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By Tim Logan
After more than four months that the 10-year-old Zahra Baker’s disappearance, her jailed stepmother was charged with murdering the disabled girl. The indictment came on the same day authorities revealed that they were unable to find the dismembered girl’s head.
On Monday, the 42-year-old Elisa Baker was charged with second-degree murder and authorities said she desecrated Zahra’s remains to cover up the gruesome killing. Medical examiners said in documents that Zahra’s death was caused by “undetermined homicidal violence.” Even though authorities couldn’t recover many bones including the skull, an autopsy was performed, months after she was reported missing. Several of her bones revealed cutting tool marks consistent with dismemberment. The revelation of the missing skull came in documents released by the chief medical examiner of the state.
In a news conference, prosecutor James Gaither Jr. said that there was no credible evidence to suggest that anyone else was involved in Zahra’s killing. Hickory Police Chief Tom Adkins called the murder charge “a milestone of holding someone accountable that members of team Zahra have been working toward since the first words spoken on that 911 call.” Adkins said that investigators would continue to pursue leads until the trial begins.
Zahra was reported missing on October, 9 but was last seen weeks earlier. According to documents, police learned months ago that the girl was dismembered after she was dead. The lack of the head may help to explain the absence of an exact cause of death, and the reason it took four months for a charge. Warrants in the case are an indication that at one point, Elisa Baker was providing police information as to what happened to Zahra’s body. The warrants never really revealed how Zahra may have died.
Eventually the police found parts of the Zahra in different places around western North Carolina, as Elisa Baker told authorities that she had been dismembered, warrants reveal. Elisa Baker has been jailed since the weekend Zahra disappeared, charged with obstructing justice in the investigation after she wrote a fake ransom note that was found when the girl was reporting missing.
The second-degree indictment comprises aggravating factors, saying Elisa Baker had a history of physically, verbally and psychologically abusing Zahra. On Monday, two social services agencies said that they investigated reports just months before Zahra was killed that she was being improperly treated. But officials in Caldwell and Catawba Counties said investigators interviewed each family member in those cases but closed each one, concluding there was no evidence of maltreatment or child safety issues. The reports consist of allegations of improper discipline, improper care and an injurious environment.
Elisa Baker claims that her husband, Adam Baker, dismembered the body. Adam Baker has denied the allegation. 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 cell phone records revealed that she was in those places.
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