NEWTON - The man suspected of killing a 19-year-old two years ago was in a Catawba County courtroom Monday. He is charged with first-degree murder.



With a noticeably shorter haircut than the one in his previously published mug shot, John Lee Mitchell Jr. walked into the courtroom wearing a lime green jumpsuit for his first court appearance.



Mitchell, 46, is charged in the death of Travis Lee Baker, who was last seen alive April 16, 2007, in the Bunker Hill… Continue

Travis L. Baker



TAYLORSVILLE - Travis Lee Baker, 21, of Taylorsville, died June 24, 2009. Travis was born July 10, 1987, in Catawba County, a son of Carroll Dwayne and Patricia "Trish" Hughes Baker. He graduated from Bunker Hill High School in 2005, where he played football and baseball. He loved fishing and hunting. He was preceded in death by a son, Takoda Chilton Baker, and his maternal grandfather, Leroy Hughes. Survivors include his parents, Carroll Dwayne and Patricia "Trish"… Continue

Many of you may know my story of parental abduction (a tactic of parental alienation). Kidnapped at two years old by my father, I finally reunited with my mother thirty-one years later. Since my mother was out of my life all my father had to do was badmouth her and he had total control over me. Telling me she was demonized, no less than a whore, and wanted nothing to do with me.



At fifteen years old, after my request to call my mother, he told me a story that would change fifteen… Continue