Zahra Clare Baker #4 10/22/10 - 10/28/10

[Monkey King]

LOVELY

[ISpy]

Been catching up here.  Between Caylee, Kyron, and reading statement analysis, reading late is about all I'm doing.  Thanks everyone for passing along info as it becomes available.  Sharing your revulsion, anger, and grief here.  Just a few thoughts...

• • Per the pit bulls, I think AB & EB treated any animals they owned far better than Zahra.
  • IMO, AB & EB were likely both strung out most of the time (Meth gets my vote).  Child neglect and abuse+ violence + total indifference seem to be hallmarks of Meth in particular.  I'd like to know how much or how little food was in cabinets and the refrigerator when LE arrived.  I'm betting very little.
  • It concerns me that we see very few pics of Zahra fully smiling (as in teeth showing).  The pics I have seen appear to be forced smiles, as her eyes lack vitality/sparkle/warmth.  I'm wondering if her teeth were decaying due to malnutrition or were damaged/missing from abuse.  Children naturally tend to smile wide, toothy smiles in their enthusiasm...Zahra's smiles are definitely guarded, as if she can't show her teeth.  Pics anybody of full smiles, please? TIA
    
  • Thinking Caylee, Shaniya, Kyron, and so many more: It seems so easy to us that if you don't want the child, just give him/her up.  You're missing the point though.  It's about the power and control over another human being's life.  That's what the perps are not going to give up and why they won't just give the child up.  The child has little to no value, except to be the victim.

What's done in the dark will be brought into the light and AB's & EB's sins will find them out.  I absolutely love that the landfill workers "accidentally" found Zahra's old mattress.  Just like a meter reader found Caylee.  Praying for all of the LE, CSI people, and anyone who has searched/is searching for this child.  Also for anyone who has to examine evidence.  All MOO[/list]

[Terri]

thanks to all of you correcting my assertion Zhara did not move with the family.  Then I am confused.  Why are they searching at the prior residence?  Are they searching inside the home for ongoing prior abuse?  Did someone return to the home to bury something after the move? 

 I must be too tired to process. 

I keep saying things will be better once a child is found, or a situation settled.  But there is always another horrendous case before the closure of one. 

Thanks to all for sharing info and for helping me to understand.

Terri

[Terri]

Okay,  I have been re reading.  I did not realize how tired I was...my eyes are crossing.   Do I understand they are actually digging and searching inside the current family home?  That makes more sense.  But I still no longer believe the father.  Initially I gave him the shadow of a doubt. 

No one ever says a ten year old only comes out of their room when they want something. IMO

Good night all. 

Terri 

[pdh3]

This is such a tragic case. I am having a very hard time wrapping my head around it. Every time I see that photo of her with a black eye I just have to go away and cry. This child's suffering has broken my heart.

I hope those two evil scumbags rot in hell for all eternity.

[trimmonthelake]

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1010/27/ng.01.html
NANCY GRACE Transcripts
Zahra Baker`s Prosthetic Leg Found
Aired October 27, 2010 - 20:00:00   ET

[Tolerance]

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1010/27/ng.01.html
NANCY GRACE Transcripts
Zahra Baker`s Prosthetic Leg Found
Aired October 27, 2010 - 20:00:00   ET

I saw the NG of old last night.
She seemed genuinely upset about Zahra, not fake.
I am cutting her some slack for a change.
I still think she is rude, especially to the guy from the newspaper who keeps trying to confuse her with the FACTS.
I am not sure why he keeps coming back for more abuse?
Anyway I was glad to see some glimpse of her old self.
Tol

[Tolerance]

Can anyone see AB's my space page?
I can not.
But
I CAN see that he logged in yesterday............................such concern for his daughter.
ugh
http://www.myspace.com/adam1802000
Tol

[klaasend]

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/10/28/1791624/new-clue-in-search-for-zahra.html

Police find new clue in search for Zahra Baker
Crews searching through brush in Caldwell County find a prosthetic leg that might belong to the missing girl.
By Ely Portillo and Fred Clasen-Kelly
elyportillo@charlotteobserver.com and frkelly@charlotteobserver.com
Posted: Thursday, Oct. 28, 2010

HICKORY As the three-week-old search for a missing Hickory girl continues, search crews have found what police say could be a significant piece of evidence - a prosthetic leg consistent with one used by Zahra Baker.

Searchers found the leg while scouring a brushy area near Christie Road in Caldwell County, Hickory Police Chief Tom Adkins said at a brief press conference Wednesday. Authorities still have to check the serial number to confirm the leg belongs to 10-year-old Zahra, an Australia native.

Searchers also returned to the family's house on 21st Avenue N.W. in Hickory to look for additional evidence. Police taped off the yard and brought in a back-hoe to dig at least two holes near the house.

Wednesday afternoon, a neighbor said he saw investigators carrying two garbage bags out of the house and examining a crawlspace. At sunset, authorities could be seen inside the house, searching a bedroom.

For two weeks, police have said they believe Zahra is dead.

The developments were the latest - and perhaps most substantial - in a frantic search that has captured worldwide attention. Authorities have combed three counties, several houses and trailers, a landfill and a rural lot used for mulching trees while looking for Zahra's remains, her leg or DNA evidence.

Zahra, who was hearing impaired, used the prosthetic leg since her lower left leg was amputated several months ago due to bone cancer.

No one has been charged in Zahra's disappearance, but her stepmother and father were arrested on other charges.

Elisa Baker, 42, was charged with obstruction of justice after police say she admitted writing a phony ransom note. She's been assigned a high-profile attorney, Lisa Dubs, as provisional counsel. Dubs is known for her work on capital murder cases and other serious cases.

Zahra's father, Adam Baker, 33, was arrested this week on unrelated charges of assault and writing bad checks.

Case difficult without body

Officials wouldn't say Wednesday if they would consider charging anyone with Zahra's killing in the absence of her body.

Experts say it's difficult - but by no means impossible - to prosecute a murder case if the victim's body isn't found.

Zahra was reported missing Oct. 9, but police said they haven't found anyone besides her father and stepmother who report seeing her alive since Sept. 25.

Without a body, prosecutors often lack important evidence to build their case, such as an autopsy, exact cause of death, time of death and last known location of the victim.

They must rely on circumstantial evidence to show a murder has occurred and eliminate any reasonable possibility the victim is still alive.

"You're starting off with a big handicap," said Tad DiBiase, a former federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C. He won a conviction in a murder case with no body in 2006 and now studies such cases nationally.

"In these circumstantial cases, you have to prove a series of events that point to the defendant," said DiBiase, who has counted about 330 no-body murder cases in the U.S. "Only the strongest cases go to trial."

Although the law doesn't require a person's body to be found to try a murder case, the lack of a body makes prosecutors' job harder.

Some convictions won

Only a handful of "no-body" murder cases have been tried in North Carolina since the 1800s. Defendants were convicted in at least five such murders.

In 1985, Gregory York successfully prosecuted one such case in Iredell County, when real estate agent Dianne Gabriel vanished after going to appraise a Lake Norman house. Her body was never found, but forensic evidence pointed to a local backhoe operator, Johnny Head.

"You have to convince the jury that the person who's missing has been murdered and is not hiding somewhere, or has just decided to drop out of circulation," said York, now in private practice in Charlotte.

"We were able to do that basically by showing (Gabriel's) whereabouts up until a certain point in time," said York. The last place she'd been headed to was Head's house. "Also, we were able to show she hadn't reported to any type of hospital or mental facility."

Strong forensic evidence helped tie Head to the killing. His fingerprints were on a large strip of plastic in the woods near his house. The plastic contained duct tape with fibers on it that matched fibers from Gabriel's clothing, and the same fibers were found in Head's bedroom.

Head's attorney argued that without a body, there was no way to prove Gabriel was actually dead.

But the jury convicted Head of second-degree murder, and he was sentenced to 50 years in prison. He was released in 2001 after serving 16 years. Head, who maintained his innocence throughout the trial, could not be reached for comment.

In criminal cases, the prosecution always has the burden of proving a defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. The defense doesn't have to prove anything to win an acquittal. But Charlotte defense lawyer George Laughrun said even though the burden of proof isn't reversed in a murder case with a missing body, it may be in jurors' minds.

"The DA's argument is, 'Well, if she's not dead, where is she?'" Laughrun said. "The defense comes back - 'We don't have to prove that.' But planes don't just fall out of the sky, and little girls don't just disappear."

Adam Baker free on bail

Late Wednesday, Adam Baker made bail and left Catawba County Jail, where he'd been held under $7,000 bond. Zahra's stepmother Elisa Baker was still being held under $65,000 bond.

Searchers continued to comb the Bakers' house in Hickory. Authorities weren't saying where they planned to search next, or when anyone might be charged in Zahra's disappearance.

[Terri]

Good morning,

I just want to send wishes for sunshine and happiness today.   Yesterday was so sickening sad, sending my best to everyone.

 

Terri

[no rose colored glasses]

Can anyone see AB's my space page?
I can not.
But
I CAN see that he logged in yesterday............................such concern for his daughter.
ugh
http://www.myspace.com/adam1802000
Tol

He is nothing but a worthless scumbag  IMO  They both make me ill.

[SunnyinTX]

Morning Monks and visitors.  This article exhibits a lot of what I feel and wanted to share it. Hope it is no a repost.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/becky-lee/zahra-bakers-story-an-ind_b_772500.html

Zahra Baker is a little girl who lived with her father and step-mother in Hickory, North Carolina. She is the picture of innocence, freckle-faced and smiling in every photo. She is a cancer survivor, loved by her friends and classmates. She is the proverbial "girl next door."

Thirteen days ago Zahra Baker was reported missing. No one knows what has happened to Zahra these past two weeks. But what we do know is that she has been for many months a victim of domestic abuse.

The headlines tell the tale of her disappearance and the search for clues for her abductor. It is a tragedy. It is tragic not only because the inquiry into her disappearance quickly became a homicide investigation; it is also tragic because of how she was treated while we know she was alive, and how we reacted.

Nearly every account given by members of her family and by her friends described a life of suffering at the hands of her stepmother. Locked in her room, beaten and bruised, Zahra is like a character found in some fable written long ago. We hope and pray that Zahra's story will have a miraculous and happy ending. Its beginning, however, has been told and retold in articles and interviews of friends and relatives... and it is a tragedy -- a saga that began long before Zahra was reported missing.

The real shame is in the way Zahra was treated by her family and in the tacit acceptance with which we -- her friends, neighbors and community -- allowed her plight to unfold in our view, in our midst and in our silence.

continued at link

[klaasend]

http://www.wsoctv.com/news/25538458/detail.html



Police: New Information Led Back To Bakers' Home

Posted: 1:46 pm EDT October 27, 2010Updated: 10:19 am EDT October 28, 2010
HICKORY, N.C. -- Investigators returned to the Hickory home of Adam, Elisa and Zahra Baker on Wednesday, saying that new information led them back there.

IMAGES: Searchers Back At Baker Home

Hickory Police Chief Tom Adkins announced that investigators were returning to the house late Wednesday afternoon, during a news conference in which he also announced that searchers found a prosthetic leg matching the description of the one belonging to 10-year-old Zahra.

 

[klaasend]

[Northern Rose]

Zahra's father out of jail as police find prosthetic leg

HICKORY, NC (WBTV) - Police returned to the Baker home to continue their search for evidence on Thursday morning, one day after discovering what they believe is the prosthetic leg of missing ten-year-old Zahra Baker.

Adam Baker, who first reported Zahra missing in a 911 call on Oct. 9, bonded out of the Catawba County Jail just after 6 pm. Baker had been jailed on a $7,000 bond on charges unrelated to his daughter's disappearance.

MORE...

http://www.wbtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=13297637

[Northern Rose]

Prosthetic leg discovered in search for Zahra Baker (with video)

http://www.wcnc.com/news/Hickory-police--105899483.html

[Northern Rose]

IMAGES: Searchers Back At Baker Home

http://www.wsoctv.com/slideshow/news/25548990/detail.html

[Northern Rose]

Reader comments:

Posted by alwaysatthecourthouse on Oct. 28, 2010 - 10:15 a.m.
A bondsperson named Rebecca Potter posted his bond she says he is innocent!! This lady is a fairly new bonsmen and will get anybody out for whatever they have in there pocket, she doesn't care one way or the other!

http://www2.hickoryrecord.com/news/2010/oct/27/19/prosthesis-found-christie-road-ar-488386/#comments

[no rose colored glasses]

IMAGES: Searchers Back At Baker Home

http://www.wsoctv.com/slideshow/news/25548990/detail.html

I just can't let this go, there is no way in my eyes that the equipment they are using is to find remains, and then what could they be looking for. I would just think it would destroy the remains if you would dig like that.

[no rose colored glasses]

Reader comments:

Posted by alwaysatthecourthouse on Oct. 28, 2010 - 10:15 a.m.
A bondsperson named Rebecca Potter posted his bond she says he is innocent!! This lady is a fairly new bonsmen and will get anybody out for whatever they have in there pocket, she doesn't care one way or the other!

http://www2.hickoryrecord.com/news/2010/oct/27/19/prosthesis-found-christie-road-ar-488386/#comments

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