Emma Lee Barker, 18 mos Body Found During Search for SoCal Child

[Oceanblueeyes]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=7128661

Toddler's Body Found During Search for SoCal Child

Authorities on Thursday found the body of a toddler believed to be an 18-month-old girl reported missing by her mother, who said someone knocked her out while she was putting the child into her car seat.

The baby was found in tall grass beside a street in the northern LA neighborhood of Sylmar, a few blocks from Interstate 5, sheriff's officials said.


:1222423::1222423:

[Roamer]

So sad.

[annalyzer]

http://www.mydesert.com/article/20090320/NEWS10/90320007/1263/update

Autopsy today on body of toddler initially reported missing by her mother

Desert Sun wire services • March 20, 2009

An autopsy is scheduled to be performed today on what is believed to be the body of Emma Leigh Barker, the toddler initially reported missing by her mother and later found on a Sylmar lot near the Golden State (5) Freeway.

``Emma Leigh Barker -- yes, her body will be autopsied later today,'' Lt. Kelly Yagerlener of the Los Angeles County Department of Coroner said early this morning.

The 18-month-old girl was initially reported missing by her 20-year-old mother, Stacey Barker, who told detectives she was with the child at Lancaster City Park, 43011 N. 10th Street West about 5 p.m. Wednesday, and was putting her daughter into a car seat when she was struck in the back of the head and ``knocked unconscious.''

Barker said she woke up six hours later at a park-and-ride lot nine miles away in Palmdale, where authorities found her, ``partially clad'' and with a ``head injury,'' Lt. Pat Nelson of the sheriff's homicide bureau said at a news conference Thursday. There was no sign of the infant.

About 11 a.m., investigators discovered the body of a toddler in tall grass in the 13000 block of El Dorado Avenue in Sylmar, near the Roxford Street offramp of the Golden State (5) Freeway, Nelson said.

Investigators could not confirm the remains were those of the missing girl, but Nelson said they were ``fairly confident'' they were those of Emma. The issue of identity should be officially settled with today's autopsy.

Barker was not immediately arrested by Sheriff's homicide investigators or even named as a ``person of interest.''

The story that Barker allegedly told detectives about being struck in the back of the head and getting knocked unconscious was different from the version of events she gave to deputies from the Palmdale station who initially responded to her location.

``She said she remembered putting her daughter in the car and then somehow hitting her head on the steering wheel and blacking out,'' said Lt. Vince Carter of the Palmdale station. ``The next thing she was aware of is waking up at the park-n-ride with injuries and her daughter missing.''

The sheriff's department first learned of the girl's disappearance at 11 p.m. Wednesday night, Carter said.

``We got a call from the brother of the alleged victim who said his sister woke up at the park-n-ride in Palmdale, injured, and her 18-month-old girl was missing,'' Carter said.

That location does not have any surveillance cameras on site, authorities said.

Carter said his deputies were dispatched to the park-n-ride and the young mother told them she had been with her daughter at the Lancaster park.

One thing that is consistent with Barker's stories is that the young mother did have injuries to her head.

``She had contusions on her head and was taken to the hospital for treatment,'' Carter said.

However, if the sheriff's department knows how Barker was injured they're not saying. And it was those injuries that initially slowed down the search for the missing girl, Carter explained.

Initially, the investigation into this case was treated as a disappearance by the sheriff's department, and Barker's initial interviews with detectives Thursday morning were handled by the Sheriff's Department's Major Crimes Bureau.

The interviews conducted by detectives somehow produced the location where the toddler's body was eventually found. But the department is remaining mum on how that information was obtained.

Once the girl's body was found, the case was transferred to the Homicide Bureau, which has now taken over all aspects of the investigation.

[annalyzer]

http://media.nbclosangeles.com/images/KNBC_Toddler_Missing_in_Palmdale_Mys_031909_06_mez zn_448x336.jpg

Investigators: Missing Child's Mother Changes Story

NBCLosAngeles.com
updated 2 minutes ago

Coroner's officials have identified a body found in Sylmar as an 18-month-old girl whose mother had said the child was kidnapped.

Authorities, however, said they have discovered inconsistencies in the account given by the 20-year-old mother of Emma Leigh Barker, whose body was found in tall grass a few blocks from Interstate 5.

"At this point I would not term her a suspect,' sheriff's Lt. Pat Nelson said of the unidentified mother. "That may change as circumstances develop."

No arrests have been made.

Officials confirmed the girl's identity Thursday evening. An autopsy was scheduled Friday to determine her cause of death.

The mother told detectives she was knocked out by someone while she was putting the child into her car seat Wednesday evening at Lancaster City Park in northern Los Angeles County.

She said she awoke more than five hours later to discover the child was missing. She contacted deputies within an hour.

The mother was partially clad and suffering from a head injury when she was interviewed, Nelson said.

Within a few hours several inconsistencies in the woman's story emerged, he said.

"Further investigation led unfortunately to the discovery of the body of the toddler," he said.

The body was found about 50 miles from Lancaster.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29777161/

[Oceanblueeyes]

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-toddler-dead20-2009mar20,0,6966408.story

Missing Lancaster girl's body is found as mother's story unravels

Stacy Barker initially told authorities that her 18-month-old daughter was abducted. But she is now saying the death was an accident, according to sources.

By Richard Winton and Ann M. Simmons
March 20, 2009
A chilling report that a Lancaster mother had been knocked unconscious by an attacker and her 18-month-old daughter abducted Wednesday afternoon triggered a frantic search by authorities for the missing child.

That search ended nearly a dozen hours later Thursday, though, when police discovered the toddler's body dumped by the side of a road in Sylmar, near the Golden State Freeway.

[Roamer]

If it was an accident, how the heck could she dump her beside a road???

[packy]

Very strange. So sorry the little one is dead. May she rest in peace now.

Hope they get to the bottom of what happened.

[Amusedtdth]

Heartbreaking.....RIP Little One

[Aubrey]

Stacey Barker, 24, told detectives that when her daughter Emma Leigh died, she panicked and believed she would be blamed.


I'm curious about the above statement as to why she would say this in the first place and feel the need to concoct kidnapping story. I wonder if she'd been warned or accused of negligence/abuse before? Why else would she be so concerned about being blamed?

My prayers for Emma

[Aubrey]

Mother Charged With Murder In Her Baby's Death

LANCASTER (CBS)

Prosecutors filed murder and other charges Monday against a woman suspected of killing her 18-month-old daughter, whom she initially claimed was taken from her in a violent kidnapping.

Stacey Marie Barker, 24, was also charged with assault on a child causing death and child abuse, according to the district attorney's office. She was expected to be arraigned Monday in Lancaster.

http://cbs2.com/local/Emma.Barker.Stacey.2.995589.html

[Roamer]

Good.

[Aubrey]

Lancaster Mother Charged with Murder in Baby's Death
KTLA News

April 27, 2009

LANCASTER --

Murder charges were filed Monday against a Quartz Hill mother who initially claimed she was assaulted and her 18- month- old daughter kidnapped.

Stacey Barker, 24, is charged with one count each of murder, assault on a child causing death and child abuse, according to the District Attorney's office.

The complaint alleges that Barker willfully caused and permitted the child to be injured and harmed and that injury resulted in death.

Barker initially told deputies her daughter Emma was abducted from her car in the parking lot of Lancaster City Park on March 18th.

She claimed she was knocked out by the kidnapper and woke up several miles away at the Palmdale Park-n-Ride.

Barker later admitted making up the abduction story.

She said the little girl died accidentally, causing her to panic and leave the girl's body near the freeway.

The child's body was found 12 hours later, dumped in a grassy lot near the Golden State Freeway in Sylmar.

Sheriff's officials never disclosed what sort of accident Barker said killed her daughter.

Barker was arrested Thursday afternoon and booked at the Lancaster Sheriff's Station on suspicion of second-degree murder, Lt. Don Downton said.
"Within the last several weeks investigators were able to interview several people in the case," Downton said.

Barker is jailed in lieu of $1 million bail.

http://www.ktla.com/landing_news/?Lancaster-Mother-Charged-with-Murder-in-=1&blockID=243852&feedID=171

[Aubrey]

Mother charged in killing of 18-month-old daughter
By Richard Winton
April 28, 2009

An Antelope Valley mother who alleged that an attacker knocked her out and abducted her 18-month-old daughter had allegedly suffocated the girl hours earlier and dumped her body in Sylmar, detectives said Monday.

Stacey Barker, 24, was charged with one count each of murder, assault on a child causing death, and child abuse in the death of Emma Leigh Barker, authorities said.


"At this point, as best as we can determine, the infant died through suffocation at hands of the mother," said Los Angeles County Sheriff's Lt. Pat Nelson. "After her third or fourth version of events, we knew she wasn't telling the truth, and we were able to determine what happened. At this point, we believe she acted alone."

Detectives arrested Barker last Thursday because of "indications she might flee or disappear," Nelson said. Barker had been staying with relatives since the March 18 disappearance of her daughter and discovery of the child's body near Roxford Street and El Dorado Avenue in deep brush along a fence.

Detectives believe that the girl was already dead four or five hours before Stacey Barker contacted authorities to report the child missing and tell of her mysterious abduction.


"Our belief is the child died in the early evening of March 18," Nelson said.

Barker initially told detectives that she was at a Lancaster park near the 14 Freeway and had just placed Emma in her car seat when she was struck from behind by an unknown assailant. She told them that she awoke about 10:30 p.m. five hours later and several miles away at a Palmdale park-and-ride lot, and that her daughter was missing.

But the next day, Barker recanted the tale of assault and abduction that had launched a massive manhunt, Nelson said. She eventually helped sheriff's detectives find her daughter's body and told them she had died in an accident. Detectives then discovered the toddler's body in Sylmar near Interstate 5.

Prosecutors allege that Barker willfully caused and permitted her daughter to be harmed and that the injury resulted in death. Barker, of Quartz Hill, was arrested last week at her grandparents' home in Lancaster.

Barker's arraignment hearing was postponed Monday until May 11. She remains in custody in lieu of $1-million bail.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-mother28-2009apr28,0,6293699.story


Emma was suffocated, how heartbreaking...

[Audie]

Susan Moss is my favorite talking head. JMO

[Faith]

RIP Sweet Angel :1222423:

http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2009-04/46541410.jpg

[grammybears]

What a sweet angel. I just do not understand how a parent could do something so horrible to their child or any other child. I hope they keep the woman in jail.

[Sprocket]

There is a possibility that this trial will be transferred into the downtown area. If that happens I will cover this trial. There is also the possibility that I can cover the next hearing in the case on June 15th, in Lancaster.