A full update on the case of missing baby Shannon Dedrick will be posted soon. Below is a partial account of Wednesday's developments:

CHIPLEY — Authorities confirmed Wednesday they were investigating connections between a 22-year-old missing child case in South Carolina and the recent disappearance of 7-month-old Shannon Dedrick from her family's trailer near the woods.

On the fourth day of the search for Shannon, sheriff's deputies were at the home of baby sitter Susan Baker, who said Tuesday in a News Herald interview she "loved that child" and tried to have the state intervene with the family. Baker also supplied an e-mail she sent to Gov. Charlie Crist pleading that someone help Shannon, whom she said was being abused by her parents. Read that story here »

It appeared she is the same Susan Baker implicated in a 1987 missing-child case in Beaufort, S.C. That child, then-3-year-old Paul Baker, never has been found.

Washington County sheriff's investigators were working on that connection Wednesday. Around 12:50 p.m. Wednesday, two deputies from Holmes and Jackson counties were at the gate to the Bakers' property. The home was not visible, sitting down a long path and blocked by a hill.

Sheriff's spokeswoman Andrea Gainey could not confirm if deputies were descending on the home.

Baker, who was in contact with The News Herald multiple times Tuesday night, could not be reached multiple times Wednesday.

A woman who said she was Baker's niece confirmed she was the same woman accused in the 1987 disappearance. But that arrest, according to niece Tabatha Phillips, was "on a technicality" and Baker was innocent.

The Center for Missing and Exploited Children provided this synopsis of the cold case:

"(Paul) Baker was living with his father and stepmother, James and Susan Baker at the time of his disappearance. They have been arrested in connection with his disappearance. They were charged with assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature for allegedly beating him before he vanished March 5, 1987.

"Susan Baker told police she put him down for a nap that day and returned to find him missing. Deputies and police searched the area around their home for several days but found no trace of the little boy.

"After the disappearance, the couple's 6-year-old daughter was removed by state social workers who discovered broken bones and sores on her body.

"Susan Baker was convicted for beating the girl and sentenced to 10 years in prison for assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature. Paul has never been found."

Investigators were in briefings Wednesday morning. Gainey said Baker was one of hundreds interviewed, that the Sheriff's Office was aware of the similarities in Dedrick's disappearance and the 1987 case, and that the person of interest still was not public information.

Later Wednesday, Gainey said there were no updates and a News Herald public records request for incident reports, identifying information and a 911 recording still was pending. The News Herald requested those items Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Phillips wrote Wednesday morning on her Twitter page that she "knows the POI is the one who cared the most." Later, in a phone interview, she said she wrote that under the assumption that Baker is the person of interest.

But "Susan would not hurt a child," she said.

"That's the only reason they're putting her as a person of interest now is because of all of that crap that happened way back when," Phillips said.

"They need to start asking (the mother) where the child is," she said. "She's the one that put it somewhere."

Washington County court records show a 2004 case labeled "67-04-DR-177/FIN JUD OF MARRIAGE" between a Susan and James Baker. Court records also show a mortgage for Susan and James Baker for a piece of property at 3395 Orange Hill Road, the same address cited in the e-mail to Crist.

A sheriff's investigator in Beaufort, S.C., briefly returned a phone call on the cold case but hung up soon after, saying he was in a meeting.

Reached again later, Beaufort County Sheriff's Lt. Bob Bromage referred all questions to the state Department of Law Enforcement, which was overseeing the 1987 disappearance investigation. The FDLE was looking into the case to provide more information.

Also Wednesday, the state Department of Children and Families released an eight-page review of the agency's response to abuse reports at Shannon's home.

DCF was involved several times between March and September after receiving allegations that Shannon's parents, Crystina Lynn Mercer and James Dedrick, were using drugs and abusing her. The review found caseworkers conducted "thorough and timely work" and staff were reasonably sure the family was cooperating.

"Based on this review several actions are taking place to dig further into the Department's prior involvement with the family," the report said. It did not address an investigation into the person who reported the alleged abuse.