Friday, February 04, 2000
A year later, still hope for Erica
BY JANICE MORSE
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Misty Baker poses with Erica's photo at the volunteer center.
(Dick Swaim photo)
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KETTERING — “See you later!” That was the last thing 9-year-old Erica Baker said to her mom before she donned her pink raincoat, bounded out of the house to walk her dog — and disappeared.
Almost a year has passed since that rainy Sunday afternoon. For her mother, Misty, 33, it has been a year of counseling, anti-depressants and sleepless nights — haunted by Erica's last three words.
The pain isn't going away. But neither is the hope, Ms. Baker says.
“I've played all scenarios through my mind,” she said Thursday. “But the one I like to think of is the one where she comes back home, and I just hold her and never let go.”
Police in this Dayton suburb say Erica's disappearance on Feb. 7, 1999, appears to be the city's first case of a child abduction by a stranger in more than 20 years. Today,they plan to give an update on Erica's case.
Meanwhile, thoughts of Erica are like the fliers bearing her photo: They're everywhere around Kettering, but sometimes not as prominent as they used to be.
One of the most noticeable is a portable sign outside the Precision Tune auto shop on Wilmington Pike. It reads: “Where is Erica?”
“I don't think that question ever went away,” said manager Todd Lehmkuhl, 32. “A child is missing. How could you forget it?”
The chances of finding a missing child decrease as time wears on. But Erica's mother was buoyed last week during a visit to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Washington, D.C. “I got to see pictures of children who were recovered after two or three years,” she said. “So it can happen.”
Pam Schmidt, Erica's grandmother, says police and the family won't give up despite their weariness.
“Our urgency to find Erica is not diminished by the passage of time, whether she be in life or in spirit,” Mrs. Schmidt said. “The police are
almost as disappointed as we are that they haven't solved the mystery yet.”
One of the family's bleakest times occurred in August, when a detective informed Ms. Baker that a suspect had admitted he buried her body in a nearby park. “I started driving around, looking for a funeral home that would be big enough,” she said. But that suspect's story didn't check out.
Some ordinary days are hard. “I still get out five dinner plates sometimes,” Ms. Baker said.
Special occasions are always tough. Erica's 10th birthday on June 22, Thanksgiving and Christmas all felt empty. Christmas presents — a baby doll with butterfly wings and a pink-suited Santa Claus — sit in Erica's pink room, waiting for her.
At the time she vanished, Erica was living in a small one-story house with her mother, grandparents and brothers: Jason, 17; Greg, 13; and Logan, 12. Her father, Greg Baker, is divorced from her mother and lives in another Dayton suburb. He couldn't be reached for comment. The dog she was walking, a gray and white Shih Tzu, was found wandering the neighborhood after Erica vanished. He still sometimes seems to be looking for Erica, family members said.
Erica's disappearance also affected many other families, says Charlene Tolley of Kettering, who has a daughter Erica's age. “I am so upset by this and I have been since day one. It has changed our lives. We are so much more cautious,” said Mrs. Tolley, who volunteers her time to hand out fliers on weekends. “I feel like this little girl is part of my life, and I don't even know her.”
The Erica N. Baker Recovery Center, in donated space in a shopping plaza on Smithville Road, still is a gathering spot for volunteers. Along a 30-foot-long hall, maps line one wall and scores of cards — made mostly by children — cover the other.
Tips continue to arrive via phone, e-mail and regular mail — and they're all taken seriously, Ms. Baker says.
A candlelight vigil is 7 p.m. Monday — the anniversary of Erica's disappearance — at the Kettering recreation area where she was last seen.
For those who can't attend, Erica's mother makes this request: “Take a few minutes and pray for Erica. Pray for her to come home. And pray that we find the truth.”
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