http://blogs.discovery.com/criminal_report/2009/06/travis-lee-baker.html
Man Charged in Murder of Missing NC Teen, Travis Lee Baker
June 25, 2009
The two year search for 19-year-old Travis Lee Baker may have ended yesterday with the discovery of human skeletal remains in a Catawba County, North Carolina, field. Additionally, the hunt for the person responsible for Travis's alleged murder could also be over, with the arrest of 46-year-old John Mitchell Jr., a resident of Orange County, Florida, who police say
confessed to a police informant that he committed the crime.
Details are sketchy and authorities remain tight lipped about the case, pending a positive identification of the remains; however a search warrant that was obtained by police earlier this week details some of the most recent events that have occurred.
On June 19, Sgt. Aaron Turk, of the Catawba County Sheriff's Office, received a tip from a confidential police informant, who told him that Mitchell had confessed to killing Travis and that he had buried him on a property on Eulalia Lane in Catawba.
The informant, according to an ID source, was a man police had recently arrested for a high profile burglary. Rather than risk going to jail for an extended period of time, the man allegedly made a deal with police - offering up Travis in exchange for his freedom.
When police spoke with the Eulalia Lane property owner, he allegedly admitted that Mitchell had hid some of Travis's belongings there, including the bumper to his missing candy-apple red 1998 Chevy Camaro. A consensual search of the property was then conducted, during which police identified a location that fit the informant's description of the burial spot.
On June 22, authorities obtained a search warrant for the property, during which they used a cadaver dog to help them locate the clandestine grave that contained the human skeletal remains. In addition to the remains, authorities seized textiles and automotive parts.The skeletal remains have since been sent to the Medical Examiner's Office in Chapel Hill.
On the same day police in North Carolina found the human remains, authorities in Florida picked up John Mitchell Jr. on first degree murder charges. He was booked just after 9 p.m. and placed into a county jail pending his extradition.
A motive in the alleged killing remains unclear. The informant allegedly told police that Travis had gone to Mitchell's house to deliver drugs; however his family balks at that suggestion, claiming Travis was clean and sober.
"If he did do that, it was something he got into just one or two weeks before he went missing," Travis's father, Dwayne Baker, said in an interview with hickoryrecord.com, adding that his son took regular drug tests for his job. "And that shouldn't have any bearing on the fact he's a missing human being."
Regardless of the motive, investigators are hoping to have a positive identification sometime today. At that time they are expected to hold a press conference to update the public on the case.
History
Travis Lee Baker vanished without a trace on the morning of April 14, 2007. According to family members, he had gone to visit a friend in Catawba that morning. At 11:09 a.m., he called his fiancée, Haley, to tell her he was leaving to visit another friend. During their brief conversation, they agreed to have lunch together later that day.
Less than twenty minutes later, Travis sent a text message to Haley that read: "Baby, I will see you in a few minutes." That would prove to be the last time his fiancée would hear from him. Ensuing text messages from Haley were unanswered and calls to Travis's cellphone went straight to voice mail. He never showed up for the lunch date, and later that day, he failed to show up for his job at a major food distribution company. Concerned for their son's safety, Travis's parents notified the Catawba County Sheriff's Office and reported him missing.
Investigators conducted aerial searches the following day in an attempt to locate Travis's Camaro, but they were unable to find any trace of it. As time progressed, fly-over searches encompassed Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, but none resulted in the discovery of Travis or his car.
In addition to local and state authorities, the Kristen Foundation and the CUE Center for Missing Persons both assisted the Baker family by creating awareness of the case, helping raise funds to erect billboards and assisting in local searches. Travis's family also distributed and posted hundreds of flyers and started a MySpace page in the hope that it might result in a tip from someone who is too afraid to contact the police. The case also led Travis's aunt, Tonya Cavender to become an advocate and volunteer searcher in other missing person cases.
Travis's mother, Patricia Baker, has not slept well in over two years. Her nerves make her sick with migraines and nausea, and his father says the fear and anxiety is almost too much to bear. In an August 2007 interview I conducted with Dwayne, he told me that "not knowing is the hardest part." He also said that he wanted the "nightmare" to end.
Related Links:
A Thanksgiving Wish for the Missing
Travis Lee Baker: Teen's Sudden Disappearance Baffles Police
Photo Credits: Perez Hilton: Charley Gallay/WireImage/Getty Images; Black Eyed Peas: George Pimentel/WireImage/Getty Images
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission from Discovery Communications. All quotes must include a link back.
rated 5.0 by 3 people [?]