Update Two

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Baker Family and Friends Say Elisa Baker was Abusive Toward Zahra Baker; Police Cancel Amber Alert and Launch Homicide Investigation
Zahra Baker, the 10-year-old girl missing from Hickory, N. Carolina, was reportedly the victim of child abuse at the hands of her stepmother, Elisa Baker. This is one of the most disturbing aspects of this developing
story as a number of people have come forward with reports of abuse against Zahra after-the-fact.

According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Administration for Children & Families, a report must be made when an individual knows or has reasonable cause to believe or suspect that a child has been subjected to abuse or neglect.

The state of North Carolina does not have statutes imposing penalties for failure to report instances of child abuse. Since there is no risk of legal action, those who witness child abuse have no incentive to make reports and in the case of Zahra Baker, those who knew of abuse came forward only after the girl disappeared.

Brittany Bentley, who is married to Elisa Baker's nephew, told 'The Early Show', "She was beat almost every time I was over there for just the smallest things. Elisa would get mad, she would take it out on Zahra, things the kid didn't deserve. She just had a horrible home life.

Kayla Rotenberry, a former Baker neighbor, said she grew close with the Bakers when they lived down the street from her but grew suspicious of Elisa Baker because of her outlandish stories and quick temper.

"There were warning signs along the way," Rotenberry said. "But you never want to think the worst.""I just think this was something for a long time that we knew was going to happen, everybody that was close to the family," Bentley said.

They knew it was going to happen but yet did nothing to help Zahra.

Neighbor Renee Bobbitt told ABC News, "Just the way she yelled and screamed at her, and I did see her hit the child a couple of times."

Zahra's own father Adam Baker, a native of Australia who reportedly met his wife on the Internet, has said publicly that he believes it is possible his wife, who referred to Zahra as "The Dark Child" on her MySpace page, could be involved in the disappearance of his daughter.

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Relative: Zahra Baker had 'horrible' home life

Zahra Clare Baker, the 10-year-old girl who police say has not been seen for more than a month, was living a troubled home life, relatives say.

One relative, referring to speculation that Zahra has been the victim of violence, told a nationwide television audience "this was something ... we knew was going to happen."

Zahra was reported missing Saturday by her parents in Hickory, but police say they are having trouble finding anyone outside the household who has seen the girl for at least a month.

Brittany Bentley, who is married to a nephew of the missing girl's stepmother, Elisa Baker, appeared Tuesday morning on the CBS "Early Show" and said Zahra showed signs of being unhappy at home. Elisa Baker has been called a "person of interest" in the case by Hickory police.

Speaking to CBS on Tuesday morning, Bentley said, "I just think this was something for a long time that we knew was going to happen -- everybody that was close to the family."

Bentley, 21, said she sometimes had Zahra at her house for a weekend, and that the young girl, a cancer survivor who has a prosthetic leg and requires the use of hearing aids, would become upset when it was time to return home.

Bentley said Zahra told her she was locked in her room much of the time and was allowed "five minutes a day to eat, and that was all."

"She was beat almost every time I was over there for just the smallest things," Bentley added. "Elisa would get mad, she would take it out on Zahra, things the kid didn't deserve. She just had a horrible home life."

Bentley also said she sometimes saw facial bruises on Zahra. When she asked her what had happened, Zahra seemed frightened, Bentley said.

"She was scared to death," she said. "She wouldn't say anything."

Bentley also said she and her family had not seen Zahra in two months.

On Tuesday afternoon, a woman who lived next door to Adam and Elisa Baker in Caldwell County, before they moved to Hickory, said she and her fiancee saw bruises on the young girl. They also say they saw a Department of Social Services employee visit the Bakers' residence at least once, and maybe twice.

In Hickory, neighbors were surprised to learn that a 10-year-old girl lived with Adam and Elisa Baker.

"I never saw a sign of their daughter," said next-door neighbor Charles Bost. He said he chatted regularly with Adam Baker over the fence separating their backyards, but he said Baker never mentioned having a daughter.

"I've been out in the backyard quite a bit, and I've never seen that little girl," Bost said.


Read more: www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/10/12/1757005/relative-zahra-baker-had-horrible.html#ixzz12OcZRfHg

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I am not going to do further updates on this story until police find the body which some think was ran trough a wood chipper or the parents are formally charged with her murder. The reason being the anger it raises in me due not only to these nonhuman parents but also because of the people who are now saying they saw the abuse and did ABOOLUTELY nothing. For I feel as a parent myself that they should be charged as accomplices to murdeer, each and every one of them for they are the real reason these type of events are happening more and more every day.

I remember when my boy, (I was a single father) was growing up in Las Vegas I had child services called on me for letting him play in the dirt next to our apartment and not making him take a bath immediately but now several years later people see this level of abuse and do not report it, What is happening to this society?