BAKER CASE Cops know who called about car

Baker was last seen at a Transfer convenience store with her fianc & eacute;.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
MERCER, Pa. -- Pennsylvania State Police said they know who called a lending institution to repossess Sandra K. Baker's car on the day she disappeared four years ago.
They're not revealing his name at this point, and no charges have been filed in the case, which is being investigated as a homicide.
No one has heard from or seen Baker since May 25, 2000.
Her car, a blue 1988 Honda Accord, hadn't been found either until investigators located it in Pittsburgh on June 10 of this year.
The repossession of her car on the same day she disappeared wasn't just coincidence, police said.
Police had refused to release any details of that break in the case until today when they revealed that "a known male subject" made a call to a lending institution about 5:30 p.m. the day before Baker's disappearance and inquired if the Honda was still in repossession status.
When told that it was, the caller said he would call back the next day with the exact location of the vehicle.
The next day, the same man called the lending institution again around 1:30 p.m., less than four hours after Baker was last seen, to tell the lending institution that the car had been parked in the rear parking lot of the Shenango Valley Mall in Hermitage near the J.C. Penney store, police said.
The vehicle was retrieved by a recovery service and later resold as a repossessed vehicle, police said.
Last seen
Baker, who would now be 52, was last seen at the Sheetz convenience store on Pa. Route 18 in Transfer around 9 a.m. May 25, 2000.
She was with her fianc & eacute;, William Crea Jr., at the time.
Crea reported her missing four days later, telling police that she had called him later on the day she disappeared to say she was in some kind of trouble and would contact him later. He told police he never heard from her again.
Police said finding Baker's car was a significant development in the case and additional leads are being pursued.