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

[no rose colored glasses]

Missing Hickory girl's stepmother appears in court



http://www.wcnc.com/news/local/Missing-girls-stepmother-due-in-court-today-104847959.html

I have a visceral reaction to this photo.

  Meth or crack? Just a waste of air.

[pink angel]

A new photograph of missing 10-year-old Zahra Baker with a bruise under her eye surfaced today as the search for her body focused on a wood chipper and mulch piles for any sign of her remains.

The missing North Carolina 10-year-old, who lost her left leg and hearing in a battle with childhood cancer, is seen in a dimly lit cell phone image with what Baker family friend Brandy Stapleton called a visible bruise under her right eye. Stapleton said she took the photo, obtained exclusively by ABC News, on Aug. 9 -- the last day she saw the little girl.

Stapleton said on that day, Zahra seemed down and so she decided to take a picture to cheer her up. Zahra's stepmother, Elisa Baker, initially told her not to take the picture, Stapleton said, because Zahra's eye was bruised. But Stapleton insisted because she wanted to see the little girl smile.


http://abcnews.go.com/US/zahra-baker-case-cops-search-wood-chipper-mulch/story?id=11868397

[Northern Rose]

Thanks for those images  obviously dad is there at the scene because he must have said something, IMO.  This is what I'm trying to understand, Elisa was so abusive to this baby, and dad what is up with him? Was he afraid of Elisa, was he also beating Zahra, did he enjoy watching Elisa beat her, what is it? Did Elisa have some super powers over this man where he lost all decency and allowed this? I could vomit when I see a picture of dad, just another disgusting person along with his wife.

Yes he is just as disgusting if not more so.  Yesterday I would not (or could not) believe that a Dad could be with his daughter while she fought cancer, lost a leg, lost her hearing, relocated to the US to be with stepmonster and then just turned off his protective parent switch to where Zahra meant nothing.  It was too hard for me to even try to comprehend.  After some time away , a few screams and many tears I agree that he is WORSE then stepmonster.  HE brought his daughter into the situation as I am sure Zahra would be quite content still living in Aussie with Grandma Karen.  HE was her father, supposed to protect her, supposed to stand up for her.  HE is a waste of skin IMO.

The thought of this waste has me haunted, I can't even begin to figure out how this waste went through all this with his daughter and allowed all this to happen, I'm glad that I can't figure it out, I would be afraid if I could 

I am in the same place. 

[4 Donks]

Missing Hickory girl's stepmother appears in court



http://www.wcnc.com/news/local/Missing-girls-stepmother-due-in-court-today-104847959.html

Just look at her face and think that is probably the last thing Zahra saw.

[Northern Rose]

A new photograph of missing 10-year-old Zahra Baker with a bruise under her eye surfaced today as the search for her body focused on a wood chipper and mulch piles for any sign of her remains.

The missing North Carolina 10-year-old, who lost her left leg and hearing in a battle with childhood cancer, is seen in a dimly lit cell phone image with what Baker family friend Brandy Stapleton called a visible bruise under her right eye. Stapleton said she took the photo, obtained exclusively by ABC News, on Aug. 9 -- the last day she saw the little girl.

Stapleton said on that day, Zahra seemed down and so she decided to take a picture to cheer her up. Zahra's stepmother, Elisa Baker, initially told her not to take the picture, Stapleton said, because Zahra's eye was bruised. But Stapleton insisted because she wanted to see the little girl smile.


http://abcnews.go.com/US/zahra-baker-case-cops-search-wood-chipper-mulch/story?id=11868397

OMG you can not dispute that black eye.  Zahra is still smiling as best she can, what a sweet angle  .  Going outside to scream some more. 

[klaasend]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/10/13/authorities-search-home-missing-north-carolina-girl-childs-remains/?test=latestnews

Authorities Search Home of Missing North Carolina Girl for Child's Remains

Published October 13, 2010 | FoxNews.com

Authorities in North Carolina searched the home of a missing girl into the early morning hours Wednesday, looking for any remains of the child a day after her stepmother confessed to writing a fake ransom note in her disappearance.

Searchers worked under floodlights to scour the Burke County, N.C., property where 10-year-old Zahra Baker lived with her father and stepmother, Adam and Elisa Baker, the Charlotte ******* reports.

Police charged Elisa Baker with felony obstruction of justice on Tuesday after she admitted to writing a ransom note found on the windshield of one of the family's vehicles. Authorities believe that the note, which was addressed to Adam Baker's boss and which demanded $1 million, was designed to throw investigators off track in their search for Zahra.

Hickory Police Chief Tom Adkins said Elisa Baker confessed under police interrogation to writing the note and had requested an attorney. She is being held in the Catawba County jail on $74,000 bond on unrelated charges and is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday for an initial hearing on the charges.

Adkins said the confession prompted authorities to shift their search from a missing person's case to a "homicide investigation."

K-9 units detected the scent of human remains on the Baker's property on Monday, a police search warrant revealed. Residents reportedly told the Charlotte ******* that search dogs picked up on the scent of blood at the site.

The newspaper reports that investigators used backhoes and other equipment late Tuesday to search the home and surrounding woods, focusing on a 50-foot-wide pile of mulch.

Adkins said at a news conference Tuesday that he "cannot confirm with any confidence how long Zahra has been missing."

"We can't confirm anyone has seen Zahra within the past month," Adkins said. "Without this information, we cannot positively select the area to search for her."

Zahra, described by neighbors as an upbeat girl who was battling bone cancer that left her with a prosthetic leg and hearing aids, was reported missing Saturday afternoon -- nearly 12 hours after Elisa Baker said she last saw her sleeping in her room.

Elisa Baker was already being detained after she was arrested Sunday on a dozen charges unrelated to Zahra's disappearance -- including communicating threats, writing worthless checks, larceny and driving with a revoked license.

Adam Baker said during a morning TV interview on Monday that it was possible his wife could be involved in the disappearance, which was reported after a fire in the home's yard.

"I hate to say it but I don’t feel good about this," said a family friend who spoke to FoxNews.com on condition of anonymity. "I really think Elisa had something to do with it."

Elisa Baker told her husband she last saw Zahra sleeping in her bed at 2:30 a.m. Saturday, about 2 1/2 hours before the fire was reported. Adam Baker said he was panicked after the fire, but didn't immediately check on his daughter.

Zahra, who is home-schooled, had two hearing aids, both of which were left at the house. Police said the girl also has a prosthetic leg from the knee down. 

Family friends described the girl as shy but constantly smiling, in spite of her health problems.

To relatives and former neighbors, Elisa Baker had a short fuse. In interviews and court documents, they portrayed her as nasty-tempered and willing to use a gun or her fists to settle an argument and say her disabled stepdaughter usually bore the brunt of her rage.

"She was always beating her," former neighbor Karen Yount said Tuesday. "I told her to stop but she wouldn't listen to anyone. That poor girl."

Kayla Rotenberry, a former neighbor, said she and her fiance were good friends with the Bakers when they lived in the nearby town of Sawmills, and saw Zahra often. About six months ago she noticed that Elisa Baker's hand was swollen, Rotenberry said.

"She told me that she was trying to spank Zahra, but hit her on her prosthetic leg," she said. "When Adam asked her about the injury, she said she fell and hurt her hand. She didn't want him to know. She knew he would be mad."

Another former neighbor, Brandy Stapleton, 22, of Lenoir, said that Elisa Baker told her the same story about how she injured her hand. "She wasn't the person everyone thought she was."

Adam Baker is from Australia, and met his current wife over the Internet, Stapleton said. Zahra's mother lives outside the U.S.

Click here for more on this story from the Charlotte *******

Click here for more on this story from WRAL.com

[novella]

I just looked at this woman's myspace... .  This woman is 42 years old...now we see what happens to gothics when they grow up...just the fact that Zahra's dad picked this woman to be his partner and a mother figure for his child clues me into his own psyche.  Look at the T-shirt he was wearing for the interview...two skulls and the words vengeance written across it.  Both of these adults dressing like teenage anarchists.  That poor baby...she was the only grace between those two. 

Many young people grow out of the goth thing, I know. There is much more going on with these two beings besides goth and skull shirts. Drug addicted, sadists, with no respect for human life.....

I agree, NRCG...looking at the stepmother's picture...she looks much older than 42, so I can see drug addiction and carrying the gothic realm into her later years and the rumored abuse on Zahra...probably sadism, too. 

It is just so frustrating...these beautiful little babies that others would love to have and love and hold and cherish...so many children treated worse than any living thing deserves...these innocent little lives were gifted to these monsters.  And these monsters walk among us.

[Tolerance]

There is NO way gothmother could have hidden this flagrant abuse from Zahra's gothfather.

Her whole face looks swollen.
The article continues by saying Gothmother said Zahra was clumsy......................

I just have no more words and my thoughts are haunting me.

[Bearlyhere]

For the people that witnessed abuse and did not report it should be fined....I know thats impossiable...but if they are now saying they saw it

take place and said nothing" Shame on You"  its is the responiablity of people in the education filed and medical field to report, so it should be

everyone's place to report . ....jmo...need more coffee.

I can't even put the words out there to tell you what is in my head right now.  She had no advocate.  Everyone failed her, everyone.  Not one person cared to talk to her even on a weekly basis, no one.  They all make me sick.  Every last one of them.

 

[4 Donks]

A new photograph of missing 10-year-old Zahra Baker with a bruise under her eye surfaced today as the search for her body focused on a wood chipper and mulch piles for any sign of her remains.

The missing North Carolina 10-year-old, who lost her left leg and hearing in a battle with childhood cancer, is seen in a dimly lit cell phone image with what Baker family friend Brandy Stapleton called a visible bruise under her right eye. Stapleton said she took the photo, obtained exclusively by ABC News, on Aug. 9 -- the last day she saw the little girl.

Stapleton said on that day, Zahra seemed down and so she decided to take a picture to cheer her up. Zahra's stepmother, Elisa Baker, initially told her not to take the picture, Stapleton said, because Zahra's eye was bruised. But Stapleton insisted because she wanted to see the little girl smile.


http://abcnews.go.com/US/zahra-baker-case-cops-search-wood-chipper-mulch/story?id=11868397

OMG you can not dispute that black eye.  Zahra is still smiling as best she can, what a sweet angle  .  Going outside to scream some more. 

Once again they are lining up at ABC news to make money on the back of another dead baby. Why didn't she just turn it over to police when this entire horror was exposed.

[NCSunny]

Oh my poor 'Gothic Fairy' has to wear a pink jumpsuit...goths hate pink [my daughter was through her teen years and thankfully outgrew it.]

TY Everyone for the updates and links...

This is so sad. I couldn't sleep last night thinking about Zahra. 

I would have loved to have had her, and know many other Monkeys would have too.

I am praying for justice...hope also that the dad isn't allowed to go back to Australia.

[no rose colored glasses]

I just looked at this woman's myspace... .  This woman is 42 years old...now we see what happens to gothics when they grow up...just the fact that Zahra's dad picked this woman to be his partner and a mother figure for his child clues me into his own psyche.  Look at the T-shirt he was wearing for the interview...two skulls and the words vengeance written across it.  Both of these adults dressing like teenage anarchists.  That poor baby...she was the only grace between those two. 

Many young people grow out of the goth thing, I know. There is much more going on with these two beings besides goth and skull shirts. Drug addicted, sadists, with no respect for human life.....

I agree, NRCG...looking at the stepmother's picture...she looks much older than 42, so I can see drug addiction and carrying the gothic realm into her later years and the rumored abuse on Zahra...probably sadism, too. 

It is just so frustrating...these beautiful little babies that others would love to have and love and hold and cherish...so many children treated worse than any living thing deserves...these innocent little lives were gifted to these monsters.  And these monsters walk among us.

I apologize that I appeared to snap like that. It is horrible enough when a person is missing or killed and they are healthy, this is just beyond belief, and can't even think about what all happened to this child. I do have a horrible thought that step mom beat Zahra with the prosthetic leg, because of what people have reported about her hand being swollen from spanking and hitting the prosthetic. 

[Deenie]

Omg, I was reading before I logged in ..

I too had to go take a walk outside ..and stare at my trees ... took deep breathes
And now reading the last presser that Klaas just posted

More Neighbors coming forward making statements that Elisamonster would BEAT Zahra, that they knew she was a chronically abused child at the mercy of the Elisamonster...

What is wrong with these People ? Did they think that " Someone Else" was going to come to Zahra's Rescue? Did they think Zahra could take on this Evil Woman all by her self..

I may have to go back outside.. I am so mad, my hands are shaking attempting to type this.
 

[no rose colored glasses]

Oh my poor 'Gothic Fairy' has to wear a pink jumpsuit...goths hate pink [my daughter was through her teen years and thankfully outgrew it.]

TY Everyone for the updates and links...

This is so sad. I couldn't sleep last night thinking about Zahra. 

I would have loved to have had her, and know many other Monkeys would have too.

I am praying for justice...hope also that the dad isn't allowed to go back to Australia.

I never even thought about that, if he isn't a US citizen, could he be sent back to Australia?

[darla]

Good  Afternoon Monkeys and guests!

www.wsoctv.com

Search in the wood and mulch piles has been suspended for the time being. Other leads being followed. Per the noon newscast!
I can think of no punishment bad enough for these two pos.

[no rose colored glasses]

Good  Afternoon Monkeys and guests!

www.wsoctv.com

Search in the wood and mulch piles has been suspended for the time being. Other leads being followed. Per the noon newscast!
I can think of no punishment bad enough for these two pos.

Thank-you

[4 Donks]

Oh my poor 'Gothic Fairy' has to wear a pink jumpsuit...goths hate pink [my daughter was through her teen years and thankfully outgrew it.]

TY Everyone for the updates and links...

This is so sad. I couldn't sleep last night thinking about Zahra. 

I would have loved to have had her, and know many other Monkeys would have too.

I am praying for justice...hope also that the dad isn't allowed to go back to Australia.

I never even thought about that, if he isn't a US citizen, could he be sent back to Australia?

If he is charged and convicted after he serves his sentence he can be deported back to Australia. If he isn't charged or convicted he is free to stay or leave as he chooses.

[SunnyinTX]

Hi Monks. thanks to everyone who is posting all the new updates.....I have been reading but I have nothing to add to the remarks and opinions.......everyone failed this child.....and all these people who are not so eager to talk to the press.....they make me sick.....they could have saved this child's and didn't...I hope none of them ever have a peaceful night's sleep again.......EVER.  The contract with watching the joy in seeing the miners being brought up and the search for this child is heartbreaking.

[Northern Rose]

Search expands for missing Charlotte girl, Zahra Baker. 10


Searchers worked under the glare of floodlights late into the night Tuesday, scouring property in Burke County for answers to the puzzling disappearance of 10-year-old Zahra Clare Baker.

Meanwhile, in Newton, the stepmother of the missing girl appeared in court to face felony charges related to the case.

The focus of what Hickory police Chief Tom Adkins calls a "homicide investigation" seems to have moved to the wooded property off Hartland Road, north of Morganton. Residents told reporters Tuesday that search dogs have picked up the scent of blood at the site.

It is unclear if the search will be resumed this morning.

Eli8sa Baker, Zahra's stepmother, appeared in court to face charges in connection with her admission she wrote a bogus ransom note.

Baker wore a pink jumpsuit and was shackled at her wrists and legs. She answered Judge Gregory Hayes with only quiet "yes" and "no" responses when asked whether she understood the charges against her, or if she had any questions for him.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/10/13/101986/search-expands-for-missing-charlotte.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_term=news

[no rose colored glasses]

Oh my poor 'Gothic Fairy' has to wear a pink jumpsuit...goths hate pink [my daughter was through her teen years and thankfully outgrew it.]

TY Everyone for the updates and links...

This is so sad. I couldn't sleep last night thinking about Zahra. 

I would have loved to have had her, and know many other Monkeys would have too.

I am praying for justice...hope also that the dad isn't allowed to go back to Australia.

I never even thought about that, if he isn't a US citizen, could he be sent back to Australia?

If he is charged and convicted after he serves his sentence he can be deported back to Australia. If he isn't charged or convicted he is free to stay or leave as he chooses.

Thank-you