Latest Developments in Cori Baker Case...

Motorist saw teen, suspect fighting...

By NICOLE MARSHALL World Staff Writer
2/26/2008

The information is vital to the investigation of the missing girl, police say.

A motorist saw 13-year-old Cori Baker fighting with the man who is accused of killing her on the day of her disappearance, police announced Monday.

The information, which was reported to police last week, is a significant lead in their investigation into the whereabouts of the girl, who has been missing since Nov. 9 and is believed dead, Sgt. Mike Huff said.

Marquis Bullock, Cori's older sister's boyfriend, is charged with killing her. Bullock picked up Cori from her school, Union Alternative School, 5656 S. 129th East Ave., about 2:10 p.m. Nov. 9.  Police said previously that that was the last known time she was seen alive.

That information was repeated last week in a newspaper article about her family's continued search for her body. A man who read the article notified the police that he had seen the girl with Bullock about 4:20 p.m. on the day she disappeared.

The man told police that he saw the two at the intersection of 71st Street and Riverside Parkway in the red car that Bullock was driving. They were scuffling, and it caused Bullock to run a red light and nearly collide with the man's vehicle, Huff said.

The witness said he last saw the red car going north on Riverside near 68th Street. He positively identified Bullock and Cori. Since receiving the tip last week, police confirmed the man's account through his phone records.

The man had picked up his cellular phone to call 911 to report the reckless driver, but he was interrupted when he received a call from home at 4:23 p.m., Huff said the phone records show.

The new lead is significant to the investigation, Huff said. "We want people to direct their attention to that part of the city at that time of day," he said. "Traffic is busy at that time of day. It (the scuffle in the car) nearly caused a wreck, and it might be something that triggers some body's recollection."

Huff said the tip also redirects the focus of the search for Cori's body to that area of the city and broadens thetimeframe when Bullock was with Cori, Huff said. Police initially stated that he was with her from the time he picked her up about 2:10 p.m. until before he returned home, which, based on the recollection of Cori's older sister, Courtney, was about 3:30 or 4 p.m.

Multiple searches, which originated in and around the Arkansas River but later expanded to other parts of the Tulsa area, have been conducted by police officers, firefighters, family members, professional search groups and volunteers.  Last week, the Baker family and Jeff Baker, a self-described psychic from Colorado who is not related to the local Baker family, coordinated a search party around Floral Haven Memorial Gardens in the 6500 block of South 129th East Avenue.

In another development, Tulsa police cybercrimes detectives have determined that an e-mail solicitation to the Baker family for money to help find Cori's body originated in Nigeria and was a scam.

Nicole Marshall 581-8459
nicole.marshall@tulsaworld.com

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Also see http://tpdblog.typepad.com/tpdblog/2008/02/lead-developed.html

Comments

[T]

Maybe I'm wrong, but I think she's still alive.

[conserned]

will police be searching river for cori this week while the damn is shut off???? please answer

[SHANNON]

YOU DO NOT NO ANY THING ABOUT CORI BAKER . SO PLEASE DO NOT SAY ANY THING ABOUT HER. ONE DAY WE WILL FIND HER ,AND SHOW THE WORLD LOOK WHAT THIS A** DID TO HER SO GOD BE WITH HIM

[Editor]

The Tulsa Police Department searches every location we receive a tip or other viable information about.

As much as we wish we could, we cannot just fan out and search every location in Oklahoma at all times--it's not feasible as we unfortunately do not have the resources.

Again, we receive tips, they are searched. As for the Arkansas River, additional resources are necessary and unavailable at this time.

We hope that the preliminary hearing scheduled for March 17, will create some much-needed pressure in this case.