US Step mother jailed for 18 years for killing Australian step daughter

[High_Gravity]

Zahra murder: US stepmother jailed for 18 years

The stepmother of Australian girl Zahra Baker has been sentenced to up to 18 years in prison for the murder of the 10-year-old.

After hours of sometimes emotional witness testimony following her plea, Elisa Baker was sentenced to between 15 and 18 years.

Baker, 43, entered a courtroom in Newton, North Carolina, on Thursday wearing a hot-pink jail jumpsuit and handcuffs.

Sitting between two defence lawyers, she broke into tears before pleading guilty to second-degree murder, with aggravating factors that included desecrating Zahra's body.

Baker also pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice, and to charges unrelated to Zahra, including obtaining property by false pretences and financial identity fraud.

Adam Baker, Zahra's father and Elisa's husband, was present in the courtroom.

Mr Baker, who came to the US with his daughter after meeting Elisa Baker online, faces multiple criminal charges of his own, although none are related to his daughter's death.

His wife's guilty plea comes almost a year after Zahra – who had her lower left leg amputated as a five-year-old after battling bone cancer in Australia – was reported missing from her home.

Initially, she and Mr Baker told police they believed their daughter had been kidnapped, but that story quickly unravelled as police charged her with forging a ransom note.

Not long after her arrest, Baker began co-operating with police searching for the girl, according to warrants unsealed in the case.

She told police that Zahra had been dismembered, and led them to some of the girl's remains at sites in two counties.

She told police that Mr Baker helped scatter the remains, but mobile phone records showed he was in different locations on the days when she said Zahra's body parts were disposed of.

Zahra's death was caused by ''undetermined homicidal violence'', medical examiners said in documents.

An autopsy was done even though authorities had not recovered many bones, most notably the girl's skull, months after she was reported missing. Several bones showed cutting tool marks consistent with dismemberment.

The case revealed Baker as a woman with a troubled past, constantly shifting addresses and staying one step ahead of bill collectors and social service agencies investigating reports of child abuse.

Read more: Zahra murder: US stepmother jailed for 18 years

 

[Moonglow]

so the insanity defense didn't work?

 

[High_Gravity]

so the insanity defense didn't work?

Guess not, these cases of American mothers killing children is alarming though.

 

[Lovebears65]

She should have gotten longer then 18 years!

 

[High_Gravity]

She should have gotten longer then 18 years!

Well at least shes in jail, and not running around free like Casey Anthony.

 

[WillowTree]

She'll be out in nine,

 

[strollingbones]

this is a 'local' story.....i am shocked she plead guilty

 

[good7879]

Well at least shes in jail, and not running around free like Casey Anthony.

 

[freedombecki]

Well, however long she spends, maybe she will learn that killing children isn't nice and she won't do it again.