Missing Detroit girl's dad pleads for her return

DETROIT – The father of a 2-year-old Detroit girl believes police are looking at him as "suspect number one" in her disappearance.

D'Andre Lane told reporters Tuesday that he wants his daughter returned home and that the person who has Bianca Jones, not he, is "the villain" in the case.

Police and volunteers continued Tuesday searching the Detroit North End neighborhood where Bianca lives and where Lane claims he was carjacked Friday morning while she sat in a rear car seat. The car was found Friday, but she was not in it.

"Soon after everything happened I was talking to police and I heard some officers off to the side say, 'Oh, he has a criminal record,'" said Lane, accompanied by his attorney, Terry L. Johnson. "I know what that means. He has a criminal record. He's suspect number one.

"I don't know what people are thinking. My main concern is my daughter coming home safely."

According to Michigan prison records, Lane was jailed for more than three years on drug and firearm possession charges stemming from a 2003 arrest and was paroled in 2007. He also served a more than four-year probation starting in 1996 after being convicted of assault with intent to commit armed robbery and a conspiracy charge.

He was held over the weekend in the Oakland County Jail, north of Detroit, on a personal protection order warrant unrelated to Bianca's disappearance. On Monday, a judge there ordered Lane to attend anger management classes, Johnson said.

Detroit Police Chief Ralph Godbee said the father's story is under "intense scrutiny" by investigators.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Lane had not been questioned again by Detroit police, his lawyer said.

"This man has been vilified as public enemy number one. He needs someone to speak on his behalf," said Johnson, concerned about what he sees as police leaks to the media, including claims that Lane failed a lie detector test.

"We're not saying he failed. We're saying it was administered improperly," Johnson said. "You take someone under that kind of stress and put them in a room; he's not free to leave. He's in custody. He talks to you and now you want to strap him up to a machine. No one who gives a polygraph properly would do anything like that."

Investigators also have searched Lane's home several times, taking flash drives, laptops and sheets from the girl's bed.

Lane said he is not returning home because of threats he and his family have received over the past few days.

"It's been told to me that it's in my best interest to just relax for a minute and kind of let things die down," he said. "If something was to happen where (Bianca) comes home tomorrow and someone does something to me tonight, what would be the tragedy then?"

More than 150 volunteers have helped investigators in the search for Bianca. About 75 to 80 law enforcement officers, including city and state police officers and FBI agents, are searching for the girl and following up on tips from the public, Detroit police Sgt. Eren Stephens said Tuesday.

The reward for information in the case has been rising. An anonymous $5,000 reward has been added to a $15,000 anonymous reward and one for $2,500 from Crime Stoppers, Stephens said.

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Information from: WJBK-TV, http://www.fox2detroit.com