Police match remains with girl’s DNA

Police also found a child’s remains earlier this week in western North Carolina in an area near where Zahra’s stepmother once lived. The remains will need to be tested to make sure they also belong to Zahra, Adkins said.

The freckle-faced Zahra, who had bone cancer and used a prosthetic leg and hearing aids, was reported missing by her parents Oct. 9. They said she was last seen in her bed at their home in Hickory, about 50 miles northwest of Charlotte.

A couple of weeks later, her prosthetic leg and the bone were discovered in some brush, about five miles away from where the other remains were found buried.

“Investigators, agents, officers and staff who worked on this case are devastated that we were not able to find Zahra alive and bring her home safely,’’ Adkins said.

Zahra was born in Australia and moved to North Carolina about two years ago after her father, Adam Baker, met his soon-to-be wife, Elisa Baker, online. Zahra’s friends and relatives in Giru, Australia, described her as an outgoing, happy girl despite the cancer.

Soon after Zahra was reported missing, investigators cast doubt on accounts given by Zahra’s father and stepmother. Police had trouble finding anyone other than Zahra’s parents who had seen her alive in the weeks before her disappearance.

It was then that police discovered a ransom note addressed to Adam Baker’s boss on the windshield of Baker’s car. Police went to that man’s house, and found him and his daughter to be fine. Elisa Baker, 42, admitted writing the ransom note and has been charged with obstruction of justice. She is still being held in jail.

Adam Baker, 33, was arrested on charges unrelated to Zahra’s disappearance and is free on bail. He is facing one count each of assault with a deadly weapon and of failure to return rental property, two counts of communicating threats, and five counts of writing worthless checks, authorities said.