Zahra Baker Update: Missing Girl's Father Released from Prison
NEWTON, N.C. (CBS/AP) As investigators continue to search for clues to what happened to missing 10-year-old Zahra Baker, her father, Adam Baker, was released from jail after posting bond on unrelated charges.
Adam Baker was arrested Monday on charges including assault with a deadly weapon, failure to return rental property, and writing worthless checks.
Baker reported Zahra missing Oct. 9 and her stepmother, Elisa Baker, originally told police that she last saw her sleeping in her bed around 2:30 a.m. that morning, three hours before a brush fire in the backyard of the family home was reported. It was hours after the fire that her father reported Zahra missing.
Police questioned that timeline from the beginning and arrested Elisa Baker on unrelated charges ranging from communicating threats to writing bad checks. A few days later Elisa Baker allegedly admitted to writing a ransom note found at the house in order to throw off investigators.
Hours before Baker's release from Catawba County Jail Wednesday evening, police announced that searchers found a prosthetic leg they think could be the one worn by 10-year-old Zahra, a bone cancer survivor. She was also hearing-impaired from the disease.
Searchers found the prosthetic at a home in Caldwell County, N.C., where Zahra's stepmother once lived, Hickory Police Maj. Clyde Deal said.
Deal said the family lived at several locations in that county and that he wasn't sure how long ago they occupied the house where the leg was found. Authorities on Tuesday took Elisa Baker to a home where she once lived and Deal said she was cooperating after being jailed since the weekend her stepdaughter was reported missing.
Deal also said a mattress found by workers at a Caldwell County landfill would be tested for DNA evidence.
Investigators said Zahra may have been alive when the family moved to a new home in North Carolina in mid-September, but they've had trouble finding anyone else who has seen her in recent weeks.
COMPLETE COVERAGE OF ZAHRA CLARE BAKER ON CRIMESIDER
