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Residents React to Baby Shannon’s Safe Return
11/05/09 - 10:06 PM
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Twenty-four hours after a Panhandle baby is safe and sound, residents in the small town of Chipley take joy in the return of 7-month old Shannon Dedrick.

“Ecstatic is an understatement,” said Tracy Welk, who lives next door to the child, “We’re just praising God because he had his hand on baby Shannon the whole time.”

The abduction of Dedrick had the whole country waiting and watching as authorities searched for more than a week for the missing baby. 

“You live in a small town like this and you don’t expect anything to happen this close to home,” said Chipley resident Shiloh Hull.

“Very sad, very confusing, scary for the neighbors and their young children,” said Welk.

Dedrick was found in a box late Wednesday night after being reported missing by her mother 5 days prior.  Authorities say she’d been trapped there for 12 hours.  Dedrick’s mother, Chrystina Mercer and aunt, Susan Baker were taken into custody and face a long list of charges including child abuse and false reporting.

Authorities suspect it was all part of a conspiracy to get rid of the child.  She is now in state care after a healthy check-out from the hospital.  Meanwhile, many residents say they had stopped expecting a happy ending.

“We’re just praising God for the diligence of the searchers and law enforcement,” said Welk, “They didn’t give up when others did they didn’t give up and they found that baby alive and well.”

Mercer’s bond is set at $75 thousand.  Baker’s is set at $150 thousand.  This case has also reopened a 22-year-old case in South Carolina.  Investigators say Baker’s son disappeared in 1987.  That case was never solved.