Fla. baby found alive in box under sitter's bed

[Emit]

Source: AP

CHIPLEY, Fla. – Investigators spent five days searching a rural area of dense vines and marshes for a missing infant, only to find her lying quietly in a 2-foot by 3-foot cedar box that had been shoved under her baby sitter's bed. Clothing was packed around it to muffle any sounds and baking soda placed inside to mask the stench of dirty diapers.

Authorities said the baby's mother, Chrystina Lynn Mercer, gave the infant to baby sitter Susan Elizabeth Baker early Saturday, then reported her missing about 10 hours later. About 100 law enforcement agents and others spent days scouring around the baby's home in a remote, makeshift community of dirt roads, tin-roof shacks and old mobile homes. Searchers also dug through trash cans and bins.

All along, the baby was under the bed.

Washington County Sheriff Bobby Haddock choked up Thursday as he described how 7-month-old Shannon Dedrick was stashed in the box for 12 straight hours before investigators discovered her late Wednesday. They believe she had been in the closed box on and off for several days.

"She was way back under the bed," he said. "But she was not crying."

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091106/ap_on_re_us/us_missing_florida_baby

[rasputin1952]

1. Holy crap!...Thankfully she is OK...

That is the most important thing...O8)

[MadMaddie]

2. These are the cases that point out that just because folks can

have baby's doesn't make them good parents. This child was in danger from her parents.

Thank goodness she is okay.

[elocs]

6. My guess would be that children are in more danger from their parents than from any stranger. n/t

[alittlelark]

3. It's important to read the story before responding.

The babysitter was trying (in her mind...) to save the girl. She was smart enough to use baking soda, and do whatever she could to protect the child that she witnessed being shaken by her father and subject to parents drugged out while caring for her. She was trying to PROTECT the baby.


She may have made a few bad choices, but it appears she had the childs' best interests at heart.



<snip>
Baker had written a letter to Gov. Charlie Crist's office in August, pleading for help for the baby and claiming her father shook her and both parents did drugs in front of her. She asked Mercer a week ago if she could have permanent custody, Haddock said. Officials do not believe Shannon's father, who is Baker's stepbrother, was involved in the disappearance.

Haddock said Shannon apparently had been fed and cared for while she was with Baker, who lived about 12 miles from Mercer. He said Baker became a suspect several days ago but never told them where the baby was, even as they interviewed her.

<snip>

Mercer's mother, Candis Boyer, attended Thursday's news conference and said afterward that she was there to show support for her daughter and granddaughter. "I love my daughter very deeply," she said briefly before leaving the news conference. At a court hearing later, family members were escorted by sheriff's deputies and didn't talk to reporters.

Mercer was charged with interference of child custody, desertion of a child and several other charges. Charges against Baker included neglect of a child with aggravated circumstances and interference of child custody.

Bond was set at $150,000 for Baker and $75,000 for Mercer. In separate hearings, the women shuffled in wearing leg chains and their hands bound with plastic restraints.

[KT2000]

4. I don't think so

there is more to this story. This is a collection of very sick people.
The babysitter has a history.

[alittlelark]

5. I do think so - the story should be read before knee-jerk reactions

<snip> According to court documents, child welfare officials began looking into allegations Shannon was being abused less than two weeks after she was born.

Investigators frequently went to the infant's home from August to late September and reported that both parents used marijuana and kept a messy home. But they said Shannon seemed to be cared for and in September, a physician determined she was healthy.
<snip>


When one reads the story being posted they can better ascertain the background and their reply will be better informed.

[recoveringrepublican]

7. The sitter has a connection to another kidnapped boy.

The mother gave the baby to the sitter, and then reported it missing. Sorry, but if Baker cared about this baby, leaving her in a box with dirty diapers is not the way to show it. There will be more to this story.



http://www.tampabay.com/incoming/missing-baby-was-stashed-in-a-cedar-box-under-babysitters-bed/1049832


Susan Baker was involved in another missing child case in South Carolina more than two decades ago. She had been a baby­sitter for James Baker and his now ex-wife before she married him, a family member said.

Susan Baker told authorities her stepson, 3-year-old Paul Leonard Baker, disappeared from the family's Beaufort, S.C., home on March 5, 1987, while she napped.

A massive manhunt turned up nothing. She and her husband, were extradited to South Carolina in 2000 and charged with assault and battery in Paul's disappearance, according to police reports provided by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division. But a grand jury never indicted them and the child was never found.

[KT2000]

9. the point is that

the story you posted in incomplete. That makes my post better informed that your post.

[alcibiades_mystery]

8. My son turns 7 months on Tuesday

I can't for the life of me imagine what goes through people's heads. I really can't.

[Cronus Protagonist]

11. That's refreshing

Usually people on here are SURE they know what everyone else is thinking. :^D

[Liberal_in_LA]

10. Weird story

[apnu]

12. Yeah it's f'dup from top to bottom. (nt)