Zahra Clare Baker #8 11/15/10 - 11/27/10

[KCJackie]

You know, EB really spilled her guts apparently. I'm so glad she's stupid. If she should be able to make bond, AB would probably be first in line to kill her.

And the rest of us would be right behind both of them! 

[Monkey King]

You know, EB really spilled her guts apparently. I'm so glad she's stupid. If she should be able to make bond, AB would probably be first in line to kill her.

I believe you are correct- and then dismember her and dump her remains randomly around town.  Yeah, sounds like his name should be changed from Baker to Butcher.

[crazybabyborg]

I've got to get some sleep. I won't be able to leave for Hickory until tomorrow afternoon, so I'll see you guys in the morning. Sleep well, all.

God Bless and keep Zahra.

[KCJackie]

I've got to get some sleep. I won't be able to leave for Hickory until tomorrow afternoon, so I'll see you guys in the morning. Sleep well, all.

God Bless and keep Zahra.

Good Night - Be safe!

[Tibrogargan]

I'm going to try to find a stuffed monkey for all of us in the morning, to take to Hickory with me. It's nice to know that the stuffed animals left will get to children who will enjoy them. I'll take my camera and post pictures when I get back.

CBB thank you from Australia for travelling to join in the vigil to remember our little angel Zahra.  Looking forward to your pictures.

Hugs and have a safe journey.

[Tibrogargan]

Thank you also for all the monkeys that are going to Hickory.

It will be starting at 10 am tomorrow my time so I will join in with you all.

[Monkey King]

I'm right behind you, CBB.  I need to get some sleep too.  Having a lot of wind here, one skinny tree already down. 

Goodnight all!!

[MuffyBee]

http://www.smh.com.au/national/tragic-zahra-had-so-few-birthdays-a-town-remembers-the-one-after-her-young-life-was-cut-short-20101116-17vdq.html
Tragic Zahra had so few birthdays: a town remembers the one after her young life was cut short
November 16, 2010

Zahra ... she should have been celebrating her 11th birthday.

It will have all the trappings of an ordinary birthday party - a Freddo Frog cake, a sausage sizzle and pink and purple balloons.

But there'll be no birthday girl when residents of a small Queensland town gather to reflect on Zahra Baker's short life.


The young cancer survivor, who grew up in Giru, south-west of Townsville, should have been celebrating her 11th birthday today.

Instead, investigators in the US state of North Carolina are slowly piecing together the awful circumstances of the girl's death.

Court papers filed in the US, by lawyers representing Zahra's US stepmother Elisa Baker, say her body was dismembered and her remains scattered at different sites around Hickory, in western North Carolina.

Mrs Baker remains in custody, accused of trying to throw off investigators with a bogus ransom note. Her father Adam Baker, 33, is facing charges unrelated to the girl's disappearance.

The pair, who reported Zahra missing on October 9, are suspects.

As US investigators continue the hunt for Zahra's remains, residents in Giru will mark her birthday with a memorial.

Family friend Kim Wright, who lives in the town, said she expected hundreds of people to turn out for a candlelight vigil and birthday party in Zahra's honour.

"The community support is phenomenal for this little girl," Ms Wright said. "There's a lot of disbelief at what has happened.

"We'll be having a birthday cake ... a cake iced with Freddo Frogs ... and Zahra's favourite was a sausage sizzle, and her favourite colours were pink and purple."

Giru residents have been asked to wear pink and purple clothes to the vigil at the Giru park from 7.30pm.

Ms Wright said she forged a friendship with the little girl when she battled cancer and lost a leg five years ago.

"As strange as it sounds, I was one of her best friends. She was five and I was 40," she said.

"She was a very special little girl. I'll never meet another one like her.

"We were pretty good mates. She used to have sleepovers at my house and we used to go shopping together. I miss her terribly."

She said the town had decided to mark Zahra's birthday before news broke that one of her bones had been found.

"I was always of the belief that until they actually found Zahra I wouldn't believe she was gone," Ms Wright said.

"All they had found at that stage was a prosthetic leg and some hearing aids. She never needed them to live, I saw that kid tear around; she could hop faster than I could run. She wasn't deaf, she had limited hearing but could still hear."

Ms Wright said she last saw her young friend in December two years ago and that none of Zahra's family members lived in Giru any more.

Zahra's story has made headlines worldwide.

Rejected at birth by her mother, she battled bone cancer as a toddler, had a leg amputated aged five, lost her hearing during chemotherapy and at eight was uprooted from her home in Queensland to North Carolina so her father could be with a woman he met on the internet.
*****************
(Bolded by me)
I'm not certain if the term "rejected" used in this article from the UK is representative of the event.  It just got my attention when I was posting the article...

[MuffyBee]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1330052/Zahra-Bakers-stepmother-claims-innocence-biological-mother-says-hopes-dad-wasnt-involved-death.html
(Videos and a lot of pics at the link)
'I ain't a monster': Zahra Baker's stepmother claims innocence as biological mother says she hopes father wasn't involved in death
November 16, 2010

The stepmother of 10-year-old Zahra Baker has indicated in a jailhouse letter written a fortnight before the girl's remains were found that Zahra was dead, but wrote no feelings of sadness at the child's plight.

'I was trying to save us both, but why should I? He is letting everyone destroy me', Elisa Baker penned, referring to Zahra's father Adam Baker, 33.

Zahra's remains were discovered in two separate locations last week. Her prosthetic leg which she wore after losing her limb to bone cancer, was found elsewhere earlier in the search.
Elisa is currently in jail charged with obstruction of justice for allegedly writing a fake $1million ransom note after Zahra was reported missing in Hickory, North Carolina back in October.

In an earlier letter, Baker, 42, wrote: 'We really didn't kill her, but what he [Adam Baker] did after the fact is kinda horrifying.'

Baker more recently penned that she 'ain't the monster people are saying'.

She also said she was frustrated by her lawyer refusing to let her do TV interviews.

'I want a chance to be heard damn it. This is my life and everyone is playing with and I have no control over what is said or done', Baker wrote.

She then commented on the media attention she has received saying: 'Maybe I should just change my name to Evil, what do you think? LOL'.

In the third letter written to crime memorabilia dealer Eric Gein, Baker never mentioned Zahra or concern for her whereabouts in the three rambling pages but said she will be living alone when she gets out of prison.

Baker said that she is working with police to get her husband locked up 'for [her] safety'.

'My family will never believe Adam has done what he has', the letter said. 'I am helping the cops try and get my soon-to-be ex-husband in here. The cops promised if I would help them with what I know, they would keep him locked up for my safety'.

Adam Baker is currently free on bail after he was arrested for assault and passing bad cheques last month.
is attorney Mark Killian said news of the letters are painful for the father who learned of his daughter's death on Friday.

'These accusations are... I don't know what to say. Mr Baker obviously categorically denies any of this... We just see these writings as desperate attempts of someone incarcerated to divert attention away.'

Mr Killian said Mr Baker handled the news of his daughter's demise with 'shock... just the worst nightmare'.

Zahra's biological mother Emily Dietrich said yesterday that she is trying to believe that the child's father was not involved in her death.

Ms Dietrich who is from Australia had not seen her daughter since she was 8 months old. She had given Zahra to her father after suffering from post-natal depression.
he handed over custody to her daughter but later decided she wanted to be in the girl's life and spent years trying to track the pair.


Newborn: Ms Deitrich (pictured with baby Zahra) said she tried to track down her daughter and Adam over the years to no avail and only knew they were living in America a few days before her child was reported missing

'I can't explain the anger, the hurt,' she said. 'He had no right to do any of it, to keep her from me.'

She said she discovered Zahra was living in the U.S. just three days before she was reported missing on October 9.

'I never got to say goodbye,' she said. 'I never even got to say hello.'

'I have to take a step back and think of the possibility that maybe Adam wasn't involved and maybe he is hurting as well', she told Seven Network.

Ms Deitrich who lives in Wagga Wagga in New South Wales said she didn't know Baker had taken her daughter to the U.S. until days before she was reported missing on October 9.

She said she was 'still hurt, still crushed' after learning of her daughter's death.

Ms Dietrich said yesterday: 'It didn't make a difference trying to prepare myself. It didn't make a difference to anybody.

'As hard as it was to hear the news they were telling me, it was just as hard to watch them cry while they told me and apologised to me.

'All they wanted was to find her and bring her back alive.
Hickory police said on Friday they found a bone that matches DNA from Zahra, whose cancer had forced her to use a prosthetic leg and hearing aids.

It was found in an area near where the family lived until mid-September.

Police say Elisa Baker led investigators to the bone and another area where authorities found remains they believe are Zahra's. No one has been charged in the girl's death.

The discovery of Zahra's remains prompted emotional scenes at Friday's police press conference.

Fighting back tears, police chief Tom Adkins said investigators were ‘devastated’ they could not bring Zahra safely home.

Chief Adkins said: ‘I’ve been dreading this moment from early on in this investigation. We have found enough physical evidence to believe we have found Zahra.’

Police had been searching for the disabled girl ever since her father first reported that she had vanished more than a month ago.

Last week's discovery of a bone matching Zahra’s DNA was followed on Wednesday when searchers found human remains on the edge of Gunpowder Creek, a pond close to where the little girl’s prosthetic leg had also been uncovered.

Relatives and neighbours have said Mrs Baker was cruel and abusive towards her stepdaughter, who often appeared bruised.
Stricken with bone cancer, Zahra had her lower left leg amputated when she was five-years-old and she also lost much of her hearing.

Her body was found in the same rural area of Caldwall County where the Baker family used to live.

‘Please understand, I can’t get into many specifics about the investigation, but the DNA evidence from the bone found on Christie Road matches the DNA sample taken from the Baker’s house,’ said Chief Adkins.

Detectives questioned the girl's father again yesterday.

‘This case isn’t over and we won’t rest until we have all the information we need to bring the people to justice who hurt Zahra,’ said Chief Adkins.
nvestigators, agents, officers and staff who worked on this case are devastated that we were not able to find Zahra alive and bring her home safely.

‘We appreciate the support we receive from the public. Today our community mourns. Our state mourns. Our nation mourns and the world mourns,’ he added.

Although Zahra was reported missing on October 9, it later emerged that she hadn’t been seen for weeks before that date.

Police said the letters probably were written by Baker. She also reportedly claimed: ‘They arrested Adam, but he got right back out. How fair is that? See I told you I have no support?

'I have never been so angry over stuff as I am right now. He knows what happened to Zahra, and yet I'm the one in here at least for now'.

She allegedly added: 'It makes me scared of him. So I probably am gonna go ahead and file [for divorce]. I have lost my whole life anyway.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/11/16/1841750/filing-has-gruesome-details-of.html
Zahra's stepmom gave explicit details in death
Elisa Baker's bid for lower bond claims she told police where to find child's scattered remains, but doesn't tell how she died.
November 16, 2010

Zahra Baker's body was dismembered and the remains hidden across several rural locations, a court document said for the first time Monday, days after police said that the 10-year-old cancer survivor is dead.

The court filing is a motion by Zahra's stepmother, Elisa Baker, asking the court to reduce her $65,000 bond for obstruction of justice. The motion, filed Monday afternoon in Superior Court, provides specific and at times grisly details of what Elisa Baker says happened to the young girl's body.

The document doesn't indicate how Zahra died or who may be responsible, but the motion argues that Baker's bond should be reduced because of her extensive and continuing cooperation.

"The only credible evidence released to the public by law enforcement related to this case is evidence that was collected after Elisa Baker told law enforcement where to look and what to look for," the motion says.

Elisa Baker's attorneys met with her for two hours Monday, but declined to speak with reporters. They couldn't be reached for comment Monday night.

It wasn't clear Monday why Elisa Baker, in admitted some knowledge of Zahra's death, could be asking for a lower bond. Police haven't given a motive in the case.

Speculation has centered around Elisa and Adam Baker, Zahra's father, since shortly after the girl was reported missing on Oct. 9.

A family member interviewed by CNN's Nancy Grace described talking with Elisa Baker in jail.

"As we talked with her, she cried over missing Zahra and how her husband has left her to take all the blame for what has happened when he played a big part in this terrible situation," the cousin said in the interview. The cousin spoke on condition of anonymity because of death threats the family has received.

The owner of a crime memorabilia website is selling two letters he claims he received from Elisa Baker saying her stepdaughter, Zahra, is dead, and that her husband did something "horrifying" to the girl after her death.

"We didn't really kill her but what he did after the fact is kinda horrifying," says one of the letters Eric Gein claims he got from Elisa Baker, who is in jail. "Makes me scared of him."

In Monday's motion, they say she has been instrumental in the investigation into the death of the girl who moved to the United States from Australia in 2009, after her father Adam married Elisa Baker.

Zahra Baker, who was hearing-impaired and walked with the help of a prosthesis after losing her left leg to cancer, was reported missing by her father in a call to police.

On Friday, after more than a month of investigating, police said they had credible evidence that Zahra was dead, and had unearthed remains of a child they believe was Zahra.

Both Adam and Elisa Baker have denied any wrongdoing in the case. Elisa Baker was arrested on Oct. 10 on unrelated charges, then charged with obstruction of justice on Oct. 12 after investigators say she admitted writing a bogus ransom note.

According to Monday's motion to reduce bond, Elisa Baker told her attorneys on Oct. 22 that she had information about the disappearance and death of Zahra Baker.

Elisa Baker's defense attorneys notified police the next morning, indicating that Baker was willing to cooperate with investigators. But, they said, investigators had to move fast because weather could destroy evidence, according to the document.

Investigators were told that Zahra Baker was deceased, that her body had been dismembered and that body parts would be discovered at different sites. The defense team suggested that Baker needed to be present because of the remote locations of the sites.

Baker went out with law enforcement agents to three sites on Oct. 25, according to the court document. At each site, she described what would be found there and told officers where to look.

At one point, she was photographed by television news cameras inside a red SUV being driven by law enforcement agents.

The document says officers recovered the gel liner of the prosthetic leg near Christie Road in Hudson because of Baker. The site is near where Elisa Baker used to live.

Investigators also found evidence at two other sites because of Baker, the document says: a bone later identified as Zahra Baker's at the Christie Road site and remains believed to be those of Zahra Baker at another Caldwell County location along Dudley Shoals Road.

The document says Baker also directed investigators to other sites where possible evidence was located, including the dumpster where Zahra's mattress was discarded and undisclosed items found at the family's home.

Baker has continued to cooperate with authorities, the motion says. She was still in Catawba County jail Monday night. It was unclear Monday evening when a judge is expected to rule on the motion.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/nc-girls-birthday-comes-742145.html
NC girl's birthday comes amid grim revelations
November 16, 2010

HICKORY, N.C. — Zahra Baker, the little girl from Australia with the resilience to smile through painful treatment for bone cancer, would have been 11 years old Tuesday.

nstead, the day will be marked with candlelight vigils in North Carolina as court documents revealed she was dismembered and police needed her stepmother's help to find the remains because they were in such remote locations.

Attorneys for the stepmother, Elisa Baker, argued the woman's bond should be lessened because she helped police. Elisa Baker has been in custody since the day after Zahra was reported missing, and she is accused of trying to throw off investigators by writing a fake ransom note for another child.

Zahra's father was also arrested on a host of charges unrelated to the girl's disappearance, but is free on bail. Calls to his lawyer were not returned.

No one has been charged in Zahra's death, but police have cast doubt on her parents' claims they last saw her alive Oct. 9.

Zahra's remains and the prosthetic leg she needed after an amputation because of her cancer were found at remote sites around Hickory, a town of about 41,000 about 50 miles northwest of Charlotte, the documents said.

As police continued their investigation, a mountain of remembrances accumulated at the Bakers' now-abandoned home, with pictures, birthday cards and angels hanging from a tree outside the home in Hickory.

Spending her lunch break to pay respects at the growing pile of toys and flowers left in Zahra's memory, retail grocery worker Cathie Price cried as she talked about how the community is dealing with the girl's death.

"Most little kids, they're afraid of having monsters under the bed or in the closet," Price said. "This poor little child, she was living with monsters right out there in the open."

Elisa Baker told police on Oct. 24 that Zahra "was deceased, that her body had been dismembered and that it would be recovered at different sites," according to the documents. She was allowed to accompany police the following two days to sites within about 15 miles of Hickory.

The court papers were reported by Charlotte-area TV stations and posted on the website of WCNC-TV.

Zahra's parents told authorities she was last seen in her bed at their home in Hickory. Soon after she was reported missing, police had trouble finding anyone other than Zahra's parents who had seen her alive in the weeks before her disappearance. A suspicious early morning fire occurred at the family's home several hours before she was reported missing.

It was then that police discovered a ransom note addressed to Adam Baker's boss on the windshield of Baker's car. Police went to that man's house, and found him and his daughter to be fine. Elisa Baker admitted writing the note and faces an obstruction of justice charge, police said.

Adam Baker, 33, is facing one count each of assault with a deadly weapon and failure to return rental property, two counts of communicating threats and five counts of writing worthless checks, authorities said.

Zahra's biological mother had traveled from Australia to Hickory last week. Emily Dietrich, from Wagga Wagga in New South Wales province, told the Australia-based Seven Network Sunday she hopes to be able to return her daughter's remains to her native country.

Some 100 miles northeast of Hickory, Kristie Pope was organizing a vigil in Greensboro. Mourners will gather at a local Ben & Jerry's, which is making a special birthday cake for Zahra.

"She could be my kid, with the freckles and the hair," said Pope, a mother of three. "She reminds me a little of what my daughter looked like at that age."

___

 

[Nana29]

http://www.smh.com.au/national/tragic-zahra-had-so-few-birthdays-a-town-remembers-the-one-after-her-young-life-was-cut-short-20101116-17vdq.html
Tragic Zahra had so few birthdays: a town remembers the one after her young life was cut short
November 16, 2010

Zahra ... she should have been celebrating her 11th birthday.

It will have all the trappings of an ordinary birthday party - a Freddo Frog cake, a sausage sizzle and pink and purple balloons.

But there'll be no birthday girl when residents of a small Queensland town gather to reflect on Zahra Baker's short life.


The young cancer survivor, who grew up in Giru, south-west of Townsville, should have been celebrating her 11th birthday today.

Instead, investigators in the US state of North Carolina are slowly piecing together the awful circumstances of the girl's death.

Court papers filed in the US, by lawyers representing Zahra's US stepmother Elisa Baker, say her body was dismembered and her remains scattered at different sites around Hickory, in western North Carolina.

Mrs Baker remains in custody, accused of trying to throw off investigators with a bogus ransom note. Her father Adam Baker, 33, is facing charges unrelated to the girl's disappearance.

The pair, who reported Zahra missing on October 9, are suspects.

As US investigators continue the hunt for Zahra's remains, residents in Giru will mark her birthday with a memorial.

Family friend Kim Wright, who lives in the town, said she expected hundreds of people to turn out for a candlelight vigil and birthday party in Zahra's honour.

"The community support is phenomenal for this little girl," Ms Wright said. "There's a lot of disbelief at what has happened.

"We'll be having a birthday cake ... a cake iced with Freddo Frogs ... and Zahra's favourite was a sausage sizzle, and her favourite colours were pink and purple."

Giru residents have been asked to wear pink and purple clothes to the vigil at the Giru park from 7.30pm.

Ms Wright said she forged a friendship with the little girl when she battled cancer and lost a leg five years ago.

"As strange as it sounds, I was one of her best friends. She was five and I was 40," she said.

"She was a very special little girl. I'll never meet another one like her.

"We were pretty good mates. She used to have sleepovers at my house and we used to go shopping together. I miss her terribly."

She said the town had decided to mark Zahra's birthday before news broke that one of her bones had been found.

"I was always of the belief that until they actually found Zahra I wouldn't believe she was gone," Ms Wright said.

"All they had found at that stage was a prosthetic leg and some hearing aids. She never needed them to live, I saw that kid tear around; she could hop faster than I could run. She wasn't deaf, she had limited hearing but could still hear."

Ms Wright said she last saw her young friend in December two years ago and that none of Zahra's family members lived in Giru any more.

Zahra's story has made headlines worldwide.

Rejected at birth by her mother, she battled bone cancer as a toddler, had a leg amputated aged five, lost her hearing during chemotherapy and at eight was uprooted from her home in Queensland to North Carolina so her father could be with a woman he met on the internet.
*****************
(Bolded by me)
I'm not certain if the term "rejected" used in this article from the UK is representative of the event.  It just got my attention when I was posting the article...

I believe rejected is the furthest thing from the truth I have seen. More like stolen from! I am changing my avi for Zahra today.

[theboyzmom]

Sorry for the quality - took this pic of the tv moments ago while watching NG.

Just what would you use a wrench for.

I am reading to catch up here so if someone has answered/guessed this already forgive me.  My guess is that they used it to break bones - I often see people mis use a wrench as a hammer. But who knows with these animals.

[theboyzmom]

Well, I guess I should always read to the end. It makes sense that these were the tools used in the home search.  Guess I need to start taping NG so I can watch it in the morning. Too tired to stay up and watch it last night.

[cw618]

Well, I guess I should always read to the end. It makes sense that these were the tools used in the home search.  Guess I need to start taping NG so I can watch it in the morning. Too tired to stay up and watch it last night.

How difficult is it, Dr. Perper, even a child`s body, to dismember a child`s body?

DR. JOSHUA PERPER, MEDICAL EXAMINER, AUTHOR OF "WHEN DOCTORS KILL": Well, it`s difficult, especially for people who don`t have any kind of anatomic knowledge, so they don`t know how to cut an area of joints, and therefore, this horrible task is much more difficult and it can take a considerable amount of time.

You`re absolutely right

i think the DR is wrong, AB and EB were trying to cover up a murder, not perform
a surgical operation, and this is prob the tool they used, a reciprocating saw
some vids here show how well they work on metal and wood, i took out a 9ft section
of wall with one in less than an hr1/2

vids
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyJYnQTtkRM&feature=channel

[SunnyinTX]

Red - o/t

Jaw bone washed ashore in Aruba  http://scaredmonkeys.net/index.php?topic=8719.msg1262018#msg1262018

HOLY MOLEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Well, it will be someone who committed suicide for certain

[cw618]

sorry not sure how i got this quote in my post above, it was a mistake
http://scaredmonkeys.net/index.php?topic=8939.msg1262390#msg1262390

thank you monkeys that are going to the vigil for zahra,
 

[SunnyinTX]

The dismemberment and disposal of Zahra is equivalent to kc's 31 days. You cannot explain it away.

yep.....and it frightening to think they might get away with this.

[SunnyinTX]

Didn't they say they hoped to get the DNA results back from the remains found on Dudley Shoals near the creek on Tuesday (tomorrow)? 

I'm thinking that's when Adam will be arrested.

I hope so.....what a wonderful birthday gift for Zahra!!

[SunnyinTX]

Hi.
I'm new here, I live in Hickory, I've been reading here for about 2 weeks now. Found you on google
I drive down 127 by the baker house everyday. It's beyond sad.

I dont know if anyone has posted about Lisa Dubs yet, but these are the kind of people she defends...

http://greenetrial.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2007-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-05%3A00&updated-max=2008-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-05%3A00&max-results=22

http://www.columbiamagazine.com/index.php?sid=20502


I dont know how the woman sleeps at night. I really dont.

I hope soon that adam is charged and put in jail.


I also dont understand why her attorneys are going to go find some evidence instead of immediately going to the HPD and telling them what elisa said. Seems like that could cause some issues w/ evidence trail in court?

This has been such an awful thing in the community. I am at a total loss over thinking something like this happened here. That there is such evil walking among us. A very scary thought.

Hi and welcome.....scoochie over,  cause the limb you are on is gonna get real crowded.