Editing Kai here. Before we get started real quick, I do want to say this episode was one day late because I was sick. I really tried and I couldn’t do it. But it’s, uh, out today. Thank you for your patience and let’s get right into the episode now part of the Dark Cast Network. Welcome to Indie Podcasts with a dark side. On October 9, 2010, responders received an unusual 911 call out of Hickory, North Carolina. Eliza Baker called emergency services to report a fire in the backyard of her family’s home. My husband works for. Our backyard is on fire. We’ve got big mulch piles and wood piles, firewood stuff. Firefighters arrived and found the flames kind of suspicious at the time. Responders noticed something else out of place. A Duke Energy envelope had been taped to the outside of Adam Baker’s Chevrolet Tahoe. Inside was a handwritten ransom note a addressed to, quote, Mr. Coffey, who was Adam’s boss and landlord. And it read, quote, Mr. Coffey, you like being in control. Now who is in control? We have your daughter and your pot smoking redhead son is next unless you do what is asked. $1 million unmarked. We’ll be in touch soon. No cops. It wasn’t until eight hours later at, uh, around 5:30am that another call came into 91 1. This time it was Adam Baker on the line. Quote, hey, how you doing? I need police. So they transferred him over to the correct line. And Adam went on to say that the ransom note wasn’t about Coffey’s family after all, but that his own daughter had been taken instead. Quote, the police were out here last night after finding a ransom note about my boss’s daughter. I got up a little while ago and it appears that they took my daughter instead of my boss’s daughter. Adam said that the last time he had seen Zahra was around 2:30am but when asked why he waited so long to report her missing, he told dispatchers that he was used to not seeing her for long stretches, even laughing as he described her, quote, brooding stage. Quote, My daughter, I think, is coming into puberty because she’s hitting that bruin stage. So we only see her when she comes out of her room when she wants something. That’s about it. And then I’m just like, you are laughing and joking when you think your daughter is missing. This smells fishy. Welcome, lambs. Welcome to Love and a Heartbreak to Homicide, your weekly true crime podcast that tells you stories of relationships that turn to murder. And on this podcast, I always tell each case with the victim in mind, so you might hear some ranting and ravings along the way, so don’t be surprised. This episode is sponsored by My LaMs LaMs in Patreon because this podcast is completely listener funded. If you want to stand with us as the voice of the victim, then [email protected] loveandmurder you can either sign up for free and you do get a few extra perks by doing that. But if you really want the full experience, bonus cases, ad free episodes, the entire Deadly Duo series, and exclusive case extras, then join one of our bonus tiers today. Patreon.com loveandmurder and speaking of Patreon’s exclusive deadly duos, the second installment was the case of Erica and Benjamin Seyfried, a married couple who turned their love into a weapon. Together, they lured Joshua Ford and Martha Crutchley into their condo, but what unfolded was a night of terror, dismemberment and a so called Bonnie and Clyde fantasy that left two innocent lives destroyed. Patreon.com loveandmurder now, without further ado, grab your butts, grab your delicious glass of apple juice and let’s get back into this case of love and murder. While Adam was talking to the police, he also suggested an elaborate theory quote. I don’t know if they set a fire in the yard to distract us to go out and then they snuck in the door or I don’t know, somebody had put gas in my company’s truck that I drive for work. They left a ransom note on the company vehicle to my boss saying that they had his daughter and his son was next. Zahra Claire Baker was born on November 16, 1999 in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia. Her biological mother, Emily Dietrich, suffered postpartum depression after her birth and gave up custody when Zahra was just eight months old. Emily had little contact with her daughter in the years that followed. It was Adam, Zahra’s father, who raised her. In 2004, Adam and his parents moved Zehra, uh, to Giru, Queensland. Did I say that right? G I r u girou Giru. I’m not sure, but anyway, that’s in Queensland, where the young girl grew up, surrounded by extended family. Friends and relatives remembered her as cheerful and spirited, someone who radiated happiness even when life threw its hardest challenges at her. Those challenges started pretty early in her life. At, uh, just five years old, Zahra was diagnosed with, I’m going to try and say this osteosarcoma. Oh, that wasn’t that hard. Which is a form of bone cancer treatment meant that her left leg had to be amputated above the knee, and she was fitted with a prosthetic limb. Chemotherapy left her with significant hearing loss, and in the years that follow, she would also battle lung cancer. Despite all of it, Zahra adapted. She wore her prosthetic and her hearing aids without complaint and remained an outgoing, affectionate child. Now, that’s really amazing, because a lot of people would complain and be like, oh, why does everybody else have their feet? Like, they would complain about this. So that’s pretty amazing. Friends in Australia described her as, quote, one of the bravest little girls you’ll ever have the pleasure of meeting. Communities rallied around her, raising money for a wheelchair and a laptop. And she joined Camp Quality, a, uh, charity for kids with cancer, where she made friends and lifted spirits with her energy. Then, in 2008, Zahra’s life took a change when Adam met Eliza Annette Fairchild. Adam traveled to the US to meet her in person, because he had met her initially online. And by July 8th of that year, they were married in York County, South Carolina. A few months later, Adam returned to Australia to bring Zahra. Huh. To America. Together, they settled with Eliza in North Carolina. So you have a child, you met somebody online, you didn’t even get to know them that well, and then you brought your child to live with them in a whole other country, on a whole other continent. Not trying to shame anybody here, but that’s kind of questionable. But life in the US Was very different from what Zahra had known in Australia. Yeah, US Life is completely different, especially for somebody with ailment. Before moving, she had received consistent, specialized care for her cancer and disabilities. In America, that care was diminished. Adam had brought Zahra to the US Believing Eliza had money to cover her significant medical bills, which were free in Australia. And we all know what costs an arm, a leg, and your firstborn child in the United States. Eliza Baker was born in 1968 and lived a chaotic and manipulative life. She was described by those who knew her as cunning, controlling, and deeply insecure. Someone who hid behind lies to control others. Okay, first of all, if that’s how I was known, cunning, controlling, and deeply insecure. Like, the majority of the people who knew me described me like that. I would literally take a step back, internalize what I’m doing wrong, and then I need to, like, take some time away from my friends and family and fix myself, because what the crap am I doing? Her personal life was full of trial and instability. Records revealed that she had been Married seven times, sometimes overlapping each other, and was even charged with bigamy for marrying Adam while still legally married to a man named Aaron Young. Over the years, she went through at least 42 different addresses in just seven years, dodging Bill collectors, police, and social workers. Her history with her own biological children was no less troubling. The Department of Social Services had investigated her for abuse as far back as 1999. She was known to be violent and neglectful, and her own biological children had experienced her cruelty firsthand. Despite this, she continued to attract partners and weave herself into new households. How? How? And her partners always said that she left chaos behind online. She made up a whole fantasy life, something that was not even close to her reality. And she did all of this under the username of gothicfairy66668. She listed never Neverland as her hometown and Queensland, Australia, as her state and country. She claimed to be a college graduate and a proud parent on her now defunct MySpace page. On that page, she also had pictures of Zahra with one captioned quote, the dark child. Lol. Eliza’s mood was listed as, quote, crazy. Which, that doesn’t prove anything. Like, it could have just been a huge coincidence. I mean, that’s not evidence of anything Eliza, uh, also wrote on her MySpace page, quote, who says long distance relationships don’t work? Behind this online Persona, she told outrageous lies about being a police officer who was shot in the line of duty or bounty hunter. All of her lies were of a dangerous and exciting past. In reality, Eliza was constantly reinventing herself. She used the lies, uh, to draw sympathy or control the people around her. Those closest to her described her as someone who lived in an alternate world of her own making. Unreliable, untrustworthy, and dangerous. So she was called. What was the first thing? Controlling, cunning, and deeply insecure. And then also unreliable, untrustworthy, and dangerous. And this is the environment that Adam brought Zahra into. Like, are you serious right now? At first, the Bakers lived with Eliza’s father, but he quickly forced them out. That’s her own father. Relatives later suggested it was because of how Eliza treated Zahra. Neighbors recalled seeing Eliza hit the little girl and lock her in her room, which to this day, I will never, never understand. People who do that. I will never understand it or accept it. So allegedly, I’m going to say allegedly, because this is from the reports, and I could only retell what what I’ve researched. That doesn’t necessarily mean that’s 100% what happened. So I’m going to say allegedly. According to reports that I researched, her father saw her abusing this little girl. Not just a little girl, a little disabled girl, and was like, yeah, you can’t do that in my house. I’m not going to sit here and watch this get out. Like there’s a possibility it happened because I literally know it happens. Because they’ll be like, oh, my God, I can’t watch this abuse. I’m never coming to visit again. I don’t like how I saw them treating their children. I’m just never going to go to their house again that way, you know, out of sight, out of mind, you know, stuff like that. I know 100% that happens. If you see a child being abused, why would. The first thing you would want to do is get the child and the abuser away from anybody who could help. Just because you don’t want to witness it, you don’t want to see it. I’m going to tell you right now, that’s not happening on my watch. The family bounced between multiple homes in several counties, and Zahra Huh changed schools frequently. Now she’s coming from a stable background with free health care, family, friends, and everybody who loved her. And this is what she’s coming into. Former neighbors said that they rarely saw her outside, and when they did, she seemed quiet, withdrawn, and different from the lively girl people had known in Australia. School records showed absences and noted occasions when Zahra came to school with unexplained injuries. By the time the Bakers moved into a small house on the 21st Avenue Northwest in Hickory, the house where Zahra huh would ultimately be reported missing, her life had become increasingly isolated. By 2010, the signs of abuse were impossible to ignore. Zahra was spotted with black eyes and unexplained bruises more than once. This is what I’m saying. Like, if you’re around, even if there’s abuse and you have to fight to stop the abuse, it’s not going to be as much as when you now isolate them, like you send them away. Now the abuser has just all the freedom in the world. In August of that year, she showed up with a visible black eye, and Eliza told a family friend not to take a picture. Dismissing her injuries as clumsiness, a former neighbor, Karen Yount, said she had personally seen Eliza beat Zahra and tried to intervene. Thank you, Karen. Another relative, Brittany Bentley, explained, quote, she was beat almost every time I was over there for just the smallest things. Her disappearance is something we knew was going to happen. There was even photographic evidence. A family friend Brandy Stapleton took a picture of Zahra with a bruise under her eye more than two months before she vanished. School staff also raised alarm. When Zahra was in fourth grade in Hudson, she arrived at school with a black eye. What is the consistency with black eyes here? Do these people just like to punch her in the eye? This little girl, fourth grade. What is the complete consistency with black eyes? Anyway, she got to school with a black eye, and two concerned teachers went to her house after she came in, and after she came back with a second black eye. A second black eye. Like, how many black eyes have I already read off to y’? All? Now she’s coming to. She came to school with a black eye. Then she came to school with a second black eye. And the two teachers, who probably weren’t taking what she said, like, I. I tripped, I fell, went to her house to find out what’s happening behind closed doors. One day, she confided in them that she was afraid to go back home. Despite the visible injuries, Zahra’s bruises were consistently explained away as falls. Eliza claimed that she was just clumsy, and this actually stuck enough that nobody went to go and intervene. And by nobody, I mean the officials, like cps, the police, or anything like that. The teachers were trying, neighbors were trying, but the people who could actually do something about it, nobody was doing it, because Eliza’s just saying, oh, she’s clumsy. And they’re like, oh, we know how clumsy kids are. How many black eyes? I’m the clumsiest clumsy you’ll ever meet, and I haven’t even given myself a black eye. Uh, I bust my lip before I really have punched myself in the face. It was so accidental. And people are always like, how did you do that? But I’ve done that, but consistently. Like, that was once. I busted my lips consistently. And a consistent black eye. There’s nobody that. That’s clumsy. And I wonder if they were eating this up just because, for instance, she was hard of hearing and she had a missing leg. So I wonder if because of that, they were like, well, you know what? She’s disabled. Maybe she’s just really clumsy. And they’re not actually thinking to look into this. You know, what do you think about that? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. But that’s what I just. I just thought about that as I’m. As I’m saying, like, why would take her word for it? Records show that cps, which is a child Protective services, investigated Zahra’s, uh, situation at least four times in the nine Months before her disappearance. Four times in nine months. In fact, social services agencies in both Catawaba and Caldwell counties looked into complaints. Seven times in 2010 alone. Alone. But each time, they close the cases without finding abuse. So you kept being called out there by different people. Seven times in just one year. Four times in nine months. And I’m pretty sure it’s more than one person. So we already have the teachers, we already have the neighbor, but, uh, is everybody just lying? And only person who’s telling the truth is what? Eliza, Are you serious? A later state child fatality review showed a picture of missed opportunities. It said there were, quote, important pieces of information missing at the time case decisions were made. So you’re not getting all the information. I mean, I don’t want to hear excuses, really. Investigators didn’t photograph Zahra’s injuries, didn’t verify prescription drug usage in the home, and didn’t fully trace where her bruises had come from. That’s what I’m saying. No research, no investigation. You just was like, oh, let me have some tea. Let me just write this, have you sign this. Open and shut. Uh, case Johnson. Thank you. We’re going out for donuts now. Like, no investigation. And I’m not even saying this is the cops. This is more than likely cpa. The report also cited a major breakdown in communication. Schools, doctors, law enforcement, and DDS investigators were each seeing fragments of what Zahra was going through, but no one was putting together a full picture. No one is talking to each other. They don’t have, like, an inter office database where, like, if CPS is called out, it automatically goes into, like, law enforcement system or even doctors in schools, et cetera, et cetera. It’s too many broken systems that if one person fails to report something, then it’s just not logged. Concerns came from Eliza’s own family as well. Aaron Young, her Ex husband of 10 years, contacted social services on February 2010 after noticing bruises on Zahra. This is her ex husband. Even he was calling on her. He admitted he hadn’t witnessed Eliza hit her directly, but said, quote, I saw some bruises on her. And she would basically say the same thing. Eliza said she tripped and fell into the sink one time. She. You tripped and fell into the sink? What? Into the sink? How low is your sink? On October 10, 2010, the investigation into the alleged kidnapping started. Cadaver dogs were brought in to search the baker’s home and cars. Both Adam’s Chevrolet Tahoe and Eliza’s Toyota Camry triggered positive alerts for the scent of human Remains. Investigators swabbed what appeared to be blood inside the Tahoe. That same day, Eliza was arrested, even though it wasn’t for Zahra’s disappearance. She was taken into custody for a long list of unrelated charges, including writing bad checks, larceny, communicating threats, and driving with a revoked license. These charges gave police a legal way to hold her while they continued searching for Zahra. Soon after, Eliza was also charged with obstruction of justice when she admitted that she was the one who wrote the fake ransom note. Police said that the bogus story about the kidnapping was deliberately done to send investigators in the wrong direction and wasted their precious time. By October 12, the Amber Alert was canceled due to Eliza’s confession. Hickory Police Chief Tom Atkins announced that the search had now shifted to a homicide investigation. Search warrants revealed that investigators now believe Zahra had been dismembered. While the documents did not provide a cause of death, police suspected her remains had been wrapped in a bed, comforter and car cover and discarded in a grocery store dumpster. Detectives combed through Adam’s workplace, including a wood chipper and mulch piles, but found no evidence there. Meanwhile, everyone started wondering when Zahra had actually last been seen alive. No one outside the Baker’s family could confirm seeing her past September 25, 2010, when she was spotted at a Hickory furniture store with Eliza. This was two weeks before Adam reported her missing. Later in October, Eliza’s bond was raised from $40,000 to $65,000. Amber Fairchild, Eliza’s daughter, had testified at her bond hearing, telling a judge that the day before Eliza had been arrested, she had told her that she was thinking of leaving North Carolina. So the court labeled her as a flight risk and raised her bond. Amber also told the court that Eliza was in an online relationship with a man from England who sent her thousands of dollars. I mean, I guess she’s online, because I was about to say, couldn’t he just look her up? But she’s online, so it’s not the same as, oh, uh, we’re doing this face to face. So I guess he didn’t think to look her up. But that’s also crazy, because you’re sending her thousands of dollars, and you’re not even going to look into her background. When Eliza’s attorney attempted to get her bond lowered, the prosecution pointed out that with past case for lesser charges, such as traffic violation, Eliza failed to show up to court. What do you think she would do for a charge of this caliber? As investigators closed in, Eliza started cooperating. She told investigators that they could Find Zahra’s blood, bones, and bodily fluids in the home’s drain pipes. Her, quote, unquote cooperation continued the next day when investigators took her out to another site near Dudley Shoals road and Christie road, close to where the family had lived before. On October 27, 2010, police made a discovery over there. Zahra’s prosthetic leg. And the reason why they knew this was her leg is because the serial number had matched the medical records in Australia. So with this find, investigators started a, um, massive search of the entire surrounding woods and creek banks. In early November, searchers found a bone in the same area and sent it to the crime lab for DNA testing. Also around the same time, Emily, Zahra’s biological mom, if you forgot, broke her silence and gave her first interview since Zahra’s disappearance. Speaking to Australia’s Channel 7 news, Emily revealed that she had not seen her daughter since given Adam custody. She explained that she had been suffering from postpartum depression at the time and thought it was the best decision. But soon after, Adam disappeared with Zahra, and every time she managed to track them down, he would again disappear. He had no right to do any of it to keep her from me. She said that she had actually just recently found Adam and Zahra, uh, online and found out that they were in North Carolina. Then three days later, her daughter went missing. She asked, quote, why did it happen that I only found her, and three days later, this happens? I never got to say goodbye. I never got to say hello. She said that she only learned of Zahra’s death through news reports. Emily admitted that she already believed her daughter was gone. I don’t feel it that she is still alive. Mothers just have this bond with their children, and just having no hope in me makes it hurt even more with what they’re finding and the way they’re saying she was treated. The only hope I have in me now is that she is gone so that she’s not hurting anymore. She also confessed that she was afraid investigators would find even more evidence and what had been done to Zahra. Evidence that would tell a story she didn’t want to hear. So, like I said, both finding the bone and her speaking to news outlets, that happened around the same time. And a week later, Emily traveled to the United States with an Australian news crew. She stood outside the home where Zahra used to live with Adam and Eliza and cried as she saw the makeshift memorial of stuffed animals, photos, and handwritten notes. Emily then gave her DNA to detectives so that they can compare it to the Bone and to any additional remains found. She also shared her anger at Eliza, saying, quote, she had no place to just dispose of something that was in the way. I just want her to sit in jail, and I want her to live every day of her life remembering why she’s there and what she’s done. She needs to sit there and rot. Investigators also collected DNA samples from Adam. Then, on November 10, less than a week before what would have been Zahra’s 11th birthday, more possible human remains were found along the banks of the little river. By the end of November, investigators had recovered fewer than 40% of Zahra’s body. Her skull, right arm, and most of both legs were missing. Now, Eliza’s cooperation kind of started making people talk around that time, wondering if she was cutting a deal with the prosecution in exchange for her cooperation. But authorities did a press release around that time and downplayed that idea. Uh, not long after all of this is going down, a logger working nearby came across a briefcase in the woods across from where the prosthetic leg had been found. Inside was a blanket stained with a dark substance believed to be blood. The briefcase and its contents were sent to the state crime lab in Raleigh for testing. Now, while all this is going on and Eliza is, quote, unquote, cooperating, she continuously pointed the finger at Adam even. Even though all the evidence consistently tied it back to her and not him. And it tied her to the disposal sites, not him. For instance, cell phone records showed that Eliza’s phone, and so basically, Eliza, was in the area where Zahra’s remains had been recovered, whereas Adam’s phone had placed him 20 miles away in Conover. So that’s just an example of how all the evidence is still pointing to her and not Adam. Finally, on November 19, 2010, Eliza admitted that Zahra had died on September 24, 2010, more than two weeks before she had actually been reported missing. She then said that Zahra was disposed of the next day, September 25th, which actually now contradicts, if you remember before, what the witness had said, said they said they’d seen Zahra with Eliza on September 25th, but Eliza’s saying that she actually died on September 24th, so that credibility is shot. She told police that she’d found Zahra unresponsive in her room the day that she died, and she tried to help her. It also came out that Eliza was still talking to Aaron, Remember Aaron, her ex husband, on a gothic platform called imvu.com, which they both visited on September 22nd. This was just two days before the day she claimed that Zahra had died. Investigators examined claim that this IMVU website featured Chainsaw Massacre role playing, which, I mean, how does that relate? I guess if she’s living out her fantasy online, maybe she’ll do it in real life. But, I mean, you all. You actually have to be crazy to do that. You can’t really blame Games for this. But in doing that investigation, police also wanted to explore allegations that the Bakers had discussed, quote, doing a, uh, murder with Chainsaw. The Bakers. So that sounds like there were allegations against Eliza and Adam. So those are the Bakers. I saw that they said that Adam was talking on that platform also with Aaron and Eliza, but I only saw that in one place, so I just really didn’t include it. But I guess I’m going to say it now. Also, forensic searches inside the home turned up traces of human tissue, blood, and even parts of Zahra’s hearing aid in the bathtub drain walls and flooring later. Now, I couldn’t find the exact date for this. Chief Adkins announced that the remains recovered at the various search sites were positively identified as belonging to Zahra. Claire Baker, it is with great regret that I stand before you today. I’ve been dreading this moment since early on in this investigation. As investigators, we are trained to follow leads, but we never give up the hope the evidence may turn us in the wrong direction and the outcome may be different. Investigators, agents, and officers who are. Who worked on this case are devastated that they could not find Zahra alive and bring her home safely. We have recovered enough physical evidence to believe we have found Zahra. Uh, DNA evidence from the bone that they had found matched Zahra’s other remains were still being tested, but they were consistent with those of a child. District Attorney James Gaither said this case isn’t over, and we won’t rest until we have all the information we need to bring the people to justice who Hurt Zahra. The DA’s office is working with law enforcement and hope to see some resolution in this case that will result in charges being filed in the near future. In the meantime, new details started to come forward. ABC News obtained jailhouse letters that Eliza had written to a crime memorabilia dealer. In them, she insisted neither she nor Adam killed Zahra, but claimed Adam did something, quote, horrifying. And after the child was already dead, we really didn’t kill her. But what he did after the fact is kind of horrifying. Makes me scared of him. He knows what happened to Zahra, huh? And Yet I’m the only one in here. At least for now. The cops know where she is and what he has done. So I probably am going to get ahead and file for divorce. I have lost my whole life anyway. First of all, what the bloody hell is a crime memorabilia dealer? Let’s look this up. Because, I mean, I hear the words and I know what they mean, but I’m really hoping it’s not what I think because how frickin rocked do you have to be in the head? But maybe it’s not what I think. Let’s see. So you know when you type into Google and first thing that comes up is chatgpt? Well, that’s what came up. And this is According to Rolling Stones and Arta Mortis, a crime memorabilia dealer is a professional who specializes in selling items that are associated with crimes often referred to as murderabilia. These dealers typically offer a range of items, including art, personal possessions, and other memorabilia from convicted criminals. The items are often sold through online auction or specialized marketplaces, and they are authenticated to ensure their authenticity. The demand for these items stems from a fascination with the dark history of crime and the desire to own a piece of it. Who would have this desire? However, it’s important to note that some collectors may have problematic motivations and the hobby can be associated with dangerous behavior. Okay, so it is exactly what I thought. And like I said, you have to be rocked to want to do this. Want to buy this. Like crime memorabilia, murderabilia. I know. I do a true crime show and some people are probably like, well, you glamorized the. No, I don’t glamorize the crime at all. In fact, if you listen to my podcast, I’m usually yelling at the people who did the crime and calling them all kind of names. This is. Wow. I’m okay. Did y’ all know about this? Let me know in the comments below. Am I just, like, behind in this? I don’t think any of my lams would be taking part in something like this. I hope not. But I’m just. I’m sorry. I’m just shocked to find that out. Anyways, she wrote a letter saying that once again, it was all Adam’s fault and also they’re not responsible. Whatever. And a crime member, really, a dealer took that letter and tried to sell it. I guess. Adam denied Eliza’s allegations and said, quote, there’s no way I would do that to my baby. There’s no way in the world I would hurt my daughter. His attorney also dismissed Eliza’s Story as nothing more than a desperate attempt to deflect blame. In February 2011, the North Carolina medical examiner released Zahra’s autopsy report. It shut down Eliza’s claims that Zahra had died naturally, ruling her death as, quote, undetermined homicidal violence. Because so many of Zahra’s bones were never recovered. Which I said before her skull, um, I didn’t say which arm. I just said an arm. But it was her skull, her right arm, and most of both of her legs. The examiner could not determine the exact cause of her death, but they were clear. Zahra’s death was not an accident. That’s what they could definitely tell you. Just weeks later, on February 21, a grand jury indicted Eliza on a charge of second degree murder with aggravating factors. The indictment laid out the picture investigators had been piecing together for months. Eliza had a history of physically and verbally and psychologically abusing Zahra. She deliberately kept Zahra from her extended family both before and after the murder, and she desecrated Zahra’s body to hide the crime and avoid prosecution. Zahra’s youth, her physical disability, and Eliza’s position of trust as her stepmother all compounded the severity of her charges. Now, no charges were filed against Adam. District Attorney James Gaither told reporters, quote, at this time, the state has no credible evidence to suggest that anyone other than Eliza Baker was. Was involved in the murder of Zahra. Claire Baker Adams spoke publicly after the indictment, insisting he had no parts in his daughter’s death. Quote, I’m extremely grateful that the Hickory police and everyone else had taken their time, gone through everything properly, and came to the conclusion that they should have come to. I have no involvement with Zahra’s, uh, death or dismemberment. Eliza is very manipulative, abusive to me, very controlling. Plus, with my work. I was gone first thing in the morning and didn’t come home till late. Was told that Zahra was in bed because Zahra normally went to bed early. I checked every night, and from what I could tell, she was in bed. It looks like she or something was in her bed. Adam did admit that he believed his daughter would still be alive if he had never brought Eliza into their lives. Chief Adkins said, quote, the members of team Zahra have been working towards this milestone in this case since the first words spoken on the 911 call made on October 9, 2010. There has not been a day gone by without members of our team thinking about Zahra or this case. Eliza’s lawyers acknowledged that by Cooperating with investigators and leading them to Zahra’s remains, she avoided the possibility of a death penalty trial. Even so, Eliza faced a laundry list of other charges. In May 2010, she pleaded not guilty to two counts of identity theft and two counts of obtaining property by false pretenses. A month later, she entered another not guilty plea to federal drug charges. Are you going to blame this on Adam, too? Like the identity theft and obtaining property by false pretenses, and now you’re pleading not guilty to the federal drug drug charges also? So are you saying this is Adam’s fault as well? She also pled not guilty to distributing and planning to distribute oxycodone, hydrocodone, and other prescription medication. At the time, she didn’t enter a plea on the murder charges and was scheduled to go to trial on August 2011. Meanwhile, facing the possibility of a first degree murder trial and now even the death penalty, Eliza gave the appearance of continued cooperation. The prosecution had agreed to limit her charges to second degree murder, or on the condition that her statements to law enforcement were truthful. If she had been lying, she could have been prosecuted for first degree murder, but her statements and evidence would have been excluded. So this is why she is formally convicted of second degree murder, but they’re kind of dangling the possibility of first degree murder and death, um, penalty in front of her face. While in jail, she continued to write letters repeatedly trying to shift blame to Adam. Quote, he did it. I’m taking the fall for him. This is what she wrote to another inmate. So she’s just writing letters to everybody. She said again that Adam had dismembered Zahra’s body after death, which I guess this is the first time she’s actually saying it, because last time she was like, he just did horrific things that you could never even dream about. Still, Eliza used these shifting stories to buy herself some time. So that’s what she’s doing. She’s just trying to buy herself time. Not that she’s actually believing these lies while she’s doing all of this and, you know, writing all this evidence down because she’s writing letters knowing that they’re going to read it. Interesting. I understand now. So while she’s doing this, she was trying to buy herself some time while she negotiated with prosecutors, ultimately her cooperation. And, uh, I’m going to use that in quotes because, I mean, she’s not really cooperating if she’s, like, playing along and trying to buy herself time. But the prosecution said she did cooperate by leading them to Zahra’s prosthetic leg and, uh, the other remains that she led them to. With all that cooperation, uh, she secured herself a plea deal. So, remember in the beginning when people were like, it looks like she’s working a deal with them because she’s running around taking them here and there, and they literally came out with a press release saying, no, we didn’t secure a deal with her. So then they did secure a deal with her later on. On September 15, 2011, Eliza stood in a North Carolina courtroom wearing a hot pink jail jumpsuit while crying. She pled guilty to second degree murder with aggravating factors as well as obstruction of justice, obtaining, uh, property by false pretenses, and financial identity fraud. Oh, she pled guilty to everything. Then for Zahra’s murder, she was sentenced to 14 to 18 years in prison. I mean, she dismembered a little girl murdered and dismembered 14 to. That’s okay. Prosecutors said a plea was the only way to guarantee prison time, given the challenges of proven first degree murder without a clear cause of death. Okay, I could see that. Like I said before, only 40% of her remains had been recovered, and medical examiners could only classify her death as undetermined homicidal violence. So there was no evidence, you know, of how she was killed, and there was no evidence to actually prove. So all she needed to do was get her, like, a really good lawyer, and she probably could have gotten out of this. They went on to say that without a complete body, most of the case would have depended on circumstantial evidence and Eliza’s ever changing stories. During sentencing, Adam addressed a woman who had once been his wife and Zahra’s stepmother. Quote, there are no words to explain the hate I have for you. Zahra loved you more than anything in the world. She looked up to you, wanted to be like you, yet you filled her life with lies. And I want to pause here because, uh, I don’t know how to say this, because I honestly don’t want to be insensitive to him. Okay. Okay, look, just don’t judge me. My question is, why, after the bruises, the black eyes, and everything else, wasn’t the baby removed from Eliza’s presence? Why are you now sitting in court being like, I hate you? And, you know, you filled her life with lies, and you literally saw bruises and black eyes and everything else and just continued letting the baby stay in Eliza’s presence. Like, why did the dad not take the child and leave? Maybe I’m missing something. Maybe, like, he traveled for work and never saw anything and no one told him anything. I mean, that could technically be true. I think a slim chance that it could be true. Like, he was just completely in the dark. And by the time he had come back from business trips, you know, her face was cleared up. Like, that’s literally the only thing I could think of. What do y’ all think? Based on everything I said before, based on all the reporting, do you think that this could possibly be the case? Or do you think he knew all along and just continued to leave her in Eliza’s presence even when he’s not around or. Well, we’ll get to the third one when we’re finished. Emily had traveled from Australia to speak at this hearing. I feel there will be no real justice for Zahra. Her life was taken by an evil selfishness that none of us will ever understand or fully comprehend. Eliza’s crimes stretched far beyond Zahra. Huh? She had used her daughter as Britney Starbucks identity for financial gain. And then, like I told you before, she was later indicted on federal drug charges. In 2013, she received an additional 10 year sentence for conspiring to distribute prescription pills. And her 10 year sentence will begin after she completes her state time. So basically, what did she get? 14 to 18 years, let’s say 18 years. So she’s only serving 28 years for all of those charges. She’s scheduled for release from North Carolina State Prison on July 2, 2025, which as of this recording, has already passed because this episode is actually coming out on September 1st. So she’s out of the North Carolina State Prison, but right after she got out, she’s going to immediately transfer into federal custody, which I guess she did that. And then her projected Release date is 2033. As I said, Adam was never charged in connection with Zahra’s death. He resolved unrelated charges of identity theft and false pretenses. And in early 2012, he was deported back to Australia. He carried Zahra’s remains with him for burial. Many in the Hickory community have never accepted his claim of ignorance. Oh, wow. They said nope. Questioning how her father could fail to notice his child’s absence inside their small house. And as one neighbor said, quote, that was a tiny home. You’re telling me he didn’t even know. So basically, I wasn’t the only one who noticed this. And yeah, I didn’t even think about the fact. I did in the beginning, but as we kept going, I didn’t even think about the fact that she was missing for two weeks before he called anyone. Not only all the bruises all over the child. People complaining about the bruises all over the child’s cps. There’s no way that he missed all of that. So he knew what was going on. And then the reminder that she had been gone for two weeks before he called reporting her missing. And. And then the weird 911 call. When I read it, I was reading it like it said, he had the 911 call. So if you heard me, like, all cheery and nonchalant and then I was laughing, that’s what it said. He sounded like he was laughing and joking around when he thought his daughter was missing. So, yeah, I’m not buying it either. Now, I searched and searched and searched and searched for that 911 call because I wanted y’ all to hear it, but I couldn’t find it. In April 2012, hunters in Caldwell county stumbled upon a skull. Nearly a year later, on February 21, 2013, DNA confirmed that it was Zahra’s. Even then, analysis of the skull could not determine her cause of death. In the years since, Zahra’s home has become a memorial site where strangers leave flowers, stuffed animals, and handmade signs. Advocates pushed for reforms in Child Protective Services pointed out how multiple reports of abuse at the Baker home should have triggered stronger action. Out of that effort, the Zahra Project was born, a, uh, nonprofit devoted to strengthening abuse prevention laws. But even though Eliza is in prison and she just started her second stint in prison, the full truth of Zahra’s final moments has never been uncovered. Eliza still is not saying anything. She’s actually still putting out contradictory stories. And so it’s like nobody’s ever going to know because she is so not taking any kind of accountability for it. What is clear is that a child who had already overcome cancer, disability, and loss spent her final moments trapped in a cycle of abuse no one managed to stop. Her story reminds us how systems can fail a child who desperately needed their protection. The death of Zahra Claire Baker exposed just how deeply the system can fail a child. North Carolina’s child fatality review made it clear that crucial opportunities were missed. Investigators failed to photograph Zahra’s, uh, injuries. As I told you before, they didn’t properly check her parents prescription drug use and accepted weak explanations for her bruises. Even more troubling was the lack of communication between agencies in just nine months before her murder. Zahra’s story also pushed North Carolina towards a reform proposals, including a statewide case management system so agencies could share information, new intake forms for social workers, more thorough training, and better Tracking of children leaving public schools. These were the proposals that came out. But this is what I’m saying. It shouldn’t even be a proposal that’s coming out. Anybody dealing with, like, children, domestic abuse or something like that, they should all be able to share information. But, uh, that’s what I think. I don’t know how hard that would be, but I think everybody should be sharing at least the same information. Even in death. Zahra left a legacy. She became more than a victim. She became a symbol of why vigilance and accountability matter and why no warning sign should ever be ignored. And Jake Eisenhower said, quote, if it helps just one kid, all of this is worth it. If you suspect child abuse, call a Child Abuse National Child abuse hotline at 1-800-for a child or 1-800-422-4-4453. You can also go to childhelp.org all calls are toll free and confidential and the hotline is available 24. 7 in more than 170 languages. And if you want more resources, I do have a page now on my website with all of the resources that I tell in that I give you in my cases. Easy way to go there. If you’re having mental health issues, there’s resources there. You, if you are seeing child abuse and you want to report it, there’s resources there. If you’re seeing domestic abuse and you want to report it, go to my website. Like I said, resources that I have mentioned before are there. Murderinlove. Com that is loveand murderbackwards. Murderandlove.com so what do you think about this case? You heard my thoughts on it, so I do want to hear your thoughts on it in the comments below. I totally want to hear your take, especially with this case. Do you think that Adam actually had anything to do with it? Or. Or do you think he was just somebody who saw it happening but buried his head in the sand instead of saving his daughter? Could have been that he didn’t even see it at all. He had no idea. So he’s just walking around with no knowledge of what’s going on. So it could be that too. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. Thank you for joining me and listening to me all the way to the end. And I am so tired. I probably fell asleep recording this like, uh, more than five times. I am so tired. So thank you. I hope I wasn’t rambling and I hope when I go and edit this, this actually sounds like something that I could use. And remember that this podcast is completely listener funded. This means it exists because of my LaMs in the Patreon. By joining, you’re not just getting extra content, you’re helping give victims a voice and making sure these stories continue to be told. Even while I’m falling asleep recording, I am making sure this story is going to be told. You can sign up for [email protected] loveandmurder and you do get some perks for signing up for free, but the real support comes from our bonus tiers. That’s where you find the ad free intro free and actually outro free episodes, bonus cases, behind the scenes extras, and case files. Patreon.com loveandmurder and as we end each full episodes, I want to remind you that it’s say it with me now. All love and no murder, y’. All. I’ll see you in the next episode. Bye.