HICKORY, N.C.,None — More than 100 pages of search warrants related to the investigation into Zahra Baker's disappearance and death were made public Tuesday, revealing disturbing details in the case.
• PDF: Warrants Detail Alleged Dismemberment
• PDF: Warrants Detail Alleged Rape
Zahra Baker's stepmother, Elisa Baker, led police to at least three locations in the investigation, the warrants say. She told police through her lawyer that she and her husband, Adam Baker, threw Zahra's prosthetic leg in a Dumpster outside of Fox Ridge Apartments in Hickory, according to the warrants. The prosthetic leg was wrapped in a white trash bag.
Elisa and Adam Baker also left a mattress and box spring that had belonged to Zahra at a dump on Congress Street in Granite Falls, the warrants say.
In addition, the warrants say Elisa Baker directed police to a Dumpster behind the Fair Value Grocery Store in Hudson. A car cover and bed comforter were used to conceal and transport Zahra's body parts there, the warrants say.
Elisa Baker's lawyer also told investigators to check the drain of the bathtub at the Bakers' Hickory home for blood and bone fragments, according to the warrants. The documents also say latex gloves were used while Zahra's body was dismembered.
SLIDESHOW: A Look Inside Zahra's Home
Rape allegations are also revealed in the documents. Investigators searched a home in Burke County after receiving information from an unnamed source that 10-year-old Zahra may have been raped there, according to the warrants. The source, who received the information from talking to someone else, said that two men raped the girl and may have hit her in the head.
The source said he asked the person he talked to if the men killed Zahra and was told "they might have hit her in the head," according to the documents. The source also said he was told that one of the men said "he had done something very bad and needed to leave town," the documents say.
One of the men had some kind of relationship with Elisa Baker, according to the warrants.
Eyewitness News reporter Alan Cavanna contacted one of the men on Tuesday night. James Young denied the allegations, saying he was a family friend of the Bakers, but that he never saw Zahra at his home. He added that he was questioned by police for 10 hours and passed a lie detector test.
The other man named in the warrant is Young's cousin, Sammy.
Young said at one point, Elisa Baker and Sammy had a relationship, but said he doesn't think his cousin had anything to do with Zahra's disappearance.
"I can't say for sure that he didn't, but my mind can't wrap around the fact that he would do something like that," he said.
Eyewitness News attempted to contact Sammy for comment but he hung up the phone.
The warrants also say that a polygraph test done on Elisa Baker showed deception when police asked whether she hurt Zahra. The test also showed deception when investigators asked if Elisa Baker knew if anyone had done harm to Zahra and whether she knew who wrote the ransom note that was found the day Zahra was reported missing.
In addition, one warrant mentions a report made to the Department of Social Services alleging that Elisa Baker had physically abused Zahra. The report, which says the girl had a black eye due to the alleged abuse, was made with the Caldwell County DSS and then transferred to the Catawba County DSS.
Zahra's father and stepmother gave police conflicting information at the beginning of the investigation, the warrants say. Elisa Baker said the family went to an Octoberfest celebration the night before Zahra was reported missing, but Adam Baker said he hadn't seen his daughter since the Wednesday before that.
No one has been charged in Zahra's death or disappearance. She was reported missing on Oct. 9, and more than a month later, remains that police believe are hers were found in a rural area of Caldwell County. Investigators are still awaiting the results of DNA and forensic testing on the remains and other evidence in the case.
Elisa Baker remains in jail on an obstruction of justice charge after police said she admitted to writing a fake ransom note regarding another child the day that Zahra was reported missing.
The search warrants were made public late Tuesday afternoon. A judge initially ordered the warrants sealed from Oct. 1-29 with a 30-day expiration period, unless a different expiration date was set. The state did not file a motion for extension.
On Monday, the media renewed requests for copies of warrants that were more than 30 days old. At that point, the state filed a motion to extend the period of time for which the warrants would remain sealed, but prosecutors said they would not be ready to argue the case until Dec. 13. Because the initial 30-day period had passed, a judge unsealed the warrants.