911 Tapes Reveal Stepmother Reported a Fire the Day Zahra Baker Disappeared
Elisa Baker called 911 to report a fire the day Zahra disappeared.
Oct. 19, 2010— -- The Hickory. N.C., police department today released the tapes of the two 911 calls that Adam and Elisa Baker made, around the time their 10-year-old daughter, Zahra Baker, was reported missing.
WSOC-TV in Charlotte obtained the tape of the first call. On Oct. 9, the day Zahra disappeared, her stepmother, Elisa Baker, reported a fire in the back of the family's home in Hickory.
"My husband works for a tree maintenance company and our backyard is on fire. ... We've got big mulch piles and wood piles ... firewood and stuff," Elisa Baker told the 911 operator.
Police told WSOC-TV that they now believe the fire had been set deliberately, but no one has been charged in connection with the incident.
Eight hours later on the morning of Oct. 10, Adam Baker, 33, made a second 911 call to report his daughter was missing, police said.
"Hey, how are you doing? I need police," Baker said to one dispatcher, before he was transferred to a second dispatcher, who took down his information.
On the tape with the second dispatcher, of which ABC News obtained a recording, Baker can be heard describing how the police had been out to his house the night before on a seemingly different case.
Listen to the full recording of Adam Baker's 911 call HERE.
"The police were out here last night after finding a 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 told the 911 operator, saying that he last saw his daughter around 2:30 a.m. that night.
"I don't know if they set a fire in the yard to distract us to go out and then they snuck in the door, or, I don't know," he continued. "Somebody had put gas in my company's truck that I drive for work. They left the ransom note on the company vehicle to my boss saying they had his daughter and his son was next."
Later in the call, Baker can be heard chuckling with the dispatcher after he described his daughter's disappearance.
"My daughter's coming into puberty so she's in that brooding stage, so we only see her when she comes out, when she wants something," he said.
A prime suspect in the case, Elisa Baker, 42, is currently being held on an obstruction of justice charge, after police said she admitted to writing the fake ransom note and demanding $1 million in unmarked bills. Her court-appointed attorney said Elisa is "scared to death" and very emotional.Baker continues to deny she had anything to do with Zahra's disappearance.
Adam Baker told the Associated Press on Friday that he is still not sure that his wife was involved in his daughter's disappearance, adding that he just wants to find Zahra and take her back to his family's native Australia.
Hickory police also announced today that they are asking for Zahra's medical records, including the model, serial number and composition of the artificial leg she received from an Australian medical facility. Deputy Police Chief Maj. Clyde Deal told ABC News that this was standard procedure for any case. The 10-year-old had lost her hearing and left leg to cancer.
Authorities confirmed over the weekend that the missing girl was last seen alive on Sept. 25. On that day, the girl and her stepmother visited a Hickory furniture store, said the store's manager, Pat Adams. The AP reported Adams said she went to police after seeing the girl's picture on the news and recalling the visit.
