(AP) -- HICKORY, N.C. (AP) - Police say a prosthetic leg found in western North Carolina belonged to a missing 10-year-old girl.
The Hickory Police Department said Monday that the artificial left leg belonged to Zahra Baker, who lost her own leg to bone cancer. Police said the serial number on the prosthetic leg recovered Wednesday matched the number on medical records that detectives collected from the girl's native Australia.
Police say a scanner was used to pull the serial number from a transponder inside the leg.
Authorities believe the girl is dead and have been searching for her body for weeks.
Elisa Baker, the girl's stepmother, is charged with obstruction of justice. Police say she admitted writing a bogus ransom note the day Zahra was reported missing.
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