NC - Zahra Clare Baker, 10, Hickory, 9 Oct 2010 - #2

[tickytackywhit]

I don't actually know the step mother personally. I swear I have seen her face before but that is not uncommon in a small town especially when I work in customer service.
As far as I know she doesn't have a facebook but I haven't extensively searched for it either.
I am friends with the daughter and the son on facebook. Other than facebook I haven't talked to the son, Doug since high school and the girl I have never met though she is friends with people who I know. She has been organizing volunteer search efforts and there is another one this morning at 9am. She stated on her facebook that she hadn't seen the whole family together in over 6 months and that she knows her mom had "lots of drug friends" I think when a child is admitting that her mother had drug problems is is very probable that she did.

And just a disclaimer for those of you reading the Hickory Daily Record articles. This newspaper is one of the WORST, most underfunded newspapers. It is very unreliable for cutting edge information.

 

[Patty G]

Do we have any info on how Adam, his wife and daughter came to the USA? Did they have a job here, or file for residency here full time or part time? Do any of them have family in the USA?

 

[Cher352]

Originally Posted by believe09
here is a link to another story just put up minutes ago:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101012/...north_carolina

These family members are not doing themselves ANY favors.

:banghead::banghead::banghead::sick::furious::furious:

"Brittany Bentley says Zahra Clare Baker was only allowed out of her room for about five minutes each day to eat."

Heartbreaking! Why wasn't something done before it was too late???

 

[darnudes]

darnudes, thank you for taking the time to post from the beautiful land of Australia. Keeping us sleuthers informed regarding Zahra's cancer, treatment, and family, helps us understand what a brave survivor this beautiful little girl is. It's sort of like having caring, informed locals all over the world. Thanks again for all that you do for us. :blowkiss: moo

Aww, thank you so much. This has really torn at my heart - seriously, I'm sitting here raging after hearing the reports from neighbours and friends saying how evil Elesa was to Zahra.

I just read something on facebook, one of Elesa's friends who calls her LISA btw is saying she is not so innocent. So the friends must know something.

 

[mysticrose]

I know it is early, this is so sad ..........

SNIPPED>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


Her stepmother, Elisa Baker, says she last saw the girl around 2:30 a.m. Saturday. She is now in jail on unrelated charges of communicating threats and passing worthless checks.

Monday, Hickory Police Chief Tom Adkins said she is not cooperating with the investigation into Zahra's disappearance

....................................................................................................

A search warrant released earlier in the day revealed that cadaver dogs had positive hits for the presence of human remains in two vehicles now seized from the Baker’s house.

The warrant also mentioned blood.

Charles Rotenberry, a friend of the family, called police after finding a glove in the bushes near the Baker’s backyard.
“It had a bad smell to it and there was just red goo all in it,” he says

http://www.wcnc.com/news/local/Friend-I-knew-this-was-going-to-happen-someday-104747464.html

 

[darnudes]

"Brittany Bentley says Zahra Clare Baker was only allowed out of her room for about five minutes each day to eat."

Heartbreaking! Why wasn't something done before it was too late???

That link is dead now any others...TIA

 

[darlin gal]

Kim Drum, Brittany's mother, said on "The Early Show" she had suspected Zahra's stepmother from the beginning.

She said, "I knew it from the moment my father had called and told me -- this is Elisa."

As for the evidence police say they found at the home, Smith pointed out they found Zahra's hearing aids, but have not said anything about her prosthetic leg. Is that unusual?

Drum said, "That's -- that's what's completely made it unusual to me. Zahra, when she spent the night with us -- and she stayed with us a lot -- an hour before she would go to bed, she would put her pajamas on and always take her leg off. It was just -- it was a routine for her. She never, ever went to bed with her leg on."

Rodriguez remarked, "I can't imagine what it must have been like for a child to endure, if she did endure what you say she went through, plus have this bone cancer that has robbed her of her hearing and a leg. How did she handle her disabilities, Brittany? Was she kind of a miserable child or was she a happy child, in spite of this?"

Bentley said, "Oh, no, she was a happy child. … She was an amazing child. She was never angry, depressed. Always happy. Always loving. So I didn't understand. Only time I ever saw any anger in her is when she would come stay with us on the weekends. When it was time for her to leave, she would just get mad. 'I hate you, I hate you.' I explained to her mother, I understand why, because she didn't want to go home. Because her home life was miserable." '

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/10/12/earlyshow/main6949915.shtml


Brittany Bentley, who is married to the nephew of Elisa Baker, Zahra's stepmother, said she believes Elisa played a role in Zahra's disappearance.

"Elisa had something to do with it. I just think this is something for a long time that we knew was going to happen -- everybody that was close to the family."

Bentley said she thinks this could be the case based on the miserable home environment in which she lived.

She said, "She was locked in her room, allowed five minutes to eat, that was it. She was beat almost every time I was over there for just -- just the smallest things. Lisa would get mad and take it out on Zahra - things the kid didn't deserve. She just had a horrible home life. One time I remember she had a black eye and she said it was from the door. But we all knew, suspected it was from Elisa."

"Early Show" co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez said, "Wow. She was locked in her room all day? She was beaten? Did anyone -- did her father, for example, try to stop this or did anyone report this to authorities?"

Bentley responded, "That's the crazy thing. I never saw Adam spank her, punish her, do anything. But he would sit there and watch Elisa do it to his child. He would just sit there and not say anything. Yes, her daughter actually reported to DSS (North Carolina Division of Social Services), and they came. I don't know how much was done. But yes, it was reported."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/10/12/earlyshow/main6949915.shtml

 

[mysticrose]

That link is dead now any others...TIA

This is not the same link , but has the same info as posted...

http://www.wcnc.com/news/local/Friend-I-knew-this-was-going-to-happen-someday-104747464.html

 

[Cher352]

That link is dead now any others...TIA

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101012/ap_on_re_us/us_missing_girl_north_carolina

 

[darnudes]

Do we have any info on how Adam, his wife and daughter came to the USA? Did they have a job here, or file for residency here full time or part time? Do any of them have family in the USA?

Adam and Zahra are Australian, Elesa is from the US. Adam met Elesa(Lisa) online at IMVU, which is basically an avatar Chat in 3D on the net. The avatar's they used to chat as are posted on Elesa's myspace.

Adam and Elesa met sometime in 2007. Elesa went to Australia in Jun/Jul 2008 where they married and they all returned to the US in Nov 2008 or thereabouts.

As far as I can tell some of Adam's family reside in in New South Wales in various cities. Zahra's biological mother still lives in Australia. It doesn't seem like they had any family or friends in the US other than the people Elesa knew.

Don't know about anything about the residency aspect.

 

[tk71texas]

Bentley responded, "That's the crazy thing. I never saw Adam spank her, punish her, do anything. But he would sit there and watch Elisa do it to his child. He would just sit there and not say anything. Yes, her daughter actually reported to DSS (North Carolina Division of Social Services), and they came. I don't know how much was done. But yes, it was reported."

bbm

"thud"

 

[mysticrose]

I am po'ed that this abuse was going on, how could dad not see it, unless it was only occuring when he was at work, or he allowed it .........

I am still trying to give Dad the benefit of the doubt here as far as being involved in the actual disappearence.

He should be held responsible if he knew what SM was doing to his daughter, this is just horrible, but I do not believe he knew his daughter was missing from the home, I just don't.............moo

 

[lucimhome]

I really was getting mad @ hearing "We knew something like this would happen" I'm feeling better that they reported her to DSS. So my next question, what did they do (DSS)?
I'm praying that Zahra is some place safe.

 

[darlin gal]

I really was getting mad @ hearing "We knew something like this would happen" I'm feeling better that they reported her to DSS. So my next question, what did they do (DSS)?
I'm praying that Zahra is some place safe.

I am betting DSS let Zahra down much like they let Aja Johnson down. They were called multiple times about abuse and did little/nothing.

 

[ella971]

Any pressers today?

 

[eyes4crime]

*snip*
A relative of a missing 10-year-old North Carolina girl says she had a miserable home life and was locked in her room for most of the day.

Brittany Bentley says Zahra Clare Baker was only allowed out of her room for about five minutes each day to eat. Bentley says the girl's stepmother, Elisa Baker, would get mad and take it out on Zahra, whose bone cancer left her with a prosthetic leg and hearing aids. *snip*

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101012/ap_on_re_us/us_missing_girl_north_carolina

Excuse me for saying this again - this step-mom is 'sadistic'. She is a predator of the worst kind, she is a predator of a vulnerable little girl in her care named Zahra. Zahra is a beautiful child who survived bone and lung cancer; survived two bouts of chemotherapy; has sustained hearing loss in both ears; partial amputation of the left leg; fitted for a prosthesis (hopefully many times), hearing aids in both ears, and ....predator step-mom lets Zahra out of her room 5 minutes a day to eat????
....hits Zahra leaving bruises on her face
...makes Zahra walk long distances knowing the prosthesis will cause pain.

It's easy for an adult to take sadistic control of a vulnerable child. Don't you wonder what the heck she was getting out of it? Preying on the vulnerable seems to be step-moms hobby. By the way, where was dad during all this? moo mho

 

[mysticrose]

Looks like they have the DP in North Carolina........fwiw

 

[dragonfly28601]

If,as I fear,Zahra has been missing for a long time,WHY announce that she is missing NOW?? What made it important for LE to know now?

Maybe someone had questioned her whereabouts and they felt the need to stage this.. Or maybe that's a dumb idea because someone would have come forward if they were concerned.

 

[majikposhun]

*snip*
A relative of a missing 10-year-old North Carolina girl says she had a miserable home life and was locked in her room for most of the day.

Brittany Bentley says Zahra Clare Baker was only allowed out of her room for about five minutes each day to eat. Bentley says the girl's stepmother, Elisa Baker, would get mad and take it out on Zahra, whose bone cancer left her with a prosthetic leg and hearing aids. *snip*

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101012/ap_on_re_us/us_missing_girl_north_carolina

Excuse me for saying this again - this step-mom is 'sadistic'. She is a predator of the worst kind, she is a predator of a vulnerable little girl in her care named Zahra. Zahra is a beautiful child who survived bone and lung cancer; survived two bouts of chemotherapy; has sustained hearing loss in both ears; partial amputation of the left leg; fitted for a prosthesis (hopefully many times), hearing aids in both ears, and ....predator step-mom lets Zahra out of her room 5 minutes a day to eat????
....hits Zahra leaving bruises on her face
...makes Zahra walk long distances knowing the prosthesis will cause pain.

It's easy for an adult to take sadistic control of a vulnerable child. Don't you wonder what the heck she was getting out of it? Preying on the vulnerable seems to be step-moms hobby. By the way, where was dad during all this? moo mho

I am so angry I am in tears over this story. We must band together - it takes a village to take care of our children, people must take more responsibility in a community to keep on situations such as this and demand support and interference for these children. I am sick and freaking tired of this. I am compelled to begin working with my local law enforcement on how communites can band together to protect children in KNOW abusive situations.:banghead::steamed::rage:

 

[dragonfly28601]

Our lovely www.hickoryrecord.com hasn't had a story update since 2:10 pm yesterday... ARGH!