Zahra’s birthday comes amid grim revelations

By MEG KINNARD
Associated Press

HICKORY, NC (AP) — Cities across North Carolina will mourn the slaying of a disabled girl with candlelight vigils on what would have been her 11th birthday. The memorials set for Tuesday come as court documents reveal
Zahra Baker was dismembered and police needed her stepmother’s help to find the remains because they were in such remote locations.

Documents say Zahra’s remains and the prosthetic leg she needed after an amputation because of her cancer were found around Hickory, a town of about 41,000 about 50 miles northwest of Charlotte. No one has been charged in her death. But police have cast doubt on claims by her father and stepmother, Adam and Elisa Baker, that
they last saw her alive Oct. 9.

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