Zahra Baker Case: Dad Denies He Dismembered Daughter

Nov. 17, 2010— -- The father of North Carolina 10-year-old Zahra Baker denied that he had anything to do with the dismemberment of his daughter.

"There's no way I would do that to my baby," Adam Baker told CBS News' North Carolina affiliate WBTV. "There's no way in the world I wouldhurt my daughter."

Zahra, who had lost her left leg in a childhood battle with cancer, was dismembered after her death. Her remains were spread across several different places, Zahra's stepmother, Elisa Baker, told investigators , according to court documents filed as part of a bond reduction hearing.

Elisa Baker's attorneys also claim Baker led searchers to Zahra's prosthetic leg.

The leg, a bone fragment and the girl's remains were discovered in different locations.

Elisa Baker is in jail, being held on charges including felony obstruction of justice after she allegedly admitted to writing a fake ransom note following her stepdaughter's disappearance.

Adam Baker, 33, is currently free on bail after he was arrested on unrelated charges last month. He was later released on bond.

In jailhouse letters, Elisa Baker said her husband, Adam, did something "horrifying" to Zahra after she was dead. Adam Baker's attorney told ABC News Tuesday those claims were nothing more than a "desperate" attempt at distraction.

The case has received intense international media attention in the past several weeks. In part as a result of the public interest in Zahra's story, hundreds of people packed Hickory's Union Square Tuesday evening to remember her on what would have been her 11th birthday.

Elisa Baker's sister, April Fairchild, was at the vigil. She told WSOC-TV that her relationship with her sister kept her from seeing Zahra frequently and that the family has now turned against Elisa.

"Whether her story that she comes out with now is true, there is no justification even still," she said. "The family does not support her."

Two weeks before police announced they had discovered Zahra Baker's remains, Elisa Baker indicated in a jailhouse letter that the child was dead, but expressed no remorse or guilt -- only self-pity and vague accusations against her husband.

"I was trying to save us both, but why should I? He is letting everyone destroy me," Elisa Baker wrote, referring to Adam Baker.

In an earlier letter Elisa Baker wrote, "We really didn't kill her, but what he [Adam Baker] did after the fact is kinda horrifying."

In the latest letter, obtained exclusively by ABC News, Baker said she "ain't the monster people are saying."

She also said she was frustrated by her lawyer's refusal to allow her to do TV interview requests. "I want a chance to be heard damn it. This is my life and everyone is playing with and I have no control over what is said or done," she wrote.

She sarcastically commented on the negative media attention she's received. "Maybe I should just change my name to Evil, what do you think? LOL."

In the letter, written to crime memorabilia dealer Eric Gein, Baker says she will be living alone when she gets out of prison. In three rambling pages, she never mentions Zahra or any concern for her stepdaughter, who was still a missing person when the letter was written on Oct. 29. She also doesn't cite any remorse for the girl's disappearance.

Gein, who runs the website SerialKillersInk.net, told ABC News he contacted Elisa Baker by letter weeks ago under an assumed name. The most recent letter is the third he received in return.

ABC News has learned that Lisa Dubs, a capital punishment attorney, has been "provisionally appointed for any potential homicide charge" in Baker's defense, according to Baker's primary attorney Scott Reilly.

"Unfortunately, this man, who apparently goes by the false persona of 'Damien' used fraud and deceit with the sole intention of profiting from the disappearance of Zahra Baker," Dubs said in a statement to ABC News. "Ms. Baker unfortunately believed this man's representations that he only wanted to offer friendship and support during her incarceration. Much of the information in these letters is in response to specific questions posed by this man.

"The release of these letters is regrettable and only serves to sensationalize an already complicated situation," she added.

Jailhouse Letters Signed 'Dark Wishes, Elesa'

In the previous letter also obtained by ABC News, Elisa Baker, 42, maintained neither she nor her husband killed Zahra, but that the father did something "horrifying" after the girl was dead. In the new letter, she said she is working with police to get him locked up "for [her] safety."

"My family will never believe Adam has done what he has," the letter says. "I am helping the cops try and get my soon-to-be ex-husband in here. The cops promised if I would help them with what I know, they would keep him locked up for my safety... I was trying to save us both, but why should I? He is letting everyone destroy me."

Mark Killian, an attorney for Adam Baker, said news of the letter is just another painful hit for the man who learned his daughter was dead on Friday.

"These accusations are... I don't know know what to say," Killian told ABC News. "Mr. Baker obviously categorically denies any of this.... We just see these writings as desperate attempts of someone incarcerated to divert attention away."

Killian said Adam Baker took news of his daughter's death as "shock... just the worst nightmare."

In the letter Elisa said she feels like a "freak in a carnival" whenever she's in view of the media's cameras and is concerned about being attacked while in prison.

"[But it's] not like I am not able to defend my freaking self," she writes.

The letter is signed, "Dark Wishes, Elesa." She claims in the letter she had changed her name from Elisa to Elesa.

Zahra's Biological Mother Hopes Adam Baker Not Involved

Zahra Baker's Australian biological mother said Sunday she is trying to believe the girl's father was not involved in her death.

"I have to take a step back and think of the possibility that maybe Adam [Baker] wasn't involved and maybe he is hurting as well," Emily Dietrich told the Australia-based Seven Network.

Dietrich, who lives in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia, had given Baker custody of Zahra when she suffered post-natal depression. She told the television station she hadn't seen her daughter since the girl was 8 months old and didn't know that Baker had taken her to the United States until days before she was reported missing, Oct. 9.

"I can't explain the anger, the hurt," she said. "He had no right to do any of it, to keep her from me."

The girl's remains were discovered last week during a search in Caldwell County, N.C., where the Baker family previously lived.

Zahra was reported missing by her stepmother and father on Oct. 9, but police say no one outside of the family has reported seeing her since Sept. 25.

The girl had a grueling life. Stricken with bone cancer, she lost her left leg and much of her hearing. Relatives and neighbors said that Elisa Baker, was abusive to Zahra, who was often bruised.

ABC News' Yunji de Nies and Dean Schabner contributed to this report.