Case of Missing Zahra Claire Baker in North Carolina … Police Recover “Valuable Evidence” … Could it be Human Remains? (UPDATE: Police Make Confirmation)

GRUSOME … DID INVESTIGATORS FIND HUMAN REMAIN …

Zahra Claire Baker had been reported missing in Hickory, North Carolina on October 9, 2010. The story of the disappearance sounded fishy from the outset.  Along the way the investigation has run into more bizarre, sick and reprehensible discoveries that has shocked and disgusted a nation. Zahra Backer, a 10 year old, hearing impared girl with a prosthetic leg due to bone cancer was missing and it did not take a professional investigator to point an accusatory finger back to the parents.

After more than a month of searching, grim news has come from investigators as possible human remains might have been found. The police are referring to it as “Valuable Evidence”. The evidence was located after investigators searched a location  reportedly suggested by Zahra’s stepmother, Elisa Baker. The stepmother is presently in jail as she was arrested after Zahra was reported missing on  unrelated charges of communicating threats, writing worthless checks, larceny and driving with a revoked license. She has also been since charged with felony obstruction of justice for writing a fake ransom note.

Investigators said that search teams in Caldwell County found evidence during a search of Gunpowder Creek, about 70 miles outside Charlotte, that “could provide valuable information in the Zahra Baker case.” Officials said the area, which has been searched before, was one of the locations that Elisa Baker suggested search crews look, CBS affiliate WBTV reported.

The evidence has been sent to the State Medical Examiner’s office in Chapel Hill. From there it will be sent to the State Bureau of Investigation’s lab for DNA testing, according to the station.

How does a little girl who survived two bouts with cancer that cost her hearing and leg only to wind up missing, murdered and worse? The system failed Zahra Claire Baker on every count. Who was looking out for Zahra? This case is so sick and twisted, sadly it will probably get worse. This henious case so reminds me of  3 year old, developmentally disabled, autistic boy, Marcus Fiesel, who was first reported missing only to find out he was murdered by his foster parents and burned. That case had the same issue of not passing the smell test as we told the Middletown Journal.

There are Web sites that feature photo albums, message boards, chat rooms and slide and video shows. One of those is www.scaredmonkeys.com, dedicated to exploited and missing children. “Red,” one of the site’s co-founders, said after news of Marcus’ disappearance was linked to his Web site, he received an e-mail from Marcus’ foster mother. She chastised the site for their portrayal.

“As soon as she did that, well, it was like, she’s guilty,” Red said Friday from his office in Maine. “You knew this was going to end bad. The radar just went up. It raises the hair on the back of your neck. When you kill your son, and go public pleading for help, it brings it to a special level of hell.”

He said Marcus’ story has drawn widespread coverage because people are so “disgusted by it.”

From the outset, the case of missing 10 year old Zahra Clare Baker had the same ick factor. There is  also a special place in hell for those that murdered Zahra.

To provide your opiniion and get further updates go to Scared Monkeys.net Missing Persons Forum: Zahra Baker.

UPDATE: POLICE CONFIRM REMAINS FOUND ARE ZAHRA

Police in Hickory, NC have confirmed that every one’s worst and suspected fears have come to fruition. The remains recently recovered were that of missing 10 year old Zahra Baker.

Grim police trying to solve the disappearance of a 10-year-old North Carolina girl confirmed Friday what they’ve long suspected: The freckle-faced child with a prosthetic leg and bone cancer is dead.

But the mystery of how Zahra Baker perished deepened as authorities gave a terse briefing, revealing that one of her bones was found five miles away from other remains they believe belonged to the girl.

“I’ve been dreading this moment from early on in the investigation,” said Hickory Police Chief Tom Adkins, who explained that investigators matched the bone with the child’s DNA. “We have recovered enough physical evidence to think we have found Zahra.”