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Remains identified as those of teenager missing since last year
Catawba County officials say suspect is in jail in Florida
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Published: June 27, 2009
NEWTON - An emotional Coy Reid confirmed what all had suspected since skeletal remains were found in Catawba on Wednesday: The remains were those of missing teenager Travis Baker.
"It's been a long two years, and I'm glad this case is coming to an end as far as a missing person. I don't like the result," said Reid, the chief deputy in the Catawba County Sheriff's Office.
The State Medical Examiner's Office used dental records to identify Baker, Reid said
Reid pointed to a photograph of Baker that was well known to county residents since it was used during the family's two-year search for their son.
"I think this is the way everybody wants to remember him," Reid said, drawing sobs from Baker's family and friends, gathered in the Muster Room of the sheriff's office for a news conference.
Baker's family learned of the verification of their son's remains Thursday morning. Jerry Sigmon, Travis Baker's godfather and the Baker family spokesman, asked the media to allow the family to grieve.
"We need a moment to absorb this," Sigmon said. "At this moment, we are just numb. We have to find out what step two is."
Reid gave details of the investigation since the sheriff's office received a June 15 tip about Baker's disappearance. That tip pointed investigators toward John Lee Mitchell Jr., who, Reid confirmed, had been a suspect since early in the investigation.
Mitchell, 46, is being held with no bond in the jail in Orange County, Fla. He is charged with first-degree murder. Authorities expect to bring him back to Catawba County this week if he waives extradition.
Reid recounted what investigators believed happened before Baker disappeared on April 16, 2007.
He said that investigators think that Baker went to Mitchell's house on Oxford School Road the day he disappeared. They believe that he was there to deliver narcotics.
"We believe the two men got into an argument, but we're not sure what the argument was over. We think Mitchell, during the argument, shot Travis," Reid said.
The Bakers have fought hard to find their son, offering a reward that topped out at $5,000. They assisted with 15 other disappearance cases, one in which the person was found.
Investigators think that Mitchell buried Baker's body near the field off Eulalia Lane in Catawba, 10 miles from his house.
Reid said that the informant's tip led detectives to a grave in Catawba that contained Baker's remains.
Warrants were drawn on Mitchell on Wednesday, and authorities in Orange County, Fla., arrested him at a business he was known to frequent, Reid said.
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