this was just issued, hours were lost before she was reported missing from home. was she taken from her home at 0230? and not reported until 2 PM Sat.? something wrong with story.
little girl has prosthetic left leg.
i'll try to find more details. do they have a suspect or suspect vehicle? no report yet. strange.
The Hickory Police Department is searching for a missing child: Zahra Claire Baker is a 10-year-old white female, approximately five-feet tall, 85 pounds. She has brown hair, blue eyes.
Baker was last seen wearing a camouflage army T-shirt, black knee-length tights and has a left prosthetic leg. Police said that her prosthetic leg was not found in the home.
Other media outlets are reporting Baker is hearing impaired.
She went missing Oct. 9 at 2:30 a.m.
If you have information, please contact Hickory Police Department, 828-328-5551, 911
edit later...there have been NO search parties, flyers or updates. this smells.
Hickory, N.C. — The stepmother of a missing Hickory girl was arrested Sunday morning on outstanding charges unrelated to the 10-year-old's disappearance including larceny by an employee, two counts of communicating threats and six counts of worthless checks.
of no consequence, just a note: i understand the child and her father are Australian.
Police said details that have emerged in the past 12 hours make it seem less likely that a stranger abducted Zahra Clare Baker, who was reported missing a day earlier by her father, Adam, and stepmother, Elisa.
Elisa Baker was arrested on unrelated, outstanding charges around 10:45 a.m., police said. Details of those charges weren't released.
Police said Elisa Baker has not been eliminated as a person of interest in Zahra's disappearance.
They didn't release details of the ongoing investigation, but said it has revealed "inconsistencies." The father and stepmother were interviewed early in the investigation, and police were following up leads to corroborate their statements.
Elisa and Adam Barker reported Zahra missing around 2 p.m. Saturday. They said they had last seen her in sleeping in her bedroom at 21 21st Ave. NW around 2:30 a.m., police said.
"We continue to have concerns for her well-being," Libby Grigg, assistant to the Hickory police chief, said in a statement. "We are deeply concerned for the welfare of Zahra but remain hopeful that we will locate her safe and unharmed."
A statewide Amber Alert issued Saturday for Zahra remains in effect. The Federal Bureau of Investigation was assisting in the search for her.
Zahra is described as a white girl, about 5 feet 1 inches tall and weighing 85 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes. She was wearing a camouflage Army T-shirt and black knee-length tights, and she has a prosthetic left leg below the knee. She is hearing-impaired but does not have her hearing aids with her.
No information about any potential abductor has been released.
Anyone with information about Zahra's whereabouts is asked to call the Hickory Police Department at 828-328-5551 or call 911 or *HP.
police needed to get a warrant to search family home. would you need a warrant to let police in if your child was missing?
the fact the child was missing makes it a possible crime scene, which is enough probable cause for the warrant.
photo is stepmother, in custody on over a dozen unrelated charges.
Zahara’s biological mother is an Australian native and has not seen her daughter since she was about eight months old. She is believed to be in Australia and is not considered a suspect.
there are unconfirmed reports that a "small brush fire" was called in at the property/home at 0500. the last time the child was supposedly seen was 0230. was that fire to dispose of prosthetic leg?
this is only speculation on my part since there is a dearth of information being released.
Firefighters were also called to the home around 5 am Saturday for a brush fire in the family's back yard. Police could not say if it was connected to Zahra's disappearance, and don't know if she was already missing at the time. No one checked on the little girl at that time, despite the commotion.
Police said an Amber Alert is still in effect for the ten-year-old girl with brown hair and blue eyes. The young cancer survivor also wears a prosthetic lower left leg, and is hearing impaired in both ears. Police said both hearing aids were still in the home when they searched it Saturday, but the prosthetic leg was not.
The FBI, SBI and US Marshal's Office are all assisting in the search for Zahra.
The father of a hearing-impaired North Carolina girl who vanished over the weekend says it could be possible that his wife is involved in the disappearance.
Adam Baker said on ABC's "Good Morning America" that he last saw his 10-year-old daughter Zahra Clare Baker on Thursday night. The girl's stepmother, Elisa Baker, is in police custody on about a dozen charges unrelated to the disappearance.
Zahra was reported missing by her parents on Saturday afternoon in Hickory in western North Carolina.
Adam Baker says his wife told him that she last saw Zahra sleeping in her bed about 2:30 a.m. Saturday. A fire was reported in the backyard of the Bakers' home about 5 a.m. Saturday.
Adam Baker says he hasn't seen much of his wife since police were called.
oh shit.
HICKORY, N.C. — A North Carolina police chief says investigators are having trouble figuring out if anyone has seen a missing 10-year-old girl alive in the last few weeks. (they don't believe dad saw her thursday?)
Hickory Police Chief Tom Adkins said at a news conference Monday that police are seeking anyone who may have seen Zahra Clare Baker. he also said "we are running out of time".
The girl who has bone cancer and uses two hearing aids and a prosthetic leg was reported missing over the weekend. But Adkins says: "We don't know the last time anyone saw her."
Adkins said a ransom note was found at the home the girl where the girl lived but wouldn't elaborate.
photo of child captioned "the dark child" from the myspace page.
also wedding photo, they have only been married a little over a year. stepmom is VERY heavy in photo, and in video and booking photo looks gaunt and similar to a meth user, a lot of weight loss. notice tats and hair. at age 42.
this is looking pretty grim for that little girl.
HICKORY, N.C. -- A ransom note and indications of human remains were found at the home of a missing 10-year-old Hickory girl, according to a search warrant obtained by News 14 Carolina on Monday.
A fire was reported at the Baker family home around 5:30 a.m. Saturday. During the investigation, police found the note on one of the cars someone tried to set on fire. The note said, ”Mr Coffey, you like being in control now who is in control. We have your daughter and your pot smoking red head son is next unless you do what is asked. One million unmarked will be in touch soon.”
Mr Coffey owns the home the Bakers live in and he doesn't have a son. Police would not answer questions about that note.
Police seized two cars from the home and K9s gave a positive alert for the presence of human remains.
According to the search warrant, investigators showed up at the residence responding to a brush fire outside the home on Saturday morning when they found a ransom note inside inside a Chevy Tahoe that was parked outside.
The note claimed a girl had been kidnapped and demanded $1 million dollars in unmarked bills. The words "no cops" were scribbled nearby.
Hickory police chief Tom Adkins said Chief said "We are questioning the validity of that note. We have no further demands from the note."
me: did dad and stepmom stage the fire and ransom note to look as though kidnapper took wrong child?
Jesus! there are 4 outstanding warrants for the father, and they have not been served! WTF.
are police hoping he'll lead them to a body?
worried he'll lawyer up?
ABC News: Investigators seized several items from the Baker home, including two gas cans, burn samples from the morning fire and drug paraphernalia, the warrant states. Two samples of "possible blood" were taken from one of the cars, according to a warrant.
neighbors searching for Zahra and distributing flyers.
they are in front of her house in these photos, and walking neighborhood.
so far police have found NOBODY who has seen the child in weeks.
presser scheduled for 1030 this morning, tuesday.
HICKORY, N.C. — A relative of a missing 10-year-old North Carolina girl says she had a miserable home life and was locked in her room for most of the day.
Brittany Bentley says Zahra Clare Baker was only allowed out of her room for about five minutes each day to eat. Bentley says the girl's stepmother, Elisa Baker, would get mad and take it out on Zahra, whose bone cancer left her with a prosthetic leg and hearing aids.
Bentley is married to Elisa Baker's nephew and appeared on CBS' "Early Show."
Goddamnit! I know there are those that don't like to get involved but, this is a little kid. Someone should have reported her junky ass. We always hear how bad a child has it AFTER the fact.
Goddamnit! I know there are those that don't like to get involved but, this is a little kid. Someone should have reported her junky ass. We always hear how bad a child has it AFTER the fact.
it's my understanding child protective services were notified of abuse. but those records are not public.
that only means they failed to find evidence of abuse/neglect. and/or family was still on the radar.
one neighbor says the father NEVER even mentioned having a daughter.
another says the stepmonster actually hurt her hand while hitting the child because she hit the prosthetic instead of flesh. another report says father just sat there and watched her abuse the child.
i don't know how much credence to put in neighbor reports. i'd rather see evidence.
i'm afraid this child is gone, and may have been gone for some time. she never was registered for school, supposedly was going to be home-schooled by the gothic jailbird step mother.
UPDATE: Hickory Police will not be providing a written update at this time. Chief Adkins will have a media briefing at Police Headquarters in the Multi-purpose Training Room at 11:30 am today.
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