AURORA, Colo. -- The new Aurora police chief responded Friday to the exclusive interview 7NEWS conducted with the two "persons of interest" in the case of a missing 7-year-old girl -- an interview in which her father, Aaron Thompson, and his girlfriend, Shely Lowe, proclaimed their innocence.

Chief Daniel Oates fired back and called the interview "morally reprehensible," saying that investigators remain convinced that the girl is dead.

"I'm here tonight to state emphatically this is a homicide investigation. The posture of the Aurora Police Department in regard to this case is unchanged," Oates said. "Nothing that has been reported in the media or brought forward by Aaron Thompson, Shely Lowe or any of their spokespersons changes our position. The Aurora Police Department has made and continues to make exhaustive efforts to do everything it can to find and close this case and resolve what happened to Aarone."

He repeated police requests for Lowe and Thompson to talk to police.

"Their conduct in this case, including their appearance on television last night, from my perspective as a parent and a police officer, is morally reprehensible," Oates said. "Our position is unchanged. Mr. Thompson and Ms. Lowe, if you truly care for Aarone as you claim to do, you will come in and you will talk to us."

Aaron Thompson reported his daughter missing on Nov. 14, saying she ran away when he they had a fight.

After days of searching for the child, Oates said police shifted their focus to a homicide investigation on Nov. 17 after information from a "credible source close to the family."

He said "additional, compelling information" gathered since then has reinforced their belief that Aarone is dead.

"I want to say emphatically that we have found not a single adult or child who has seen Aarone in approximately 18 months," Oates said. "Now, I'm a parent. Many of you are parents. Many of your viewers are parents. When my children were 7 years old, by that point in their lives, there were hundreds of people in their lives who saw them, if not daily, on a regularly basis. We have not found a single, credible person who has seen Aarone in approximately 18 months."

He said that a search of Thompson's home in Aurora "uncovered useful information."

Oates also criticized Thompson for insisting that police should be searching for Aarone, even though police have labeled it a homicide investigation.

"We are responsible police leaders," Oates said. "We're not going to waste any police department resources at this time on a wasteful search for a purported runaway child.

"The work of this department has been exceptional, as good as I've ever seen in 25 years in policing, so I want to refute the notion that we're doing anything less than the best," he said.

He said that initially when police were investigating a runaway case, there was "some modest cooperation" from Thompson but "there's been no cooperation since we turned this into a homicide investigation.

"We're not interested in putting evidence forth in front of the media. I'm not going to discuss any evidence tonight. We're not interested in trying this case in the media. We're interested, as anyone who cares or loves Aarone should be, in justice for Aarone," Oates said.

Lowe's Attorney Withdraws From Case

Meanwhile, Lowe's attorney withdrew from the case Friday, saying her client had ignored her advice by publicly declaring her innocence a day earlier in the exclusive interview with 7NEWS.

Attorney Leta Holden said Lowe may have hurt her chances of regaining custody of her children when she joined her boyfriend in telling 7NEWS they were not involved in Aarone's disappearance.

Lowe's newborn daughter and other children who lived in the couple's home were placed in protective custody after police classified the case as a homicide.

Holden said Thursday's 7NEWS interview was done against her advice and without her knowledge. She heard her work was ridiculed and she blames the couple's friend and spokesman, Sam Riddle, for putting her on the defensive.

"If there was any advantage gained by sacrificing the lawyer, I hope that Mr. Riddle enjoyed his 20 minutes of fame and grandstanding," she said, a reference to the length of the interview the couple gave to 7NEWS Thursday.

Riddle was with the couple when they spoke to 7NEWS. During that interview, Riddle had criticized the attorney, saying that she spread misinformation by telling them that the police had issued a warrant for the couple's arrest.

"One of the attorneys had told them, 'Basically, you're on your own. Take yourselves to the police station. Turn yourselves in and ask for a public defender.' I don't know what kind of attorneys those folks are. Even though I must confess to having set up the initial meeting between one of them and Aaron and Shely. To say that I'm disappointed is a complete understatement. The language I'd like to use we can't use on this family station," Riddle said. "They're going to have to really seek adequate counsel."

Holden said she never called the family to suggest that there was a warrant.

She said last month Riddle wanted to parade Thompson and Lowe in front of the media and she strongly disagreed.

"Whenever you do issue a press conference or talk to the public, that you have your attorney present with you," Holden said. "They chose not to do that."

Holden said she believes Aarone is alive but would not comment further. She said she had urged Lowe to "limit her comments and exposure" in the case.

Holden would not say whether she had advised Lowe against speaking to police.

Riddle said Holden always appeared to him too inexperienced to handle such a high-profile case.

He defended the need for the couple to go public to respond to what he called "half-truths" that were being told about them.

"This family did need to message and desperately did need to be seen as a family who love their children," he told The Associated Press.

Thompson's attorney, Terraine Bailey, did not immediately return a call.