In brief: Ride raises funds for CIA families

Coronado, Calif. – Dipping their bike tires into the Pacific Ocean at Coronado, Calif., a husband and wife team Wednesday ended a 3,200-mile bike ride aimed at raising money for the loved ones of fallen CIA officers.

In a journey they dubbed “Khost to Coast,” Rob and Kim Richer made the 47-day trek to help the children of CIA employees killed in the attack on the agency’s base at Khost, Afghanistan, late last year.

“Families of serving or fallen officers don’t have their loved ones come home to parades,” Rob Richer said. “But we had cheers today.”

CIA officers are acknowledged as serving in the front lines against the war against violent extremists in Afghanistan and Pakistan, but their dependents must rely on private donations for their future education.

The dependents don’t receive the same benefits as the loved ones of fallen service members.

There were parents among the seven CIA employees who were killed in December when an al-Qaida double-agent was driven into the compound and blew himself up. The station chief was a married mother of three.

CIA Director Leon Panetta sent the Richers a letter, expressing his thanks for “every minute and every mile that you’ve dedicated to the seven heroes who fell” at Khost.

Prosthetic leg found in search

Hickory, N.C. – Searchers looking for the remains of a missing North Carolina girl with disabilities found a prosthetic leg and authorities were trying to determine if it was that of the 10-year-old, police said Wednesday.

Hickory Police Maj. Clyde Deal said searchers found the leg at a home where the stepmother of Zahra Clare Baker’s once lived. The girl was fitted with an artificial leg after she lost hers to bone cancer and authorities say the one they found is consistent with hers. Zahra, who also uses hearing aids, was reported missing Oct. 9 and authorities believe she is dead.

Deal also said a mattress found by workers at a Caldwell County landfill will be tested for DNA evidence.

The prosthetic leg was discovered Tuesday afternoon near some brush in Caldwell County near the home.

Adam and Elisa Baker told police they had last seen Zahra in her bed at their home in Hickory, about 50 miles northwest of Charlotte. But police don’t believe them.