Stepmother: Zahra Baker's dad cut up her body | Charlotte Observer

Zahra Baker's stepmother told authorities the 10-year-old girl died two weeks before she was reported missing and accuses her husband of cutting up the child's body, according to new court documents released Tuesday.

The documents don't reveal how Zahra died or why her body was discarded.

Elisa Baker told authorities that Zahra died on Sept. 24, and that she and Zahra's father, Adam Baker, disposed of body parts the next day in various locations, according to the documents.

It's the first time court documents have given a date for Zahra's death. That date, however, conflicts with a furniture store manager's recollection that she saw Zahra with her stepmother on Sept. 25 in the Hickory store. She wasn't reported missing by her father until Oct. 9.

GPS cell phone records also raise questions about whether Adam Baker was actually present when Zahra's body was discarded. Tracking devices place Elisa Baker's phone - but not Adam Baker's - at the locations.

No one has been charged in Zahra's death, which police have declared a homicide. But Elisa Baker remains jailed on a charge of obstructing justice after police say she admitted writing a phony ransom note to throw off the investigation into Zahra's disappearance.

More than 200 pages from some 30 search warrants were released Tuesday in response to a request for the public records by the Observer and other media. It was the second time the court released previously sealed search warrants related to the case.

The new records give a more detailed look at what Elisa Baker claims happened to her hearing-impaired stepdaughter, whose disappearance and death has captured international attention.

The search warrants and related documents:

-- Focus new attention on Elisa Baker's previous husband Aaron Young. The warrants sought Young's phone records and cite his ongoing relationship with Elisa Baker.

-- Seek medical records for Elisa Baker from nine locations, including Broughton Hospital, a state psychiatric center.

-- Reveal that police investigated a woman's claim that the Bakers and Aaron Young participated in an online role-playing game involving a "chainsaw massacre."

In November, a woman using the social networking site where Adam and Elisa Baker met reported in a blog that she'd had a conversation with one or both of the Bakers about "doing a murder with chainsaws."

The role-playing game allegedly took place Sept. 22, just two days before Elisa Baker claims Zahra died.

Police also disclose in documents that Elisa Baker was not yet divorced from Aaron Young when she married Adam Baker in Australia in 2008.

She and Young have remained in frequent contact, police say, and photos of Zahra with Young appear on the Facebook pages for both Elisa Baker and Young.

Elisa Baker told Adam Baker that Young was her brother, police say.

"Due to the deceit of Elisa Baker to Adam Baker about the relationship between her and Aaron Young...," one document says, "obtaining Aaron Young's telephone records ... will likely provide information substantially related to this homicide investigation."

Police also sought the phone records of Timothy "Sammy" Young, Aaron Young's cousin.

One document says Elisa Baker was recently involved in a sexual relationship with Sammy Young and that the two used illegal drugs.

In a previously released search warrant, Sammy Young and his cousin James Young were accused of raping Zahra Baker before she died. Police searched the Youngs' home but haven't charged the men, who both deny the allegations.

"The allegations that have been said are untrue and that is all I have to say thanks," Sammy Young told the Observer last month by text message.

Authorities have previously sought DSS records involving Elisa Baker and her biological children. They want records from seven counties.

Investigators say reports made to DSS cite numerous investigations into abuse allegations as far back as 1999. Baker's previous attorney has said that DSS had not substantiated allegations of abuse.

In July 2010, according to the documents, a report was made to Caldwell County DSS that Elisa Baker had physically abused Zahra and gave her a black eye.

Police say it is "necessary and relevant" to their investigation into Zahra's death to review historical DSS information on her biological children.