I Wonder If Jeremy Irwin Is Nervous Yet

Solomon Metalwala, the father of two year old Sky Metalwala, missing from Washington since early last month, just won a round in court with his estranged wife, Julia Biryukova, about custody of their daughter, Maile. This is largely because Sky disappeared, allegedly from her car, on her watch. Even if Sky is found alive today, I do not think Julia will ever have primary custody of Sky or his sister again. Not even if she wakes up one morning with a different personality and decides to cooperate with law enforcement and help find Sky.

This reminds me a little of the drama in Kansas City, Missouri, surrounding the disappearance of one year old Lisa Irwin. She was reported missing on October 4, allegedly stolen from her crib. The dog didn't bark, the two other children didn't notice, and Lisa apparently did not become upset and start to cry, (yeah....right!) leaving the admittedly drunken mom undisturbed at the time of the alleged kidnapping. The thing about those two other children is that they both are Lisa's half brothers, meaning that they each have another parent somewhere outside of the situation. And now, the natural mother of Jeremy's son wants custody. I would want custody, too, if I were her; I hope she gets it. Here's the thing.......Debbie Bradley (the drunken mom who lost Lisa in the the first place) and Jeremy Irwin apparently have begun to craft a campaign to subvert all of the negative publicity, both in the media and word of mouth, that their case has garnered, due to their attitudes and lack of cooperation with law enforcement. Their legal representation has even reached for the throat of Rasleen Raim, the mother of Jeremy's son, as she seeks to remove her child from Debbie Bradley's custody. It seems to me that allowing this child to live with his mom would give Jeremy more free time to concentrate on looking for Lisa; he should really welcome her offer. His situation has changed, and it will never be the same again, not even if Lisa is found today.

This also sheds some light on something else Debbie and Jeremy have recently expressed, specifically that they want the vigils that take place near their house for Lisa to stop. Custody issues may be the true reason that Debbie and Jeremy want the vigils for Lisa to stop. Vigils, along with media and public attention in a missing child case keep everyone aware that the child is missing, but it also adds a bit of chaos to the atmosphere. I really think that Debbie and Jeremy know that as long as their daughter is missing, all of the chaos coming from all aspects of the case could be seen as unhealthy by a family law court judge and help Rasleen win her case to modify custody of her son. Also, if Lisa is found to have been the victim of foul play, the nature of the vigils could easily change, and rightfully so. Anyone remember Casey Anthony, and public reaction at her parents' home? I do not think Debbie and Jeremy's neighbors will like a situation like that any more than the Anthonys' neighbors did. Also......it is much harder to carry on any criminal activity while getting lots of attention from an always present, very interested, local public; and that probably comprises at least a small part of Debbie's problem with vigils.

I wonder if Debbie and Jeremy are paying attention to Sky Metalwala's case? The custody ruling in the Metalwala case does not set any legal precedents, but it does contain the key elements of estranged spouses and missing children. This is a sad day for families, when kidnapped siblings must be a consideration in family law court.

Debbie Bradley May Get More Grownup Time

It looks like one of Lisa Irwin's older brothers may have a chance to live with his real mom, Rasleen Raim. This looks like a win-win situation for everyone involved, except, possibly for Lisa. Of course, the only way for Lisa to win here would involve her parents cooperating with law enforcement; and since they have shown nothing but contempt for every attempt to locate Lisa, I don't think Debbie and Jeremy's cooperation will be forthcoming. Here's the thing.....I don't know why John Picerno, Debbie and Jeremy's Missouri criminal defense attorney, is adverse to Lisa's older brother moving out of the Bradley drunkathon. The child would be able to live with away from the media circus surrounding his family's life, and would have an opportunity to become reaquainted with his mom, (if I were a gambler, I would BET there is more to THAT story than we have heard......and I would BET that it involved intimidation on Jeremy's part....but that's just my opinion at the moment) and Debbie would have more "grownup time". Of course, this may be a misnomer, because in my world, "grownup time" usually follows the event of growing up, rather than preceding it, but Debbie and Jeremy do lots of things differently than many of the rest of us would.

John Picerno makes statements to the effect that Rasleen Raim has not seen her child since 2008, then says that it has been six years since 2008, (by my count, it has been three years and some months since 2008) and he completely ignores that many, many absentee FATHERS regain custody or visitation every day after not seeing their children for even longer intervals. It's nothing new, and certainly nothing over which to demonize Rasleen Raim. I honestly believe Raim will at least get visitation. I hope she does not allow Picerno or Tacobella to intimidate her.

One of the ways this could actually help Lisa's whereabouts become known will be if Debbie Bradley is excluded from any court proceedings involving Jeremy Irwin, Rasleen Raim, and their child. Debbie Bradley, after all, is not Irwin's wife, she is merely someone with whom he cohabits, and this should not grant her any custodial rights. If Jeremy must enter a court room all by himself, and speak about his home life, and what he and his girlfriend have to offer a child, after losing a child and admittedly being too drunk to remember what happened at the time, more details might emerge. Details that might never emerge in Debbie Bradley's presence.

Of course, Jeremy will probably have to pay child support. He will have one less deduction at tax time. And, one less child in the Irwin household will probably reduce Debbie's foodstamps and other benefits enough to drive her into the workforce. If Rasleen Raim wins this case, it's win-win.