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US woman admits murdering stepdaughter, 10
Source: Agencies |
September 16, 2011, Friday
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A US woman pleaded guilty yesterday to murdering her disabled 10-year-old stepdaughter, nearly a year after freckle-faced Zahra Clare Baker's disappearance and death shocked communities here and in her native Australia.
Elisa Baker, 43, sat between two defense attorneys weeping before pleading guilty to second-degree murder, with aggravating factors that included desecrating the body of the girl, who wore a prosthetic leg and hearing aids after a struggle with bone cancer.
Baker also pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and to charges unrelated to Zahra's death, including obtaining property by false pretenses and financial identity fraud. She will be sentenced later.
Adam Baker, Zahra's father and Elisa's husband, was in the courtroom in Newton, about 65 kilometers northwest of Charlotte North Carolina. He came to the US with his daughter after meeting Elisa online, and faces multiple criminal charges of his own, although none related to his daughter's death.
Elisa Baker's guilty plea comes almost a year after Zahra was reported missing from her home. Initially, the couple told police they believed she had been kidnapped, but that story quickly unraveled as police arrested Elisa and charged her with forging a ransom note.
Not long after her arrest, she began cooperating with police searching for the girl, according to warrants. She told police Zahra had been dismembered, and led them to some of the girl's remains. She told police her husband helped scatter the remains, but telephone records proved he was elsewhere on the days she said Zahra's body parts were dumped.
Zahra's death was caused by "undetermined homicidal violence," according to medical examiners.
Elisa Baker, 43, sat between two defense attorneys weeping before pleading guilty to second-degree murder, with aggravating factors that included desecrating the body of the girl, who wore a prosthetic leg and hearing aids after a struggle with bone cancer.
Baker also pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and to charges unrelated to Zahra's death, including obtaining property by false pretenses and financial identity fraud. She will be sentenced later.
Adam Baker, Zahra's father and Elisa's husband, was in the courtroom in Newton, about 65 kilometers northwest of Charlotte North Carolina. He came to the US with his daughter after meeting Elisa online, and faces multiple criminal charges of his own, although none related to his daughter's death.
Elisa Baker's guilty plea comes almost a year after Zahra was reported missing from her home. Initially, the couple told police they believed she had been kidnapped, but that story quickly unraveled as police arrested Elisa and charged her with forging a ransom note.
Not long after her arrest, she began cooperating with police searching for the girl, according to warrants. She told police Zahra had been dismembered, and led them to some of the girl's remains. She told police her husband helped scatter the remains, but telephone records proved he was elsewhere on the days she said Zahra's body parts were dumped.
Zahra's death was caused by "undetermined homicidal violence," according to medical examiners.
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