Landfill Combed for Clues in Case of Missing NC Girl

(Oct. 20) -- A search team descended on a landfill in North Carolina today looking for clues in the disappearance of Zahra Clare Baker, the 10-year-old disabled girl who is feared slain.

"[We] are searching for a piece of evidence in the Foothills Environmental Landfill," the Hickory Police Department said in a statement to AOL News.

Local police are being joined in the search in Caldwell County by state and federal law enforcement. When contacted about the search, authorities declined to comment on what prompted it or whether cadaver dogs are on the scene.

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 that Saturday morning 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.

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.

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. No one has been charged in connection with Zahra's disappearance, and Baker says she had nothing to do with it.

Investigators are expected to release more details on today's search during an afternoon media briefing at the Caldwell County Sheriff's Office, police said.