Zahra Baker: Easy conscience of child killer
THE woman behind the murder of an Australian girl keeps a grisly jailhouse memento of her slain 10-year-old stepdaughter.
QLD News
Don't miss out on the headlines from QLD News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
THE woman behind the grisly murder of an Australian girl is plotting her exit from a US prison, and wants to appeal the sentence for the death and dismemberment of young cancer survivor Zahra Baker.
Convicted murderer Elisa Baker has chillingly described for the first time how she keeps a photo of her slain 10-year-old stepdaughter pinned inside her North Carolina prison locker and has friends deliver flowers to the site where she dumped the butchered remains 5½ years ago.
In an exclusive jailhouse interview with The Courier-Mail, Baker, 47, hauntingly tells of her plans to live a full life with her grandchildren, including one who is the same age that Zahra would have been had she survived.
Baker, who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder to dodge the death penalty, refuses to admit to the 2010 murder and butchering of her stepdaughter, insisting she’s a “good mamma” with a life ahead of her.
Zahra – the freckle-faced Australian girl known for her infectious smile – had been in the US for less than two years when she was cut up and dumped in North Carolina’s Hickory foothills.
Her father, Australian man Adam Baker, had fallen for Elisa online before marrying her in Queensland.
Until that day of horror, the little girl born in Wagga Wagga, NSW, had been a survivor, beating childhood cancer twice and carrying a beaming smile even when the disease left her with a prosthetic leg and deafness.
Now, in a fresh twist on the case, Baker reveals she is making inquiries about mounting an appeal, claiming she was pressured and rushed into signing her plea.
“There’s things in the works, yes. It’s the understanding that they think I have a very good case,” she says, claiming her plea options weren’t properly explained to her and she was rushed to sign the deal in 15 minutes.
“When I signed that plea I signed it under duress,” Baker says.
The time for a traditional appeal has lapsed, but Baker could attempt to mount a motion for appropriate relief which is notoriously difficult but not impossible.
It comes as the man who locked Baker up in 2011 claims a “conflict of interest” existed between the murderer and her defence lawyer.
Former District Attorney Jay Gaither, who lost re-election for his position after the high-profile case, says he believes evidence was tampered with in the investigation by Baker’s lawyer.
He says the lawyer collected a saw from the site of Zahra’s remains and held on to it for two days before turning it in to authorities.
Mr Gaither asserts that because of this “unethical conduct”, a conflict of interest arose between Baker and her defence lawyer after he collected the evidence.
“If you have done things that are wrong, if you’ve violated ethical rules, if you’ve violated criminal laws, that would make sense that you would begin to pressure your client and you would want to hasten on to a resolution that would most effectively put your wrongdoing in the rearview mirror,” Mr Gaither said.
Baker’s lawyer Scott Reilly, who competed with Gaither for DA in 2014, firmly denies any wrongdoing. His actions were never called into question during the case.
He also says Baker was given adequate time to consider the plea.
“It bothers me that someone would think I was trying to be unethical in handling the case with respect to that saw,” he says. “At the time we were thinking because of conversations with Elisa … we were hopeful this saw was going to exonerate her and corroborate her story.”
Mr Reilly says he believes the evidence against Baker is overwhelming and that before a jury, his client could receive a life sentence.
Baker says she sees prison as a stepping stone.
“This is not home to me, this is a stepping stone. I have a home. So I hope to be able to walk out of the gate and pick up a life and pick up some sort of relationship with my children and my grandchildren,” she says.
Without appeal, Baker is due for release on the murder charges in June 2025.
She then has an additional 10 years to serve on federal drugs charges.
Man dies at scene of motorcycle crash
A man in his 50s has died at the scene of a motorcycle crash in Queensland’s south.
Emergency declaration as 17 crews battle blaze near major Brisbane road
Police have made an emergency declaration as 17 firefighting crews continue to battle a blaze in Brisbane’s north more than two hours after it ignited close to one of the city’s busiest roads.