Elisa, 47, pleaded guilty to second degree murder in 2011 for killing her Australian stepdaughter Zahra Baker.
She was sentenced to 15 years in prison, but now the Daily Telegraph reports she claims she wasn’t responsible for the grisly death and is planning to appeal her conviction.
She says she keeps a photo of Zahra in her cell and plans to argue she was a “good mamma” to Zahra, and not her killer.
Zahra was living in Wagga Wagga with her father Adam Baker when he met Elisa online. They moved to North Carolina in 2008 and Adam and Elisa married.
By 2010, Zahra – who had already survived cancer twice – was dead, after being abused and tortured by Elisa. Her remains were scattered over two states, but were recovered by police and returned to Australia in 2012, where her ashes were scattered into the ocean at Nobbys Beach in Newcastle.
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