WWW.KENTDAILYNEWS.COM
COM
All photos by Robert Lahser/Charlotte
Observer/MCT
Above: Shellie Moore, from left, Janet
Coffey, and Sherry Revis attend a candle-
light vigil for 10-year-old Zahra Clare
Baker on Wednesday, October 13, 2010
at East Hickory Baptist Church in Hickory,
North Carolina. Police expanded their
search for the missing girl and drained
a pond near the tree-trimming company
where her father has worked.
Right: Several hundred people gath-
ered at East Hickory Baptist Church in
Hickory, North Carolina for a candlelight
vigil on Wednesday, October 13, 2010,
for 10-year-old Zahra Baker, as police
expanded their search for the missing girl
and drained a pond near the tree-trimming
company where her father has worked.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2010 2G
WWW.KENTDAILYNEWS.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2010 3G
911 Calls Released in
Missing Child Case
By Franco Ordonez
McClatchy Newspapers
HICKORY, N.C.‚ Hickory, N.C., po-
lice on Tuesday released recordings of
two emergency calls made from Zahra
Baker’s home the day the 10-year-old girl
was reported missing.
The calls shed new light on what Zah-
ra’s parents claim happened Oct. 9, and
how an early-morning fire and a phony
ransom note might have been linked to
her disappearance.
The Bakers’ description of events
suggests that Zahra may have been kid-
napped while her father and stepmother
were dealing with a fire in the back yard
of their Hickory house.
They also said that kidnappers may
have taken her by mistake in their attempt
to actually abduct the daughter of Baker’s
boss and landlord, Mark Coffey.
“I don’t know if they set a fire in the
yard to distract us to go out, and they
snuck in the door,” Baker said of possible
kidnappers in his 911 call.
“It appears they may have taken my
daughter instead of his daughter.”
The release of the recordings came on
the 10th day of the search for the little girl
Left: Several hundred people gathered at East Hickory Baptist Church in Hickory, North Carolina for a candlelight vigil on Wednes-
day, October 13, 2010, for 10-year-old Zahra Baker, as police expanded their search for the missing girl and drained a pond near
the tree-trimming company where her father has worked.
with freckles who was hearing impaired
and lost part of one leg to bone cancer.
The case has drawn international at-
tention. Newspapers in Australia where
Zahra was born have been publishing
daily updates.
Investigators say they believe Zahra
is dead and continue to seek the public’s
help in piecing together a time line of
events surrounding the girl’s disappear-
ance.
The last person outside Zahra’s family
police can confirm saw the girl alive was
an employee at a Hickory furniture store,
who reported seeing Zahra shopping with
her stepmother on Sept. 25.
Zahra wasn’t reported missing until
two weeks later.
The first 911 call from the Bakers
came around 5:30 a.m. that Saturday,
when Elisa Baker, Zahra’s stepmother,
sounded anxious as she asked for help.
“Our back yard is on fire,” she told
dispatchers. “We have mulch piles and
wood piles because we sell firewood and
stuff.”
Firefighters and police responded, and
while they were there found a handwrit-
ten ransom note on the windshield of the
Bakers’ SUV parked at the house. The
note was addressed to “Mr. Coffey” and
said kidnappers had his daughter and
wanted $1 million.
When police checked, they found
Coffey’s family was unharmed.
The second 911 call came from Zah-
ra’s father at 1:58 p.m. that same day.
He was polite and calm as he spoke to
the dispatcher.
“Hickory police, where is your emer-
gency?”
“Yeah, my daughter is missing,”
Adam Baker said.
“What is your address?”
“21st Avenue Northwest. The police
were out here last night over a fire and
ransom note for my boss’s daughter. I got
up a little while ago, and it appears they
took my daughter instead of my boss’s
daughter.”
He explained how someone had
poured gasoline on a company vehicle
that he parked at his house, and that it
might have been a diversion so kidnap-
pers could enter his home.
Adam Baker told the dispatcher that
maybe the kidnappers were confused.
“I guess they thought he (Coffey)
lives in this house” Baker said.
Coffey owns the house, rented by the
Bakers.
Adam Baker worked for Coffey at a
tree-trimming business that has a storage
lot in Burke County, N.C.‚ a site authori-
ties have repeatedly searched for signs of
Zahra.
Baker went on to tell the dispatcher
that he last checked on his daughter about
2:30 a.m. that day‚ twelve hours before
making his 911 call.
“We had all that drama last night,” he
said. “And me and my wife went back to
bed. And my daughter is, I think, coming
into puberty. So she’s hitting that brood-
ing stage (chuckles). So we only see her
when she wants something.”
Adam Baker has not been charged in
connection with his daughter’s disappear-
ance.
Elisa Baker has been charged with
felony obstruction of justice and is now
in jail.
She was arrested after police say she
admitted writing the phony ransom note,
which they say was intended to throw off
the investigation into Zahra’s disappear-
ance.
Elisa Baker is scheduled to appear in
court Wednesday morning to request a
reduction of her $40,000 bond.
Above: Janet Coffey, left, and
Sherry Revis comfort each
other during a candlelight vigil
at East Hickory Baptist Church
in Hickory, North Carolina
on Wednesday, October 13,
2010, for 10-year-old Zahra
Baker.
Left: Several hundred people
gathered at East Hickory Bap-
tist Church in Hickory, North
Carolina for a candlelight vigil
on Wednesday, October 13,
2010, for 10-year-old Zahra
Baker, as police expanded
their search for the missing girl
and drained a pond near the
tree-trimming company where
her father has worked.