Stepmother's Aunt: Zahra Baker Died of Natural Causes

RALEIGH — A relative of Zahra Baker's stepmother says the woman told her the little girl died of natural causes before being dismembered.

Boncetta “Buzzie” Winkler of Hickory told The Associated Press Wednesday that she visited her niece, Elisa Baker, in jail this week. The meeting was first reported by WSOC-TV in Charlotte.

Winkler says she was told that 10-year-old Zahra had been sick for two weeks before she died. Winkler says Elisa Baker told her that she and her husband panicked and dismembered the girl, scattering her body parts in various locations.

No one has been charged in Zahra's death. Elisa Baker is in jail on charges of obstructing the investigation.

Calls to lawyers in the case weren't immediately returned late Wednesday.

Missing N.C. Girl's Stepmother: Dad Did Something "Kinda Horrifying"

Examiner- The owner of a crime memorabilia web business known as Serial Killers Ink, has gone public with letters he says were written by the stepmother of missing North Carolina girl, Zahra Baker. Eric Gein began corresponding with Elisa Baker shortly after she was arrested on unrelated charges.

What follows is an excerpt from one of those letters: “We really didn't kill her, but what he did after the fact is kinda horrifying,” wrote Elisa Baker.

On Wednesday, the Hickory Police Department announced that they have discovered a bone that may be the remains of the missing 10-year-old girl. The bone, which was discovered in a house in Caldwell County, where the Bakers lived until mid-September was sent to the Medical Examiner's office in Chapel Hill for examination.

A few days ago, police determined that a prosthetic leg found in western North Carolina belonged to Zahra.

According to Hickory Police Maj. Clyde Deal, the leg was discovered at a home where Zahra's stepmother once lived. A scanner was used to read the electronic serial number inside the leg, which was matched to the girl’s medical records.

Zahra lost her own leg during her bout with bone cancer.

Elisa Baker was arrested a few days after she told police that her stepdaughter had disappeared from her Hickory, North Carolina home in the middle of the night. She was charged with obstruction of justice, after admitting that she wrote the bogus ransom note found at the scene, as well as several other unrelated charges.

An Amber Alert was originally issued for Zahra, but the investigation soon shifted from a missing person’s case to that of a homicide.

Police End Landfill Search in Case of Missing N.C. girl

(CNN) -- Authorities ended their search at a North Carolina landfill Friday for a mattress connected to the case of a missing 10-year-old girl, police said. They did not recover it.

Investigators had hoped to use the mattress to confirm information from interviews conducted as part of their investigation, Hickory police said in a news release. They had also hoped it would provide some DNA evidence related to the case.

Zahra Clare Baker was reported missing October 9. However, no one other than a family member has reported seeing her since September 25, when a woman saw her at a furniture store, police say.

The missing mattress, which belonged to Zahra, was thrown out by her parents in early October, days before she was reported missing, police say.

A team from Hickory police and agents from the North Carolina Bureau of Investigation and the FBI participated in the search at the Foothills Environmental Landfill in Lenoir, North Carolina.

Authorities say the girl's disappearance is being investigated as a homicide.

Police said last week that her stepmother, Elisa Baker, admitted that she wrote a fake ransom note that was left at the family's home.

Elisa Baker was arrested October 10 on unrelated charges, including writing worthless checks. More recently, authorities charged her with obstruction of justice, a felony, after she admitted writing the note, according to Hickory Police Chief Tom Adkins. She remains jailed on those charges.

Police said the girl's father, Adam Baker, also faces bad-check charges, but he has not been arrested. He is assisting police in their search.

The disappearance of Zahra, a freckle-faced youngster who wears a prosthetic leg and hearing aids, has made international news. The girl lost her leg to bone cancer, according to CNN affiliate WCNC.

Family members and neighbors have told reporters that Zahra's stepmother abused her -- an allegation her lawyer has denied. Police say Elisa Baker has declined to speak with them.

They have also said they had been in contact with Zahra's biological mother in Australia and asked for the girl's medical records.

"Our team will continue to pursue leads called in to our tip line and go wherever and do whatever we need to find Zahra and bring justice for her," Hickory police said in their Friday release.