Paul Baker missing from SC 1987- Step mom arrested in 2009 kidnapping

[penny for your thoughts]

http://www.angelfire.com/mi3/mpccn/pbaker.html

flyer describing hisdisappearance and with age progression pics

[penny for your thoughts]

http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PubCaseSearchServlet?act=viewChildDetail&caseNum=600583&orgPrefix=NCMC&seqNum=1&caseLang=en_US&searchLang=en_US

another flyer which states he was last seen wearing wearing red pants, a camouflage shirt, a blue jacket and gray tennis shoes.

strange since he was supposedly taking a nap

[penny for your thoughts]

http://www.lowcountrynewspapers.net/archive/node/119506

dated 2002

Investigators think Paul Baker might have been the victim of foul play, but his whereabouts remain unknown.'
"We think the child was murdered or died accidentally and the body was disposed of,"'
Bromage said. "We still have him listed as a missing person."'

[penny for your thoughts]

http://www.lowcountrynewspapers.net/archive/node/120065

Couple gets new lawyers in missing boy case
Monday, July 8, 2002

(snipped)
James and Susan Baker, face charges of child neglect. Though the charges are more than 13 years old, the case has yet to come to trial.' The conflict of interest arose because the primary investigator on the case at the time
is now employed as an investigator with the Beaufort County Public Defender's office. Gene Hood, chief public defender, filed the motion to have new counsel appointed.' The Bakers were both represented by attorneys in the public
defender's office.'

[penny for your thoughts]

http://npaper-wehaa.com/bluffton-today/2009/11/05/#?article=635850

The Bakers moved to Florida, where they were living in 1999, when fresh evidence in Paul’s case led Tanner — just elected as Beaufort County Sheriff — to extradite the couple back to South Carolina.

Both faced charges of assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature for allegedly beating 3-year-old Paul before he disappeared.

Susan Baker was charged with criminal domestic violence against Paul. Her case was brought before a grand jury in 2000 but she was not indicted.

Related charges of unlawful neglect were dropped in 2003. The couple went back to Florida.

[klaasend]

Frighteningly similar:

http://www.angelfire.com/mi3/mpccn/pbaker.html

Paul's parents, James Baker and Lynda Solorzano, separated in the mid-1980s. James' affair with Susan, who was employed as their children's babysitter, caused the breakup of the marriage. Solorzano said that she moved out of their home with Paul and his sister Nina shortly thereafter. She claimed that James never paid child support afterwards. Solorzano had limited financial means after their separation and applied for public assistance. She was pregnant with her new boyfriend's child by the time her divorce from James was finalized. Solorzano said that the judge sided with James and agreed that she did not have the means to support Paul and Nina. James was awarded full custody of both children and married Susan afterwards.
The Bakers purchased a home in Beaufort, South Carolina by 1987. Susan told authorities that she put Paul down for a nap inside their residence on March 5 of that year. Susan claimed Paul had vanished by the time she returned to check on him. He has never been seen again. An extensive search of the Bakers' property produced little evidence as to Paul's whereabouts.

[penny for your thoughts]

http://www.thedestinlog.com/news/chipley-11815-long-alive.html

Another neighbor, she said, reported seeing a gray van departing. A woman who identified herself as Susan Baker’s niece, Tabatha Phillips, confirmed Susan Baker drives a gray van.

She also confirmed she believes Susan Baker is the person of interest in the case, but claimed the only reason she was a potential suspect “is because of all that crap that happened way back when.”

all that crap way back then was a 3 year old child missing and presumed murdered by police ... his name was paul baker

[penny for your thoughts]

Frighteningly similar:

http://www.angelfire.com/mi3/mpccn/pbaker.html

Paul's parents, James Baker and Lynda Solorzano, separated in the mid-1980s. James' affair with Susan, who was employed as their children's babysitter, caused the breakup of the marriage. Solorzano said that she moved out of their home with Paul and his sister Nina shortly thereafter. She claimed that James never paid child support afterwards. Solorzano had limited financial means after their separation and applied for public assistance. She was pregnant with her new boyfriend's child by the time her divorce from James was finalized. Solorzano said that the judge sided with James and agreed that she did not have the means to support Paul and Nina. James was awarded full custody of both children and married Susan afterwards.
The Bakers purchased a home in Beaufort, South Carolina by 1987. Susan told authorities that she put Paul down for a nap inside their residence on March 5 of that year. Susan claimed Paul had vanished by the time she returned to check on him. He has never been seen again. An extensive search of the Bakers' property produced little evidence as to Paul's whereabouts.

reminds me so much of haleigh 

[penny for your thoughts]

here is a pic of the she devil herself
(taken from an article regarding her bond hearing for the charges against shannon dedrick)

[penny for your thoughts]

full names
susan elizabeth baker
james arthur baker

[Jerseygirl345]

Child Abuser Susan Baker..

Former Beaufort resident Susan Baker was interviewed Thursday by a Beaufort County Sheriff's Office investigator about the disappearance of her stepson 22 years ago, after a missing 7-month-old girl in Florida was found in a box under her bed.

Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner and 14th Circuit Solicitor Duffie Stone called a press conference Thursday afternoon to discuss developments in the disappearance of 3-year-old Paul Baker who went missing from his Beaufort home in March 1987. The toddler was never found.

Tanner declined to compare the disappearance of Baker to that of Shannon Dedrick, who had been missing since Saturday and was found late Wednesday in a box under Baker's bed. Washington (Fla.) County Sheriff Bobby Haddock expects to charge Susan Baker, her husband James and the child's mother Chrystina Lynn Mercer.

http://www.islandpacket.com/breaking_news/story/1024740.html

[Jerseygirl345]

Home Of Susan Baker in Florida where Shannon was found..

[Jerseygirl345]

Child Abuser Susan Baker..

Former Beaufort resident Susan Baker was interviewed Thursday by a Beaufort County Sheriff's Office investigator about the disappearance of her stepson 22 years ago, after a missing 7-month-old girl in Florida was found in a box under her bed.

Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner and 14th Circuit Solicitor Duffie Stone called a press conference Thursday afternoon to discuss developments in the disappearance of 3-year-old Paul Baker who went missing from his Beaufort home in March 1987. The toddler was never found.

Tanner declined to compare the disappearance of Baker to that of Shannon Dedrick, who had been missing since Saturday and was found late Wednesday in a box under Baker's bed. Washington (Fla.) County Sheriff Bobby Haddock expects to charge Susan Baker, her husband James and the child's mother Chrystina Lynn Mercer.

http://www.islandpacket.com/breaking_news/story/1024740.html

Interesting audio... Click on the islandpacket link..Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner and 14th Circuit Solicitor Duffie Stone conduct a news conference Thursday to discuss the 1987 disappearance of Paul Baker.

[penny for your thoughts]

full names
susan elizabeth baker
james arthur baker

possible maiden name susan elizabeth shirley
based on her dad's obit

[penny for your thoughts]

hi jerz hh and others
Jers that is interesting audio i am in a rush to get off of here but i will re listen later or tomorrow... glad that they are not in the business of helping her defense...
made me realize tat since there was arrests in shannons case we will get those docs under the sunshine act... we will want to go over those with a comb
they have always thought she was a wicked woman...
he will not help her defense by elaborating but keeps reminding us under the freedom of info act we can get what we want

[Jerseygirl345]

hi jerz hh and others
Jers that is interesting audio i am in a rush to get off of here but i will re listen later or tomorrow... glad that they are not in the business of helping her defense...
made me realize tat since there was arrests in shannons case we will get those docs under the sunshine act... we will want to go over those with a comb
they have always thought she was a wicked woman...
he will not help her defense by elaborating but keeps reminding us under the freedom of info act we can get what we want

A very intersting audio... Connectioning the dots... I hope she gets the death penalty.. It explains alot what happened with the Paul Baker case..

[Jerseygirl345]

Susan Baker was involved in another missing child case in South Carolina more than two decades ago. She had been a baby sitter for James Baker and his now ex-wife before she married him, a family member said.

Susan Baker told authorities her stepson, 3-year-old Paul Leonard Baker, disappeared from the family's Beaufort, S.C., home on March 5, 1987, while she napped.

A massive manhunt turned up nothing. She and her husband, James Baker, were extradited to South Carolina in 2000 and charged with assault and battery in Paul's disappearance, according to police reports provided by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division. But a grand jury never indicted them and the child was never found.

Paul's grandmother said she blames Susan Baker for her grandson's disappearance. Lambert gained legal custody of Paul's sister.

She was glad the case in Florida has renewed interest in Paul's disappearance.

"I'd like to know if my grandson is dead or alive," said Linda Lambert, 65, of Mebane, N.C. "I'd like some closure."
Susan Baker did serve prison time after authorities investigating Paul's disappearance discovered her 6-year-old stepdaughter had been badly beaten. Susan Baker was sentenced to 10 years in prison but the punishment was suspended to 80 days.

Florida officials refused to answer questions Thursday about the South Carolina case. They would say only that investigators from that state were in Chipley and had spoken with Baker.


http://www.federalnewsradio.com/index.php?nid=29&sid=1801297

[Jerseygirl345]

Sheriff says latest charges might help solve 1987 case of missing toddler..

Before drifting off to sleep, 6-year-old Nina Baker heard her stepmother screaming at her little brother to lay down and take a nap, the girl's grandmother said. Then, the house in Shell Point fell silent.

Little Paul Baker hasn't been seen or heard from since that day in March 1987,

Paul was 3 years old when he disappeared, and his case remains unsolved. His stepmother -- who admitted shortly after Paul vanished to abusing Nina -- was a prime suspect, but two attempts to charge Susan Baker and the children's father, James Baker, went nowhere because of a lack of evidence, investigators say.

Now comes renewed hope from 400 miles away.

A five-day search for 7-month-old Shannon Dedrick of Chipley, Fla., ended Thursday when the girl was found in a 2-by-3 cedar box that had been shoved under her baby sitter's bed.

That baby sitter was Susan Baker.

Authorities say Shannon's mother, Chrystina Lynn Mercer, gave her to Baker early Saturday, then reported her missing about 10 hours later. Shannon likely was kept in the box for 12 hours before investigators discovered her late Wednesday, Washington County Sheriff Bobby Haddock said. Clothing was packed around the box to muffle any sound, and baking powder was placed inside to mask the stench of dirty diapers. Investigators believe Shannon had been shut in the box on and off for several days.

"(Susan Baker) is a wicked woman," Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner said during a press conference Thursday to discuss his agency's involvementin the Florida case.

On Thursday in Florida, Mercer was charged with interference of child custody, desertion of a child and several other charges in her daughter's disappearance.

Charges against Baker included neglect of a child with aggravated circumstances and interference of child custody. Baker's husband, James Arthur Baker, was arrested Wednesday night but released. He remains under investigation, Haddock said.

Tanner said Staff Sgt. Brian Baird -- a Navy investigator who worked on Paul's disappearance before coming to work for the Sheriff's Office -- was in Chipley on Thursday and was part of the team that interrogated Susan Baker.

http://www.islandpacket.com/news/local/story/1025171.html

[Jerseygirl345]

WAS A CHILD KILLED?

Linda Lambert agrees.

Contacted Thursday at her home in Mebane, N.C., Paul and Nina's maternal grandmother left no doubt about what she thinks happened to her grandson March 5, 1987.

"(Susan Baker) killed Paul," Lambert said.

Within 18 days of Paul's disappearance, Susan Baker was in custody, but the charges stemmed not from her stepson's case but from her physical abuse of Nina.

A doctor at Naval Hospital Beaufort who examined Nina shortly after she was removed from the Bakers' home discovered Nina had not received medical attention for a broken hand and had "several ulcerated sores on her back where she had been whipped."

Susan Baker was charged with assault and battery with intent to kill but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature. She was sentenced to 10 years in prison but was released from jail after 80 days when the sentence was suspended for time served.

That decision by Judge Luke Brown disappointed the Sheriff's Office and the Child Abuse Prevention Association, which helped organize searches for Paul and has followed Susan Baker's court cases through the years.

"I don't have a qualm with the reduced charge," CAPA executive director Susan Cato told The Beaufort Gazette in June 1987. "I just think she should have served more time."

Brown, now retired and living in Ridgeland, told the Gazette on Thursday that he could not say, in retrospect, if he should have given Baker a stiffer sentence -- he could not recall details of the case or if the sentence was the result of a plea bargain.

"His explanation at the time was that (prosecutors) were trying to punish Susan Baker for the disappearance of Paul and that they didn't have a case," Cato said Thursday.

Nina lived in foster care in Beaufort before Lambert gained custody.

Now 29, Nina is a licensed practical nurse living near Raleigh, N.C., with three children of her own, Lambert said. She would not provide contact information for her granddaughter or for her daughter, Nina's biological mother, Lynda Solorzano. Attempts to reach them independently were unsuccessful.

Lambert said she once asked her granddaughter what she heard and saw the day Paul disappeared.

"(Susan Baker) kept hollering at him to lay down and go to sleep," Lambert said Nina told her. "This went on for a few minutes and then -- nothing. Silence."

http://www.islandpacket.com/news/local/story/1025171.html

[Jerseygirl345]

MASSIVE EFFORTS, NO LEADS

Paul's parents, James Baker and Lynda Solorzano, separated in the mid-1980s after Baker allegedly had an affair with their baby sitter.

James Baker eventually was awarded full custody of their children and later married the baby sitter, Susan Baker.

Paul's disappearance came just after the family moved to Beaufort in 1987.

According to a Gazette article published two days after Paul's disappearance, Susan Baker said she put her stepson down for a nap at about 11 a.m., and then nodded off herself. She told the newspaper that she was awakened by a phone call from James Baker, at the time a sergeant stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort.

Susan Baker, then 27, said that's when she went to check on Paul and discovered him missing.

James Baker told the newspaper he called his wife between 12:30 and 1:30 p.m. after he was notified by the station's family services that a woman had called claiming that she had Paul and that he was OK. He said he was told the phone call was long distance.

A sheriff's deputy confirmed with family services that a phone call had been made but offered no other details.

James Baker suspected Solorzano made the call and told the Gazette that "I still feel like my ex-wife knows where he is at" in an interview a few weeks after Paul's disappearance. However, authorities here and in North Carolina determined Solorzano was not in South Carolina at the time and had nothing to do with her son's disappearance.

Despite the mysterious phone call, investigators didn't suspect kidnapping.

They suspected foul play.

For weeks, search parties looked for Paul in the neighborhoods and salt marshes surrounding the family's home. Another search was conducted on Lemon Island after an anonymous tip from someone claiming to have seen birds flying "heavily" in the area. Deputies and volunteers searched by foot, by boat and by helicopter, the latter sometimes provided by the air station and equipped with infrared cameras. Paul's case was entered into a national missing-children's database.

Those efforts brought no new leads.

Acting on tips about nine weeks after the disappearance, deputies found areas in the Bakers' front yard that appeared to have been "disturbed," but they turned up no clues after digging several holes there.

Neither did they find new evidence two years later, when they again searched the by-then empty home in Shell Point. A Gazette article about that search said the Bakers had moved into on-base housing in December 1987 and were still in the Beaufort area.

http://www.islandpacket.com/news/local/story/1025171.html