UPDATED: New twists in missing-child case

CHIPLEY — Authorities confirmed Wednesday they were investigating whether a 26-year-old missing child case in South Carolina is related to the disappearance of 7-month-old Shannon Dedrick from her family's trailer near the woods.

On the fourth day of the search for her, the investigation continued to include baby sitter Susan Baker, who said Tuesday in a News Herald interview she "loved that child" and tried to have the state intervene with the family. Baker also supplied an e-mail she sent to Gov. Charlie Crist pleading that someone help Shannon, whom she said was being abused by her parents. 

Washington County sheriff's investigators are now working to determine whether she was the same Susan Baker implicated in a 1987 missing-child case in Beaufort, S.C. That child, then-6-year-old Paul Baker, never has been found.

A woman who said she was Susan Baker's niece confirmed she was the same woman. But that arrest, according to niece Tabatha Phillips, was "on a technicality" and Baker was innocent.

The Center for Missing and Exploited Children provided this synopsis of the 1987 case:

"(Paul) 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."

Investigators were in briefings Wednesday morning. Spokeswoman Andrea Gainey said Baker was one of hundreds interviewed, that the Sheriff's Office was aware of the similarities in Dedrick's disappearance and the 1987 case, and that the person of interest still was not public information.

Phillips wrote Wednesday morning on her Twitter page that she "knows the POI is the one who cared the most."

Later, in a phone interview, she said, "Susan would not hurt a child."

"That's the only reason they're putting her as a person of interest now is because of all of that crap that happened way back when," Phillips said.

"They need to start asking (the mother) where the child is," she said. "She's the one that put it somewhere."

Washington County court records show a 2004 case labeled "67-04-DR-177/FIN JUD OF MARRIAGE" between a Susan and James Baker. Court records also show a mortgage for Susan and James Baker for a piece of property at 3395 Orange Hill Road, the same address cited in the e-mail to Crist.

Baker did not immediately return a phone messages.

A sheriff's investigator in Beaufort, S.C., briefly returned a phone call on the cold case but hung up soon after, saying he was in a meeting.