Sheriff: Mother, babysitter conspired in missing baby case

CHIPLEY — A healthy 7-month-old Shannon Dedrick, missing for five days until searchers found her stowed in a small cedar box under her baby sitter's bed, was safe in state custody Thursday while her mother and baby sitter sat in jail.

Hours after Washington County Sheriff Bobby Haddock first carried the wide-eyed little girl into view at a hastily called 1:15 a.m. news conference, he again briefed reporters on the case, which continued to attract national attention.

"A lot of grown men cried," Haddock said of finding the wooden box about 9:55 p.m. Wednesday — when sheriff's Investigator Kenny Brock pulled the 2-foot-by-3-foot wooden chest from beneath a bed in baby sitter Susan Baker's home.

He unlatched the lid and found little Shannon inside.

She came out with her eyes "wide open, surprised, kind of a little bright light shining in her eyes," Haddock said.

Baker, upon seeing the rescue, repeated the words, "She's all right. She's all right," the sheriff said.

Shannon had been in the box for almost 12 hours, Haddock struggled to tell reporters. For some of those hours, police were surrounding the home, waiting for orders to search the trailer.

Baker eventually broke and gave permission, Haddock said. The Sheriff's Office also obtained a search warrant based on several pieces of evidence, including a gray van seen at Shannon's family's home around the time of her disappearance.

The baby sitter, also the child's step-aunt and a suspect in the disappearance of her own stepson 22 years ago, was charged with aggravated child neglect. Her bail was set at $150,000.

Shannon's mother Crystina Lynn Mercer, 25, was charged with deserting a child. Her bail was $75,000.

Both faced additional counts of interference with child custody, filing a false missing child report, filing a false report of a crime and contributing to the dependency (not delinquency, according to the judge at the women's arraignments) of a child.

Mercer and Baker "conspired in this together to hand over the child at 1:30 that morning (Saturday) at the mailbox at the end of their drive," Haddock said.

Baker had asked to take permanent custody of Shannon, and Mercer agreed, investigators charged.

Haddock said it didn't appear the mother knew about the baby's box, which was shoved under the bed "with a lot of material in front of it to deceive anyone who was looking" — a ploy Baker pulled when she knew investigators were coming to her small house trailer on Orange Hill Road, a dozen miles away from the baby's home on Brown Street just outside Chipley city limits.

Baker's husband, James Baker, initially was detained, too, but he was released about 3 a.m. Thursday and investigators were consulting with the State Attorney's Office to decide whether to file charges.

Shannon appeared well-fed and healthy despite being stuffed in the box, which Haddock said also contained a blanket and baking soda or powder to mask the smell of her dirty diapers should dogs or searchers come near.