Amber Alert Canceled for 10 Year Old North Carolina Girl

If anyone has any information that will assist investigators in finding Zahra, please call the Hickory Police Department at 828-328-5551, or 911.

Zahra Clare Baker

(HICKORY, N.C.) - Hickory Police, N.C. Police investigators say they are working several leads that specifically address missing girl Zahra Clare Baker's life before she disappeared.

May 2010 file photo, shows Zahra Clare Baker, 10, getting a hearing aid at an event at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.

The news seems bleak however as the girl's missing person case shifts to a Homicide investigation.

Investigators will interview her former teachers at schools in Caldwell County, N.C. tomorrow.

Police report that the family also lived at several different addresses recently, and investigators say they will interview those neighbors who may have known the family and Zahra.

During the day Sunday, Hickory Police investigators gathered surveillance video from businesses near the home of 10-year old Zahra Clare Baker to put together a better timeline of events leading to her disappearance.

Investigators also followed up on a call for service by the Hickory Fire Department at 21 21st Avenue NW, the home where Zahra lives with her parents.

Zahra's step-mother reported her missing Saturday afternoon. Her mother says she last saw Zahra at 2:30 Saturday morning.

Elisa Baker was arrested Sunday morning on outstanding charges not related to the disappearance of Zahra. Adam Baker, Zahra's father, has also been questioned in this case.

The AP reports that Elisa Baker was charged with felony obstruction of justice after she admitted writing a fake ransom note to confuse detectives investigating her stepdaughter's reported weekend disappearance. Baker will appear in court Wednesday morning.

Zahra is about 5'1" tall, weighs about 85 pounds and has short reddish blond hair. She has a prosthetic left leg and is hearing impaired, requiring hearing aids in both ears. Zahra does not have those hearing aids with her.

It was initially stated that the Amber Alert would remain in effect for Zahra until she was found. Although the girl has not been found, the State of North Carolina canceled the Amber Alert on Tuesday, 12 October, and announced that the case is now a homicide investigation.

The Hickory Police Department is being assisted by the State Bureau of Investigation, US Marshals Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

"We are using every available resource we have at our disposal to find Zahra. We are not giving up hope that Zahra will return home safe and sound," said Hickory Police Chief Tom Adkins.

If anyone has any information that will assist investigators in finding Zahra, please call the Hickory Police Department at 828-328-5551, or 911.