Wrongful Death Suit Filed Against Teacher's Minister Husband
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The parents of a former Waco schoolteacher have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against her husband. The widower, Matt Baker, is a former pastor at a Baptist church in Lorena, but has since moved to Kerrville with his two daughters where is an part-time youth minister and teacher. The death of the 31 year-old, Kari Lynn Baker, was originally ruled a suicide; however, her parents claim that new evidence has been discovered that cast a shadow of doubt over her death.
The Justice of the Peace has subpoenaed 11 people to testify in order to gain more information on the event and possibly determine exactly what transpired in the last hours the deceased life. Kari's parents, James and Linda Dulins, allege that the former pastor was having an affair, killed his wife and made her death appear to be a suicide. The Dulins have been in court with the Bakers in the past in order obtain visitation rights for their two grandchildren.
Pathologists found traces of a diet pill, an antihistamine and a sleep aid in Baker's system. But because of embalming, accurate blood concentration levels of the drugs could not be determined, according to the autopsy reports. Investigators found a typewritten "suicide-type note" and a bottle of sleeping pills at the scene, the report states.Hewitt police reopened the investigation three months after the elementary school teacher died, citing unspecified "suspicious circumstances before and after" Baker's death, according to an affidavit to support the exhumation.
Linda Dulin testified last March that her daughter's husband, Matt, had given her cell phone to another woman within a week of her death. She claims that the two had logged over 6,000 minutes with one another in only 25 days subsequent to Kari's death. No trail date has been set thus far in the case.
IFor more information on this subject matter, please refer to the section on Wrongful Death.