tonight on "nightline," nursery crimes? tensions escalate between police and the parents of an infant who went missing from her crib. new developments tonight as the search for baby lisa enters its fourth desperate week. shark hunt. a frantic hunt for a deadly great white shark, after the death of an american diver. was this just a rogue killer? we meet one woman who says swimming with sharks isn't always dangerous. and power play. the obama administration spent a billion dollars of stimulus money on electric cars to create

jobs in the united states. so, where are they? tonight, brian ross investigates. >> announcer: from the global resources of abc news, with terry moran, cynthia mcfadden and bill weir in new york city, this is "nightline," october 25th, 2011. >> good evening. well, where is baby lisa? that question has sparked an agonizing drama. a national search for a missing missouri baby that intensified today as a lawyer for the infant's parents came down hard on police, not for their failures so far to crack the case, but for their conduct towards his clients, which he calls unimaginable. police reply that these parents are not doing all they can to assist in the search. meanwhile, baby lisa has been missing three weeks as of today. here's abc's matt gutman. >> reporter: over the past three weeks, the kansas city police and fbi have been chasing

literally 1,000 leads across the country to try to find baby lisa. the missing 11-month-old girl. but they keep coming right back here, to the house on north lister avenue. focusing their attention on baby lisa's parents, deborah bradley and jeremy irwin, seen here trembling with grief at a recent vigil for baby lisa. a family attorney this morning on "good morning america" skewered kansas city police for their treatment of his clients. >> the mother, who is missing their baby, sitting on the floor, trembling as the father calls 911, within an hour of that, the police are interrogating her and ape accuse her of murder. they've done everything they've been asked to do. they consented to every search they've been asked to. >> reporter: but running short of viable leads and patience, the police counter that deborah bradley and jeremy irwin have not cooperating. the couple has refused to be

interviewed separately by police since october 8th, nearly three weeks ago. authorities take it a step farther, saying bradley and irwin likely have the answers that could lead police to baby lisa, answers that any parent should know about their child, about their whereabouts, bedtime, schedule. but family attorneys have told abc news exclusively that they will allow police to reinterview bradley and irwin's sons. both were at home and both interviewed by a child specialist that day. police have searched the home five times and last week police say a cadaver dog smelled human decomposition on the carpet. >> i'm giving you permission to walk through the house. >> reporter: the family's attorney downplayed its importance in an exclusive tour of the house over the weekend it was a visit to the house that seemed almost haunted. little lisa's diapers still strewn on the floor. walls gouged for evidence.

>> i graphite powder. >> reporter: much had been taken from lisa's room. >> they took the crib sheets the very first time they came in with the consent of the parents. >> reporter: but in that critical room, the master bedroom, the dogs allegedly smelled death. the carpet remained. >> i thought the dog alerted on one side or the other of the bed but as you notice, as you walk around, all the carpeting is intact. that is, it was not cut out. and i personally find that surprising. >> reporter: but so far, no arrests have been made. no suspects named. >> there's no question that the authorities are looking at the parents as possible suspects. i think they're also looking elsewhere. they're looking at the possibility of an intruder. i think that's what's making this investigation to frustrating, is that people really just don't know what to make of it. >> reporter: and in the din of tips and sightings, 800. >> reporter: already fulled by police and the fbi, police are retracing their steps.

>> he looked at me. >> reporter: how big the baby? >> about the size of the one that's missing. >> reporter: going back to mike thompson, who claims to have spotted baby lisa carried by a man down this street just a few miles from the family's home. >> showed me a paper with six pictures on it. >> reporter: and did you pick one out? >> yeah, i picked the man that they've been showing the pictures of. >> reporter: abc news obtained the picture of that man and learned he has been questioned by police multiple times. we showed it to another eyewitness who lives just three houses away from baby lisa's parents and who claims to have seen the same thing several hours earlier. a lone man walking with a nearly naked baby in the middle of the night. do you recognize that man? >> no, i don't recognize him. >> reporter: similar sighting, very different i.d. >> i know that he was tall and slender. as far as his head, we thought he was bald, like, we seen a shiny head.

>> just have to remember that eyewitness testimony is never as certain as it seems. and it can sometimes be just flat-out unreliable. >> reporter: still, no suspects and no hard evidence as the parents continue to shy away from the cameras. all that remains is the fog of mystery, seemingly as impenetrable as it was the night baby lisa disappeared. for "nightline," i'm matt gutman in kansas city. >> so, the search and the investigation continues and we'll be watching that case closely. thanks to matt gutman for that. just ahead, a series of fatal shark attacks. luckily, for our correspondent, this wasn't one of them. i'm rob jones.

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♪ and aetna's payment estimator lets him compare in-network specialists and out-of-pocket costs. ♪ so he knows what to expect before getting the bill. money saved. ♪ see the savings. aetna.com. aetna. know more. get better. >> announcer: "nightline" continues from new york city with terry moran. >> the circumstances were terrifying. a 32-year-old american was scuba diving in australia over the weekend when his friends suddenly saw the ocean surface break into a storm of bubbles. the diver was killed and the culprit? a great white shark, possibly responsible for two other fatal attacks in the last two months. such attacks only add to the fearsome rep of sharks but some marine biologists say that's a

bum wrap. tonight, abc's john berman goes "into the wild." >> reporter: skin-like armor, teeth like razors, eyes like steel. they are the ocean's top predators. nothing on earth is tougher. well, almost nothing. what's tougher? a high school teacher or a shark? >> oh, definitely a high school teacher. >> reporter: valerie gaynor, a biology teacher in florida, switches with sharks. big, scary-looking sharks. >> they completely ignore you pretty much. >> reporter: promise? >> promise. i promise. don't worry. >> reporter: that's a lot of faith to put in someone you just met, but we did. >> nice to meet you. >> reporter: we joined valerie and her husband near cancun, mexico, got on a boat with them and motored 20 miles out to sea, to what might be the world's

busiest shark feeding ground. at least one type of shark. >> last year i did the sharks with, you know, the ones that people say are the scariest. this one, i wanted to do the largest fish. it's an amazing -- they are so gentle. they're incredible. >> reporter: whale sharks are more than incredible. they're the largest fish in the sea. measuring up to 41 1/2 feet, weighing 47,000 pounds. they're big but harmless. they basically only eat plankton and tiny fish eggs. >> ready? one, two, three. >> reporter: which is the only reason i agreed to try snorkeling, which obviously i'm not very good at. so, we're chasing these things -- >> yes. >> reporter: what are they thinking? >> what are they thinking? i don't know that they notice we're there. other than the fact that there's somebody in an orange life vest chasing me. >> reporter: so when it looks

like it eeb about to swallow me whole, it's just a coincidence. you can get within inches of these swimming dinosaurs, literally feel their movements through the water. needless to say, the experience is awe-inspiring. >> are you feeling it? oh. that's amazing. >> reporter: but vfor valerie, this is more than a hobby. it's a lesson plan. and an educational fiphilosophy. what are you doing swimming in the sharks to begin with? >> basically, i want to bring an adventure to the kids. they get to go every summer when i do this, then they get to go on the adventure, as well. >> reporter: her husband films all the encounters which they do all on their own dime, by the way. >> now, wheel sharks actually follow plankton blooms or spawn. >> reporter: valerie brings the videos back to class. you better believe when your teacher swims with sharks, you

listen. so, it gives you street credit? >> absolutely. >> reporter: serious credit. >> yes. >> reporter: this is a true labor of love for valerie. love for education and, yes, sharks. are you scared of them at all? >> um -- i would basically go in with any type of shark. >> reporter: sharks don't scare you? >> no. >> reporter: in fact, she's worried about the plight of sharks all around the world. these creatures, which have roamed the deep since the time of the dinosaurs, are gind ming. that's the message that have ree brings to class every day. >> my dream would be that we conserve them so that they're here for generations. and right now, because of what we're doing, with the shark fin trade industry and -- we're depleting them out, millions of sharks every year. >> reporter: despite the recent attacks off the coast of australia, value reel says she's never had a run-in or even a close call with a shark. they don't want to eat humans,

she says. in fact, scientists say dogs kill more people every year than sharks do. >> i see it smiling. and it's happy. and it's just living its life like all of us. >> reporter: the shark is smiling at you? >> sometimes. i like it when they turn their eye, too. >> reporter: it's no surprise valerie was voted her county's teacher of the year last year. >> i love the spark. when the spark goes on, off, in the kids eyes and they say, wow! i can't believe you did that! are you kidding me, miss gaynor? this is incredible. >> reporter: we should all have teachers willing to brave sharks for us. you' you're chumming the water? >> absolutely. absolutely. i'm bringing them in. >> reporter: this is shark bait. the sharks are shark bait for the students. >> absolutely. absolutely. >> reporter: and it's working. >> it's working. >> reporter: i'm john berman for "nightline" off the coast of cancun in mexico.

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two and a half years ago, president obama pushed a $787 billion stimulus bill through congress that he said would create millions of jobs. but now the president's under attack by critics who say that stimulus hasn't created a significant number of jobs and cost too much. tonight, abc's brian ross looks and two companies that received a billion in government loans and asked, what are they doing with it? >> reporter: terry, in the wake of the bankruptcy of solyndra and the loss of a half billion dollars in taxpayer loan money, there's been a close look at other so-called startup green cheaps that have received similar loans. and in particular, two electric car companies that in total represent a billion dollar bet with taxpayer money.

cars the obama administration says represent the future of the american road. they're sleek and expensive. this is the karma, a $96,000 half electric, half gas car. the creation of famed european auto designer henrik fisker. >> well, it's a very, very good looking car. >> reporter: the first car off the line went to leonardo dicaprio. the other startup cars come from tesla. its roadster cost $109,000, and its celebrity championships include arnold schwarzenegger and george clooney. but beyond the hype and the cool are serious questions about whether the billion dollars of taxpayer money the obama administration has invested in electric car startups are worst the risk. it is a major goal of the president. >> we can break our dependence on oil with bio-fumes and become the first country to have a million electric vehicles on the road by 2015. >> reporter: in the case of the

fisker car, it was only last week that the first 40 of them were delivered, two years behind schedule. with fisker himself giving "nightline" a first look. >> it looks like a super car though it's a four-door sedan. the price is just under $100,000. >> reporter: expensive. >> it. but it's got 400 horsepower. >> reporter: it's a luxury ride. but the range on battery power is only 32 miles, according to the epa. though fisker maintains it is closer to 52 miles. fisker says the car's style makes it different than other green cars. >> we want people to get excited emotionally about environmental friendly car. >> reporter: the decision by the department of energy to give fisker a half billion dollar plus loan came with the promise that it would produce a smaller version car in delaware, creating 2,500 jobs in vice president biden's home state. >> this is seed money that will return back to the american consumer in billions and billions of dollars in good, new

jobs. >> reporter: but so far, the only cars being made have come off the line at this plant in finland. something the u.s. government knew would be the case when the loan was approved. fisker says while the company makes sure it spends its taxpayer money in the u.s., it could not find any affordable place in the u.s. to assemble its first line of cars. >> we're not in the business of fafling. we're in the business of winning. so, we make the right decision for the business. >> reporter: that's why you want to finland? the company says item mroips 700 designers and engineers in the united states. the decision to assemble the car in inland was not received well bill auto workers we talked with at an occupy detroit rally last week. >> the work should be done here, not in finland. >> reporter: now, republicans in congress are questioning why the department of energy approved the loan in the first place, knowing in advance fisker would assemble his first cars in finland, not the u.s. >> i think when department of energy found occupant they could don't it in america, that was time to plug tull the plug.

>> reporter: as to the other electric cars, tesla, almost another half billion dollars in loans, it plans to build 20,000 vehicles a year at a plant it bought in california. now being prepared for production to start next year. tesla's future depends on the success of this car, a family sedan called the model s, being seen here for the first time in tesla video from a test track. priced at around $57,000, it, too, is styled to come pete with luxury cars like the bmw and mercedes. >> while expensive, there is a very robust market. >> reporter: these are cars for wealthy americans. not for average americans. >> well, i don't know how you define wealthy. >> reporter: tesla's vice president says the car will revolutionize auto making. >> this is the mother of all batteries. >> reporter: the big, flat battery provides a range of almost 300 miles before needing a charge. but some industry analysts including the auto columnist at

fortune magazine says tesla's business plan doesn't work. >> the numbers just don't work, brian. >> reporter: in fact, in tesla's most recent filing with the securities exchange commission, abc news and the center for public integrity found this statement. that the company expects continuing losses for at least the foreseeable feature. if you don't make a profit, how will you repay the loan? >> but we will make a profit. that's the plan and we're executing to it. >> reporter: despite what you said to the securities exchange commission. >> despite what we said to the securities exchange commission. >> reporter: the bottom line is that by their very nature, all these startup companies bring great risk. so, it's a gamble every time the taxpayers' money is put on the board. nothing is guaranteed, except that there will be winners and there will be losers. terry? >> that's for sure, brian. thank you. finally tonight, late news, violent clashes in oakland, california. police there using tear gas to dispersion occupy wall street mome