Police believe 10-year-old Zahra Clare Baker is dead. The Amber Alert has been cancelled and investigators are now treating the case as a murder investigation, said Hickory Police Chief Tom Adkins during an emotional press conference Tuesday morning.
“Hickory investigators and other agencies interviewed Elisa (Zahra’s step-mother) at the Catawba County Detention facility. She admitted to writing a ransom note,” Adkins said referring to the note found on the Bakers’ car demanding $1 million dollars. “Then she requested a lawyer.”
Police took out an arrest warrant on Elisa Baker, for obstruction of justice following her admission Tuesday morning.
Adkins spent the remainder of the press briefing pleading for help from the public in finding Zahra’s remains.
“We can’t confirm that anyone’s seen her in the last month and we need the public to come forward,” he said as he fought back tears. “We need the public to come forward to help us with this case.”
Adkins said investigators have been told that an inspector of some type was scheduled to visit the Baker home, but declined to specify what kind of inspector it was or when the inspection was to have taken place. He then asked anyone with information about the inspection to contact the police.
Adkins said he understands the public’s desire to form search parties to search for Zahra, but said it’s been impossible thus far to pinpoint when and where she was last seen. Until investigators have that information, they won’t know where to direct volunteers from the public in their search.
Adkins concluded the briefing by saying that since it is no longer considered a missing persons case, new information about the murder investigation will be limited. He then refused to answer questions and left the conference room.
Relative speaks out
Brittany Bentley, who is married to Elisa Baker's nephew, said she would have Zahra over for weekends and the girl would get mad when it was time to return home.
"I just think this was something for a long time that we knew was going to happen, everybody that was close to the family," Bentley said on CBS' "Early Show" on Tuesday.
Zahra "was locked in her room, allowed five minutes out a day to eat, that was it," Bentley said. "She was beat almost every time I was over there for just the smallest things. Elisa would get mad, she would take it out on Zahra, things the kid didn't deserve. She just had a horrible home life."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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