Cops resume search for missing 10-year-old NC girl

HICKORY, N.C. (AP) – Police say the stepmother of a missing
disabled 10-year-old girl is cooperating with investigators who are
continuing to search several sites in rural North Carolina
counties.

Hickory Deputy Chief Major Clyde Deal said Tuesday that Elisa
Baker has been talking to investigators, and earlier this week was
taken to a home in Caldwell County where she once lived. Deal would
not elaborate, but said police were approached by her lawyer that
she wanted to help.

The 42-year-old Baker has been charged with obstruction of
justice. Police say she admitted writing a bogus ransom note found
at the scene of a fire in the family’s back yard on the day Zahra
Clare Baker was reported missing.

Authorities think the girl is dead.

The girl’s father, 33-year-old Adam Baker, was arrested Monday
on unrelated charges.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)