Zahra Clare Baker #2 10/13/10 - 10/16/10

[pink angel]

No, I don't think so.  She didn't have many pics of Zahra.  Mostly pics of other people relatives and such. 

Yeah, on retrospect, her daughters have the most family pics.

Thanks anyway.

Also, I only saw one comment on Elisa's page since Zahra's been reported missing.

The article implied there were multiple negative comments.

There were MANY (upwords of 70 or more) negative comments on her blogs postings that were made after the story broke.

Nasty ones! Every nasty word and combination you can think of and then some. LOL!

I am betting the page got alerted a few times on for content. (We do a mass alert on pedo pages, on a FB group I am on) If they are alerted on enough myspace will pull the profile.

[mymonkey]

Police said Adam Baker also faces bad-check charges, but is not being arrested while he assists police.

"At this point, he's doing what we ask him to do. If we need him to do something, he shows up," said Clyde Deal, Hickory's deputy police chief. Deal said other searches have been conducted, but the warrants have been sealed and no details are being released.

Police said earlier this week that no one outside the girl's immediate family had reported seeing her for nearly a month. But Deal said Thursday that another witness had come forward to say they had seen Zahra in mid- to late September.

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/10/14/north.carolina.missing.girl/

I am confused...what would they need the father to do? besides tell where is daughter is

[Puzzler]

I may not post much, but pretty much read every day.  All I can say, out of all the cases here, as sickening as they all are, this one truly bothers me.  This is a young girl, who has over come horrible disabilities no 10 yr old child should have to endure, especially alone and abused,  and yet old enough to know better, yet continues to appear all is ok, even enduring more indispicable, non-sensical torture, truly sickens me to the core. I would like to know more about the bio-mom who appears to have abandoned her as well as extended family and friends is beyond comprehension.  This young girl, with her disabilities suffered more hurt and distrust than one can imagine,  even as an adult. I have nothing else I can say. I'm am truly disturbed and sickended by this. 

Dihannah1 - that's exactly how I feel about this case, too.  It's so sickening I can hardly read about it.  It physically hurts and I have to turn away from the computer for long periods of time.  This step mom is sick and I'm afraid they're going to pull every psychic illness out of the hat to defend her and that makes me ill, too.  But this dad!!!! I think h

e's truly disgusting, too!

[Brandi]

Thanks, Klaas.

I am busy grabbing the pics on Elisa's daughters' (Amber and Brittany) pages.

[Northern Rose]

Massive Search For Zahra Comes Up Empty

HICKORY, N.C. -- For the fifth day in a row, police launched a massive search on Thursday at a remote property north of Morganton, but they did not fine any signs of Zahra Baker. Zahra Clare Baker

Thursday was the most active day of searching since Zahra was reported missing on Saturday. 70 people looked through 60 acres of land just north of Morganton.

To find some closure Thursday night, more than 100 people showed up at First Baptist Church in Hudson for a private candlelight vigil.

Zahra used to attend Hudson Elementary until this year. Dozens of Zahra's former teachers and classmates attended. "To see her leave, its just really hard for all of us," said 10-year-old Alliy Merkwa, fighting back tears.

Merkwa was in fourth grade with Zahra last year, and says the two were close friends. "I've been crying myself to sleep every night," she said. Merkwa said she will always remember Zahra for how happy she was, and how everyone gravitated around her in the playground. "She was always there for you, she never judged, or criticized, or anything," she said.

Sheriff Deputies, police and firefighters say their biggest lead in the case was the property north of Morganton.

From an abandoned shed to wood piles, nothing was left unturned on the property 10 miles north of Morganton in the search for Zahra.

Investigators are searching 5 acres. From Chopper 9 you could see police using a bulldozer to look under a pile of wood, while nearby cadaver dogs try to pick up a scent.

"They've asked us today to eliminate this property to remove it from the suspect list and when we leave here today that will be done one way or the other," said McDevitt.

Earlier this week, a K-9 unit alerted police to a wood chipper on the property. A K-9 unit dog handler told Channel 9 that the hit was not on the wood chipper itself but the engine, and the blood could have come from a cut on a worker’s hand.

Investigators have said that Zahra’s dad, Adam Baker, works as a landscaper and used some of the equipment at the site.

Erica Wilkerson, who lives nearby, watched the search from the dirt drive leading to the property and wants to help with the search. "I'd put my boots on and come out here and walk and help find her,” she said.

http://www.wsoctv.com/news/25389806/detail.html

[Northern Rose]

Sheriff: We Need Closure In This Case (video)

http://www.wsoctv.com/video/25395312/

[Northern Rose]

Community holds vigil for Zahra Baker (with video)

MORGANTON, N.C. – Search teams covered dozens of acres Thursday afternoon looking for Zahra Baker. The Burke County Sheriff said they didn't find anything related to the case and don't expect to return to the site in Morganton unless new leads surface.

Until Thursday, crews did spot searches with canine officers. They even drained a small pond Wednesday night. Their frustration grew and they decided to form a search team to eliminate any chance the property was part of the investigation. The site in question was three acres but they went beyond that.

“Four-wheeler teams, cadaver dog teams, feet on the ground, the search and rescue teams, we searched 60 acres here today,” said Burke County Sheriff John McDevitt.

Early on, K9s indicated evidence of human remains on wood processing machines. Detectives said Thursday they have determined that is not a valid lead.

Meanwhile, a community that embraced Zahra Baker gathered for a vigil Thursday night. Hudson Baptist Church opened its doors to help people cope with the news of Zahra's disappearance.

Zahra first went to elementary school when she first moved to North Carolina from Australia.

Cameras were not allowed inside but children coming straight from football practice and teachers from Hudson Elementary School and people just moved by the story also showed up.

“I lost my little brother to cancer. He was only nine. I just don't see how anybody could treat their kid like that,” said Stacey Foster.

“I have an 8-year-old daughter. I can't imagine anybody harming a hair on her head. I just can't imagine what that poor child has been through,” said Leah Adkins.

Stay with News 14 Carolina and news14.com for the latest on the Zahra Baker case

http://charlotte.news14.com/content/top_stories/631511/community-holds-vigil-for-zahra-baker

[Northern Rose]

Crews come up empty so far as Zahra search continues (with video)

MORGANTON, N.C. – Crews searched a large Burke County property off and on Thursday trying to determine if it still is a valid part of the homicide investigation involving 10-year-old Zahra Baker.

K9 crews indicated earlier in the week that traces of human remains were found on wood processing equipment in an area where Baker's father once worked, but detectives with the Burke County Sheriff's Office said that is no longer a solid lead.

On Wednesday, crews drained a small pond using fire tanker trucks. They were digging through a large wood pile the night before. The search team, which consists of two K9 crews and 45 people, say they will leave no stone unturned.

“Just to be able to say that she's not here, or if she is here, be able to locate her and give the family some type of closure,” said Detective Michael Ollis, of the Burke County Sheriff's Office.

Ollis says the search has been on again-off again as the get information, exhaust the lead, get more information, come back and follow new leads.

The Hudson community will hold a vigil for Baker on Thursday night. She attended Hudson Elementary through June 2010.

http://charlotte.news14.com/content/top_stories/631503/crews-come-up-empty-so-far-as-zahra-search-continues/

[pink angel]

When the Baker family first moved into the apartments on Congress Street in July 2009, Shirley Mims had been the manager for only a short time.
It didn’t take her long to become better acquainted with Elisa and Adam Baker, who were in the apartment next door to Shirley and her husband, Darrell.
“They fought verbally and physically with each other. You could hear it through the walls,” Shirley said. “They’d even take it out into the parking lot.”
It was so bad one time that it knocked the pictures off the wall the Mims shared with the Bakers, Shirley said.
She said the couple began fighting about three weeks after they moved into the apartment.
As for the now-missing Zahra Clare Baker, Shirley didn’t even know the couple had a daughter.
“We saw the little girl when they moved in, but we didn’t see her no more after that,” she said. “When I saw the little girl, I assumed it was a grandchild or a visitor, because I never saw her again.”
Zahra, 10, was first reported missing at 2 p.m. Saturday, although Hickory police suspect she may have been missing longer than that. No one other than family has seen Zahra in a month.
On Sunday, Zahra’s stepmother, Elisa, 42, was arrested on unrelated charges to Zahra’s disappearance. Hickory police interviewed Elisa on Tuesday, and she admitted writing the ransom note found on one of the Bakers’ car, demanding $1 million. She has since been arrested for obstruction of justice and had her first court appearance on the charge. Officers are still searching for Zahra.
The Bakers lived in the apartment on Congress Street until early November 2009, when Shirley asked them to move out because of their fighting.
“In one-and-a-half days, they were gone,” Shirley said. “I got the impression they didn’t want the police here.”
When Shirley and Darrell went into the Bakers’ apartment after they left, they were surprised by what they found. One of the doors to a closet had been removed. That closet provides access to the attic — an attic where you can’t store anything, it just contains blown insulation for the two-story apartments.
When the Mims were watching the news this week, they recognized their former tenants. They were also surprised to learn they had a daughter.
They’re now wondering if maybe Zahra was in the attic
“We don’t know for sure, but we think they kept her in the attic,” Darrell said. “There were black shoe sole prints all around the inside (of the door frame). The door to the cubby hole was taken off.”
The Mims still haven’t found the door to the closet, and aren’t sure what the Bakers did with it.
Darrell said for several months — during the time the Bakers lived next door — it sounded as if squirrels were in the attic.
“All the noises I heard in the attic must have been her, but I never heard them again after they left,” Shirley said. “I can’t prove that’s what it was, but in my heart, that’s what I believe.”
When Darrell went up to the attic to look, he saw a section of the firewall that divides the two apartments was pulled down and was on top some of the boards and insulation. It was cracked in a few places.
“It looked as though a child had gone to sleep on it,” Darrell said.
To get into the attic, you would have to go into the closet, pop out the part of the ceiling covering the hole to the attic, lift yourself up to the 8-foot ceiling and crawl inside. Once inside the ceiling, which is covered with insulation, the area above each apartment is about 20 feet-by-20 feet, and about 4-and-a-half feet tall at its highest point.
Shirley said Elisa and Adam Baker were not the only two in the family who concealed information about a child in the house. Shirley used to work with a relative of Elisa’s.
“Not one time did she mention there was a girl here,” Shirley said. “She would talk about Elisa, but not mention a girl.”
She said if she had any idea a child was in that apartment, she would have called for help.
“If I had known for one minute the little girl was there, I wouldn’t have stopped until Social Services was there,” Shirley said.
Now, the Mims are left to wonder what happened to Zahra.
“I just pray for her,” Shirley said. “She’s such a beautiful little girl.”

http://www2.hickoryrecord.com/news/2010/oct/14/11/neighbors-wonder-if-zahra-kept-attic-ar-458767/


2 pics of the attic crawlspace @ the link if someone can save them and bring them over. Thanks in advance.

[klaasend]

When the Baker family first moved into the apartments on Congress Street in July 2009, Shirley Mims had been the manager for only a short time.
It didn’t take her long to become better acquainted with Elisa and Adam Baker, who were in the apartment next door to Shirley and her husband, Darrell.
“They fought verbally and physically with each other. You could hear it through the walls,” Shirley said. “They’d even take it out into the parking lot.”
It was so bad one time that it knocked the pictures off the wall the Mims shared with the Bakers, Shirley said.
She said the couple began fighting about three weeks after they moved into the apartment.
As for the now-missing Zahra Clare Baker, Shirley didn’t even know the couple had a daughter.
“We saw the little girl when they moved in, but we didn’t see her no more after that,” she said. “When I saw the little girl, I assumed it was a grandchild or a visitor, because I never saw her again.”
Zahra, 10, was first reported missing at 2 p.m. Saturday, although Hickory police suspect she may have been missing longer than that. No one other than family has seen Zahra in a month.
On Sunday, Zahra’s stepmother, Elisa, 42, was arrested on unrelated charges to Zahra’s disappearance. Hickory police interviewed Elisa on Tuesday, and she admitted writing the ransom note found on one of the Bakers’ car, demanding $1 million. She has since been arrested for obstruction of justice and had her first court appearance on the charge. Officers are still searching for Zahra.
The Bakers lived in the apartment on Congress Street until early November 2009, when Shirley asked them to move out because of their fighting.
“In one-and-a-half days, they were gone,” Shirley said. “I got the impression they didn’t want the police here.”
When Shirley and Darrell went into the Bakers’ apartment after they left, they were surprised by what they found. One of the doors to a closet had been removed. That closet provides access to the attic — an attic where you can’t store anything, it just contains blown insulation for the two-story apartments.
When the Mims were watching the news this week, they recognized their former tenants. They were also surprised to learn they had a daughter.
They’re now wondering if maybe Zahra was in the attic
“We don’t know for sure, but we think they kept her in the attic,” Darrell said. “There were black shoe sole prints all around the inside (of the door frame). The door to the cubby hole was taken off.”
The Mims still haven’t found the door to the closet, and aren’t sure what the Bakers did with it.
Darrell said for several months — during the time the Bakers lived next door — it sounded as if squirrels were in the attic.
“All the noises I heard in the attic must have been her, but I never heard them again after they left,” Shirley said. “I can’t prove that’s what it was, but in my heart, that’s what I believe.”
When Darrell went up to the attic to look, he saw a section of the firewall that divides the two apartments was pulled down and was on top some of the boards and insulation. It was cracked in a few places.
“It looked as though a child had gone to sleep on it,” Darrell said.
To get into the attic, you would have to go into the closet, pop out the part of the ceiling covering the hole to the attic, lift yourself up to the 8-foot ceiling and crawl inside. Once inside the ceiling, which is covered with insulation, the area above each apartment is about 20 feet-by-20 feet, and about 4-and-a-half feet tall at its highest point.
Shirley said Elisa and Adam Baker were not the only two in the family who concealed information about a child in the house. Shirley used to work with a relative of Elisa’s.
“Not one time did she mention there was a girl here,” Shirley said. “She would talk about Elisa, but not mention a girl.”
She said if she had any idea a child was in that apartment, she would have called for help.
“If I had known for one minute the little girl was there, I wouldn’t have stopped until Social Services was there,” Shirley said.
Now, the Mims are left to wonder what happened to Zahra.
“I just pray for her,” Shirley said. “She’s such a beautiful little girl.”

http://www2.hickoryrecord.com/news/2010/oct/14/11/neighbors-wonder-if-zahra-kept-attic-ar-458767/


2 pics of the attic crawlspace @ the link if someone can save them and bring them over. Thanks in advance.

[pink angel]

Thank you klaas!

[tcumom]

I've spent many sleepless nights reading here.  This tragic story is the ultimate in depravity.  Zahra is being blessed by her Heavenly Father, and is at peace.  I need to believe this.

[Jerseygirl345]

Caldwell school officials tried to help Zahra Baker ..Video


http://www.wcnc.com/news/local/Caldwell-school-officials-tried-to-help-Zahra-Baker-104985934.html

Hi Jersey!

Hugs...

[Northern Rose]

There are posts from someone (snl29) who claims they know stepmonsters real daughter and that DSS has been called since 1991 in regards to SM abusing her own children. 

http://www2.hickoryrecord.com/news/2010/oct/13/8/investigators-search-burke-site-again-ar-453434/

[Jerseygirl345]

I've spent many sleepless nights reading here.  This tragic story is the ultimate in depravity.  Zahra is being blessed by her Heavenly Father, and is at peace.  I need to believe this.

This is heartbreaking..

[Brandi]

This is so sick.

I am going to take a break.

I simply have no words left.

[Northern Rose]

Vigil photos.  #8 is  very touching .

http://www.wcnc.com/news/slideshows/Photos-Vigil-for-Zahra-Baker-104959554.html?gallery=y&c=y&ref=%2F&img=0#gallery-image

[pfaubush]

   
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: treehouse
Posts: 3,029
Here is an interesting question. On page 6 of the search warrants, in the top box where it lists the vehicles, it lists a third vehicle an 05 Impala.

This Impala is not mentioned anyplace else in any of the search documents.

WTH?

http://www.wbtv.com/global/link.asp?l=460807

I had not noticed the Impala either!

Thanks Brandi!
It's not mentioned anyplace else in the nine pages.

I'm still catching up, so someone may have already thought this, but could the Impala be Mr. Coffey's? It stated that he was there and observed to be fine. Just a thought, since it looks like that page appears to have been written on the premisis.

[Northern Rose]

This is so sick.

I am going to take a break.

I simply have no words left.

Hugs

[klaasend]

There are posts from someone (snl29) who claims they know stepmonsters real daughter and that DSS has been called since 1991 in regards to SM abusing her own children. 

http://www2.hickoryrecord.com/news/2010/oct/13/8/investigators-search-burke-site-again-ar-453434/

Posted by snl29 on Oct. 13, 2010 - 3:19 p.m.

Personally, I know the real daughter of Elisa Baker and from what she says alot of the news isn't true. I am not saying Adam (Zahra's father) is not involved but from what I've been told when Elisa would hit Zahra and treat her the way she did, Adam was asleep or at work, as the only working adult in the house. Elisa Baker is a horrible woman who lies about any and everthing. Also Brittany (the girl on the news who married Elisa's nephew) is exaggerating some. Her mom didn't have Zahra every weekend, she kept her every now and then. Also, Adam didn't sit and watch Elisa beat his daughter, he wasn't there when it happened, like I said before. Many people did call DSS and they failed to do anything about it. Apparently, DSS has been called on Elisa since 1991 reguarding her OWN children! I know of MANY stories not involving this family where DSS has been called and absolutely NOTHING was done to help. So, everyone who says that would have solved or kept all this from happening is wrong. I truely believe Elisa Baker has something to do with Zahra's disapperance, but as far as Adam I'm not so sure. I hope and pray this little girl is safe and will be found soon!!!

Posted by snl29 on Oct. 13, 2010 - 4:30 p.m.

Like I said, she would lie about them! Of course, common sense comes into play eventually. I NEVER said he's completely innocent in not doing anything about her abuse but he didnt sit right in front of them and watch Elisa hit Zahra. For everyone to say he's involved in her disappearing just because his wife seems to be isn't right.....mate. If everyone is going to jump him b/c he "didn't do anything" about the abuse, they should go after everyone who ever stepped foot in their home. Why is no one blaming DSS for not doing anything about what's been reported multiple times?

Posted by snl29 on Oct. 13, 2010 - 8:30 p.m.

He said he saw her on Thursday. From what I heard, he works all day long. When he comes home he's said he just looks in the room and checks in on her. Mistakenly he didn't actually go to her bedside and physically touch her. Obviously, there are holes in everyone's story. My single point, like I've said multiple times is the news isn't telling all truth. Neither is the extended family members trying to get their 15 min of fame. It's proven Elisa Baker had something to do w/ her disappearance, otherwise she wouldn't have written the ransom note. Adam Baker has done nothing but cooperate with the police, so far there is absolutely nothing connecting him to Zahra missing. Until something does come up, if it does at all, the puplic should not assume he's a horrible heartless person, like Elisa. AGAIN, I am not saying he didn't possibly have something to do with it, but until it's proven, quit judging so hard....if it is proven, then pass your judgements as you please!

Posted by snl29 on Oct. 13, 2010 - 3:38 p.m.

Adam wasn't around when Elisa would hit her, he'd either be at work or sleeping. As some articles have stated, she would lie to him about certain situations. For example, Elisa had a swollen hand and when asked what it was from, she told Adam she fell b/c he would get mad if he knew she was abusing Zahra. However, she told previous neighbors she was spanking Zahra and hit her prosthetic leg. I understand this whole situation is crazy and everything looks "fishy" but to blame Adam because Elisa has confessed to the ransom notes and abused Zahra isn't right. Until there is proof and evidence of him being involved, I wish everyone would quit blasting him!!