Zahra Baker Case: Murder Investigation
Zahra Baker
Zahra Baker, 10, was reported missing Saturday by her parents. On Tuesday, the case was declared a murder investigation by the authorities. Apparently, Zahra was not seen by anyone outside her family in weeks. The 10-year-old girl lost her left leg and hearing in her battle with cancer.
Elisa Baker, Zahra’s step-mother is in police custody. She is being held on unrelated charge with the girl’s disappearance. Elisa admitted that she wrote a ransom note of $1 million in connection to the case. After that she was charged with felony obstruction of justice. She is expected to show up in court today.
The authorities looking for the girl searched a wood chipper and mulch piles overnight in a dismal sign of the case’s shift. Baker’s lawyer said that his client has nothing to do with the young girl’s disappearance. “I spoke to her at 3 a.m. this morning. I went to see her at 7 a.m. this morning. She still hadn’t had any sleep,” said the attorney, Scott Riley to ABC News. “She’s very emotional, very upset.”
The police focused on the wood chipper and the debris. Cadaver dogs made positive hits on the equipment on Monday. Apparently, the dogs discovered human remains in the vehicles of the Bakers. Tom Adkins, police chief of Hickory, NC, tried to keep his composure when he announced that he is canceling the Amber Alert for the little girl.
“The decision to focus this investigation from a missing child, or abducted child, will turn into a homicide investigation,” said Adkins between very long pauses.
Apparently, there is a MySpace page run by Elisa Baker. “Gothicfairy6668” has a page covered in gothic images that include a background with skull and crossbones. The page has a slideshow made with personal photos including some with the missing girl. One image’s caption says: “The Dark Child!!!lol”.
The biographical information from the web page is much like Elisa Baker’s. She has the same age, the same husband name Adam and photos of her, her husband and Zahra. The user logged on the last time on October 8. That coincides with the day before Zahra was reported missing by her parents. In the section “Details”, the user wrote “proud parent” and in the section “Mood”, the user wrote “crazy”. Those who saw the web page filled the pages with angry comments against her.
The police issued search warrants for the two cars of the Bakers and also for their homes. They found a ransom note of $1 million in one of the cars. Still, the note was not addressed to Zahra’s parents, but to Mark David Coffey, her father’s boss. “Mr. Coffey, you like being in control who is in control now we have your daughter and your pot smoking red head son is next unless you do what is asked 1,000,000 unmarked will be in touch soon [sic],” read the handwriting on the ransom note, according to the warrant. Also, on the note it was written twice “No cops”.
Coffey owns the property on which the Bakers live and said that he was present on the property the day Zahra was reported missing by her parents. Police are also looking into claims made by a relative and former neighbor that the little girl, Zahra, was physically abused by her step-mother before she disappeared.
