maybe we have different takes on what a witness is. That could indeed be. I think of it as someone who MAY have information pertinent to the investigation. Heres the list off the top of my head so you know who I have interviewed and who I haven't. I'm going by memory so I apologize if I misspell a name:

-Megan Wright-everyone knows who she is
-Several of Megan's housemates
-James Brando-Next door neighbor, husband of Samantha who by many accounts was with Deborah that night.
-Shane Beagley-neighbor next house over. Says he was with DB and SB part of that night.
-Mary Hurt-Neighbor. Saw Jersey that day because he was turning sprinklers on and off in her next door neighbors house. Mary was the one that told me Jersey and Megan had dated and that they often cut through the next door neighbors yard. Very helpful.
-Dennis Watson and his wife ( whose name escapes me...stars with a D) Next door neighbor of Mary Hurt. They hired Jersey from time to time. They were away at their lake house when Lisa disappeared. LE took foot prints from the dirt in their yard. It was Tanko and Megans regular cut-through from the neighborhood to an apartment complex. They were hostile but answered questions.
-Neighbors on the other side of Mary. Name escapes me. The wife at this house saw Jersey walking away with Mary Hurts dog the day Lisa disappeared. the dog turned up several miles away a few days later.
-Lisa and her husband- Lisa is the 12:15 witness along with her husband. They saw a man, with baby walking up their street and turning into the yard shared by Mary Hurt and the Watsons.
-Mike Thompson-4am witness on motorcycle.
-Gil Abyeta- Child advocate from Colorado that showed Mike Thompson some photographs in a sort of line up. Mike IDed a man. I spoke with that man and he denied it was him. I wont say who that was but it wasn't Jersey.
-Cyndy Short- Former attorney for DB and JI. Gil came to her with Mike Thompson and she took him to the KCPD.
-Dane Greathouse's brother. I cant remember his first name...Zach I think. Doesn't look to be too pertinent.
-Manager of BP who had the surveillance tape.
-Clerk and manager of supermarket where Deb bought wine.

My wonderful producer also spoke to Tankos PDs and the people at Jeremy's work.

I may be forgetting someone but i think this is most of the important people. Stanton spoke with none of them based on my interviews with them and Vinnie Politan asking Stanton on the show in December. He;s under no obligation to do so at alll, but it makes it hard to figure out what exactly he is doing.

Now, maybe more important are the people I HAVE NOT interviewed: Deborah. Jeremy, Samantha Brando, John Tank, Dane Greathouse. A couple chats with Deb, but nothing significant

And of course I've spoken to many cops, feds, firefighters, court clerks, jail staff etc. I have omitted all the neighborhood folks with no pertinent information and people I spoke to pursuing leads that didn't pan out as well as the people I speak to on background or off the record, though there arent many.

I list these so you can have context of what may have info on and what I don't have info on. All of my interviews with the above list were in the record without restriction so i can answer anything about those conversations.

Thank you SO much for taking the time to post this. It makes no sense to me, and as a mother, never will, why Deborah and Jeremy would ever turn down a chance to talk to a reporter - especially a reporter that has such easy access to Nancy Grace, the go to missing persons advocate.

 

[vlpate]

I'll tackle a few different questions in this answer...

The divide in the family: Some in the family fully support Joe Tacopina's approach, which has been to not speak to the press. Except in a few cases when they have done hand picked national media going back a few months and the upcoming Dr. Phil appearance.

The other group think they should be out in front of the media...local, national, anyone!..every day trying to keep the case alive and hopefully generating useful leads.

Everyone in the family that I am in touch with thinks they are innocent and all are critical of the KCPD for focusing too much on Deborah and not enough on other leads.

As for them not coming on HLN it's not surprising..the family just hasn't done any media since their round of network interview a couple weeks after the disappearance ( i don't have the date in front of me...Vinnie went over the calendar yesterday). I certainly don't take it personally. The few times I ran into Deborah and chatted woth her she was very nice but say she "wasn't allowed" to talk.

Why not Tacopina? As I said above some of the family have not agreed with his media strategy and they think they would be better served by someone else. I don't think anyone begrudges them counsel at all, but some of the family members who are anti-Tacopina say he is (naturally) acting like a defense attorney with a client charged with something while the family , who all think Deb was not involved, feel like he should be leading a sort of search and rescue mission. I hope this makes sense.

And BTW the KCPD absolutely does NOT want to talk to them without attorneys, they want to talk to them with restrictions about what they can talk about and they want DB and JI to be separate. That has been stated to me clearly by KCPD many times.

I'm going to venture a guess here - Deborah's side agrees with Stanton and Tac. Jeremy's side, not so much - they want more searching done.

Makes sense. Joran Van DerSloot's family stood behind Tac's defense tactics as well.

 

[buggsmom]

If I had an opinion I wouldn't share it but I can honestly say that I just don't know. Sorry I don't have a better answer LOL.

Also on the other page you posted that maybe we have different takes on what a witness is. That could indeed be. I think of it as someone who MAY have information pertinent to the investigation. Heres the list off the top of my head so you know who I have interviewed and who I haven't. I'm going by memory so I apologize if I misspell a name:

-Megan Wright-everyone knows who she is
-Several of Megan's housemates
-James Brando-Next door neighbor, husband of Samantha who by many accounts was with Deborah that night.-Shane Beagley-neighbor next house over. Says he was with DB and SB part of that night.
-Mary Hurt-Neighbor. Saw Jersey that day because he was turning sprinklers on and off in her next door neighbors house. Mary was the one that told me Jersey and Megan had dated and that they often cut through the next door neighbors yard. Very helpful.
-Dennis Watson and his wife ( whose name escapes me...stars with a D) Next door neighbor of Mary Hurt. They hired Jersey from time to time. They were away at their lake house when Lisa disappeared. LE took foot prints from the dirt in their yard. It was Tanko and Megans regular cut-through from the neighborhood to an apartment complex. They were hostile but answered questions.
-Neighbors on the other side of Mary. Name escapes me. The wife at this house saw Jersey walking away with Mary Hurts dog the day Lisa disappeared. the dog turned up several miles away a few days later.
-Lisa and her husband- Lisa is the 12:15 witness along with her husband. They saw a man, with baby walking up their street and turning into the yard shared by Mary Hurt and the Watsons.
-Mike Thompson-4am witness on motorcycle.
-Gil Abyeta- Child advocate from Colorado that showed Mike Thompson some photographs in a sort of line up. Mike IDed a man. I spoke with that man and he denied it was him. I wont say who that was but it wasn't Jersey.
-Cyndy Short- Former attorney for DB and JI. Gil came to her with Mike Thompson and she took him to the KCPD.
-Dane Greathouse's brother. I cant remember his first name...Zach I think. Doesn't look to be too pertinent.
-Manager of BP who had the surveillance tape.
-Clerk and manager of supermarket where Deb bought wine.

< respectfuly snipped for space>

RBM: This is new to me, James being with Deb that night. What more can you tell about that?
TIA!

 

[DeAnn]

RBM: This is new to me, James being with Deb that night. What more can you tell about that?
TIA!

I think you are reading it wrong. He means Samantha Brando and Debbie Bradley were hanging out together. Brando left around 5 p.m.

 

[buggsmom]

I think you are reading it wrong. He means Samantha Brando and Debbie Bradley were hanging out together. Brando left around 5 p.m.

ahhhh....I most certainly did! Thanks for setting me straight!

 

[Jim Spellman CNN]

I think you are reading it wrong. He means Samantha Brando and Debbie Bradley were hanging out together. Brando left around 5 p.m.

sorry for the confusing syntax!

 

[beach]

Hey guys, I removed the discussion.


Let's keep this a Q & A - No Discussion thread to make it easier for everyone to follow.


Post your question and patiently wait for a response.


Mr. Spellman has graciously agreed to answer the ones he can. Thanks so much for taking the time to personally answer our questions. You've already helped clarify several issues and we appreciate it much.

 

[cityslick]

Jim,

Based on your brief interactions with DB, can you tell us anything about her (demeanor wise)? Did it appear to you she seemed like a mother who had lost her child?