WACO, Texas — A former pastor of Baptist churches in Texas was indicted March 25 on a charge that he murdered his wife three years ago.
A McLennan County grand jury alleged that Matt Dee Baker, 37, “intentionally or knowingly” caused the death of then-31-year-old Kari Lynn Baker in April 2006. He allegedly administered drugs to her and suffocated her with a pillow at their home in Waco, while their two daughters slept down the hall.
Kari Baker’s death was originally ruled a suicide by sleeping pill overdose, attributed to depression brought on by never coming to terms with the death of her infant daughter from a brain tumor seven years earlier. The cause of death was later changed to “undetermined” after her family convinced police to doubt the suicide story.
Matt Baker was arrested in September 2007 and served two months in jail before being bonded out after a judge reduced his bond from $400,000 to $200,000. He moved to Kerrville — his hometown — where he lived with his daughters before turning himself in to police March 26. He denies killing his wife.
Kari Baker’s parents, James and Linda Dulin, who filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Matt Baker, don’t believe their daughter was depressed. Matt Baker is now being held in lieu of $500,000 bond in Waco, after being transferred from Kerrville to the McLennan County Jail March 27.
At the time of his first arrest, Matt Baker was bivocational pastor of Crossroads Baptist Church, Lorena, while working as a part-time student ministries director in a position funded by the Baptist General Convention of Texas.
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