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Nancy Grace
Police Search Pond for Missing 10-Year-Old Cancer Survivor
Aired October 13, 2010 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
NANCY GRACE, HOST: Breaking news tonight, live, North Carolina. A 10-year-old little girl snatched from her own bedroom in the dark of night. The little girl, Zahra, completely dependent on two hearing aids and can only walk using a prosthetic leg after losing her left leg to childhood bone cancer. This little girl, facing so much hardship, now vanishes into thin air, her bedroom empty, her prosthetic leg missing, hearing aids left behind. The last person to see Zahra alive, stepmommy. Investigators zero in on a ransom note. K9s hit on Daddy`s industrial wood chipper and around family cars, as search teams scour densely wooded areas, combing grainy surveillance video from nearby businesses.
In a stunning twist, stepmommy arrested on bad checks, as Zahra`s dad says his whole marriage has been a lie. Investigators seizing items from the home, including gas cans and samples of possible blood from the family car. Did stepmommy confess to the phony million-dollar ransom note? Police can`t even track Zahra`s whereabouts for the whole last month. And now a day late, a dollar short, friends, relatives come forward to say the stepmom made Zahra`s life a living hell.
Bombshell tonight. Right now, at this hour, police draining a pond in the search for little Zahra, this pond being drained as we go to air adjacent -- next to -- a late-night search that went on into the wee hours last night at Daddy`s former job site. What do they hope to find in the pond? This as a cell phone photo surfaces of Zahra with a black eye just weeks before she disappears.
In the last hours, stepmommy in full shackles, flanked by lawyers, in court on obstruction. Zahra`s father there at the search tonight, but is he cooperating or is he covering for his wife? The local sheriff says he`s skeptical of Daddy`s desperation to find his little girl. Tonight, where is Zahra?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A ransom note.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "We have your daughter."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A missing child.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s 10 years old.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cancer survivor.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Zahra Claire Baker.
GRACE: The stepmother is behind bars.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please state your name, please.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Elisa.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Elisa.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Elisa Baker.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Elisa Baker in a North Carolina courtroom this morning.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Baker was charged.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Charged.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Charged with a class A.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Felony obstruction of justice.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Elisa Baker committed to writing the ransom note.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You`ve been served with a copy of that warrant.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Many disturbing things about this story.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Little Zahra Baker.
GRACE: Vanishes into thin air.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We cannot confirm that anyone has seen Zahra within the last month.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Zahra`s stepmom.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Easily got frustrated with the little girl.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Elisa Baker.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: History of cruelty.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Cadaver dogs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Possible blood stains.
GRACE: Search teams scouring densely wooded areas.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This investigation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is not being investigated.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A homicide investigation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You see the pictures of her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was a bruise under her eye.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That beautiful smile.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Her mother, you know, broke her hand while spanking her.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That light inside of her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) I hate you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And if she wouldn`t walk right, she would get punished.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us. Bombshell tonight. Live, North Carolina. A 10-year-old little girl, completely dependent on two hearing aids, losing her left leg to childhood bone cancer, snatched from her own bedroom in the dark of night. At this hour, right now, police draining a pond in the search for little Zahra. This pond is adjacent to -- next to -- a late-night search that went on into the wee hours last night at Daddy`s former job site. This as a cell photo surfaces of Zahra with a black eye just weeks before she disappears.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Elisa Baker.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Cuffs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Elisa Baker.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: $72,000 bond.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Elisa Baker, a pink jumpsuit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Zahra`s stepmom.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She`s been charged with obstruction of justice.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) a felony of obstructing justice.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So many people failed her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A frantic search is on to find Zahra Baker.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`ve got a large area to search.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The woods and the brush.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) limbs and different debris.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pretty rural out here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Zahra`s dad, Adam Baker.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Seems concerned.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dad Adam Baker.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don`t know how sincere his concern is.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Watched last night as crews searched.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don`t believe him?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don`t.
GRACE: This little girl is either missing or dead.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Get punished.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Black eye.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Spanking her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How she`s being treated, this is going -- this is going to happen.
GRACE: And nobody did a thing!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Straight out to Natisha Lance. She is standing by there at the pond draining site. Natisha, what do you see?
NATISHA LANCE, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Well, Nancy, just moments before we went to air, we received word that there were sheriff`s deputies, as well as fire trucks rushing to this scene. And once we arrived on the scene, we are able to confirm that police are draining this pond that is adjacent to the area that they searched just yesterday into the early morning hours this morning.
Now, there`s several sheriff`s officers who are around this area. They are using large police firemen, police hoses in order to drain this pond. They say that they will be out there as long as it takes. Police have told us already that they are searching for a body.
Now, as we have been here, more sheriff`s officers have arrived on the scene. They are using flashlights. At one point, they had blocked our view from being able to see what was going on at the pond. Choppers have been overhead trying to get as much visual as we can see at this point. But again, they will be here as long as it takes in order to find what they need, Nancy.
GRACE: OK, Natisha Lance, how do you know they`re draining the pond? What equipment have you seen? Have you seen the hoses? How are they draining it?
LANCE: They are draining it using the firemen -- the large firemen hoses. I have seen several firemen who are around that area, also deputies with the sheriff`s office. There are also people out there with fatigues. I believe that they are with the SWAT team, but we don`t have confirmation on that at this point. They are using flashlights to walk around the area,, as well.
Now, let me tell you about this area. It`s a large clearing, Nancy. Can`t tell how big the pond is. But speaking to neighbors, there are several ponds in this area. And this area, according to another neighbor, is about six acres.
Now, again, police were led to this area initially because Adam Baker, the father of Zahra Baker, has equipment that he keeps on this land. And now they searched a wood chipper. We have heard reports that police -- that cadaver dogs hit on that wood chipper in the previous searches that they did. Also, a foreman who worked with Adam Baker lives very close by this search area, and it is believed that Adam Baker was on that property around the time that they believe Zahra may have disappeared.
GRACE: OK, Natisha Lance, standing by at the pond that is being drowned right now as we go to air. Natisha, did I hear you correctly say they are looking for Zahra`s body?
LANCE: That`s correct, Nancy. We actually spoke to the sheriff of Burke County, who is organizing this search. We spoke to him yesterday. And he said that they are looking for a human body. They have not deviated from that. This whole search, the whole crux of the search in this area is to find Zahra`s body.
GRACE: Everybody, you are seeing video of the search of the pond. Now, take a look at this pond. It is adjacent to a densely wooded area where Zahra`s father, her biological father -- it was his former work site. He has stored equipment there. He is a landscaper, a tree trimmer. There you see they have now lit up the scene. Take a look at the scene on the right. They are working through the night, draining this pond.
And let me tell you something -- out to you, Marc Klaas, president and founder of Klaas Kids Foundation -- you don`t set up a nighttime search -- which is not an easy thing to do -- a night search in water is very, very hard to do -- unless you think you`ve got something.
MARC KLAAS, KLAAS KIDS FOUNDATION: This is such an incredibly heart- breaking story, and I think we have to be much less willing to give the benefit of the doubt to the father, at this point. He certainly doesn`t seem to have cleared himself. Questions are being raised about him.
And this whole business of the mother having -- the stepmother having written the ransom note to deviate away from what actually happened, I think, is probably the biggest red flag I`ve seen in this situation yet. Unless she is responsible for the disappearance of this girl, there`s no logic in the world that I can see why she would have written a ransom note.
GRACE: Well, Marc Klaas, your original vein of thought -- we heard so many stories last night. And throughout the days that we have been covering this, people are coming out of the woodworks -- I might add, a day late and a dollar short. Where were they when the little girl needed them in life? But now they`re all coming out, talking about how the stepmom has made her life hell. Where was Daddy? Daddy was at home. He wasn`t gone all the time. If he stood by and let this happen, much less take part in it, he is just as guilty as the killer! And let me point out that Zahra`s stepmother has not been named a suspect in this case.
We are taking your calls. Monica in Indiana. Hi, Monica.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. Good afternoon.
GRACE: Hi, dear. What`s your question?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, my question is -- I worked at an orthopedic hospital, and I`m next to positive you could not send a prosthetic leg through a wood chipper because of the type of plastic and the titanium that`s in it. Could they be draining that pond, looking for her leg?
GRACE: Monica in Indiana, that is incredibly insightful. Take a look at this shot that we got off of MySpace. Thank you, Dana. Take a look at Zahra`s left leg. The little thing has fought not only child bone cancer, but a recurrence of lung cancer, according to our sources. And if you`ll notice, in every picture, this little girl is smiling. Every picture.
I`m going to go out now to Howard Oliver, former deputy medical examiner, forensic pathologist, joining us out of LA. I think Monica`s onto something. What about it? What are these prosthetic legs made out of?
DR. HOWARD OLIVER, FORMER DPTY. MEDICAL EXAMINER: Well, like she said, the legs are made out of titanium, and a wood chipper could not possibly grind that up, or the plastic, either. The grinding the body up, however, would leave so much evidence, you`d have to practically destroy the wood chipper to get rid of the evidence.
GRACE: To Ellie Jostad...
OLIVER: So it`s not likely that he used it...
GRACE: ... our chief editorial producer. Ellie, what do we know about the wood chipper? It`s my understanding that dogs, K9s, hit on around the family cars and on Daddy`s wood chipper. Explain to me and the audience, why does Daddy need a wood chipper, an industrial wood chipper?
ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Well, Nancy, what they`re saying is, actually, it was the wood chipper on this property that`s being searched that the dogs hit on. But you`re exactly right about the cars. They said both family cars, the dogs hit on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A frantic search is on.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`ve got a large area to search.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To find Zahra Baker.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Cancer patient.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hearing aids.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lost her leg.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is now being investigated as a homicide.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Homicide.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Murder case.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police say.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Elisa Baker.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stepmom.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Admitted she wrote a ransom note.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now her stepmom has been charges with interfering in the case.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stepmother.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who was in court.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you state your name, please?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Elisa (INAUDIBLE) Baker.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Elisa Baker cuffed, in that pink jumpsuit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Felony of obstructing justice.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Amber Alert on Zahra Baker will be canceled.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is now a homicide investigation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will turn into a homicide investigation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They hit on a wood chipper. They searched this site before.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A number of patrol cars lined up around that bend.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was reported missing Saturday afternoon. She may have been missing much longer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A bunch of farmland back there. There`s some trees, maybe a couple other little houses.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did the father seem sincere when you were talking to him?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He seems concerned.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But you don`t believe that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don`t know how sincere his concern is.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s certainly tragic. How could anybody not be concerned about their own daughter (INAUDIBLE) what I know about (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did the father seem sincere when you were talking to him?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He seems concerned.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But you don`t believe that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don`t know how sincere his concern is.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don`t believe him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don`t.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He says he had nothing to do with it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wouldn`t (ph) say that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We are taking your calls. Right now, out to Franco Ordonez, reporter with "The Charlotte Observer." Franco, what can you tell us?
FRANCO ORDONEZ, "CHARLOTTE OBSERVER" (via telephone): Hey, you know, it`s such a tragedy down here. You know, I think everybody is just trying to make sense of all of this. You know, here, Hickory, North Carolina, these towns around there, are really peaceful places. They`re at the foot of the mountains. And the family and loved ones of this little girl are just really just kind of so confused and asking themselves, how did this not (SIC) happen, as you were saying earlier.
GRACE: Franco, they`re confused because they`ve been telling our producers now for three days how the mother, the stepmother, made the little girl`s life a living hell, how she would be bruised, how even on that prosthetic leg, she would force the girl to walk, and when she couldn`t keep up, she would get punished, how she was kept in her room nearly 24 hours a day and would tell visitors, Oh, she likes it. She`s used to being in a hospital.
And Franco Ordonez, did you see this picture that just surfaced of little Zahra with a black eye? So tell me again, Franco Ordonez with "The Charlotte Observer," who`s surprised?
ORDONEZ: I think they`re surprised -- and I can`t see that picture, but they`re surprised of why nothing has been done. They`re confused because they did report these things to authorities. They reported them to the Department of Social Services, according to family members and friends that we`ve spoken to. And they didn`t -- they say nothing happened.
GRACE: You know -- Franco Ordonez is joining us from "The Charlotte Observer" -- that is very, very critical in my mind, what DFACS, Department of Family and Children`s Services did or did not observe. And what if anything, did they do? What did they learn, Franco? Franco, who are you speaking to that says, I called family services?
ORDONEZ: Well, we have neighbors. We`ve talked to neighbors who used to live next door to Elisa and Adam Baker, who said that they saw them and actually contacted the family and asked them who those people were. They acknowledged that they were -- that it was DSS. And also just today at the vigil, representatives of the family had said the same thing, that they had contacted DSS, that the family had contacted DSS, and that they tried. They really did try. That`s what they say.
GRACE: You know what, Franco? I`m so glad you told me that because I`ve heard so many people describe all the goings-on inside that home, and nobody lifted a finger to do anything about it. At least somebody tried to do something about it.
We are taking your calls. Out to Colleen in Wisconsin. Hi, Colleen.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi.
GRACE: Hi, dear. What`s your question?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I had a question. Have they checked the burn pit?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The burn pit?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They mentioned that they had been making a fire that night when they went to talk to them. And there was a case in Wisconsin where something similar, and they found the body in the burn pit.
GRACE: Are you referring to the fire at the home, Colleen?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
GRACE: Good question. To you, John Miller. John is joining us there at the family home. He`s the editor of "The Hickory Daily Record." John, thank you for being with us.
JOHN MILLER, "HICKORY DAILY RECORD": You`re welcome.
GRACE: John, what do you know about what was burned at the home?
MILLER: Well, they were out here searching the yard and searching the home again today, just as they were searching again in Burke County this afternoon. So nothing came out of the search here today at the home. Nothing came out of the search in Burke County. But they`re on alert to be searching any location that they get any indication that they do look at.
GRACE: Everyone, you are seeing aerial video of a search that`s going on right now. The pond adjacent to the spot the father had access to, where the wood chipper was, which K9s hit on -- this pond is being drained at this hour. The pond, again, adjacent to the father`s work site.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Zahra Baker, stepmother of this child, missing girl with cancer, was in court.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: State your name, please.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police say during a jailhouse interview, a confession.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Elisa Baker admitted to writing the ransom note left on the vehicle at the fire scene at Zahra`s home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Elisa (INAUDIBLE) Baker, do you understand you`ve been charged with a class H -- class H (ph) common law offense, felony of obstructing justice?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Zahra`s case started out, of course, as an Amber Alert. It`s now being handled as a homicide.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We are taking your calls. To Ellie Jostad. Ellie, tell me about the fire, the fire that Colleen was asking about.
JOSTAD: Right. Well, the fire was not actually in a fire pit. It was in a mulch pile. When police initially came to that house on Saturday morning, it was about 5:00, 5:30 in the morning. The call was that there was a fire in the mulch pile there. And there was also gasoline poured in one of the cars.
GRACE: Now, that doesn`t necessarily mean that`s where a body would be, but it could mean that`s where evidence was that they were trying to get rid of.
JOSTAD: Exactly, Nancy. Yes. And we do know that the dogs hit on both of those cars. So there may have been evidence in those cars.
GRACE: Joining me right now, special guest Carrie Fairchild. This is the stepmom`s, Elisa Baker`s, younger sister. Welcome, Carrie. Thank you for being with us.
CARRIE FAIRCHILD, SISTER OF ELISA BAKER (via telephone): Thank you.
GRACE: Carrie, a lot of suspicion on your sister right now. Tell me, has she been known to lie in the past?
FAIRCHILD: Yes, all growing up, she always made out like her children was sick and possibly dying, and same with herself. She always had 10 to 20 illnesses that she always would say that was wrong with her. And she just -- you couldn`t believe anything she ever said.
GRACE: What would -- with me is Carrie Fairchild, the stepmom`s younger sister. Carrie, I don`t understand that. Why would she make up all these illnesses of her own?
FAIRCHILD: I do not know. We never knew. From what I understand, I think someone tried to get her help a long time ago, but because she was over 18 and stuff, it just went nowhere.
GRACE: Well, Carrie, is it true that she has even put her children in a wheelchair to pretend they`re sick?
FAIRCHILD: Yes. And also, people have said on the news and stuff that the whole family just sat by and watched it happen and did nothing. And I just wanted to clarify that past (ph) the family, me included, has had a falling out with Elisa over a year ago and...
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Investigators` biggest problem? No Zahra Baker.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: State your name, please.
ELISA BAKER, STEP MOM OF MISSING 10-YEAR-OLD ZAHRA BAKER: Elisa Baker.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: She was reported missing Saturday afternoon. She may have been missing much longer.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Elisa Baker cuffed in that pink jumpsuit.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Police thought the stepmom`s story didn`t add up from the beginning.
BAKER: She`s determined. She wants to go to college. She can hear now. It`s been a blessing.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Police say Zahra`s stepmom has not been truthful.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Police found a ransom note on the windshield of a car doused in gasoline.
CHIEF TOM ATKINS, HICKORY POLICE: Elisa Baker admitted to writing the ransom note.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Canines gave positive alert for the presence of human remains.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Changed their investigation from a missing child to a homicide. And no idea how long she`d been missing or possibly how long she`s been dead.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
NANCY GRACE, HOST: We are taking your calls live at this hour. As we go to air tonight, we`ll show you the aerial video. A pond is being drained. A pond that is adjacent, next to the father`s work site.
Also, canine -- cadaver dogs hitting on an industrial wood chipper used by the father.
I want to go back quickly to Natisha Lance. She`s standing by there at the pond draining site.
Natisha, what do you see?
NATISHA LANCE, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Nancy, the pond area is about a tenth of a mile away from us. But we do know that they are still back there searching this pond area.
Again, they will be there as long as it takes. They are looking for a body. That is what prompted this search. Again, they were led there because Adam Baker, the father of Zahra Baker, has ties to this location.
Also, just as you stated before, cadaver dogs, reports of cadaver dogs hitting on a wood chipper in this search location. We also spoke to a neighbor who said that police told him they had found blood and they had come back to find more evidence that could corroborate that.
GRACE: To Mark Harrold, former officer with the Atlanta PD, attorney, author of "Observations of White Noise." Marc joining us out of D.C.
How difficult is a night search?
MARK HARROLD, FORMER OFFICER, ATLANTA PD, AUTHOR OF "OBSERVATIONS OF WHITE NOISE": Night search is very difficult for all the reasons you can imagine. It`s hard to communicate. It`s hard to see.
You know they can drag the pond, they can search the pond. The fact that they`re actually draining the pond, the hardest thing to do, especially at night, makes me think there`s really something that they think is there and they have some evidence that tells them it is.
GRACE: I want to go back to the stepmother`s younger sister joining us. Carrie Fairchild.
Just as we were going to break, Carrie, you told us that a little over a year ago you had a big falling out with the stepmom. Why?
CARRIE FAIRCHILD, YOUNGEST SISTER OF MISSING GIRL`S STEPMOM ELISA BAKER: Well, she just had done our father real wrong. They come back from Australia and moved in with him. And they just said they`d pay the bills and didn`t.
And it just -- everything got cut off on him and everything and half of the family just had a falling out with her over it. And we --
GRACE: Carrie, why did they move so much? Why did they move from place to place?
FAIRCHILD: She`s always done that. I do not know.
GRACE: You know, I`ve got another question.
Out to you, John Miller, standing by at the family home there in Hickory, North Carolina. We are waiting, as we go to air, as we broadcast live tonight to find out the results of this pond draining.
A pond being drained adjacent to a work site of the father`s. As you know, he`s a landscaper, a tree trimmer, and apparently now canine dogs have hit on an industrial wood chipper the father had access to. The father used in his line of business.
John Miller, I want to go back to what, if anything, we have learned about Zahra`s home life.
JOHN MILLER, EDITOR, HICKORY DAILY RECORD: Well, one of the things that we`ve learned as we`ve got more information now about before she came here to the United States. About her bouts with cancer. When she was born. She was born in Wagga Wagga, Queensland, Australia, and had a very happy life there, even though she was diagnosed for cancer and treated there.
Her family moved here in 2008 to Granite Falls. And that`s really their first instance here in the United States where this story began to unfold. But it really began to unfold badly once they got here to the United States. Prior to that, apparently she had a very happy life with her grandmother and other people in Australia --
GRACE: That`s because she was living with her grandmother.
MILLER: That`s right. Exactly right.
GRACE: She was live with her grandmother, isn`t that correct, Ellie?
ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE CHIEF EDITORIAL PRODUCER: Nancy, her dad had moved to the town where the grandparents lived to get a job and she was raised essentially by her grandmother there in Australia.
GRACE: You know, Ellie, the ransom note is just ridiculous to suggest somebody wants $1 million from a family that`s barely making ends meet. Did the stepmother even work?
JOSTAD: No. From everybody -- what everybody is telling us, she was a stay-at-home mom. Didn`t work.
GRACE: So she what? Just stayed home to mistreat the 10-year-old?
JOSTAD: Well, and she was apparently also on MySpace a lot, posting about her mysterious illnesses as well.
GRACE: And tell me what do we learn from the stepmother`s MySpace account?
JOSTAD: Well, Nancy, she has a post on there where she claims that she has a rare disease with no cure. She also said that she`d had brain cancer three times. She has things like Rob Zombie songs, skull and crossbones. She talks about how she`s Goth and proud of it.
And she also complains about how, you know, her family hasn`t stuck by her, that she can`t trust them, except for her husband.
GRACE: You know, a lot of people are now wondering, and Marc Klaas brought this up earlier, just how desperate the father`s search for the little girl is.
Marc Klaas, president and founder of KlaasKids Foundation. Did you hear the sheriff state he`s not convinced the father is cooperating fully?
MARC KLAAS, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, KLAASKIDS FOUNDATION: Well, he certainly did. And the mother just -- the stepmother just stated that he is the only person that she can fully trust.
And, again, this just does not make this man look good. They should have left this little girl in Australia to be raised by her grandmother. Then she would have had a chance. This poor child has not had a chance.
God, Nancy, it`s evil. It`s just downright evil the way this woman lives her life, the way she treats other people and one has to ask one`s self, where is the joy in that kind of a life? What kind of satisfaction can you get out of treating people cruelly and potentially even ultimately murdering them? It`s just awful.
GRACE: Marc Klaas, everyone, president and founder of KlaasKids Foundation. When you are referring to the way little Zahra was treated by her stepmother, what specifically are you referring to?
KLAAS: Well, there`s the black eye that we`ve seen. There are the instances of people seeing this little girl being force marched on her prosthetic leg. You know, there`s the idea that this woman, with all of this other horrible stuff going on in her life, was somehow home-schooling this little girl.
The fact that this poor little girl has just -- she`s had cancer all of her life. She`s gone deaf. She`s living on one leg. She`s being treated badly by this mother. The father seems to be either complicit or completely ignorant of everything and that`s kind of hard to believe at this point.
And now where are we? We are at a point where they are draining a pond in the middle of the night trying to look for her remains.
GRACE: You know, Marc, I had someone that -- well, many, many stories have been reported to me. Not all that I can report on air. But I learned, Marc Klaas, that her happiest times would be when she would go visit a relative or a friend. And then when it would get time to go home, Zahra would run to the back of the house and hide. And refuse to come out to go home.
And would start yelling, I hate you, I hate you, to everybody that was making her go home to her mommy. She did not want to go home to the stepmother and would cry and hide at other people`s homes when it was time to go home.
You know, Marc, when I go pick up the twins from playschool, they see me at the end of the hall and they start running. And it`s all I can do -- we`re not supposed to go past a certain point, to not run to them. And they run full speed. I brace myself when they are going to hit.
This little girl would go hide. Hide in other people`s homes when it was time to go home to her stepmother.
KLAAS: And you know, Nancy, there were reports -- there were reports to the Department of Family Services and apparently they were ignored. Somebody should have intervened on this child`s behalf. That`s what we`re supposed to do as a society. And again, it`s just another failure.
GRACE: And here we are, like you said, Marc Klaas, in the middle of the night draining a pond and searching a wood chipper.
Unleash the lawyers. Joey Jackson, defense attorney, New York. Hugo Rodriguez, defense attorney, Miami.
All right, Hugo, give me your best shot. What`s your best defense for stepmommy?
HUGO RODRIGUEZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY, FMR. FBI AGENT: Right now, she`s a very troubled woman who obviously has stepped right on it. The extortion letter, the demand letter, inculpates her as to that.
Someone asked before, is she cooperating any further? Now she`s been lawyered up. She`s obviously a focus. We don`t know what else she`s done.
The father is also a target. He hasn`t been seriously looked -- he is being looked at. He hasn`t been charged, but he is a focus of their investigation.
GRACE: Well, Joey Jackson --
RODRIGUEZ: This child hasn`t been seen for 30 days.
GRACE: The stepmother admits to writing this phony million-dollar ransom note then obviously she`s implicated in the little girl`s disappearance.
JOEY JACKSON, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, I don`t think so. I think there`s a different issue. Why? People panic. People have fear. There can be many reasonable explanations as to why she wrote the ransom note.
GRACE: Come one. Jackson.
JACKSON: Maybe she felt if she didn`t do it --
GRACE: Rodriguez. They have a fire at the home. This little girl gets kidnapped?
RODRIGUEZ: This girl has not been seen --
GRACE: And there`s a ransom note in 24 hours?
RODRIGUEZ: This girl has not been seen for 30 days.
JACKSON: Perhaps she thought, if she wrote the note, people would unfairly focus on her. There`s a logical explanation. We`re rushing to judgment.
GRACE: Yes. Well, the one you just gave me didn`t make much sense.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Police looking for signs of remains.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`ve got a large area to search here.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: They hit on a wood chipper. They searched this site before.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: A number of patrol cars lined up around that bend.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Seems that the information keeps leading back to this location and we`re going to be here until we rule it out.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You came here specifically to hunt for remains?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. At this point, we have nothing to lead us to believe anything else.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Zahra`s father. He was here on the scene.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We cannot confirm that anyone has seen Zahra within the last month.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Zahra is hearing impaired and she has a prosthetic leg.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s 10 years old. She`s scared.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a high degree of faith that law enforcement is going to solve this case.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Police say Zahra`s stepmom has not been truthful.
ATKINS: Inconsistencies developed over the course of this investigation has not eliminated her as a person of interest. This outcome will not be positive.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Talking about the stepmother`s lies, they include that she has had many, many illnesses, brain cancer, three times when in fact it`s her stepdaughter that had cancer. And that she writes songs for the "American Idol" contestant Chris Daughtry.
You know, "It`s Not Over", "Home", "Feels Like Tonight". I`m referring to the "American idol" contestant Chris Daughtry that the stepmom says that she has written songs for.
Out to the sister, Carrie Fairchild joining us. Did she tell you that, too, that she writes songs for Chris Daughtry?
FAIRCHILD: No, I`ve never heard that one.
GRACE: Yes, we`ve heard a lot. Carrie Fairchild is with us. This is the stepmom`s younger sister.
You know, Jeff Gardere -- Dr. Jeff, psychologist host of VH1`s "Dad Camp," what do you make of the stepmom?
JEFF GARDERE, PSYCHOLOGIST, HOST OF VH1`S "DAD CAMP": Sounds like the stepmom is not just a pathological liar but appears to have a borderline personality, in other words, a person --
GRACE: You know, Jeff, have you ever, ever come on the show and not accused somebody of a borderline personality complex -- disorder?
GARDERE: This woman does have borderline personality, Nancy. She has --
GRACE: Yes/no. That was a yes/no question.
GARDERE: The answer is yes. But she has all the classic symptoms. She lies. She has issues or has had issues with drug abuse. She has no stable relationships other than with the father of this child.
And she has been extremely abusive. She doesn`t trust anyone. It also seems like she has some sort of Munchausen syndrome where she has all these fictitious illnesses and Munchausen by proxy where she uses her stepdaughter to get attention for illnesses that she may or may not even have.
GRACE: And listen to this, Dr. Jeff. I`m going to go back to Carrie Fairchild, this is the stepmom`s younger sister.
Carrie, tell me about the incident where she brought one of the kids up in a wheelchair.
FAIRCHILD: This one time, she -- we had seen her put one in the wheelchair and say that she was sick with cancer and then, of course, she never got sick or anything. She was just always doing stuff. But we never seen no physical abuse. That`s the only thing. She was just bad with the lies. We never saw physical abuse. Just I guess more emotional.
GRACE: Carrie, how long has it been since you saw Zahra?
FAIRCHILD: I haven`t seen her for over a year.
GRACE: So apparently a lot has gone on in the past year.
FAIRCHILD: Yes.
GRACE: Let me see that cell phone shot of little Zahra. A 10-year- old little cancer survivor with a big black eye, Dana.
Ellie, what can you tell me about this black eye Zahra has?
JOSTAD: Well, we got this picture from a friend of the family. Her name is Brandy Stapleton. She says she took this picture on August 9th of this year. She said that the stepmom -- she told ABC that the stepmom actually didn`t want her to take the picture because of that bruise.
She explained it was from her being clumsy. It was from her chemo treatments. But Brandy took the picture anyway because she was just trying to get Zahra to smile. And you can see in that picture it looks like she`s got a shiner.
GRACE: Is it true that the friend says Zahra was feeling sad and down that day?
JOSTAD: Right.
GRACE: And the mom was trying to do anything to cheer her up and she thought she could get her to smile by taking a cell phone picture?
JOSTAD: Right. That`s why this woman Brandy Stapleton wanted to take the picture. She says she thought if she could get Zahra to smile for the picture it might cheer her up a little bit.
GRACE: Dr. Howard Oliver, joining us out of L.A. How do you get a black eye from chemo?
HOWARD OLIVER, FMR. DEPUTY MEDICAL EXAMINER, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: You can`t get a black eye from chemo. It would have to be an injury.
GRACE: So that`s all BS?
OLIVER: Yes, it is.
GRACE: Back to Natisha. Natisha lance standing by there at the pond draining.
Natisha, they are telling you they are looking for a body. Have they totally given up hope on finding Zahra alive?
LANCE: Well, Nancy, this started out as a missing person investigation. And then it turned into a homicide investigation. They are looking for a body. Police do not believe that Zahra is still alive.
They have not named a suspect, but they have persons of interest. They have not ruled anybody out as a person of interest. That includes the stepmother as well as the father, and the stepmother had her first appearance in court today for an obstruction of justice charge for that fake ransom note that she wrote and left on the family vehicle.
Also on the narrative of the arrest affidavit, it says for reporting an abduction of her stepdaughter Zahra which leads us to believe that she may have had knowledge before she reported Zahra missing that she was already deceased.
GRACE: OK, wait. Say that again. Natisha Lance was in court today. Let`s see that footage of the stepmom in court.
Tell me again what happened in court?
LANCE: Well, Nancy, she was led in. She had two attorneys on both sides of her. Her first attorney is from her -- larceny case from another county and the other attorney is court appointed.
The judge asked her several questions. Asked her if she understood the charges that are against her. Also asked her if she understood that the charge carries a maximum of a 30-month sentence. Asked her is she still wants to stick with the court appointed attorney to which she did.
Asked her if she had any question and she shook her now. She spoke barely above a whisper. And then she was led out of the courtroom. She was in that pink jumpsuit. She had shackles on her ankle as well as around her waist and she was also handcuffed.
GRACE: You know I cannot imagine living in the home as a child where the adult is this woman, your stepmother, that treats you like this and your father sits by.
Teresa in Illinois. Hi, Teresa. What`s your question?
TERESA, CALLER FROM ILLINOIS: Hi, Nancy. Love your show. Your twins are beautiful. Now my question is, why did they wait a month to report her missing instead of reporting her missing, you know, the first day? I mean do they have --
GRACE: John Miller, what do we know about when she went missing and when she was reported missing?
MILLER: She was reported missing Saturday afternoon. After her mother said last time she saw her was Saturday morning. But nobody in the neighborhood can remember seeing Zahra at all.
Apparently they moved here in September of this year. Nobody in Hickory can remember seeing her as a child.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Horrifying new developments tonight.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Ten-year-old Zahra Baker has not been found.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Police are search mulch piles and a wood chipper looking for signs of remains.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Zahra`s father. That`s Adam Baker. He was there on this scene watching.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: This comes after cadaver reportedly made positive hits on that equipment.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: This little girl in every picture is smiling. After battling cancer, still smiling, losing her hearing, still smiling. Prosthetic leg, leg amputated, still smiling.
Out to the lines, Deonna, North Carolina. Hi, Deonna.
DEONNA, CALLER FROM NORTH CAROLINA: Hi, Nancy. I love your show.
GRACE: Thank you, dear. What`s your question?
DEONNA: Well, my question is, this has been on the local news in our area. And she`s been in and out of school so much. And teachers are trained to pick up on these signs. How come nobody has noticed as much as a switch that anything was going on?
GRACE: What about it, Marc Klaas? What do you think about that? I mean the girl is going out and about, including in and out of school with black eyes.
KLAAS: We don`t know that she`s going in and out of school. From what I understand, she was being home schooled. Nobody has seen this child --
GRACE: That`s a recent development. She just started home schooling.
KLAAS: But nobody has seen the little girl in a long, long time.
GRACE: You`re right.
KLAAS: They stay one step -- they stay one step ahead of the law. They stay one step ahead of the authorities by moving constantly.
GRACE: To you, Dr. Jeff Gardere, I can`t imagine living in a home where your stepmother just for years is abusing you this way and the father does nothing.
GARDERE: What they did, Nancy, is that they beat this child down physically and emotionally where she became dependent on them for any kind of love that she can get. The father seems to be a very weak personality, dependent personality, neglectful in allowing this woman who`s a monster to destroy this child.
That`s what was going on.
GRACE: Everyone, the tip line, 828-328-5551. 828-328-5551.
Let`s stop and remember Army Specialist Nicholas Idalski, 23, Crown Point, Indiana, killed Iraq. Also served South Korea. Awarded the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Army Commendation medal. Global War on Terrorism service medal.
Huge heart. Living life to the fullest. Loved God, country, and family. Taking photos, carrying care packages to fellow soldiers. His niece named in his honor. Leaves behind parents, Kim and Anthony, stepfather, Richard, four brothers, two sisters.
Nicholas Idalski, American hero.
Thanks to our guests but especially to you and a special get-well to our tiny crime fighter, Kimo. The beautiful baby boy of the backbone of our show, Liz.
Get well, Kimo.
Everyone, I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp Eastern. And until then, good night friend.
END