( CNN ) -- A prosthetic leg thought to be that of missing 10-year-old Zahra Baker has been found in a brushy area off a North Carolina road , Chief Tom Adkins of the Hickory , North Carolina , police said Wednesday . Police launched a search for Zahra on October 9 , but no one other than a family member has reported seeing her since September 25 , when a woman saw her at a furniture store . The girl 's disappearance is now being probed as a homicide . Adkins said that the prosthetic leg is `` consistent with '' that of Zahra , a freckle-faced youngster who lost her leg to bone cancer at age 5 and developed lung cancer a few years later , according to CNN affiliate WCNC . The prosthetic was found late Tuesday afternoon off Christie Road in Caldwell County , he said , and authorities are using its serial number to confirm it belonged to the young girl . Zahra got the leg in Australia , where both her birth parents are from . Meanwhile , authorities focused anew Wednesday on the Hickory home that Zahra Baker lived in with her father , Adam Troy Baker , and her stepmother , Elisa Baker . Police officers and FBI agents were inside the residence late into the evening , finishing up their search focusing in the back of the home . A backhoe and other construction machinery began digging into grounds around the family 's home early in the morning , with investigators using rakes to comb through the dug-up dirt and with police dogs canvassing the area . Additionally , police removed at least one bag of evidence from the house Wednesday morning . `` New information '' led to the renewed search inside and outside the home , said Adkins . `` We 're looking for any piece of evidence that can help in that investigation , '' he added . A day earlier , employees at Foothills Environmental Landfill in Lenoir , North Carolina , found a mattress that investigators believe belonged to Zahra and was thrown out by her parents in early October -- just days before she was reported missing . The disappearance of Zahra , who had persevered through numerous health battles and wore hearing aids , has made international news . Police said the missing girl 's stepmother , Elisa Baker , admitted last week that she planted a fake ransom note the day after the girl 's disappearance was reported . Initially arrested on October 10 on several charges unrelated to Zahra 's disappearance , including writing worthless checks , Elisa Baker was additionally charged with obstruction of justice for leaving the note . That charge is a felony . She is now cooperating with investigators , Hickory police said in a statement issued Tuesday . The previous day , she had joined police as they searched for evidence at a site near a home she lived in three years ago . Zahra 's father was arrested just after 3 a.m. Monday in nearby Catawba County on eight charges , including five counts of submitting worthless checks and three counts of failing to appear in court . Police earlier acknowledged that Adam Baker faced bad-check charges , which are unrelated to the disappearance of his daughter . But they did not initially arrest him , as he had been helping authorities in their search . Adam Baker was at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport picking up a family member Sunday before he voluntarily went to the Police Department in Hickory , about 60 miles northwest of Charlotte , to talk to authorities . Family members and neighbors have told reporters that Zahra 's stepmother abused her . Her attorney has denied the allegation . Police have said they had been in contact with Zahra 's biological mother in Australia and asked for the girl 's medical records . HLN 's Rupa Mikkileni contributed to this report .
2016 : FBI and police searched late into the night inside Zahra Baker 's home . Police earlier used a backhoe and rakes to outside the missing girl 's home . Police say a prosthetic leg they believe belonged to the year - old girl has been found . Both the father and stepmother have been arrested , mostly on unrelated charges .