The face of evil: confronting the killer of 10-year-old Zahra Baker | 60 Minutes Australia

When we learned of the brutal death and dismemberment of Zara Baker, a little Australian girl living in the United States, it was almost incomprehensible that Zara, with her bright eyes and big smile, had survived cancer and had overcome so much more than she had expected. should be asked of any ten

year

old girl. This brave girl then traveled around the world with her father Adam, believing they were both embarking on a new adventure in America. Instead, Zara's life would end horribly. So what kind of person would kill an innocent and vulnerable child in such a heinous way?

Well, tonight. we will meet that person elisa

baker

's stepmother zara breaks the silence speaking to us from inside the prison this is the north carolina women's prison, home to some of the most violent criminals in the united states, including elisa

baker

, the stepmother who found guilty of murdering and dismembering a ten-

year

-old Australian girl the girl zara baker of the 1200 inmates here alyssa baker is the most hated so much that for her own protection she spends her days in isolation we came here because alisa baker agreed to speak to answer questions which he avoided when he pleaded guilty to Zara's murder.

Getting to see her is no easy task. This is a maximum security prison where nothing is taken for granted and although the most despised child murderer in the United States arrives without shackles, a guard is always on hand. your side what kind of person dismembers a disabled child a sick person, it takes an

evil

person yes, it is an

evil

act yes, Mrs. Alyssa Baker will sit in a prison cell at least until she is 70 years old. After reaching a plea deal that would see her avoid death row, how does she fall asleep at night knowing that? a girl a handicapped girl was cut into pieces and thrown in the trash some nights are hard but I miss her, do you really, ma'am?

This horrible story began six years ago when Elisa met Australian Adam Baker on the Internet, he was a single father. and zara's father i thought he had met prince charming adam was your prince charming yes, what attracted you to him what did you like about him what i thought was his honesty above all and the fact that he was a single father and that he loved his daughter enough to raise her himself and not let his family or hers raise zara zara baker was a brave girl since she was six years old she had fought and defeated cancer but the surgeons had to remove part of her lungs and amputate her left leg and receive chemotherapy. she stole his hearing as Adam told me two years ago after so much pain, he believed that her online romance would be her new beginning.

What did you expect? What did you think your life was going to be like a happy family, a lot of love, more children, siblings? and Zara's sisters but it didn't turn out that way when Adam Baker married Elisa he became her seventh husband it was the first of many bad decisions that would open the door to a world of lies and deceit did you ever stop to think that it could be right tell him that he was already married. Yes, why didn't he tell her that my husband and I had been through several bad years? When I went to Australia, I understood that he filed for divorce, so he believed that he was divorced, why did you introduce your husband as your brother?

So he left him because he wanted to be in Zara's life and he knew that Adam wouldn't let him be in Zara's life if he knew he was my husband. that makes sense i know, i don't know, i don't know alisa baker grew up the middle child of three girls who knew her said she was always sneaky and manipulative and a compulsive liar in a recent letter from prison lisa wrote i always knew something It wasn't right with me. How did you see yourself before coming to prison? What kind of person do you think you were a good person?

He'd practically give you the shirt off my back. I never met a stranger I still don't even do. Here Elisa Baker already had three children and when she and Adam married and moved to her hometown of Hickory in North Carolina, she became a mother to Zara. It sounds better than without them, tell me about your relationship with Zara. We headed from the beginning. What she did? do you like zara she had courage about her she never gave up i always had a smile on her

face

you always had a very close close bond she called me mom and i treated her like she was my own daughter i'm saying there was no different treatment to her received my other children actually my other children became jealous of her they said she treated her better but her family members and neighbors thought otherwise and reported Elisa to the authorities the department of social services investigated four reports of abuse against zara by So many people worried about her, why would a school teacher give her his personal cell phone number and tell her that if you ever need me, call me?

That was out of protocol. I even said something to the principal about how bad Adam was because that was against the rules, they should have never done that, why did you sign a paper here that admitted that you have a history and pattern of physical, verbal and psychological abuse? from zara? I never signed that paper you made, that's your signature, isn't it. In case someone made me sign something that I shouldn't assign because that's not the case, that's not your signature along with your attorney, that's not your signature, that's my plea agreement, yes, but you signed who accepts that he had a history and pattern of verbal physical aggression. and zara's psychological abuse, that was him with my plea deal, so he saw it, he said yes ma'am, yes, there are many inconsistencies in the elisa baker story, but the most important ones have to do with zara's death Tell me about the day Zara died, please, that's not good enough the questions that Alisa Baker hasn't

face

d.

That's the truth, isn't it, ma'am? Until now she thought that would free her from it. That's what's next on 60 Minutes was a crime as brutal as it was unimaginable ten years ago - elderly Australian Sarah Baker was murdered and dismembered by her American stepmother to avoid death row Elisa Baker entered into a plea deal which means that she never had to answer questions about her most horrible crime which is so far the day zara died on september 24, 2010 elisa baker claims she left her stepdaughter alone in her walnut house to go shopping and returned in the afternoon to That time it was like three o'clock somewhere in there and um she was lying in her bed and I said, Zara, are you okay? and I walked up to her on the bed and said zara, she still wasn't moving, I put my hand on her and realized she wasn't breathing and my first thought was CPR so I immediately started CPR.

I worked on it for probably about 30

minutes

and I was able to I won't get it back begging God the whole time not to take it, you know at that point I should have called 9-1-1 but I got scared, oh I didn't know what to do, I have never faced anything. I've never done it like that, if you had done CPR, you would call 911. Wouldn't you? Most people would have done it. Yes, Elisa alleges that she called Zara's father, Adam, and that he was the one who dismembered Zara, if we are to believe. anything you say why would you call the police and say I'm not going to participate in this that's the most heinous thing I can do he was my husband please that's not good enough it's not just not good enough you know what I know, an accusation that both the police and Adam Baker have totally rejected.

That's the biggest lie I've ever told. First of all, there is no way she could do that to my son for her to sit there and say I dismembered my son. that inside the bedroom a stream of Zara's blood was found on the ceiling. Parts of his body were scattered among the bushes. Alisa alleges that Adam discarded the remains of her daughter forcing her to be with him, of course the evidence doesn't prove what you're saying. It is true, it is to a certain extent, but there is a little not even to a certain extent. Phone records show that on the day you disposed of the body, the day you told the police you disposed of it, there were something like nine. calls and a lot of those calls were to Adam, why would you call him if he's right next to you?

He was, he was calling my phone. I wasn't calling his because he kept losing my phone. No, you were calling him. I wasn't calling him. Records show he was 20 miles away. He wasn't with you. Yes, ma'am, I don't think so. That's the truth. It is not like this? No ma'am. Phone records confirm that Adam was at work, not in the area where Zara is. The body was discarded but Alisa's cell phone yes you were the one who murdered Zara, no ma'am, why do you deny this when the evidence is overwhelming that you didn't do it? I will continue to defend my story, it will continue to lie, no.

I'll stand by my story, uh, Scott Riley, your lawyer said the evidence was overwhelming against you. I think he said the evidence was such that it would take a jury about five

minutes

to convict you of something like that. Well, if your own lawyer says, what does it say about you that no one listened to what I said? They were based on circumstantial evidence. They were not based on anything. What I said 25 days after Zara was reported missing Elisa Baker in a deal to avoid a death sentence. police to the girl's remains. How did you feel when parts of her body were found?

How did you feel about it? relieved why because they were going to put her back all in one and when they found her skull I also felt relieved because it didn't show any abuse that you thought got you off the hook none of the recovered bones the medical officers were able to see zara's little body had been torn apart the autopsy report says zara's death was the result of undetermined homicidal violence you're innocent fight it why didn't you listen to the evidence against me boom that means from what i could see you're as guilty as sin you are a guilty woman and you will no longer take responsibility for your actions there that is your opinion it is the opinion of the state it is an opinion of the legislators it is the opinion of her own family some members of my family for the people of walnut the brutal murder of a vulnerable disabled girl was difficult to accept determined will not be forgotten a park has been named in honor of zara adam baker has returned with his daughter's remains in

australia

, while the wife he never had really considers his fate, you have to accept that the evidence is against you, yes ma'am I know, why then am I not looking at one of America's most reviled evil women, probably in your eyes you think you have no remorse I have remorse what is it?

I wish things had been different well you have plenty of time to consider it yes ma'am I do hello I'm liz hayes thanks for watching to stay up to date with the latest from 60 Minutes Australia. Make sure to subscribe to our channel. You can also download the Nine Now app to watch full episodes and other exclusive 60 Minutes content.