She claimed that Zahra wasn't feeling well that day, the court heard. Whisnant said Elisa Baker told police that her husband asked her the next morning to help him dispose of the remains. Whisnant said police 'found several inconsistencies' in Elisa Baker's story. He said cell phone records showed that between 2 and 4 p. At that time, Whisnant said, cell phone records showed Adam Baker was nowhere near his wife.
Search site: Parts of Zahra's body have been found scattered across North Carolina, where she lived before her murder. Despite numerous signs that all was far from well, Zahra was failed by her parents, school and social services. Witnesses told police of three instances in which Elisa Baker apparently abused Zahra, sometimes after the disabled girl accidentally urinated on herself, Whisnant said. Teachers at Hudson Elementary, the Caldwell County school that the girl briefly attended, were so concerned that they kept a box of records documenting apparent abuse, he said.
The school were told that she would not be returning for the fifth grade but would be home schooled instead. Social services visited the family four times in but their involvement ended August 6.
FBI special agent Heath McBride said a special high-intensity light uncovered 18 pinhole-size specks of blood on the wall beside Zahra's bed, uncovered after blood was found on a pair of child's pants in a hall closet.
The evidence showed Zahra's death was 'inconsistent with a death by natural causes,' McBride testified. July Elisa visits Adam, who she has met online, in Australia and marries him in his parents' backyard Late The family of three move to Hickory, North Carolina January 29 First of four visits by social services over final months of Zahra's life August 6 Social services close case finding no evidence of abuse School is told Zahra will be home schooled this year Sept 24 Zahra dies at home by 'undetermined homicidal violence'.
Her body is dismembered Sept 25 Elisa disposes of the child's remains at different locations October 9 Adam calls police to report his daughter's disappearance, saying she's 'broody' and entering puberty He also claims to have found a ransom note October 10 Adam goes on Good Morning America and admits his wife could be involved in Zahra's disappearance.
Police find positive dog alerts for human remains in both parents' cars October 12 Police announce that disappearance is now a homicide investigation Elisa Baker is charged with with felony obstruction of justice, having admitted to faking the ransom note October 24 Elisa tells police Zahra was dead and her body parts scattered at different sites' October 25 Elisa shows investigators sites October 26 Mattress is found November 30 Remains are found February 21 Elisa is officially indicted for murder September 15 Elisa pleads guilty to second degree murder and is sentenced to years prison.
In an unrelated charge Baker also pleaded guilty to bigamy, having married Zahra's father before divorcing her previous husband.
Baker has been married seven times, to up to three different men at the same time. Fairchild said her mother was 'a potentially violent and unstable woman'. The original indictment in Catawba County, Charlotte, said Baker had a history of physical, verbal and psychological abuse of the freckle-faced child.
They said Zahra often had bruises on her body, but her stepmother explained them away as her falling over because of her prosthetic leg. Investigations have no 'credible evidence' to suggest that anyone other than Elisa Baker was involved in Zahra's death, District Attorney Jay Gaither said in February.
Police said that, at first, they found it hard to believe that Adam didn't realise his daughter was missing. But after 80 hours of interviews with Adam, combined with the absence of physical evidence, they determined he had no involvement. Emily Dietrich, Zahra's birth mother, who is from Australia had not seen her daughter since she was 8 months old. She had given Zahra to her father after suffering from post-natal depression.
Ms Deitrich said she tried to track down her daughter and Adam over the years to no avail and only knew they were living in America a few days before her child was reported missing. She handed over custody to her daughter but later decided she wanted to be in the girl's life and spent years trying to track the pair.
She said she discovered Zahra was living in the U. She said she was 'still hurt, still crushed' after learning of her daughter's death. Ms Dietrich said earlier this year: 'It didn't make a difference trying to prepare myself. It didn't make a difference to anybody.
Grim landscape: Map showing sites searched by police in case of the disappearance of year-old Zahra Baker. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.
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Chrome Safari Continue. Be the first to know. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. The couple had met on the internet. Elisa Baker is in jail on felony charges after police say she admitted writing a phony ransom note.
Adam Baker has surrendered his passport to authorities, though they haven't named him a person of interest. The search for Zahra became international news.
At first, reporters couldn't find Dietrich in Australia. But she surfaced recently in broadcast interviews on Australian TV. At the Hickory Police Department, Dietrich met with investigators and received news that left her shaking. She later told the TV crew that investigators didn't tell her specifics about their discoveries, but that she knew it was bad news.
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