SC SC - Paul Baker, 3, Beaufort, 5 March 1987

anthrobones

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http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/159dmsc.html

Paul Leonard Baker
Missing since March 5, 1987 from Beaufort, South Carolina
Classification: Lost, Injured, Missing



Vital Statistics Date Of Birth: June 29, 1983
Age at Time of Disappearance: 3 years old
Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 3'4; 40 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: White male. Blond hair; blue eyes.
Marks, Scars, Tattoos: He has scars on his right index finger and on his chin.
<LI>Dentals: One of Baker's teeth was pushed into his gum at the time of his disappearance.

Circumstances of Disappearance
Baker was living with his father and stepmother, James and Susan Baker at the time of his disappearance. They have been arrested in connection with his disappearance. They were charged with assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature for allegedly beating him before he vanished March 5, 1987.
Susan Baker told police she put him down for a nap that day and returned to find him missing. Deputies and police searched the area around their home for several days but found no trace of the little boy.
After the disappearance, the couple's 6-year-old daughter was removed by state social workers who discovered broken bones and sores on her body.
Susan Baker was convicted for beating the girl and sentenced to 10 years in prison for assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature. Paul has never been found.

 
baker_paul.jpg
baker_paul_ap.jpg

Missing Since: March 5, 1987 from Beaufort, South Carolina
Classification: Endangered Missing
Date Of Birth: June 29, 1983
Age: 3 years old
Height and Weight: 3'0 - 3'4, 40 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: Caucasian male. Blond hair, blue eyes. One of Paul's teeth was pushed into his gum at the time he disappeared. He has scars on his right index finger and on his chin.
Clothing/Jewelry Description: A camouflage shirt, a blue jacket, red pants and gray tennis shoes.

Details of Disappearance

Paul's parents, James Baker and Lynda Solorzano, separated in the mid-1980s. James's affair with Susan, who was employed as their children's babysitter, caused the breakup of the marriage. Solorzano said that she moved out of their home with Paul and his sister Nina shortly thereafter. She claimed that James never paid child support afterwards. Solorzano had limited financial means after their separation and applied for public assistance. She was pregnant with her new boyfriend's child by the time her divorce from James was finalized. Solorzano said that the judge sided with James and agreed that she did not have the means to support Paul and Nina. James was awarded full custody of both children and married Susan afterwards.

The Bakers purchased a home in Beaufort, South Carolina by 1987. Susan told authorities that she put Paul down for a nap inside their residence on March 5 of that year. Susan claimed Paul had vanished by the time she returned to check on him. He has never been seen again. An extensive search of the Bakers' property produced little evidence as to Paul's whereabouts.

State authorities removed Nina from the family's home after Paul's disappearance. Investigators learned that she suffered broken bones and had sores covering her body. Susan was convicting of abusing the child and sentenced to ten years in prison for assault and battery. Her sentence was suspended due to time served. Solorzano was involved in a legal battle in an attempt to win custody of her daughter. Nina was eventually placed in her maternal grandmother's care while Solorzano was given the opportunity to improve her life.

Susan and James were extradited back to South Carolina from their Florida residence in 2000 in connection with Paul's disappearance. James had been discharged from military service in 1999 when South Carolina authorities reopened Paul's case. Foul play is suspected in Paul's disappearance. His whereabouts remain unknown.

Investigating Agency
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Naval Criminal Investigative Service
Washington, D. C.

202-433-9183
 
Let's hope the current case in Florida makes this thread start to jump to life.
 
it's looking very suspicious for S.B.

hopefully someone who knows something about Paul's disappearance will come forward and both Shannon & Paul will come home/get justice
 
ok this is weird....she put him down for a nap and he went missing but he had shoes and a jacket on? I don't get it.
 
Thank goodness Paul Baker has his own thread.

I was just thinking, SB said, or someone gave the details about Paul having his shoes on and his jacket when she put him down for a nap.
Maybe it is what she last saw him in,
when she buried his little body somewhere?
IMO.

I wonder where we can get more information.
When was little Paul Baker last seen?
Do we only have the Baker's word for when he was last seen?

Anyone good at getting to archived newspaper articles?

Different police agencies have looked for Paul.
I am wondering if it is possible to look at police records
from SC.
 
I hope the detective from SC is coming down hard on SB. And JB too for that matter.
 
Am hoping that LE are playing real hard ball with both Susan Elizabeth Baker and James Arthur Baker right now to try and find out what happened to Paul.

Going to see what old information can be found for Paul's case and see if we can start building some good information which may help find Paul.

http://www.missingkids.com/missingk...NCMC&seqNum=1&caseLang=en_US&searchLang=en_US

"If we discuss similarities in these two cases, that's not going to help with their case in Florida," Tanner said. "All we would be doing is help Susan Baker's attorney build a defense. This is a wicked woman. We've always felt that from day one and we're not going to do anything to help her down in Florida."

http://www.islandpacket.com/breaking_news/story/1024740.html

Will continue to look for news items and relevant articles.
 
James Baker and his wife, Susan, then 27, married shortly before moving to Beaufort in 1987 with their children from James' first marriage -- 3-year-old Paul and 6-year-old Nina.

Paul was reported missing on March 5 of that year.

Susan Baker told authorities that she put Paul down for a nap at about 11 a.m. and that he had vanished by the time she checked on him again a few hours later.

Teams searched for Paul on foot, by air and by boat, but he has not been seen since.

Within days of Paul's disappearance, the state removed Nina from the Baker home after discovering she had been abused -- a sheriff's deputy said the girl had been "brutalized" and given no medical attention for a broken hand and ulcerated sores on her back that were the result of whippings.

Susan Baker was charged with assault and battery with intent to kill but pleaded guilty to assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature. She was given a 10-year prison term but released from jail after 80 days when the sentence was suspended for time served, according to records on the Beaufort County courts Web site.

The Bakers later moved to Florida but were extradited back to South Carolina in 2000 in connection with Paul's disappearance, according to reports at that time in The Beaufort Gazette.

However, a grand jury would not indict Susan Baker on a charge of criminal domestic violence of a high and aggravated nature, and in 2003, a charge of unlawful neglect of a child was dismissed, according to Daniel Brownstein, spokesman for 14th Circuit Solicitor Duffie Stone's office.

http://www.drugpolicycentral.com/bot/article/islandpacket5211.htm
 
Our little guy is making headlines....here's hoping... Here's one from Virginia!!

http://www.nbc12.com/global/story.asp?s=11450580



*snipped*
At the time of Paul's disappearance, James Baker was a Marine living in Beaufort. NCIS military investigators, including Brian Baird who is now an investigator with the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office, were also involved in the case.

Then in 2000, officials say Susan Baker was extradited back to Beaufort on assault and battery charges of a high and aggravated nature related to Paul, but a grand jury said there wasn't enough evidence to move forward on those charges.

A few months later, she was charged again, this time with child neglect in connection with Paul's disappearance.

That time, a grand jury said there was enough evidence to move forward, but the Solicitors Office decided to drop the case.

Officials say those charges were dropped because child neglect is misdemeanor in South Carolina and only carried a maximum ten year sentence.

If convicted and sentenced to the full ten years, officials say Baker would have been eligible for parole in 18 months.

Tanner said they didn't want to try her unless they had more evidence for additional charges and said it was too much of a gamble.

Baird is now in Florida working with Washington County authorities in the case. Sheriff Tanner says he's hoping his involvement with the case will help shed light on Paul Baker's cold case.

Solicitor Duffy Stone says there is no statute of limitation, so if the Florida investigation reveals new leads in Paul's disappearance, he says authorities will move forward in the 1987 case.

Paul Baker is currently listed on the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children website. The center has created an aged-progressed photo of Paul to show what he may look like today. He would be 26-years-old.
 
http://www.lowcountrynewspapers.net/archive/node/119506
''snipped''
Susan and James Baker were extradited back to South Carolina from their Florida residence in 2000 in connection with Paul's disappearance. Investigators think Paul Baker might have been the victim of foul play, but his whereabouts remain unknown.'
"We think the child was murdered or died accidentally and the body was disposed of,"'
Bromage said. "We still have him listed as a missing person."'
However, Bromage doesn't mean investigators stop work on the case. He said until evidence is found to show otherwise, investigators can't assume someone is dead.'
"You always hold out hope that you'll find someone," Bromage said.'
 
http://missing87975.yuku.com/topic/2946/t/CHILD-ABDUCTION-PAUL-BAKER.html
'snipped'''''''

About 15 investigators from the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office traveled to Florida this week to interview the couple and prepare for the arrest, said Washington County, Fla., Sheriff Fred Peel.

The couple was arrested on Tuesday and agreed to return to South Carolina where both were lodged at the Beaufort County Detention Center in lieu of $75,000 cash bonds.

James Baker was a Marine stationed at Parris Island when his son disappeared from his home near the base, Tanner said.

Tanner said investigator Bob Bromage has been working with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service after reopening many old homicide and missing person cases and uncovered new information in the Baker disappearance in May 1999.

There is no statute of limitations on the abuse charges, he said.

Additional charges may be filed later, authorities said.

snipped.....
Missing Paul

BEAUFORT: 13 years after he vanished, mother hasn't given up hope of finding out what happened to her son.


By Stephanie Broadbent
Carolina Morning News

There was a time when Lynda Solorzano trusted her baby sitter to watch over her young children.

But that was before her husband said he wanted a divorce. Before he married the baby sitter and won custody of Solorzano's daughter and son. Before the new stepmother beat the girl severely enough to put her in a hospital.

Before Solorzano's son disappeared without a trace.

Now the former Cherry Point woman wants answers from her ex-husband and the woman he married. She wants to know if her first-born son died 13 years ago and why her daughter was abused by the woman who was supposed to protect her.

"Not knowing is worse than knowing," said Solarzano, who now lives in Durham, N.C., with her second son. "Let me put my baby to rest. Let me have a memorial, someplace to go. I have dreams at night where he's lost in the dark and can't find his way home and I can't find him."

I just have to say that I am glad we
now have more info about the family situation.
 
From above link:
It does appear that Lynda eventually regained custody of Nina.
 
I wonder is Paul is on the FL property somewhere? I think it should be searched.

When did the Bakers buy the house in FL? How long after Paul went missing? Were they looking at the property when Paul went missing? Is Paul somewhere between SC and FL?

It would be really good to know exactly the last time someone reliable reported seeing Paul.

Salem
 
There was a piece of property bought in Washington County, Fl in 1995 by a Susan Baker. Am still doing some background checking on this. The document on the Washington County records site actually shows the precise location of the property so should be able to trace that through the great maps available on the internet now - just haven't done it yet. The size of this property was just over 6 acres.

Ageeing with you Scandi, that the property should be searched in Chipley.

We have to start with basics and we have to keep a very open mind as SB has brass b*lls and IMO acts like a 40 watt light bulb in a 100 watt circuit.... you know the elevator doesn't quite go to the top floor type thing.

Lots of great information starting to build up on Paul's thread now.
 
Basic map showing Beaufort to Chipley. Was wondering where Beaufort really was ... south of Savannah that great old city steeped with history. Now I have a good reference point and can actually picture the countryside in my mind.
 

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