Baptist minister Matt Baker was as soon as a beloved pastor simply exterior Waco, Texas. Unbeknownst to his congregation, he was main a double life that led him to commit the final word sin.
Baker is now serving a 65-year sentence after being discovered responsible in January 2010 of murdering his spouse Kari Baker, in 2006.
An all-new “20/20” episode, “Soiled Little Secret, “which airs Friday, Mar. 21, at 9 p.m. on ABC and begins streaming the following day on Hulu, options John Quinones’ unique new interviews with Texas Ranger Matt Cawthon and detective Abdon Rodriguez.
It’s also possible to get extra behind-the-scenes of every week’s episode by listening to “20/20: The After Present” weekly collection proper in your 20/20 podcast feed on Mondays, hosted by “20/20” co-anchor Deborah Roberts.
Fifteen years after his conviction, Baker nonetheless maintains his innocence, saying that his spouse died of an obvious suicide.
Texas Ranger Matt Cawthon speaks with ABC Information Correspondent John Quiñones in regards to the Kari Baker homicide case.
ABC Information
“Kari Baker did not kill herself. She was murdered. He was a predator,” Texas Ranger Matt Cawthon — who was concerned within the case — mentioned in a brand new interview with “20/20.”
In a 2010 interview with “20/20,” Baker admitted to having an affair with Vanessa Bulls, a divorcée who testified at his homicide trial that Baker was overtly plotting his spouse’s demise.
“I am coming clear on the mendacity about Vanessa,” Baker informed “20/20.” “I made a mistake. I am human. I made a mistake there. I mustn’t have ever acquired concerned in that. I used to be having a troublesome spot in my marriage and I took the rooster approach out. However I’d by no means have damage my spouse. I by no means did. I by no means laid a hand on her, ever.”
On Apr. 7, 2006, 31-year-old Kari was discovered lifeless seemingly attributable to an overdose of sleeping tablets. There was a typed, unsigned suicide notice, however her household suspected foul play.
“She would not have achieved this, she wouldn’t have left her women,” Nancy Lanham, Kari’s aunt, informed “20/20.” The couple had two younger daughters on the time.
“20/20” interviewed Matt Baker from jail in 2010.
ABC Information
Baker informed ABC Information in 2008 that his spouse’s alleged downward spiral started with the tragic lack of one other daughter years earlier. She was just one yr previous when she was identified with a mind tumor and died 4 months later, leaving Kari devastated.
“She had been taking sleeping tablets to fall asleep since Kassidy handed away,” Baker mentioned. “And began taking an increasing number of of them. And we had discussions that ‘you have to cease doing this, that is too many, this may be harmful.'”
The police investigation initially concluded that Kari’s demise was a suicide. Nevertheless, her household started investigating on their very own and urged police to additional query her husband.
Baker handed a polygraph check organized by his lawyer. Annoyed that the police had dominated Kari’s demise a suicide, her mom Linda Dulin sought out an investigative group of her personal.
Kari Baker’s household, together with her mom Linda Dulin, are seen in an ABC Information “20/20” interview. The household gathered to start out their very own investigation into Baker’s demise.
ABC Information
Dulin reached out to Invoice Johnston, a former federal prosecutor who was a part of the group that prosecuted the 11 surviving Department Davidians in 1993. Dulin defined to Johnston that she did not consider her daughter took her personal life.
She mentioned she had been engaged on Kari’s case with what she referred to as her “Angels” — her sisters and niece who had been decided to search out out the reality about what occurred to Kari.
“What Charlie’s Angels had been bringing to us was invaluable,” Johnston mentioned. “They had been this group of sturdy ladies who weren’t going to only let this go. They introduced a collection of tales about Matt’s conduct at completely different factors in his life.”
Kari’s household believed that Baker’s affair with Vanessa Bulls was the motive behind what they believed was Kari’s homicide.
In September 2006, Cawthon — in collaboration with police — was capable of get Kari’s physique exhumed, and an post-mortem was carried out. There was nonetheless no clear explanation for demise, however the generic type of Ambien was found in her muscle tissue. The group working with Dulin found that Baker looked for the drug on-line.
The findings made it essential to maintain investigating.
“Throughout this investigation, we acquired a clue from a lady who labored in a jewellery retailer,” Cawthon mentioned. “And mentioned inside a few weeks after Kari’s demise, Matt Baker comes into the jewellery retailer with a lady, they usually’re engagement rings.”
Baker denied this in his interview with “20/20,” saying that they had gone to the shop to take a look at earrings for certainly one of his daughters.
Nevertheless, throughout the trial, Bulls testified that Baker said that his daughters wished to take a look at marriage ceremony rings for her.
Kari Baker, a beloved Texas mother, was murdered in April 2006.
ABC Information
Though she had been beforehand interviewed, she had by no means admitted to having an affair with Baker or that she knew something about Kari’s demise. Prosecutors then determined to subpoena her to testify in entrance a grand jury and provides her testimonial immunity, hoping she would cooperate.
To the shock of everybody within the room, she admitted on the stand that Baker had informed her he had killed Kari. It was sufficient for prosecutors to indict Baker for his spouse’s homicide that very same day.
At trial, Bulls mentioned she felt managed by Baker: “He was a whole and nonetheless is a manipulative liar who took me at my weak state.” Bulls additionally testified that she felt intimidated by Baker to maintain quiet: “Do not inform anybody otherwise you’ll be simply one other remorse”
The prosecutors’ concept was that Baker had drugged Kari after which suffocated her. The testimony from Bulls corroborated that concept.
“She did clarify that after he thought that he had killed her, that she’d been suffocated, that when he eliminated the pillow, she gave one big gasp,” prosecutor Susan Shafer mentioned. “She was nonetheless alive, and that he instantly put the pillow again on her face and held it till he was positive that she was lifeless.”
In January 2010, Baker went on trial for his spouse’s homicide. After a number of days of testimony, it took the jury solely seven hours to resolve Baker’s destiny: responsible. It was a verdict that appeared to stun him. The subsequent day, Baker was sentenced to 65 years in jail.
“I consider the jury made a mistake on this,” Baker mentioned in courtroom after he was sentenced.
Whereas Kari’s household finds some reduction in realizing Baker is incarcerated, they are saying that the responsible verdict did not alleviate the disappointment and ache he has precipitated them.
“She was a tremendous mom and cousin,” Lindsey Choose, Kari’s cousin, informed 20/20. “And she or he would struggle for any of us. And, I simply wished everybody to know the reality.”
