Newton, North Carolina - A stack of search warrants released on Tuesday in the investigation of a 10-year-old disabled Australian girl's death show that her stepmother told police the girl had died more than two weeks before she was reported missing.
Among the other newly-revealed information is that police looked into reports that Zahra Baker's stepmother, father and others talked in an online community about a “chainsaw massacre role-play” days before the girl may have died.
Nobody has been charged in the death of the girl, who had a prosthetic leg and hearing aids after a struggle with bone cancer. While the warrants provide new details about the investigation, they don't reveal how the girl might have died.
Elisa Baker, Zahra's stepmother, is currently in jail on charges of obstructing justice during the investigation. Her husband, Adam Baker, is free on bail after being arrested on charges unrelated to his daughter. Calls to attorneys for both Bakers on Tuesday were not immediately returned.
The warrants shed light on some of the chronology of the disappearance of the little girl, whose story riveted the western North Carolina town of Hickory and her native country late in 2010.
According to two warrants, Elisa Baker told Hickory police in a November 19 interview that Zahra died on September 24, more than two weeks before she was reported missing on October 9. Elisa Baker also told police that Adam Baker dismembered the girl's body and the couple disposed of her remains in several locations on September 25.
Police found the girl's remains through information provided by Elisa Baker, who accompanied them to some of the sites.
But the warrants go on to say that cellphone records from September 24 and 25 show that Adam Baker wasn't in the places where Zahra's remains were dumped. Cell phone records do show, however, that Elisa Baker was in those places at those times.
Elisa Baker's lawyers sought on Tuesday to have her bail of nearly $100 000 (R670 000) lowered, but a Superior Court judge in Newton postponed a hearing on the request until March 7.
Many of the documents unsealed on Tuesday show that police and prosecutors wanted information from Charter Communications and multiple wireless phone companies. They also sought Elisa Baker's medical records from various local hospitals and information from at least seven county social-service agencies about prior investigations into whether Elisa Baker had abused her three biological children.
Police also sought information from the Instant Messaging Virtual Universe website. The social networking and gaming site allows users to create three-dimensional avatars and communicate with each other.
According to a November 8 warrant, police were told that an IMVU user had a conversation with Adam and Elisa Baker “regarding their involvement with chainsaw massacre roleplaying”.
“The date of September 22 was given regarding their virtual family 'doing a murder with chainsaws,”' according to the warrant, although it isn't clear from the document what “chainsaw massacre roleplaying” entailed.
Adam Baker moved to North Carolina with his daughter after meeting Elisa online. The little girl's death provoked an outpouring of grief in North Carolina and Australia, including candlelight vigils on what would have been her 11th birthday in November.
The documents also reveal information about Elisa Baker's ongoing relationship with her former husband, Aaron Young. Elisa Baker was married to him before Adam Baker. The documents say Elisa Baker told Adam Baker that Aaron Young was her brother.
Investigators said Elisa Baker and Aaron Young had been in contact even though they were estranged and officers were trying to get his telephone records.
“Obtaining Aaron Young's telephone records or telephone number will likely provide information substantially related to this homicide investigation,” according to the court documents.
But Christy Young, who says she is Aaron's wife, said he’d had little contact with Elisa Baker. She said: “I didn't know anything about this. What they're saying I don't think is right.”
She said Young used to play IMVU but that it was “harmless” .
“It's just like Avatar,” she said about the movie. “You create your own characters and talk to people and have fun with it. I don't know where everyone is getting this. It's very upsetting to our family.” - Sapa-AP