Matthew Baker Murder Case In Waco, Texas former pastor Matthew Baker was convicted of the murder of his wife in early 2010. In 2006, Baker's wife Kari was found dead in what looked like a suicide. However, it soon became apparent that Baker's accounts of his and Kari's movements during the day of her death were inconsistent with the forensic evidence discovered at the scene. It took some time before prosecutors had enough evidence to reach an indictment. Once the trial finally commenced, it became obvious that if nothing else Baker had been inconsistent with his various explanations for discrepancies and had outright lied about certain aspects of the case. One of the things Baker was found to have lied about was the object of his potential reason for committing the crime. The motive according to prosecutors was that Baker was having an affair with a Vanessa Bulls and wanted out of his cumbersome marriage. Prosecutors argued that a man in Mr. Baker's profession, a Baptist minister, could not have divorced and still kept his livelihood. His murdering his wife was therefore the only means to the life Matt Baker desired. It was proved in court that Baker drugged and then suffocated his wife and staged the scene to make it seem that she took her own life on August 8, 2006.

McLennan County, where the crime took place, had no medical examiner and so without reason for major suspicion, the police ruled the death a suicide. However, the family of the deceased did not agree with the verdict of the coroner and demanded further investigation. When the matter was turned over to the medical examiner of the adjoining county, he was able to determine that Mrs. Baker had not, in fact committed suicide. Instead, he stated, the victim had been drugged and then while unconscious or at the very least under the influence of the drugs, had been suffocated to death, most likely with a pillow. Although death by smothering is very difficult to detect during an...

This type of bruising, he testified, was consistent with being smothered by a pillow. The attacker's hands would most likely be in a position where pressure would be placed on the nose, leaving an abrasion.
A partial palm print was found on the suicide note. It was not a match for either Baker or any of the technicians or officers on the scene. The attorney for the defense, Guy James Gray, argued that the print could have been Kari's because by the time her body was exhumed, three months after her death, the skin had deteriorated and accurate prints could not be retrieved (Former 2010). However, this is inconsistent with a suicide. Kari Baker's body was found completely naked. She was not wearing any clothes, let alone gloves. Therefore, the logical conclusion would be that had she indeed committed suicide, her fingerprints would have been on the note. She would have had to remove the page from the printer and leave it in the desired location. There were no fingerprints; only the partial palm print.

One of the first things that made the police officers of McLennan County suspicious was the alleged suicide note left by Kari Baker. Most suicides are done in the heat of a moment. Usually the person is depressed for a long period of time and they may plan out the suicide. However, the note that is left will almost always be one of the last things done before the actual attempt. Yet, in the Baker case the supposed suicide note was typed. This indicates not only planning for a period before the event, but that the individual also had time to type it out and print it before the attempt. It also indicates an impersonality that is seldom seen with suicides. In most instances, the note is a way of explaining the action to people who the suicidal person feels will care and be hurt by the action (Opfer 2011). The Baker note read…