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Parents charged in missing boy case

BEAUFORT: Father and stepmother allegedly beat toddler before he vanished in 1987.


By Stephanie Broadbent
Carolina Morning News

More than 13 years after their young son disappeared in Beaufort County, a Florida couple was returned to South Carolina on Thursday to face charges in the case.

James and Susan Baker, both 41, of Chipley, Fla., were charged with assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature for allegedly beating 3-year-old Paul Baker before he vanished on March 5, 1987.

The boy's stepmother, 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 sores and broken bones 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. Circuit Court Judge Luke Brown suspended the sentence to time she'd already served in jail.

Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner would not say if investigators believe Paul Baker is dead but said it's being handled as a missing persons case because the boy was never found.

"We're making headway on it, but there's still a lot of work to do," he said Friday. "We're working on it as aggressively as we can."

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.

Tanner was a deputy in 1987 and remembers searching for the boy with other hopeful rescuers. He would not say if the parents were then suspects in the disappearance, but said they were not ruled out.

"We never take anything at face value," he said.

After taking office as sheriff in January 1999, he said one priority was solving old cases and appointed an investigator to work with the coroner's office on new homicides and re-examine old ones.

Since then, an arrest was made in the 1988 slaying of a Savannah Morning News paper carrier and other cases are expected to be cleared this year, he said.

He declined to release details of the Brown investigation but said when it is resolved, it should put closure on the case.

Paul Baker's photo remains on the web site of the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children, along with an aged composite of what he might look like at age 16.

The center lists his case as a non-family abduction.

Anyone with information is asked to call Crimestoppers at 1-800-525-7175.

Reporter Stephanie Broadbent can be reached at 837-5255, ext. 110 or at stephanie@lowcountrynow.com




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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."

Solarzano's first son, Paul Baker, disappeared March 5, 1987, while living with his father and stepmother in a Beaufort home. He was 3 years old and hasn't been seen since.

James and Susan Baker, now 41, of Chipley, Fla., were recently charged in the case and returned to Beaufort to face charges of beating the boy before he vanished.

Both remain lodged at the Beaufort County Detention Center in lieu of $75,000 cash bonds while Beaufort County investigators delve into the case with new leads. Neither could be reached at the jail for comment Thursday.

Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner won't discuss details of the arrests, but said the investigation may shed new light on what happened to the little boy searchers couldn't find.

The arrests also provide hope for answers for Solarzano and her 19-year-old daughter, Nina Baker, who was removed from her father's home after her brother disappeared and her stepmother beat her and broke her bones.

She was 6 years old when Paul disappeared, but while the physical scars have faded, the emotional ones still hurt.

It isn't the future Solarzano imagined when she met her husband at a North Carolina roller rink two decades ago.

New love

The skating rink was crowded, but one boy stood out.

His speed, spins and jumps impressed 15-year-old Lynda enough that she asked him to skate with her during the Sadie Hawkins number.

It was love at first sight, she said, but Lynda couldn't date until her 16th birthday, so 19-year-old James Baker started meeting her at church. A year later, her father allowed them to double-date with other couples and when she turned 17 they were allowed to venture out alone.

"I was getting ready to graduate high school and he said he wanted to get married," she remembered. Despite her father's opposition, Linda said yes.

A year later, she gave birth to Nina and James Baker joined the U.S. Marine Corps. But when he got back from basic training, the boy she'd loved was a man she didn't know.

"He came out different, colder," Solarzano said. "When I got pregnant with Paul, he said I was holding him back in his career."

Stationed in Beaufort, things were fine for awhile. James Baker was an avionics technician and his future looked bright. But Solarzano's luck was taking a turn for the worse.

New woman

Solarzano had a part-time job but needed someone to look after Nina and Paul.

One of James Baker's friends had a sister, who he said was good with children. Susan lived nearby and seemed to be the obvious choice.

"She was my baby sitter," Solarzano said. "But what I didn't know was she was baby-sitting my husband too."

Solarzano said she found about the alleged affair, which caused her marriage to crumble. She took the children and moved out but claims her husband didn't pay child support. She had very little money and couldn't afford a lawyer.

It was a long separation, and she eventually met someone else, she said. Before the divorce was final, she was pregnant with her boyfriend's child.

"I don't believe in abortion, so I went to court pregnant," she said. "I lost on adultery. I was separated, pregnant and on welfare. He had a house and was in the Corps."

Although she wanted 6-year-old Nina and 3-year-old Paul, Solarzano said the judge sided with her husband.

She vowed to try to get them back within a year, but only nine months later her son was gone and she'd have to fight the state to return her daughter after they took the battered girl from her father's home.

Paul Baker

Like so many toddlers, Paul loved his big sister and followed her wherever she went.

That's why Solarzano can't believe that he wandered away from home on his own. Searchers were called to the Bakers' home March 5, 1987, after his stepmother, Susan Baker, told police she put Paul down for a nap and returned to his room to find him missing.

Deputies and volunteers scoured the area for days but no trace of Paul was ever found.

What social workers did find were sores on his sister's body and broken bones in her hand that hadn't healed. Her stepmother was arrested and convicted for assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature. She was sentenced to 10 years in prison, but a judge suspended the sentence to time she'd served in jail before trial.

Meanwhile, Solarzano was fighting for custody of her daughter again. The state wanted to put her up for adoption but her mother and grandmother were determined to get her back, Solarzano said.

At first her mother was only allowed short visits and what she saw shocked her, she said.

"She had whole patches of hair that had been pulled out by the roots and it grew back white," Solarzano said. "There were open sores on her back, probably from burns. She still has scars on her back and hands."

After spending more than $10,000 in lawyer fees, Nina was given to Solarzano's mother, where she lived until her mother could care for her alone.

For years, Nina had no contact with her father or stepmother. The couple moved to Florida after James Baker left military service and for years there was only silence.

At times, his daughter didn't even know where he lived, Solarzano said.

"She's always asked me questions about him, but she wanted answers from him," Solarzano said.

Nina recently contacted her father in hopes of resolving mixed emotions, her mother said.

Nina wants to know what happened and why. She's 19, works in retail as a shift manager and is going to college. She's adjusted well, but still needs closure, Solarzano said.

Solarzano's youngest son also wants to know about the brother he never met. He recently found a computer generated photograph from the Center for Missing and Exploited Children of what Paul might look like at age 16.

It was a photo his mother had never seen until she came from work to find it on her computer screen saver.

"I asked who that boy is and he told me Paul," she said, crying. "It's too much. It still hurts too much."

Solarzano still hopes to meet the 16-year-old boy in the photograph, but doubts it will happen. She holds out hope that her son is still alive, but won't believe it without proof.

In the meantime, she's still pressing authorities to find out what happened to her boy and hopes her husband will tell them if there's anything else he knows.

"I just hope someone will touch his heart," she said. "We've been waiting 13 years. Paul hasn't been forgotten."

Reporter Stephanie Broadbent can be reached at 837-5255, ext. 110, or at stephanie@lowcountrynow.com




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