ZAHRA CLAIRE BAKER - Aged 10 years - Hickory, North Carolina (USA)

Fox News

27 October 2010

Police Find Prosthetic Leg in Search for Missing North Carolina Girl‎

Hickory Police Maj. Clyde Deal said Wednesday that authorities are attempting to confirm the leg belongs to 10-year-old Zahra Clare Baker. She was reported missing Oct. 9 and authorities believe she is dead.

Deal said the leg was discovered Tuesday afternoon near some brush.

Stepmother Elisa Baker has been jailed, accused of writing a fake ransom note for the girl. Father Adam Baker also is in jail and faces several charges, including writing worthless checks.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/10/27/police-prosthetic-leg-search-missing-north-carolina-girl/

Newser

28 october 2010

Missing Girl's Fake Leg Found, Parents Grilled‎

A prosthetic leg believed to belong to a missing 10-year-old girl has been found in woods off a North Carolina road, police report. Cops have been hunting for Zahra Baker since early this month after she was last seen in a furniture store. The girl lost her leg to bone cancer when she was 5, and later developed lung cancer. Police are scouring the Caldwell County home where Zahra lived with her dad and stepmom, and a backhoe was being used to dig up the backyard.


The parents threw out Zahra's mattress shortly after the girl went missing, CNN reports. Zahra's stepmom has confessed to writing a fake ransom note after police began searching for the girl. "We're looking for any piece of evidence that can help in the investigation," said a police spokesman.

http://www.newser.com/story/103994/missing-girls-fake-leg-found-parents-grilled.html

Herald Sun

29 October 2010

Dark fate for smiling Zahra‎

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/ipad-application/dark-fate-for-smiling-zahra/story-fn6bfkm6-1225944944357

Examiner

28 October 2010

Zahra Baker case: Missing NC girl's father released from jail‎

http://www.examiner.com/crime-in-national/zahra-baker-case-missing-nc-girl-s-father-released-from-jail

Examiner

29 October 2010

Zahra Baker case: More evidence removed from family home‎

On Thursday, investigators dug through mountains of firewood brush and mulch behind the home of missing North Carolina girl, Zahra Clare Baker, leaving with small plastic bags of evidence.

The search team included officers from the Hickory Police Department, the FBI, the SBI, and K-9 units, according to the Hickory Daily Record.

Hickory Police Chief Tom Adkins said “This investigation has taken several turns since Zahra was reported missing… Information uncovered during the investigation brough us back here. We’ll follow it until the lead is exhausted.”

He added “We’re looking for any evidence that may be associated with this case… We’re going to take whatever time we need to complete the search.”

http://www.examiner.com/crime-in-national/zahra-baker-case-more-evidence-removed-from-family-home

Associated Content

30 October 2010

Zahra Baker Case -- Search Continues for Missing 10-Year-Old‎

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5952112/zahra_baker_case_search_continues_for.html?cat=8

Winston-Salem Journal

October 31, 2010 09:16 PM EDT

Missing N.C. Girl Zahra Baker Didn't Want to Leave Homeland of Australia, Now Grandmother Prays for Closure

Zahra Baker, the 10-year-old missing girl from Hickory, North Carolina, didn't want to leave her homeland of Australia to move to the United States when her dad, Adam Baker married the former Elisa Fairchild. She wanted to stay in Australia with her grandmother and her close friends.

According to the Winston-Salem Journal, Zahra's grandmother back in Australia, Karen Baker, now prays for closure...wondering what horrible fate stole away her beloved granddaughter.

Zahra Baker and her dad Adam Baker lived in a tiny town called Giru. It is an Australian town known for crushing 3 million tons of sugar cane each year. It was in that tiny town of 400 people that Zahra Baker learned she had bone cancer, and learned a couple of years later that she had tumors in her lungs. She managed to survive both, brandishing survival medals including a prosthetic leg and hearing aids from the effects of the chemotherapy and radiation treatments. She hasn't appeared to survive, however, her life in the United States, where she moved with her father and his new wife, Elisa.

Adam Baker and Elisa Fairchild met on the Internet through an online dating site. After a few months, Elisa flew to Australia to meet Adam. Friends of the family said she seemed like a liar, and couldn't keep her stories straight; that she told them things about herself that simply didn't sound true. Family friend Kim Wright felt Elisa was presenting herself to the family as someone she wasn't.

“She had a lot of stories that never quite rang true,” Wright said.

Apparently Elisa Fairchild had told people she was a police officer who had been shot in the line of duty, and that she also had worked as a bounty hunter.

Weeks later, Adam Baker and Elisa Fairchild got married in Giru, in Adam's parent's backyard. That was likely the beginning of the end for little Zahra. She was all too soon going to learn what life was like with her new stepmother, Elisa Baker. Zahra didn't want to leave Australia, and most especially didn't want to leave her grandparents. Aside from her father, they were the closest people to her. Her mother had left when Zahra was just eight months old.

This past week, investigators discovered Zahra Baker's prosthetic leg in some brush near a home where Elisa Baker once lived. And workers in a landfill found a mattress believed to be Zahra's that they turned over to investigators. Hickory, North Carolina police believe that Zahra Baker is dead.

Elisa Baker sits in jail on numerous charges; one of which is obstruction of justice. She has admitted to writing a fake ransom note and leaving it on her husband's truck the night they reported Zahra as missing. Adam Baker was jailed for several unrelated charges, but is presently out on bond. Police think he knows way more about Zahra's fate than he is letting on.

What happened to the pretty little girl with a freckled face, a prosthetic leg and two hearing aids. At this very moment, investigators haven't sorted out the details. They are putting together the pieces of a puzzle that won't result in a pretty picture. And they feel quite certain, through all their clues and tidbits of information, that Zahra Baker won't ever be going home to Australia to see her grandparents. And they, like many others who knew and loved Zahra, could be faced with a lifetime of "what if's."

http://news.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474978651241

The Herald

1 November 2010

Police confirm prosthetic leg is missing NC girl's‎

The prosthetic leg found off Christie Road in Caldwell County, N.C., last week is that of 10-year-old Zahra Baker, police confirmed on Monday.

Searchers found the leg on Tuesday and said they were working to confirm it was Zahra’s through medical records. Her leg was fitted in Australia, so investigators had to obtain the records from there. On Monday, investigators said the serial number of the leg found matched the one listed in Zahra’s medical records.

Investigators are continuing to search the Bakers' Hickory home for "additional evidence," police said in a release. They did not specify what that evidence is.

http://www.heraldonline.com/2010/11/01/2577377/police-confirm-prosthetic-leg.html

WRAL

1 November 2010

Police: Prosthetic leg belonged to missing girl‎

A prosthetic leg that investigators found last week belonged to a 10-year-old Hickory girl who has been missing for more than three weeks, police said Monday.

Searchers looking for the remains of Zahra Clare Baker found the leg Tuesday near a Caldwell County home where her stepmother once lived. Zahra had an artificial leg because she lost hers to bone cancer.

Zahra was reported missing Oct. 9, and authorities say they believe she is dead.

Police used a scanner to obtain the serial number of a transponder placed inside the prosthesis, and they matched that number with one on medical records obtained from Australia, where Zahra was fitted with the leg.

Zahra and her father, Adam Baker, lived in Australia until he met a woman online and moved to North Carolina to marry her.

http://www.wral.com/news/national_world/national/story/8547099/

Charlotte Observer

1 November 2010

Police confirm prosthetic leg is Zahra Baker's‎

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/11/01/1804220/police-confirm-prosthetic-leg.html

abc11

1 November 2010

Investigators confirm prosthetic leg found in western NC belonged to missing NC girl

http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/state&id=7758849

Now Public

1 November 2o1o

Zahra Baker's Prosthetic Leg Found Off North Carolina Road‎

http://www.nowpublic.com/world/zahra-bakers-prosthetic-leg-found-north-carolina-road-2716959.html

Hickory Daily Record

1 November 2010

Investigators return to Baker house; seize evidence‎

Investigators returned to the Bakers’ Hickory home for the sixth day in a row to search for evidence. This time, they took large pieces of the interior of the house with them.

On Monday, investigators had the Hickory Fire Department aid their search, using tools that included a chainsaw, axe, wrenches and two types of Halligan bars. Other power tools were also used while SBI and Hickory police investigators searched the inside of Adam and Elisa Baker’s home on 21st Avenue, NW.

Periodically, an investigator would come out with a bag. Investigators and Hickory firefighters resumed their scouring of the house, focusing on Zahra’s room in the right rear of the house. Dull thudding noises came from the room, strong enough to rattle the windows. Noises from power tools then ensued. Another investigator entered the house with a lump hammer.

http://www2.hickoryrecord.com/news/2010/nov/01/investigators-return-baker-house-seize-evidence-ar-502595/

CBS News

1 November 2010

Zahra Baker: Missing NC Girl Overcame Obstacles, Long Odds, on Journey from Australia

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20021371-504083.html

Herald Sun

November 02, 2010 9:01AM

Prosthetic leg found belongs to Zahra Baker, police confirm

A PROSTHETIC leg found in western North Carolina belongs to a missing 10-year-old Australian girl, police say.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/prosthetic-leg-found-belonged-to-zahra-baker-police-confirm/story-e6frf7jx-1225946489883

The Charlotte Observer

Tuesday, Nov. 02, 2010

By Dannye Romine Powell

Tragedy's calling cards: Police tape, stuffed toys, despair

I hate yellow police tape. I especially hate having to stand behind it on this chilly morning on 21st Avenue N.W., in Hickory.

In front of me is the modest brick house with white shutters where 10-year-old Zahra Baker is said to have lived with her dad and step-mom before her disappearance.

Three crime scene investigators huddle at the side of the house. A police officer stands behind me, arms folded. At the rear of the house, behind a thicket of pines, two more police officers face forward.

Everyone is polite, mind you. But no one is giving out nuttin'.

Found anything?

The officer's head swivels: No. His lips tighten, as if sealing themselves.

Two hatch-back crime scene vehicles sit in the driveway, along with a bright red City of Hickory Fire Department truck.

In the parking lot of Clark Tire & Auto Service, next door to the house, a white van: N.C. State Bureau of Investigation. It, too, is cordoned by yellow tape.

Why do we care so much about Zahra Baker? Why do I - and maybe you, too - want to bust through the tape, kick in the front door and pry up the floor boards?

For one thing, Zahra's face is one of the most appealing I've ever seen. She is a composite of every girl I knew and liked in fifth grade, every girl I ever saw sitting on a park bench enjoying the heck out of an ice cream cone, every girl who makes your heart glad at the sight of her coming toward you along the sidewalk.

For another, we know enough sorry details about Zahra's life with her dad and stepmom to want to protect her, shield her, keep her from any further harm.

What we really want: For her to be found alive. And safe.

I stare down at the pastel pile of stuffed animals, flowers, candy bars and notes that circle the oak at the front of the yard. Shriveled pink balloons hang from the tree. Sad, they seem to say. Hopeless.

Next to police tape, I hate piles of stuffed animals. I've seen too many.

I know. It's heartless of me to say so when the people who leave these gifts leave them out of love and hope and concern.

Still, I hate them.

I call Hickory deputy police chief Clyde Deal.

He says they'll finish up work at the Baker house today - Monday. He says that earlier they took a look "at a place or two" in Caldwell County.

And?

He won't discuss evidence, he says, or specifics.

I hate waiting. I hate not knowing.

I hate police tape and shriveled balloons and piles of stuffed animals.

I hate adults anywhere in this world who might take advantage of innocent, helpless kids.

Of the things I hate, I hate them most of all.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/11/02/1804945/tragedys-calling-cards-police.html#ixzz148HXmf29

The News Herald

November 02, 2010

By Sarah Newell williamson

New developments in Zahra Baker case

There were more developments Monday in connection with the disappearance of 10-year-old Zahra Baker of Hickory.

Police confirmed that a prosthetic leg found last week belonged to the girl whose father reported her missing on Oct. 9.

The Catawba County Grand jury indicted her stepmother, Elisa Baker, on one felony count of obstruction of justice.

And police returned to the Baker home in Hickory where, with help from the Hickory Fire Department, they used power tools, sledge hammers and Halligan pry bars in the investigation.

Hickory police found a prosthetic leg on Oct. 26 in the brush off Christie Road in Caldwell County. On Monday, police confirmed that the prosthetic was, in fact, Zahra’s.

Zahra lost her lower left leg to cancer and chemotherapy impaired her hearing. She wore the prosthetic leg and used two hearing aids found at the home after she was reported missing.

Police had to use a scanner to read the prosthetic leg’s serial number off an embedded transponder. They then had to contact the Australian facility that fitted Zahra’s prosthesis to confirm it was the same one found in Caldwell County.

The numbers matched.

Tom Adkins, chief of the Hickory Police Department, said the process took time, because his department needed help to scan the transponder, and the records couldn’t just be e-mailed.

“When you are getting medical records from another country, to positively confirm it, you need to have the records mailed to you and have them in hand,” he said.

Elisa Baker indicted

In its indictment, the Catawba County Grand Jury said that on Oct. 9, the day Zahra’s father, Adam Baker, reported his daughter missing, Elisa “unlawfully, willfully and feloniously did with deceit and intent to defraud a police investigation, obstruct justice by constructing and placing a false ransom letter and reporting an abduction of her stepdaughter, Zahra Baker.”
Elisa is in jail under a $92,200 bond, $65,000 of it for the obstruction of justice charge. The remaining bond is for charges unrelated to Zahra’s disappearance.

Searching for clues

Police first treated Zahra’s disappearance as a missing persons case. On Oct. 12, they changed it to a homicide investigation. They have searched numerous sites, often revisiting the Bakers’ home where teams literally combed the ground.

They worked inside the house at 21 21st Ave. NW on Sunday and returned Monday with tools including a chainsaw, axe, wrenches and two types of Halligan pry bars.
They focussed on Zahra’s room in the right rear of the house. There were dull thudding noises, pounding strong enough to rattle the windows and noise from power tools.

SBI and Hickory police investigators emerged with a section of drywall about 4 feet across, splotched pink on one side and gray on the other. They also brought out evidence in brown paper bags larger than their torsos.

“We’re seizing every piece of evidence relating to the case,” said Tom Adkins, chief of the Hickory Police Department. “Hopefully we can piece together what occurred.”
Adkins said investigators went back to the house for additional evidence based on new leads.

He said that on Monday they also searched other areas of Caldwell County, based on tips the police department received over the weekend.

Adkins said the information did not come from Elisa Baker or her attorney, Lisa Dubs.
“We haven’t spoken to her attorney since Tuesday,” he said.

Anyone with information about the investigation is asked to call the Hickory Police Department at (828) 328-5551

http://www2.morganton.com/news/2010/nov/02/new-developments-zahra-baker-case-ar-502883/

The Sydney Morning Herald

November 3, 2010

Police build case against Zahra's stepmother

The investigation into the possible murder of Zahra Baker in North Carolina has taken a grim turn with police confirming a prosthetic leg found dumped in bushland belonged to the missing Australian 10-year-old.

US prosecutors on Monday also continued to build a criminal case against Zahra's American stepmother, Elisa Baker, with a grand jury indicting her for writing a fake ransom note to ''unlawfully'' and ''feloniously'' obstruct police investigating Zahra's disappearance.

Mrs Baker, allegedly wrote the bogus ransom note several hours before police were alerted on October 9 that Zahra was missing.

Police believe Wagga Wagga-born Zahra may have been murdered weeks before October 9.

http://www.smh.com.au/world/police-build-case-against-zahras-stepmother-20101102-17cds.html

This is heartbreaking reading.

AOL News

2 November 2010

Exclusive: Letters Say Zahra's Dad Did Something 'Horrifying'‎

Letters obtained exclusively by AOL News and believed to be written by Zahra Clare Baker's stepmother discuss the 10-year-old disabled girl's disappearance and say that her father, Adam, did something "kinda horrifying" with the young girl's remains.

"We really didn't kill her, but what he did after the fact is kinda horrifying," Elisa Baker wrote in letters to a crime memorabilia dealer. "[It] makes me scared of him. So I probably am gonna go ahead and file [for divorce]. I have lost my whole life anyway."

The letters were sent to Eric Gein, owner of Serial Killers Ink, one of the top-selling murderabilia websites, which frequently publishes letters and artwork from accused criminals. Gein told AOL News that he wrote to Baker in the Hickory, N.C., jail shortly after her arrest. He said he has received two very telling letters from her. He shared copies of both with AOL News.

http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/exclusive-letters-say-zahra-clare-bakers-dad-adam-baker-did-something-horrifying/19699740

WRAL

2 November 2010

Family of missing 10-year-old girl evicted‎

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/8555975/

Sydney Morning Herald

November 3, 2010 - 6:19PM

Zahra's father evicted from their US home

The father of Australian girl Zahra Baker has been evicted from their home in the small North Carolina town of Hickory, from where the 10-year-old went missing nearly a month ago.

Police believe Wagga Wagga-born Zahra, who lost a leg to cancer, may have met with foul play weeks before she was reported missing on October 9 and have not ruled out her father or his American wife as suspects.

Hickory police have found Zahra's prosthetic leg near where her stepmother once lived, but there has been no other sign of Zahra.
Advertisement: Story continues below

Elisa Baker, 42, who met Adam Baker on the internet, is in custody for allegedly writing a bogus ransom note several hours before police were alerted that Zahra was missing.

According to the Hickory Daily News, about 15 people watched on Tuesday afternoon as Adam Baker returned to the home with his mother, brother and lawyer. Several people yelled taunts to Baker as he left the home.

They went into the backyard and took photos before going inside the house.

Baker's landlord then arrived and told a crowd gathered outside the house that he was evicting Baker.

"I'm putting him out on the street," he said.

He would not give a reason, but said the police search had made his property uninhabitable.

Police had searched the house, focusing on the kitchen and bathroom. They removed sections of ceiling, floor and plumbing, the Daily News said.

The Hickory Police Department said the house was no longer considered part of the search.

Baker left the house with his head bowed and carrying a suitcase, refusing to answer the media's questions about Zahra.

His lawyer Mark Killian wouldn't talk about the case or why he was at the house, but said Baker was struggling.

"It's just real tough for him, obviously," Killian said.

Investigators are continuing to check wooded areas and illegal dump areas for Zahra.

"We're still hard at work on this investigation. We're checking every lead, and we've got a lot of evidence to be processed," Hickory Police Captain Thurman Whisnant said.

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/zahras-father-evicted-from-their-us-home-20101103-17dug.html

WBTV

Nov 03, 2010

Elisa Baker's alleged jailhouse letters say Zahra not missing

NEWTON, N.C. (WBTV) - WBTV has discovered letters allegedly written by Elisa Baker from her Catawba County jail cell.

In the handwritten letters, Baker discusses everything from Halloween being her favorite holiday to pinning the disappearance of her stepdaughter, Zahra, on her husband, Adam Baker.

Read the letters (note: these are large image files)
Letter 1: Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3
Letter 2: Page 1 | Page 2

"He knows what happened to Zahra and yet I'm the one in here at least for now," Baker writes in the letters that also have spiders drawn on them and phrases like "Vamps Rule!" and "Be part of the freak show!"

The owners of a website, Serialkillersink.net, say they reached out to Elisa Baker and started writing to her. The site has interviews and letters from some of the country's most notorious serial killers.

One of the owners, Jessika Gein, told WBTV by phone Tuesday night her husband used a pen name when he wrote to Baker. "We don't doubt the authenticity of it," said Gein regarding the letters.

But some of what Baker allegedly writes is disturbing when she talks about what happened to the little girl who's been missing for nearly a month. She again blames her husband, Adam, writing,"we really didn't kill her but what he did after the fact is kinda horrifying." She goes on to say that she is afraid of her husband.

In another letter she writes, "Zahra isn't missing. The cops know where she is and what he has done. That's right what he has done."

Related: Full Coverage of the Search for Zahra

The letters stop short of saying where Zahra is or what happened to her.

When Gein was asked how they know the letters are authentic she said, "if we write to that person and we get something back and it's stamped by the prison or the jail, the envelope, then we pretty much know it's legit."

Gein went on to say the police know about the letters.

"They said that they have copies of all the letters that are coming and outgoing and that they know they're legit letters," she said. "So they don't doubt it and neither do we."

Police told WBTV it's possible the letters are real, but that they don't have them.

WBTV contacted Elisa Baker's attorneys but they have not returned our calls.

http://www.wbtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=13433475

This is so disturbing ! Lost for words really.

AOL News

3 November 2010

Zahra's Dad Taunted by Angry Crowd as He's Evicted‎



Onlookers standing outside the North Carolina home of Zahra Clare Baker taunted the missing disabled girl's father as his landlord announced he is evicting the Australian native.

"I'm putting him out on the street," Adam Baker's landlord told the crowd Tuesday. "I have no need to have any of his effects in the house and I'm not cleaning it out."

The eviction came shortly after an exclusive AOL News report that letters believed to be written by Zahra's stepmother claimed that her husband did something "kinda horrifying" with the young girl's remains.

"We really didn't kill her, but what he did after the fact is kinda horrifying," Elisa Baker wrote in letters to a crime memorabilia dealer who shared them with AOL News. A Hickory, N.C., law enforcement official confirmed that the letters likely were written by the girl's stepmother.

http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/zahra-clare-bakers-dad-adam-baker-taunted-by-angry-crowd-as-hes-evicted/19701166