Investigators completed their search at the Foothills Environmental Landfill in Caldwell County at about 3 p.m. Friday.
Hickory police confirmed they were searching for a mattress that belonged to Zahra that her parents, Adam and Elisa Baker, got rid of during early October. Zahra was reported missing by her father on Oct. 9.
According to a press release, Hickory investigators are hoping the mattress will confirm interviews and reinforce the timeline that is being established. They also hoped it would provide DNA evidence.
The mattress was not located at the landfill, according to an official with the Hickory Police Department.
i don't know date, but this is a photo of Zahra that appears to have been home-made to use for a passport or other official document. possibly before coming to America.
interesting areas of expertise... such as arson, false confessions, cadaver dog experts, forensic psychology etc. she seems to concentrate on finding the "right" experts (i.e. paid gunslingers for the defense) for her clients.
it's the "baffle-them-with-bullshit defense tactic.
Hickory Daily Record:
Published: October 23, 2010
Zahra Baker’s stepmother has been in the Catawba County jail since Oct. 10, and she’s had frequent visits from three people: her attorney Scott Reilly, attorney Lisa Dubs and private investigator Steve Elhers.
Lisa Dubs confirmed Friday that she has been assigned to Baker’s case as provisional counsel. According to court records, Dubs’ role is to “Conduct a preliminary investigation, determine if the defendant is indigent and needs appointed counsel, and protect the defendant’s rights pending appointment of trial counsel.”
North Carolina’s Indigent Defense Services Director and Capital Defender Robert M. Hurley assigned Dubs to Baker’s case Monday.
Dubs is well-known for defending high-profile murder suspects, and her website describes her specialties as “capital murder cases and serious felonies.” her high-profile capital murder client lisa greene, who was convicted of arson and murder of her 2 children, is now serving life.
Dubs is one of about 10 Catawba County attorneys permitted to defend clients facing the death penalty. Even though Baker has not been charged with Zahra’s murder, the case has gained nationwide attention and Hurley has decided that it is appropriate to appoint Dubs because of the likelihood that Baker will eventually be charged with the crime, Dubs explained.
Reilly was appointed to defend Baker on her assortment of charges unrelated to the Zahra Baker homicide investigation and the obstruction of justice charge that followed Baker’s Oct. 12 confession to police that she’d written a fake ransom note demanding $1 million.
Reilly will continue to represent her on those charges, and if Baker is charged with murder and the state pursues the death penalty, it’s possible he and Dubs will defend Baker jointly.
“Scott and I have tried capital cases together before,” Dubs said. “Scott already knows a lot about the case, and we’re going to do whatever’s best for the client.”
On the affidavit of indigence that accompanied her request for a court-appointed attorney, Baker listed her monthly household income as $600 from her husband Adam Baker’s job at Real Tree Services, and $200 from additional income such as food stamps or child support.
there have been conflicting reports. but in general the Aussie papers are quite behind in the NC local news. and often inaccurate.
some mattresses were recovered, but HPD says not THE mattress.
WBTV reported that several mattresses were found in the landfill and police took samples of those mattresses with them. However, investigators don't believe they found the "key piece of evidence" they were looking for.
(10-24-2010, 07:12 PM)Lady Cop Wrote: there have been conflicting reports. but in general the Aussie papers are quite behind in the NC local news. and often inaccurate.
some mattresses were recovered, but HPD says not THE mattress.
WBTV reported that several mattresses were found in the landfill and police took samples of those mattresses with them. However, investigators don't believe they found the "key piece of evidence" they were looking for.
I know they have reported here they did not find what they were looking for, just thought it was interesting what the Aussie paper is reporting.
well, well... daddy is in jail. finally. the police got whatever they could get out of him, now he will lawyer up. his charges are NOT related to Zahra's disappearance. i'll check later to see what bond is set at his first appearance. it may be bond plus pay or stay on the worthless checks. don't know yet.
EDIT TO ADD: Baker was being held on $7,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 18.
HICKORY, NC (WBTV) - Authorities said Monday morning that a missing 10-year-old girl's father had been charged and was being held in jail.
Adam Baker, the father of Zahra Baker, was not charged with allegations related to her disappearance, unlike Zahra's stepmother, who is being held on an obstruction of justice charge related to the search for the girl.
Full Coverage: The Search for Zahra
Adam Baker, who first reported his daughter missing in a 911 call Oct. 9, was charged Monday with 5 counts of worthless checks and 5 counts of failing to appear in court. He is being held in the Catawba County Jail on a $7,000 bond.
The charges against Baker came after authorties said Friday that they had completed their search of a Caldwell County landfill and that they had been looking for a specific mattress associated with the missing 10-year-old girl, Zahra Baker.
HAHAHAHA HE WAS AT THE AIRPORT AT 0600!! WONDER WHERE HE WAS GOING??
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Zahra Baker’s father, Adam Baker, was arrested early Monday morning at Charlotte Douglas International Airport and is facing several charges unrelated to his daughter’s disappearance.
He faces five counts of worthless checks, two counts of communicating threats, one count of assault with a deadly weapon and one count of failure to return rental property. He was arrested just before 6 a.m.
WHKY article had a little more info (not much more..)
Zahra's Father Arrested on Outstanding Caldwell Co. Warrants
10/25/2010 9:10:16 AM
33-year-old Adam Troy Baker of 21st Avenue N.W. in Hickory was arrested just past 3 a.m. today on outstanding warrants from Caldwell County. Baker is the father of missing 10-year-old Zahra Baker. According to Deputy Chief of Police Clyde Deal, the charges against Adam Baker are unrelated to his daughter’s disappearance. Chief Deputy Deal had no further comment.
The charges against Baker include five counts for worthless checks and four counts of failure to appear on charges of communicating threats, assault with a deadly weapon and failure to return rental property, all misdemeanors.
Baker was processed at the Hickory Police Department where bond was set at $7,000, secured. He has been confined in the Catawba Co. Detention Facility with a first District Court date scheduled for November 18 in Caldwell County. At Baker’s request, the Australian consulate in Atlanta, Georgia was notified of his arrest. Baker is an Australian citizen.
(Pictured: Adam Troy Baker, courtesy of Hickory Police Dept.)
**I'm local and have been obsessing over this case - love your forum by the way
I knew LE wouldn't take their eyes off him. Stupid fuck going to the airport for christssake.
unless he was picking someone up. but i have my doubts. hahaha
dumb as a stump if he was trying to flee to OZ. (and i thought the HPD had his passport.)
edit to add: reports are conflicting now. some say he was arrested at 0300 at home. nobody can get their fucking stories straight before they publish them! LOUSY journalism! still not sure.
When/if charges relating to Zahra's disappearance are laid on her father, this could turn a little messy. Usually Aus. will help fight against any death penalty that any of its citizens are facing, with life behind bars being the preferred alternative. I suspect that the Aus consulate will be starting to get ready for this, if they haven't already.
I don't think spending the rest of his life in the general population of prison is such a bad thing. I can see where some would want him dead but, I happen to believe there are things worse than death.
FYI, I believe that earlier information about the location of Baker's arrest was inaccurate. Sources (and Hickory Police) indicate he was arrested, not at Charlotte-Douglas Airport, but at Hickory P-D.
Disregard any erroneous information you may get from your TV/broadcast morons - in their quest to be first, they rarely worry about being right.
Yeah, well LeLe if the WBTV reporter doesn't know the story well enough, herself, to report it coherently, why the hell should we place any faith in these idiots.
Baker went to airport, allegedly to meet relatives from Australia, according to HPD but he was arrested in Hickory, at the police station. Note to idiot TV talking heads: repeating inaccurate information doesn't make it correct.
(10-25-2010, 05:26 PM)Lady Cop Wrote: any of you locals know if this is true? i hear they took stepbitch to search site. is she spilling her guts? leading them somewhere??
reminds me of the day they took misty croslin to the St. John's river to show where Haleigh was thrown to the alligators.
![[Image: Zy3rKpW.png]](https://i.imgur.com/Zy3rKpW.png)
