Zahra Baker Search and Recovery Effort and Input

[wenwe4]

Were they (AB & EB) spotted near the mailboxes?

 

[kwmred]

I am pretty sure LE checked out the vicinity immediately within the MHP the night they were there. As to the ravine, and hollers in the surrounding area of MHP I don't know if they did a thourough search there.

It does still bother me that EB abd AB were witnessed there one night some time after they had moved. Seems hinky to me.

BBM

This has bothered me too, but then I wonder if they went there on purpose to be seen? However, the people at the MHP said that a terrible odor was noticed after they left.

 

[Mountain_Kat]

Were they (AB & EB) spotted near the mailboxes?

According to what I read (and I'm only working from memory here, don't recall where I read this, so can't verify. Might have been MSM, might not have been), they were spotted by neighbors at a former address just hanging around by the mailboxes. Was that in reference to these particular mailboxes? I don't know. But it wasn't just 1 mailbox they were reportedly standing around at...it was a group of mailboxes. So Phillips Lane fits, imo. Perhaps they still had a key and were waiting for mail to come? I don't know. But the neighbors seemed to find their presence there very strange.

If I can track down more info on the mailbox story, I'll certainly post it.

 

[wenwe4]

If I could - I would drive by to first establish which trailer is abandoned (are there more than one?) Could the B's old trailer be the abandoned one? (egads, don't tell me more black latex paint over bathroom tile again - ugh). to see if the Holler address on Phillip is occupied - maybe even ask someone if they happen to be standing outside if LE has searched this area.
Second, to establish GPS coordinates,
third: to figure out what might constitute a "holler" (hollar?) "hollow" within the local NC vernacular.
Four: to establish if this really was the hill referenced that Zahra may have been made to run up and down.
Fifth: try to establish how close the railroad comes to the homes right there. (is this even used much?) Just to get a lay of the land.

 

[wenwe4]

bringing over from the news thread

Investigators looking into Elisa Baker's finances

Baker’s cousin wouldn’t discuss any of the specifics of her conversations with Elisa.

"Sorry, but what our conversations are about have to be private. She's very upset."

Investigators issued a subpoena for Elisa Baker's financial records. The subpoena was issued to a bank branch located in a Wal-Mart in Granite Falls.

The subpoena says she may have used as many as eight different aliases and also requested any financial transactions made by Baker's daughter from a previous marriage, Amber Fairchild

(video @ link)

http://www.wcnc.com/news/local/Cousi...106915208.html

 

[sarx]

IIRC they went back and determined that the smell coming from the manhole were of the "sewer gas" variety. Does anyone else remember that? I think they ruled that area out, but will have to dig around to find the articles.

 

[Celt1997]

bringing over from the news thread

Investigators looking into Elisa Baker's finances

Baker’s cousin wouldn’t discuss any of the specifics of her conversations with Elisa.

"Sorry, but what our conversations are about have to be private. She's very upset."

Investigators issued a subpoena for Elisa Baker's financial records. The subpoena was issued to a bank branch located in a Wal-Mart in Granite Falls.

The subpoena says she may have used as many as eight different aliases and also requested any financial transactions made by Baker's daughter from a previous marriage, Amber Fairchild

(video @ link)

http://www.wcnc.com/news/local/Cousi...106915208.html

I have a feeling AF may be one of her aliases. Would not be surprised if she was making transactions using her daughter's name. JMO.

 

[free2ride]

I just returned from visiting the Philips Lane address. It's about 15 minutes from my home and my brother lives less than a mile from where EB & AB lived in the trailer park with Zahra.

Anyway I took pics, talked to the current residents of 4010 Philips Lane and saw exactly where the sewer caps (manhole covers) were. Also took pics of the wooded area and the ravine.

I'm cooking supper but will post my pics and detailed information about the area.

Be back in a bit.

(didn't mean to torment anyone....well, maybe I did a bit. :blushing

 

[Mountain_Kat]

I just returned from visiting the Philips Lane address. It's about 15 minutes from my home and my brother lives less than a mile from where EB & AB lived in the trailer park with Zahra.

Anyway I took pics, talked to the current residents of 4010 Philips Lane and saw exactly where the sewer caps (manhole covers) were. Also took pics of the wooded area and the ravine.

I'm cooking supper but will post my pics and detailed information about the area.

Be back in a bit.

(didn't mean to torment anyone....well, maybe I did a bit. :blushing

Thank you so much for doing this, Free2ride! I've felt like a horse going nuts trying to break free of the stall all day. Can't wait to see the pics and hear what you found out!

 

[tlcya]

Were they (AB & EB) spotted near the mailboxes?

snipped from global article

The place she talked about is hidden in a valley area behind a vacant trailer. It is in the same area where the couple was spotted.

per MSM source http://www.wbtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=13297637

 

[lilysgramma]

In this interview (about 1:20) posted on October 16 the Trailer Park neighbours talk about seeing the Bakers. I think the last woman says it was "up in the knot" but she is difficult to understand.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRR1-_mW7c0&feature=player_embedded[/ame]

There doesn't seem to be any mention of mailboxes or exactly when they were there.

 

[Paulette]

"They need to come back and do some more," said Tabitha Haas.

Haas said Adam and Elisa Baker were spotted in the neighborhood about three weeks ago.

"They came here at night," Haas said.

Peggy Johnson claims a few days later, "the most awful smell was coming up out of the manhole in my yard."

She said authorities lifted the lid and looked inside, but only for a few seconds.

"They's another manhole in the holler that they need to come back and look at," Johnson said.

The place she talked about is hidden in a valley area behind a vacant trailer. It is in the same area where the couple was spotted.

http://www.wbtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=13297637

My mistake MK, I coulda swore I saw it reported as under a trailer but this report describes the holler behind the trailer so there ya go.

Does anyone have an address for this trailer park.

 

[Mountain_Kat]

In this interview (about 1:20) posted on October 16 the Trailer Park neighbours talk about seeing the Bakers. I think the last woman says it was "up in the knot" but she is difficult to understand.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRR1-_mW7c0&feature=player_embedded

There doesn't seem to be any mention of mailboxes or exactly when they were there.

LOL! I think I may be able to illuminate this "up in the knot" confusion. I live in TN, but I'm originally from Va. Accent is VERY thick here. I once asked directions and was told, "Up past the stop lot." Took me forever to figure out what I was being told. It was "stop light". So "up in the knot" in this case, could very well be, "Up in the night."

Just a guess mind you.

ETA: Hubby and I both listened a second time. She's definitely saying it was "up in the night". Translation: we saw them and it was at night.

 

[tlcya]

IIRC they went back and determined that the smell coming from the manhole were of the "sewer gas" variety. Does anyone else remember that? I think they ruled that area out, but will have to dig around to find the articles.

I recall that the irritated neighbor was unhappy because according to her "all they did was lift up this manhole real quick and say it was sewer gas - they need to come back and check that one over in the holler behind that trailer" <---me paraphrasing

I linked a MSM source a few posts above. The neighbor gave the impression that LE wasn't taking her tip very seriously.

IIRC they searched that MHP breifly during the time the landfill search was also going on. I do not know how extensively they searched or if it was just the MHP or the wooded area (the one with rr tracks and train trestle looking thing) behind the MHP also. I do recall that they were there only an hour or two according to the neighbors that is.

 

[sarx]

I have a feeling that we are getting very distracted here with the trailer park thing. I am almost certain that they did go back and search it again and it turned up nothing.

Either way though, we have a couple of pages on here now about the area, so unless there is somewhere else SPECIFIC in that vicinity that someone thinks merits being searched let's move on, k?

There are ALOT of areas out there that haven't been scoped at all!

 

[tlcya]

I am still stuck on Deal Mill. Where it meets up with the unnamed road that leads to the large body of water to the left (someone told me its granite falls)

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=U....868517,-81.429913&spn=0.003756,0.006856&z=17

and the area just up the road on Deal Mill where it intersects with Rebel Run Trail(rd).

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=U...d=112390063732967093238.000494948eb830be3fccb

Hoping a local can tell me if Rebel Run is very accessible by car or if you would need a truck or ATV to really get back into those trails back in there.

 

[tlcya]

here is what a round trip from 21st to Burns (Dudley Shoals intersects) to Deal Mill to Christy and back home would look to the Baker's.

Drive time, less than an hour and lots of areas along the way where Zahra could have been disposed of.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=U...802,-81.387405&spn=0.240548,0.438766&t=h&z=11

 

[Mountain_Kat]

IIRC they went back and determined that the smell coming from the manhole were of the "sewer gas" variety. Does anyone else remember that? I think they ruled that area out, but will have to dig around to find the articles.

I'm prepared to move on...but before I do, I'd like to hear what Free2ride has to say about his/her visit to this area. Does that work for you?

 

[sarx]

I'm prepared to move on...but before I do, I'd like to hear what Free2ride has to say about his/her visit to this area. Does that work for you?

sure thing.

 

[free2ride]

I'm prepared to move on...but before I do, I'd like to hear what Free2ride has to say about his/her visit to this area. Does that work for you?

Ok - sorry it took me so long. Hubby to feed and kids to send to bed. :angel:

My daughter talked to the landlord of EB & AB 2 weeks ago regarding renting a mobile home from him. When she saw the picture of house where Zahra's lived on a news station she realized it was near the home she inquired about. So today we rode back over there to look at it closer.

We looked at the empty home and took pics of it first. At this house you will see a 2nd manhole cover, woods, ravine and a row of mailboxes. And Z's house at the top of a hill. The hill she was forced to walk? Not sure because there are two steep hills in this area.

This is what the manhole covers look like.

In this photo you see Z's house, the hill and the 1st manhole cover. It is almost directly in front of the house.

In this photo you can see the 2nd manhole cover in relationship to the mailboxes. Z's house is at the top of the photo to the left (unseen). But if you look across the road from the mailboxes you will see another ravine / wooded area.

This is the second steep hill and it would actually be harder to climb than the one in front of Z's house. At the top of this hill is where Z would have been picked up & let off by the school bus.

The last picture shows the empty house we were looking at. It is located at the bottom of the hill from Z's house. To the left of this house is (of course) another home. And this is a metal, round object in the ground. Since it was in someone else's yard I didn't get a close look at it. But I expect it is the "well" that everyone is thinking they see on the maps. However I don't believe it is a well because this mobile home park has township water. I know that for a fact because I used to work at the township in the water department. And they would not have an abandoned well in this area (I'm fairly certain of that). If it were an older house then maybe but the subdivision rules are pretty strict on the water being supplied by the township when the homes were put in.

I've also attached a link to Google Maps where I have marked some of these particular items so you can see them in relationship of the area in full.

Now about what happened while I was there. We were walking and driving around taking pictures so of course we attracted attention. And we did have a reasonably honest excuse.

It wasn't long before children came by to talk to us. We told them why we were there but didn't mention Zahra. Those kids have been questioned enough and we really didn't have a right to talk to them.

We did however ride up by Zahra's house and a couple stepped out on the porch. I decided to stop and talk with them. I asked them if they lived there and if there were any empty homes available. They told us of three. They asked if we were reporters and I assured them we were not. They talked about the park in reference to bringing children there to live and they said it was a nice quiet place. The kids were well behaved. We did not ask them about Zahra. The neighbors were outside, they were protective over their privacy and I expect that even before the media hit full force they were constantly looking out for each other's backs.

Let me know if I can help out any more.

Google Map