Zahra Baker: Stepmother denies butchering body but says she knows who did
SHE was rejected at birth by her mother, then battled bone cancer, lost her hearing and had her leg amputated all before the age of six. But the worst was yet to come.
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ZAHRA Baker started the last day of her life eating boiled eggs, watching Disney and playing with Polly Pocket toys.
Her stepmother Elisa said she can recall every moment in graphic detail.
The last thing they said to each other, Baker claims, was: “I love you, I’ll see you in a minute”.
This was before she left the little girl home alone for 15 minutes to get cash. During this period, Baker claims Zahra died from the cancer she had battled throughout her childhood.
Baker said it was hours later that she sat listening to the sound of water running in the bathroom as the beautiful girl was chopped into small pieces in the tub.
Baker, speaking from inside North Carolina’s Correctional Institute for Women in the US where she is about to launch an appeal bid, said she found Zahra dead in her bed.
She blames someone else for the horrific butchering that followed and takes no responsibility for the crime.
For legal reasons, The Courier-Mail can’t identify that person. “I actually thought (the person) was taking a shower because I could hear water running. I didn’t know. I had no idea. God I had no idea,” she said.
Baker can be disarmingly warm. She makes lots of eye contact, is non-aggressive when challenged and sheds tears when recalling the horror of that day.
But her character references are sketchy. This is a woman who has spent a lifetime lying and pretending to be something she’s not.
Baker met Zahra’s dad, Adam, online and the pair later married when Baker went to visit Adam in Giru, southwest of Townsville.
Her marriage to Adam, however, was never legal because she was already married. During the Baker investigation, police also nabbed her for bigamy, drugs and writing false cheques.
Today, Baker is desperate to claim she is not a monster.
She is even looking forward to a future outside of prison where she can reunite with her children and grandchildren. “The truth is if you did know Elisa Baker you’d know she was not a monster,” she said. “I never have been, I never will be.”
She also claims she’s friends with women in prison who are disabled. She wants to prove that Zahra’s disability did not create tension in their relationship.
“I’m very soft hearted, I have a big heart,” she said. “There’s several people here who are handicapped as well and I’m right in with them. Being the mamma figure.” .
The plea deal Baker signed back in 2011 included an aggravating factor.
“The defendant has a history and pattern of physical, verbal and psychological abuse of the victim”, it stated.
Trying to rewrite history, Baker now describes how close she was to Zahra, despite claiming the girl’s father Adam didn’t reveal he had a daughter when they first courted each other online.
“It finally came out and he didn’t know if I could handle the fact that he had a daughter who was dying of cancer. And I was like why? It doesn’t bother me,” she said.
“I jumped in no questions asked. She was like my own. Zahra completely depended on me at home because Adam worked … She automatically latched on and we got very very close.”
When asked how Zahra died alone in just 15 minutes, Baker points to her cancer which was believed to be in remission. “I think the cancer had come back and we didn’t know,” Baker said.
“Cause here, living in both places, Australia is more advanced than we are with health care.”
Baker has friends in prison, spends time reading her Bible and has a night shift prison job doing laundry.
On the day of this interview, she has matched purple eyeshadow to a thin purple alice band that keeps her hair bob in place.
Purple was said to be one of young Zahra’s favourite colours.
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