Account
Dec 31, 2009
Aug 06, 2018
Erica
Baker
35
9
47 inches
65 lbs
White / Caucasian
Female
On a Sunday afternoon in Kettering, Ohio, nine-year-old Erica Baker vanished while walking her dog. It was February 7, 1999, when she left her home between 3:00 and 3:30 p.m. Her Shih Tzu was found later, but Erica was gone. At the time of her disappearance, Erica was described as being 3 feet 11 inches tall and weighing 65 pounds, with blonde hair and hazel eyes. She had crooked front teeth, a tan-colored birthmark on her hip, and a scar on the inner arch of one of her feet. She was last seen wearing a pink Winnie the Pooh sweatshirt, a pink rain jacket, blue jeans, and white tennis shoes. The investigation into Erica's disappearance eventually focused on Christian Gabriel. In 2004, Gabriel confessed that he had been driving a van with his girlfriend, Jan Marie Franks, and a friend, Clifford Butts, when he accidentally struck and killed Erica. He claimed they were all under the influence of drugs at the time. According to his confession, they panicked, put Erica's body in their van, and buried her in a shallow grave. Gabriel was convicted of gross abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence, serving six years in prison before his release in 2011. Jan Franks, who police believed had knowledge of the incident, died of a drug overdose in 2001 without providing any information to the authorities. Despite his confession, Gabriel has given conflicting accounts of where Erica's body was buried. He has led investigators to several locations, including Huffman Dam, Eastwood Lake, and Caesar Creek State Park, but extensive searches have yielded no results. At one point, he claimed three other people were in the van and buried her at Huffman MetroPark. Months later, he changed his story, stating it was only him and Jan Franks who buried her in a different location. He later recanted even owning a van at the time. The case remains an active investigation, with detectives still hoping to provide answers and a sense of closure to Erica's family. Over the years, tips have led to new searches, including one in 2022 based on information from a podcast about the case, but Erica's remains have never been found. The overarching goal for law enforcement remains to recover Erica and bring her home to her family for a proper burial.
Feb 07, 1999
Kettering
Ohio
Montgomery County
45420
26190
Kettering Police Department
Kettering
Ohio
,
990266
Kettering Police Department
Blond/Strawberry
Hazel
Hazel
No
05/20/2026
