10-27-2010, 09:05 AM
A search of a site in Dudley Shoals for missing Zahra Baker turned up animal bones on Monday...
By Richard Gould
Published: October 26, 2010
Updated: October 27, 2010 - 12:36 AM
» 3 Comments | Post a Comment
Investigators spent Tuesday searching for Zahra Baker’s remains off Christie Road in Hudson about seven miles from the site they had searched Monday.
Misinformation persisted throughout the day. One frequently repeated rumor was that Zahra Baker’s body was found stuffed in a mattress at the search site.
Hickory Police Chief Tom Adkins said there is no truth to the rumor. He said investigators have not found Zahra’s remains.
A mattress was found at the Foothills Environmental landfill in Caldwell County Tuesday, but it contained no remains. Employees discovered the mattress when they were regrading the area that was searched last week. Hickory police confirmed that, “This mattress possessed DNA evidence that will be tested in the future to confirm if it is involved with this investigation.” The nature of the evidence was not released.
Adkins said investigators have been getting information from a newly-cooperative source: Zahra’s stepmother, Elisa Baker. He said Baker is cooperating with police and providing them with information through her attorneys, Lisa Dubs and Scott Reilly.
Zahra’s father, Adam Baker, has been in the Catawba County jail since he turned himself in at the Hickory Police Department at 3:12 a.m. Monday. He went to the police station after picking up his mother and brother at the Charlotte-Douglas International Airport.
Baker was arrested on charges unrelated to the disappearance of his daughter and jailed under a $7,000 bond. They include five counts of worthless checks and failure to appear.
The Australian Consulate in Atlanta was notified of Baker’s arrest at his request.
THE SEARCH
The Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office posted barricades and deputies at both entrances to Christie Road as investigators combed the area with dog teams.
“We just had to shut the road because it is so narrow down in there,” said B.J. Fore of the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office. “We’re extending the search area. We’re going to be here at least until dark.”
Though access to Tuesday’s site was tightly controlled, Monday’s search location near the intersection of Dudley Shoals Road and Burns Road was not secured.
Investigators had searched along a short dead-end road. The smell of rotting flesh was heavy in the air.
Small flags in the thicket on the southern side of the road marked several rotting deer carcasses. Long jawbones, skulls ribs and vertebrae littered the ground. A hoof and tattered hide lay beside the road.
Trails on the northern side of the road led through a stand of trees to a stone dam where water cascades onto smooth rocks below.
The sound of the rushing water contrasted with the piles of trash and clothes moldering under wet leaves. An orange flag marked a small bone. A pile of rotten boards looked like it had been sifted and dug through in recent days.
http://www2.hickoryrecord.com/news/2010/...ar-485567/
We had some really bad storms last night - tornadoes touched down about 20 miles away as well which may make searching tough especially if there are already streams where they are searching there's been some local flooding.
By Richard Gould
Published: October 26, 2010
Updated: October 27, 2010 - 12:36 AM
» 3 Comments | Post a Comment
Investigators spent Tuesday searching for Zahra Baker’s remains off Christie Road in Hudson about seven miles from the site they had searched Monday.
Misinformation persisted throughout the day. One frequently repeated rumor was that Zahra Baker’s body was found stuffed in a mattress at the search site.
Hickory Police Chief Tom Adkins said there is no truth to the rumor. He said investigators have not found Zahra’s remains.
A mattress was found at the Foothills Environmental landfill in Caldwell County Tuesday, but it contained no remains. Employees discovered the mattress when they were regrading the area that was searched last week. Hickory police confirmed that, “This mattress possessed DNA evidence that will be tested in the future to confirm if it is involved with this investigation.” The nature of the evidence was not released.
Adkins said investigators have been getting information from a newly-cooperative source: Zahra’s stepmother, Elisa Baker. He said Baker is cooperating with police and providing them with information through her attorneys, Lisa Dubs and Scott Reilly.
Zahra’s father, Adam Baker, has been in the Catawba County jail since he turned himself in at the Hickory Police Department at 3:12 a.m. Monday. He went to the police station after picking up his mother and brother at the Charlotte-Douglas International Airport.
Baker was arrested on charges unrelated to the disappearance of his daughter and jailed under a $7,000 bond. They include five counts of worthless checks and failure to appear.
The Australian Consulate in Atlanta was notified of Baker’s arrest at his request.
THE SEARCH
The Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office posted barricades and deputies at both entrances to Christie Road as investigators combed the area with dog teams.
“We just had to shut the road because it is so narrow down in there,” said B.J. Fore of the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office. “We’re extending the search area. We’re going to be here at least until dark.”
Though access to Tuesday’s site was tightly controlled, Monday’s search location near the intersection of Dudley Shoals Road and Burns Road was not secured.
Investigators had searched along a short dead-end road. The smell of rotting flesh was heavy in the air.
Small flags in the thicket on the southern side of the road marked several rotting deer carcasses. Long jawbones, skulls ribs and vertebrae littered the ground. A hoof and tattered hide lay beside the road.
Trails on the northern side of the road led through a stand of trees to a stone dam where water cascades onto smooth rocks below.
The sound of the rushing water contrasted with the piles of trash and clothes moldering under wet leaves. An orange flag marked a small bone. A pile of rotten boards looked like it had been sifted and dug through in recent days.
http://www2.hickoryrecord.com/news/2010/...ar-485567/
We had some really bad storms last night - tornadoes touched down about 20 miles away as well which may make searching tough especially if there are already streams where they are searching there's been some local flooding.