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Cindy Short

Appearances

The Megyn Kelly Show

Police Narratives, Mystery Man Holding Baby - Part 2 of Megyn Kelly Investigates: Baby Lisa's Disappearance | Ep. 1023

1172.908

I think he really was one of the best suspects or persons of interest. And although the police did speak to him, they did not speak to him as a suspect. They spoke to him more as a kind of a person in the community. And You know, when you interview someone as a suspect versus someone as a witness, that interview is very different.

The Megyn Kelly Show

Police Narratives, Mystery Man Holding Baby - Part 2 of Megyn Kelly Investigates: Baby Lisa's Disappearance | Ep. 1023

1209.201

I think one reason they would do that is because they have one theory, and they've stuck to that theory all these years, that it was the parents. I think a second reason, and this would be a legitimate reason, that one of the witnesses in the case, the lady that was several doors up from the Irwins at 1215, who saw the man carrying the baby. She's talking there about Lisa Parscale.

The Megyn Kelly Show

Police Narratives, Mystery Man Holding Baby - Part 2 of Megyn Kelly Investigates: Baby Lisa's Disappearance | Ep. 1023

1232.462

And she knew Irwins. Jersey because he had done work across the street at the Watson's home. And she did not believe that the person carrying the baby was, in fact, Tanko. I don't know whether she reported that to the police, but let's assume that she did. And so that that was one way that they would have eliminated him.

The Megyn Kelly Show

Police Narratives, Mystery Man Holding Baby - Part 2 of Megyn Kelly Investigates: Baby Lisa's Disappearance | Ep. 1023

1270.671

I don't think that that should have been the end of the story. I think when you look at the totality of what he was doing, particularly from July through October...

The Megyn Kelly Show

Police Narratives, Mystery Man Holding Baby - Part 2 of Megyn Kelly Investigates: Baby Lisa's Disappearance | Ep. 1023

1328.157

He had been incarcerated in Missouri for a burglary. He had been released from his incarceration and then he had absconded, which meant that he had escaped from basically a halfway house. He was then living in an unhoused situation with a woman named Megan.

The Megyn Kelly Show

Police Narratives, Mystery Man Holding Baby - Part 2 of Megyn Kelly Investigates: Baby Lisa's Disappearance | Ep. 1023

1376.347

And there is a lot of disruption or arguments between Megan and Jersey. And later on in the summers, about September, he ends up getting arrested again. They break up. He wants to get back with her. She becomes homeless. He ends up setting her car on fire.

The Megyn Kelly Show

Police Narratives, Mystery Man Holding Baby - Part 2 of Megyn Kelly Investigates: Baby Lisa's Disappearance | Ep. 1023

1413.08

Fire is important here because we'll end up having a fire the night of the kidnapping.

The Megyn Kelly Show

Police Narratives, Mystery Man Holding Baby - Part 2 of Megyn Kelly Investigates: Baby Lisa's Disappearance | Ep. 1023

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Megan and Jersey are kind of an odd couple. She's much younger than he is, but they start talking about, in July, having children. Megan would like to have children. There's a theory about him wanting to get back together with her, and is this one of the reasons that he would have spontaneously taken this baby?

The Megyn Kelly Show

Police Narratives, Mystery Man Holding Baby - Part 2 of Megyn Kelly Investigates: Baby Lisa's Disappearance | Ep. 1023

1581.983

Again, attorney Cindy Short. In September, he's becoming more erratic. And so I think, again, this is significant. And some of the erratic behavior has to do with his drug use.

The Megyn Kelly Show

Police Narratives, Mystery Man Holding Baby - Part 2 of Megyn Kelly Investigates: Baby Lisa's Disappearance | Ep. 1023

1639.484

So we have an individual who's using methamphetamine, who's breaking into homes in the community, who has a history of arson in this same community. Meanwhile, he somehow ingratiated himself with a very nice couple, the Watsons, who live just several doors down from the Irwins, which means that he has an opportunity to really be watching what people are doing in this community.

The Megyn Kelly Show

Police Narratives, Mystery Man Holding Baby - Part 2 of Megyn Kelly Investigates: Baby Lisa's Disappearance | Ep. 1023

234.783

The women in my group and in my law firm were aching as mothers, and we wanted to be able to make a difference. We were hoping that if we were really on the ground talking to people, spreading ourselves out, that perhaps we could do something that would find the child.

The Megyn Kelly Show

Police Narratives, Mystery Man Holding Baby - Part 2 of Megyn Kelly Investigates: Baby Lisa's Disappearance | Ep. 1023

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Yeah, I think so. You know, having been in the house, the house is a ranch-style house. It's very small. As I recall, there were wood floors. And so the distance between the front door and that baby's room is maybe five to seven to eight steps. It's very short. I spent many hours in that neighborhood late at night. And that neighborhood is extraordinarily quiet, very, very dark.

The Megyn Kelly Show

Police Narratives, Mystery Man Holding Baby - Part 2 of Megyn Kelly Investigates: Baby Lisa's Disappearance | Ep. 1023

371.887

I was in the case by the time the search warrant was done and they brought the dogs in and then they made this announcement about the dog alerting in the house.

The Megyn Kelly Show

Police Narratives, Mystery Man Holding Baby - Part 2 of Megyn Kelly Investigates: Baby Lisa's Disappearance | Ep. 1023

413.35

I really believed that they were creating theater to make it look as if Debra was responsible. And I felt that that was really unfair. Debra's aunt, Cindy Lorette.

The Megyn Kelly Show

Police Narratives, Mystery Man Holding Baby - Part 2 of Megyn Kelly Investigates: Baby Lisa's Disappearance | Ep. 1023

533.502

Yeah, so Mike Thompson was an individual who worked for Ford Clay Como, and he was getting off work, and it was closer to, I want to say, 3.30 or so in the morning. And he was on a motorcycle, and he came to a stoplight under... a bridge and he was about to get on the highway and so he sees a man which he said was underdressed with a baby that he also thought was underdressed.

The Megyn Kelly Show

Police Narratives, Mystery Man Holding Baby - Part 2 of Megyn Kelly Investigates: Baby Lisa's Disappearance | Ep. 1023

576.588

He felt like it was really odd. And his first instinct was to stop and offer them a ride, except he was on a motorcycle.

The Megyn Kelly Show

Police Narratives, Mystery Man Holding Baby - Part 2 of Megyn Kelly Investigates: Baby Lisa's Disappearance | Ep. 1023

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He was an individual who was essentially homeless at the time, but he had connections to the neighborhood and had connections to a household that was only several doors up from the Irwins' home.

The Megyn Kelly Show

Police Narratives, Mystery Man Holding Baby - Part 2 of Megyn Kelly Investigates: Baby Lisa's Disappearance | Ep. 1023

881.698

What was significant for me was that he had a pretty healthy background in burglary and particularly in residential burglary.

The Megyn Kelly Show

Police Narratives, Mystery Man Holding Baby - Part 2 of Megyn Kelly Investigates: Baby Lisa's Disappearance | Ep. 1023

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And as we get closer and closer to the time of this abduction, His relationship with this community is significant. October 3rd in particular, which is the day of the kidnapping, he's at the Watsons' house. He turns on the sprinkler at 11 a.m. The next door neighbors see him turn the sprinkler on. The Watsons are not there. The sprinkler is still on at 9.30 p.m.

The Megyn Kelly Show

Police Narratives, Mystery Man Holding Baby - Part 2 of Megyn Kelly Investigates: Baby Lisa's Disappearance | Ep. 1023

949.335

And so the next door neighbors, the Hertz, don't do anything to turn it off. But at 11 p.m., they noticed that it has been turned off, so they figured Tanko was back in the neighborhood to turn that off.

The Megyn Kelly Show

Police Narratives, Mystery Man Holding Baby - Part 2 of Megyn Kelly Investigates: Baby Lisa's Disappearance | Ep. 1023

970.849

So now we've got Tanko in the neighborhood within an hour of what we believe will be the kidnapping because the Pascals are going to see this kidnapper with the baby at 12.15 p.m. He knows how people are moving in and out of this community. He knows about the pets in the neighborhood.