Tips Pour In, but Where Is Zahra Clare Baker?

(Oct. 19) -- It has been 10 days since police in North Carolina launched their investigation into the disappearance of a 10-year-old disabled girl who is missing and feared slain. Since then, multiple searches have been conducted and more than 200 tips from the public investigated, but one question still remains: Where is Zahra Clare Baker?

"Investigators are working several leads, specifically addressing Zahra's life before she disappeared," Hickory Police said in a statement to AOL News. "Investigators will be interviewing her former teachers at schools. ... The family also lived at several different addresses recently, and investigators will be interviewing those neighbors who may have known the family and Zahra."

Police believe the last time Zahra was seen by someone other than a family member was Sept. 25, and they are seeking people who may have seen her after that date.

Zahra's father, Adam Baker, told police he last saw his daughter sleeping in her bed about 2:30 a.m. Oct. 9. He said that he and his wife slept in on Saturday and did not notice Zahra was missing until about 2 p.m.

Specially trained dogs have since detected the scent of human remains on property belonging to Baker and Zahra's stepmother, Elisa Baker. Dogs also allegedly detected similar scents during a recent search of property that reportedly belongs to a foreman for Real Tree Services. The company has employed Zahra's father for about the past six months, according to the Hickory Daily Record.

On Friday, investigators conducted another extensive search of the Baker home, removing a mattress and box springs, the Daily Hickory Record reported. Police have yet to comment whether the items contain any evidence related to the case.

Hickory Chief of Police Tom Adkins is trying to narrow down a timeline in the case.

Neighbors told police it has been more than a month since they last saw the hearing-impaired girl who has bone cancer and uses a prosthetic leg. However, last weekend police announced that an employee of a local furniture store remembered seeing Zahra on Sept. 25.

"We have cartoons for children playing on the TVs ... and she was standing in the aisle way. As I walked past, I just touched her on the shoulder and said, 'Excuse me, sweetheart,' and she just looked up at me and smiled," floor manager Pat Adams told NewsChannel 36, a local NBC affiliate.

Staff members also told police they remembered noticing the girl had a prosthetic leg.

Investigators reportedly consider the sighting credible and now say Zahra could have been missing for two weeks before she was reported missing.

Last week, Elisa Baker was charged with obstruction of justice in the case after she allegedly wrote a ransom note to confuse authorities. The stepmother had previously been arrested on charges unrelated to the child's disappearance. Those charges include writing fraudulent checks, larceny and failure to appear.

If found guilty on the obstruction charge, Baker could face 30 months in prison. She insists she had nothing to do with Zahra's disappearance.

Friends, former neighbors and a relative of the Baker family have alleged that Elisa Baker was a strict stepparent and that Zahra was abused. A relative said abuse was reported to the North Carolina Division of Social Services, but she did not know the outcome. Officials with Social Services have declined to comment on the case.

Earlier today, Baker's attorney, Scott Reilly, denied the abuse allegations.

"Whatever investigation was done, there was never anything substantiated regarding child abuse by Elisa Baker," Reilly told CNN.

Burke County Deputy Sheriff Clyde Deal told CNN the allegations of abuse will be investigated. Deal also said authorities have been in contact with Zahra's mother, who lives in Australia.

Zahra was born in southeast Australia. Her parents split up when she was young, and her father moved to North Carolina about two years ago when he met Elisa Baker on the Internet.

"We're speaking to her on a regular basis," Deal told CNN about Zahra's biological mother. "She's very concerned, and she's very appreciative of everything being done to solve this case."

No one has been charged with Zahra's death. Adkins said he has not ruled out anyone as a suspect.