Father of slain girl wants to go back to Australia

HICKORY, N.C. — The father of a slain North Carolina girl hopes to be able to return to his native Australia once his legal problems are resolved.

The Hickory Daily Record reports that Adam and Elisa Baker were both scheduled to be in Caldwell County District Court on Monday, but their cases were continued until June 13 because Elisa Baker's attorney could not be in court.

Shell Pierce, the attorney for Adam Baker in Caldwell County, said as soon as the matters are resolved and his client gets permission, Adam Baker will go home to Australia. If needed, Pierce said Adam Baker could return to the United States.

Elisa Baker was indicted in February on charges of second-degree murder in 10-year-old Zahra Baker's death. Adam Baker has not been charged in Zahra's death.

An indictment alleges that the girl, who used a prosthetic leg and hearing aids after being stricken with cancer, was killed on Sept. 24.

After a massive search, police found the girl's remains in different locations around western North Carolina. According to an autopsy report, only a few bones were recovered, and medical examiners were never able to determine how she died.

The indictment lists five aggravated factors in the case that could enhance the penalty Elisa Baker might face if convicted.

According to the document, Elisa Baker had a history of physically, verbally and psychologically abusing Zahra; she kept the girl from her family to conceal the crime; she desecrated Zahra's body; and she abused a position of trust she had with the girl.

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I hope common sense prevails and the legal system refuses to let him leave the US until the trial is over. There is no way in this world that he did not know what happened to his daughter. He should be in prison!!!!

jafarmg2
April 12, 2011 3:10 p.m.

I don't believe he should be permitted to leave to go anywhere until he can tell someone why he just stood by while that witch slapped his young daughter around.

And don't try to tell me he didn't know. Relatives and neighbors knew.

RB aka Spirit Warrior Woman
April 12, 2011 2:40 p.m.

HE SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO RETURN, NOT UNTIL THE CASE IS COMPLETELY CLOSED.

wildcat
April 12, 2011 2:15 p.m.

soooo, he drags his daughter halfway around the world to marry a woman he met on the internet--the daughter ends up in pieces, he just doesn't have a clue how--now he wants to go back "home"??!!! Poor fellow!

mustainemad
April 12, 2011 2:04 p.m.

Tell me how Adam Baker didn't know his daughter was chopped up(sorry for being so graphic but it is true)in the house he was living in...so we have to believe the step-mother done this while he was at work. She cut the body up, cleaned the mess up, painted the walls, and then took the body parts to all these location in one day and poor Dad didn't know anything. Plus she died a lot sooner than she was reported missing, so where did dear ole Dad think she was...he never opened her door to check on her. What a terrible Dad?