The 911 calls made by Elisa and Adam Baker the morning that Zahra disappeared were released by Hickory Police on Tuesday.
Elisa Baker called 911 on Saturday, Oct. 9, at about 5:20 a.m. to report a fire in the backyard of the home she shares with her husband, Adam Baker, on 21st Avenue, NW, in Hickory.
In this call, you can hear Elisa report the fire, but there is no mention of 10-year-old Zahra. Adam Baker called 911 several hours later, at about 2 p.m., to report her missing. Baker tells the dispatcher that police found a ransom note the day before targeting his boss's daughter, and that he thinks Zahra has been kidnapped instead.
Also Tuesday, investigators requested Zahra’s Australian and American medical records as they continued to search for the missing girl.
“We’re looking at every angle,” said Hickory Police Chief Tom Adkins.
Hickory officers searched additional properties in Catawba and surrounding counties Tuesday, but they still haven’t found Zahra.
Police still have not found Zahra after intense searching in three counties. What was initially a missing child case has turned into a homicide investigation. Elisa Baker is jailed on obstruction of justice charges in connection with the case.
Grief is mounting in a community shocked by Zahra’s disappearance and frustrated by a search that, thus far, has turned up little.
“My heart is just going out to that little girl and what she’s had to go through. It’s just not fair,” said Regina Miller of the Dudley Shoals community in Caldwell County. “I just can’t imagine how anybody could do this to a little girl.”
Miller drove to Zahra’s house to leave items at a makeshift shrine for the missing 10-year-old girl. She said she didn’t know the girl, but she’s heartbroken by Zahra’s disappearance and wishes there was some way she could help.
She also suspects that Zahra’s father, Adam Baker, knows more than he appears to be telling police.
“I just can’t see how a parent can let that go on,” she said. “If the dad knows, he should tell the police. Why not just end it?”
On Wednesday, Elisa Baker is due in Catawba County Circuit Court for a bond reduction hearing on the obstruction of justice charge, which is based on her admission that she wrote a ransom note found at the Bakers house the day before Zahra was reported missing.
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