12-01-2010, 06:18 AM
these are allegations, no person has been charged with rape or murder.
Wednesday, Dec. 01, 2010
Charlotte Observer
NEWTON In stark detail, court documents released Tuesday disclose new allegations in the death of 10-year-old Zahra Baker, the Hickory girl whose plight appears to be more disturbing than previously revealed.
The records don't say how Zahra died or why no one has been charged in the girl's death.
But one unnamed source reported to police that the girl may have been raped by two men and that they may have physically assaulted her, the documents say. At least one of the men was acquainted with Zahra's stepmother.
The documents also say police were told that Zahra's body was dismembered, placed in trash bags, and discarded.
The records represent the most detailed look at what may have happened to the Hickory girl, whose disappearance has captured worldwide attention for weeks.
Documents provide a grim narrative from her stepmother, Elisa Baker, describing what was done with Zahra's body after she died.
Since Zahra was reported missing Oct. 9, speculation has focused on what role, if any, Elisa Baker and the girl's father, Adam Baker, might have played in the girl's fate.
Both Adam and Elisa Baker have denied any wrongdoing in the case.
The unnamed source said Zahra, at a time unspecified in the document, had been at a beige block house in Burke County with two men. The source, who got his information from talking to someone else, reported that Elisa Baker came to the house and saw Zahra with blood on her lower body, and that the men had raped her, according to the documents.
The source said he asked the person he was talking to if the men at the house had killed Zahra, and he was told "they might have hit her in the head," one document says.
The source also was told that one of the men said "he had done something very bad and needed to leave town."
Police went to the house where the men were living and spoke to one of them. He acknowledged that he knew Zahra Baker but didn't think she had ever been to his house, one document says. He agreed to accompany investigators to the police department to be interviewed.
The two men couldn't be reached by the Observer late Tuesday. But one of the men told Observer news partner WCNC-TV that to his knowledge, Zahra Baker has never been in his house. He said he was questioned for 10 hours about the allegation and passed a lie detector test.
Hickory Police declined to say late Tuesday whether they are investigating the two men as suspects in the killing and alleged rape of Zahra.
"We are not offering any additional comments on what was released in the court documents," said Deputy Chief of Police Clyde Deal. "We will file the charges whenever all the evidence work and the rest of the investigation reaches the proper point."
Also on Tuesday, the State Bureau of Investigation's crime lab released a report to Hickory Police on evidence it was sent to analyze, a spokeswoman said. She would not divulge details about the analysis.
Wednesday, Dec. 01, 2010
Charlotte Observer
NEWTON In stark detail, court documents released Tuesday disclose new allegations in the death of 10-year-old Zahra Baker, the Hickory girl whose plight appears to be more disturbing than previously revealed.
The records don't say how Zahra died or why no one has been charged in the girl's death.
But one unnamed source reported to police that the girl may have been raped by two men and that they may have physically assaulted her, the documents say. At least one of the men was acquainted with Zahra's stepmother.
The documents also say police were told that Zahra's body was dismembered, placed in trash bags, and discarded.
The records represent the most detailed look at what may have happened to the Hickory girl, whose disappearance has captured worldwide attention for weeks.
Documents provide a grim narrative from her stepmother, Elisa Baker, describing what was done with Zahra's body after she died.
Since Zahra was reported missing Oct. 9, speculation has focused on what role, if any, Elisa Baker and the girl's father, Adam Baker, might have played in the girl's fate.
Both Adam and Elisa Baker have denied any wrongdoing in the case.
The unnamed source said Zahra, at a time unspecified in the document, had been at a beige block house in Burke County with two men. The source, who got his information from talking to someone else, reported that Elisa Baker came to the house and saw Zahra with blood on her lower body, and that the men had raped her, according to the documents.
The source said he asked the person he was talking to if the men at the house had killed Zahra, and he was told "they might have hit her in the head," one document says.
The source also was told that one of the men said "he had done something very bad and needed to leave town."
Police went to the house where the men were living and spoke to one of them. He acknowledged that he knew Zahra Baker but didn't think she had ever been to his house, one document says. He agreed to accompany investigators to the police department to be interviewed.
The two men couldn't be reached by the Observer late Tuesday. But one of the men told Observer news partner WCNC-TV that to his knowledge, Zahra Baker has never been in his house. He said he was questioned for 10 hours about the allegation and passed a lie detector test.
Hickory Police declined to say late Tuesday whether they are investigating the two men as suspects in the killing and alleged rape of Zahra.
"We are not offering any additional comments on what was released in the court documents," said Deputy Chief of Police Clyde Deal. "We will file the charges whenever all the evidence work and the rest of the investigation reaches the proper point."
Also on Tuesday, the State Bureau of Investigation's crime lab released a report to Hickory Police on evidence it was sent to analyze, a spokeswoman said. She would not divulge details about the analysis.