Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Ms Baker – who is currently serving a second-degree murder sentence in a North Carolina women’s prison – said Adam Baker dismembered the body of his daughter Zahra, 10, before disposing of it in nearby bushland. 

“It was he who dismembered Zahra,” Ms Baker told veteran 60 Minutes reporter, Liz Hayes, following up with “he was my husband,” in response to a question about why she would have been complicit if such an act occurred. 

A dishevelled-looking Ms Baker – who had a history of verbal, physical and psychological abuse towards her stepdaughter, Zahra – thought she was a “good person,” who would give anyone, “the shirt off her back.” 

Ms Baker claimed she found Zahra in a non-responsive state at her Hickory home in September, 2010. 

She said she performed a resuscitation procedure for 30 minutes, a claim not consistent with the coroner’s report, which said Zahra had died from “undetermined homicidal violence.” 

The segment prompted a overwhelming response on social media website Twitter, user @Tahls posting “Listening to this monster talk about how much she ‘loved’ and ‘misses’ Zahra is actually disgusting”, while another user said the convicted child killer had “Charles Manson’s black, dead eyes”.

Zahra was born in Wagga in 1999 and lived with her birth parents until 2004. She moved to North Carolina with her father, Adam, in 2008 after he met Elisa Baker (then Fairchild) on an internet dating website.