IS SHE BABY LISA? FBI probes if gypsy camp girl is missing US baby ift.tt/HduGcp An American couple whose daughter disappeared in 2011 is asking Greek police to check whether or not she is “Maria,” a blue-eyed blond girl who was found living with alleged abductors at a gypsy camp. The parents of Lisa Irwin, Deborah Bradley and Jeremy Irwin, of Kansas City, have contacted their local FBI office which has reached out to Greek authorities. “We are waiting to hear back from law enforcement,” their lawyer, John Picerno, said on Tuesday, according to the Kansas City Star. Maria, who is believed to 5 or 6 years old, was taken into protective care last week after DNA tests established that the couple looking after her could not be her biological parents. Bradley and Irwin say someone broke into their Kansas City home in 2011 and kidnapped Lisa -- who was then ten months old -- while she slept. Because of the physical similarities between Lisa and Maria we have contacted the authorities here, as well as overseas, and are waiting for their responses, the couple wrote in an email to Sky News. Lisa would turn 3 years old in November. The inquiry is reportedly one of eight leads being taken seriously by Greek police as authorities are working to uncover “Maria’s” identity. Another three are in the U.S. while there are one each in Canada, Sweden, France and Poland, The Telegraph reports. No one has yet come forth to claim “Maria” as their daughter. The Athens-based Smile of the Child charity, which is looking after the girl, said they have received thousands of calls and emails about “Maria.” Interpol has searched its missing children database and found 38 girls under the age of six, but none of them matched “Maria’s” description, The Telegraph reports. In Greece, a prosecutor on Tuesday ordered an emergency nationwide investigation into birth certificates. Supreme Court prosecutor Efterpi Koutzamani ordered the inquiry for birth certificates issued after Jan. 1, 2008, amid news media reports of potential benefits fraud by families declaring births in multiple regions. The couple who claimed to be “Maria’s” parents have been jailed on charges of abduction and document fraud, The Associated Press reports. The two suspects, ages 39 and 40, deny the abduction allegations, claiming they received the child from a destitute woman to bring her up as their own. Authorities allege the female suspect claimed to have given birth to six children in less than 10 months, while 10 of the 14 children the couple had registered as their own are unaccounted for. Police say the two suspects received about $3,420 a month in subsidies from three different cities. On Monday, the mayor of Athens ordered the suspension of three officials in charge of record-keeping. New parents have three months to declare their newborns. Investigators in Athens found a large number of babies had been recently declared at or near the end of that deadline, sending up a red flag because they suspected some were multiple declarations to claim benefits. Meanwhile, sources told Sky News Tuesday that another blue-eyed blond girl, believed to be around 7 years old and living with a gypsy family in Dublin, Ireland, was also taken into protective care. The sources said police received a tip from a member of the public on Monday amid heightened concerns over “Maria’s” discovery. The parents told authorities that the girl was their daughter and showed police documents, but officers weren’t satisfied, according to the BBC. They were unable to prove the identity of the girl, sources told Sky News. The child is now in the hands of Ireland’s Health Services while the parents are being questioned by police. Authorities are now planning to take DNA samples from the parents and the girl to determine whether or not they are related, The Guardian reports. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Posted on: Tue, 22 Oct 2013 20:10:24 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015