Stepmother indicted in death of disabled NC girl

[Teh One Who Knocks]

The Associated Press




HICKORY, N.C. – The stepmother of a 10-year-old disabled girl was indicted Monday on charges she killed the freckle-faced child and then desecrated her remains to cover up the slaying, according to court documents.

A grand jury in Catawba County charged Elisa Baker with second-degree murder in the death of Zahra Baker. Authorities planned to discuss the case at a news conference later in the day.

Zahra, who used a prosthetic leg and hearing aids after being stricken with cancer, disappeared four months ago. No one had been charged in her death, though Elisa Baker had been charged with obstructing justice in the investigation. Police eventually found the girl's remains in different locations around western North Carolina. Authorities still have not said how the girl died.

The indictment cites aggravating factors, saying Elisa Baker had a history of physically, verbally and psychologically abusing Zahra. And it says she desecrated Zahra's body to hinder detection and prosecution of the killing.

A search warrant unsealed last month said Elisa Baker led police to the places where they found Zahra's remains. She claimed her husband, Adam Baker, dismembered the body. Adam Baker has denied that.

The warrant also said that cell phone records indicate Adam Baker was not in the locations where Zahra's remains were found on the day Elisa Baker indicated, but that cell phone records showed she was present in those locations.

Attorneys for Elisa Baker did not return calls seeking comment Monday.

Records show the 42-year-old led a somewhat nomadic life, with dozens of different addresses over a seven-year period. She was also married seven times and was wed to more than one man on several occasions. She met Adam Baker, seven years her junior, on a website where users create three-dimensional characters to represent themselves.

Adam Baker is free on bond, facing numerous charges not related to his daughter, who needed a prosthetic leg and two hearing aids because of a battle with cancer. He moved to North Carolina with Zahra from Australia after meeting Elisa online.

[Hal-9000]

at times...I wish we'd revert to old school punishment


remover her leg, render her deaf, then abuse her for 2 years.

then dismember her (while she's still alive to appreciate the irony) and scatter her bits across America....



ffs that's cruel

[Southern Belle]

And because of lack of evidence, she's only been charged with 2nd degree murder.

[Southern Belle]

I don't understand how Zara's father could live with the woman and not know she was sick enough to kill and dismember a child.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

North Carolina Stepmom Pleads Guilty to Second Degree Murder in Death of Disabled Girl
FoxNews.com


A North Carolina woman has been sentenced to up to 18 years in prison for the murder of her disabled 10-year-old stepdaughter, whose dismembered remains were found scattered at multiple sites around the state last year.

Elisa Baker pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in Catawba County Superior Court on Thursday, nearly a year after her stepdaughter, Zahra Baker, was reported missing from her home in the western North Carolina town of Hickory. The 43-year-old woman also pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and to charges unrelated to the child's death.

Parts of Zahra's remains were found in several sites in Catawba and Caldwell counties shortly after her reported disappearance last fall. The case captivated the attention of communities here and in Australia, where the child was originally from. Her father, Adam Baker, had moved to the United States to marry Elisa after the two met online.

Zahra, a bone cancer survivor, had a prosthetic leg and hearing aids. Her death was caused by "undetermined homicidal violence," medical examiners said in documents.

An autopsy was done even though authorities hadn't recovered many bones, most notably the girl's skull, months after she was reported missing. Several bones showed marks made by cutting tools, consistent with dismemberment.

Elisa Baker was arrested and charged with obstruction of justice last year after she allegedly confessed to writing a fake ransom note and leaving it on one of the family's vehicles.

The woman initially told investigators that Zahra died on Sept. 24, two weeks before she was reported missing, and that her husband, Adam Baker, dismembered the girl, according to police.

Adam Baker has not been charged in connection with the death of his daughter.

The case revealed Elisa Baker as a woman with a troubled past, constantly shifting addresses and staying one step ahead of bill collectors and county social service agencies investigating reports of child abuse. The Associated Press found that she has been married seven times, including several overlapping marriages.

Those who knew Elisa described her as an attractive high school student who became manipulative, cunning and insecure, struggling with obesity.

By the time she met Adam, she had largely detached herself from society, immersed in an online world of assumed identities and grandiose stories about her past, according to records and friends.

[KevinD]

Too bad they can't give her the death penalty.

[deebakes]

rest in peace zbakes

[deebakes]

and damn you to hell ebakes