February 7, 1999. Kettering, Ohio. Nine-year old Erica Baker leaves her family’s home to take their dog for a walk. While a pair of eyewitnesses see Erica in a nearby park, she soon vanishes without a trace and the dog is found unattended. Six years later, a suspect named Christian Gabriel is indicted on the charges of evidence tampering and abuse of a corpse after confessing that he was in a van which fatally struck Erica in a hit-and-run accident before the responsible parties disposed of her body. Even though Gabriel recants his confession, he winds up being convicted on these charges and serves nearly six years in prison. Numerous searches fail to turn up Erica’s body and following his release, Gabriel still does not divulge the location of her remains. Was Gabriel being truthful in his original confession or did something else happen to Erica? On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we explore one of the most frustrating missing children’s cases you’ll ever hear about.

If you have information about this case, please contact the Kettering Police Department (937) 296-2555.

Additional Reading:

http://charleyproject.org/case/erica-nicole-baker

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/oh-court-of-appeals/1469914.html

https://mercercountyoutlook.net/2018/02/08/the-mystery-of-erica-baker-continues-after-18-years/

https://www.whio.com/news/erica-baker-what-the-missing-girl-would-look-like-today/vskS120C1pVST5CqE8k6iI/

https://apnews.com/article/6286840462bb1738eead57e7de25f209

https://www.newspapers.com/image/409877651/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/409877927/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/410119613/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/410119738/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/410813727/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/410813770/

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“The Trail Went Cold” is now doing a weekly livestream show on GetVokl every Thursday from 7:00-8:00 PM ET as part of their “True Crime Thursday” line-up. For more information, please visit their website.

The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.

All music is composed by Vince Nitro.