Details emerge in case of missing Chipley baby

MISSING

Anyone with information is asked to call the Washington County Sheriff’s Office at (850) 638-6111.

A woman whose vehicle neighbors said was at the same residence where a baby was reported missing hours later in Chipley, Fla., on Saturday once wrote Florida’s governor, claiming the baby was in a harmful environment.

The same woman could also be connected to the disappearance of a 3-year-old boy in 1987.

In an interview with the Dothan Eagle on Monday, Tanya Wilt, who lives next door to the residence on Brown Street where 7-month-old Shannon Dedrick was reported missing Saturday by her parents, said a gray van belonging to a woman named Susan Baker was at the home in the late evening hours Friday night.

“She’s over here all the time,” Wilt said. “The only person that ever drives over there is Susan.”

The Panama City News Herald reported Wednesday that Baker, who is believed to be a babysitter for baby Shannon’s parents, wrote an e-mail to Florida Gov. Charlie Crist in August, seeking help for the infant, who she said lived in a drug-infested home.

“That child needs help and no one is helping her,” the News Herald quotes the e-mail as saying.

However, a woman by the name of Susan Baker is also connected to the disappearance of 3-year-old Paul Davis in Beaufort, S.C., in 1987. According to media reports, a Susan Baker is Davis’ stepmother and was the last person to see Davis before he went missing. A Susan Baker, and her husband, Paul, were arrested in Chipley in 2000 and extradited to South Carolina to face charges of assault and battery with intent to kill and assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature in connection with the case. Paul Davis was never found. She was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison, but the sentence was suspended to 80 days.

The Washington County Sheriff’s Office declined to confirm whether the Susan Baker connected to the South Carolina case is the same Susan Baker who now lives in Chipley and e-mailed the governor about baby Shannon.

According to a 2002 story from the Beaufort (South Carolina) Gazette, James Baker was a Marine stationed at the Marine Corps Air Station in South Carolina at the time of the disappearance. Susan Baker told police she put the child down for a nap and awoke later to find him missing.

Meanwhile, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office continues to investigate the disappearance of baby Shannon. Deputies were stationed at the Baker residence Wednesday, but Sheriff Bobby Haddock declined to say if Baker was the “person of interest” with whom he said the office had been communicating.

The Florida Department of Children and Families released documents related to several visits the department made to the Dedrick residence after allegations were made about marijuana use and other harmful activity in the household. Case notes detailed substance abuse by the parents and a messy, cluttered home, but no indication of bruises or marks on the baby.

“Noted throughout the investigations were the numerous risk factors present within the household, however no evidence to provide a nexus of harm to the baby was found during either investigation,” the report concluded.