Family friend: Kristen Bury did not want Chance anymore

NORTH PORT, Fla.- A former roommate and friend of Kristen Bury and Joseph Walsh says she was one of the last people to see the couple before they rushed out of town.

Diane Wood says she knew something was wrong and questioned why they were so desperate to leave the state but because she did not have proof, she didn’t contact authorities.

“They told me they were going on a 10-day trip. They wanted to move out of Florida. They were looking for a new place to live so they were just going to drive around and see what interested them and see if they would like to live there and then they would come back. So when I heard about Chance [missing] I was just hoping they had left him with a family member,” said Wood.

The baby hasn’t been seen in more than a month. Blood splatter was found inside the parents’ home and dogs alerted to human remains. The blood is being tested to see if it is Chance’s.

“She had made the comment to me that she was hoping that Chance would help her deal with the loss of Duane but it actually made it worse and that she was sorry she had him and that maybe she should put him up for adoption,” said Wood.

Duane died in 2014 at two weeks old. Reports show the baby’s nose was bleeding and his body was turning blue. An officer says Bury said “I killed my baby.” That led to a search warrant and homicide investigation. The case was later closed when the Sarasota County Medical Examiner determined the baby died of a kidney infection.

Medical examiner, Dr. Russell Vega, says he is now considering reopening Duane’s case.

“The reason they named him Chance– is what they told me –is because they lost a previous baby and they were hoping this one had a ‘chance’ and then this is what they do? It’s devastating, it just makes me sick,” said Wood.

Wood says she was letting the couple borrow her van before they bought a new car a few weeks ago.

“I don’t think the baby left Florida simply because the car they got was a sports car. You don’t get a sports car when you have a baby. When they came to drop the van off for the last time, they had the sports car and there wasn’t enough room in the back for a carseat,” said Wood.

Wood’s van has been taken in as evidence to see if anything inside can lead investigators to Chance.

“I think whatever they had planned was already in the works and they didn’t want nobody to stop them, that’s what I got from all of it. That’s the feeling I got,” said Wood.

Bury and Walsh are expected to be extradited to Sarasota County in the coming week. An exact date has not yet been set.