top of page
Search

The Hewitt “Murdering Minister” Case: What Happened to Kari Baker—and How Matt Baker Was Convicted

Sleeping pills, wine coolers and a typed suicide note from Kari Baker's nightstand
Sleeping pills, wine coolers and a typed suicide note from Kari Baker's nightstand


*Content warning: domestic violence, sexual coercion, death investigation, and murder. If you or someone you know needs support, the U.S. National Domestic Violence Hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233).


In April 2006, a 31-year-old elementary school teacher and mother of two—Kari Baker—was found dead in the bedroom of her Hewitt, Texas home, just outside Waco. Her husband, Matt Baker, a Baptist minister known publicly as a devoted pastor and family man, told authorities he had discovered Kari unresponsive, alongside what appeared to be a suicide note and an empty or partially empty bottle of sleep aid.

But the story didn’t hold—not to Kari’s family, and eventually not to investigators and a jury.

What follows is a comprehensive, sourced account of the case, the investigative failures and breakthroughs, and the courtroom path that ended with Matt Baker’s conviction and a 65-year prison sentence.


Who Were Kari and Matt Baker?

Kari Baker was described by those close to her as faith-oriented and devoted to her family—someone whose life and identity were rooted in motherhood and community. Matt Baker, meanwhile, was a charismatic minister whose public image carried weight in a highly religious Central Texas community.

This public persona matters, because it shaped the early assumptions around Kari’s death—and influenced how quickly the “suicide” conclusion took hold.


April 2006: The Night Kari Died—and the Scene That Said “Suicide”

Shortly after midnight on April 8, 2006, Matt Baker called 911 and reported finding Kari naked and unresponsive in their bedroom. According to later court records, he told dispatchers he moved her, partially dressed her, and attempted resuscitation until help arrived.

A typed suicide note was part of the scene narrative from the beginning, and investigators initially treated the death as self-inflicted.

Where the case nearly ended

A key theme in later reporting and prosecutorial summaries is that early scene handling was inadequate—missed opportunities that made the eventual prosecution harder than it should have been.


The Family Pushback: “This Doesn’t Make Sense.”

If the first act of this case is the quick “suicide” conclusion, the second act is Kari’s family refusing to accept it.

Kari’s mother, Linda Dulin, became a central driver of the push for answers—pressing for deeper scrutiny and, when necessary, civil action and independent investigation. National coverage later highlighted how family persistence kept the case alive when the system had effectively closed it.


The Double Life: Affair Allegations and Motive Theory

As investigators took a harder look, the public narrative around Matt Baker shifted: prosecutors would later argue he was leading a double life, including an extramarital relationship, and that he had a motive to remove Kari from the picture while preserving his reputation and future.

This wasn’t merely scandal; it was used to support a theory of motive, deception, and staging.


From “Suicide” to Homicide: How the Case Was Rebuilt

Reopening a death first labeled suicide is difficult. You’re fighting both time and earlier assumptions. In this case, prosecutors later described the challenge as building a homicide case despite a compromised starting point.


The state’s theory (as later reported and litigated)

Across court documents and major reporting, the prosecution’s position was that Matt Baker:

  • drugged Kari (to incapacitate her), and

  • suffocated her (often described as smothering), then

  • staged the scene to look like a suicide.


Court filings reflect that jurors were instructed they needed to agree on core elements tied to this theory.


The Indictment and the Road to Trial

By March 2009, Matt Baker was indicted.

The case became a Central Texas spectacle: a fallen pastor, a young mother’s death, and the uneasy question beneath it all—how a “good man” can be the most dangerous kind of suspect because no one wants to believe he could be.


The Trial: January 2010 and the Verdict

In January 2010, a jury found Matt Baker guilty of murdering Kari. Shortly afterward, he was sentenced to 65 years in prison. Some contemporaneous reporting also discussed parole eligibility timelines typical of long Texas sentences.


Appeals: What the Courts Said After Conviction

Appeals are where a case gets stripped of emotion and reduced to legal questions: procedure, admissibility, sufficiency of evidence, trial fairness.

In Matt D. Baker v. The State of Texas, the Tenth Court of Appeals opinion states plainly that Baker was convicted of murder and sentenced to sixty-five years, and it recites key facts of the 911 call and initial account.


Why This Case Still Resonates

This case remains a fixture in true-crime media because it sits at the intersection of themes that reliably haunt communities:

A) The danger of “trusted” offenders

People in authority—spiritual, civic, professional—can leverage credibility as

camouflage. Major retrospectives emphasize how community trust complicated

perception and early momentum.


B) Staged scenes and investigative bias

Once “suicide” becomes the assumption, everything risks being interpreted through

that lens. Prosecutorial reflections underscore how early missteps can cripple later

truth-finding.


C) Family advocacy as an investigative engine

It’s uncomfortable, but real: sometimes the most important “investigators” are the

people who refuse to let a file stay closed. This case is frequently cited as an example

of that persistence.


A Clean Timeline of Key Events

  • April 8, 2006: Kari Baker found dead; Matt Baker reports apparent suicide.

  • 2006–2009: Family pressure and renewed scrutiny intensify; the case shifts from suicide narrative toward homicide investigation.

  • March 2009: Matt Baker indicted.

  • January 2010: Trial and conviction.

  • January 2010: Sentenced to 65 years.

  • 2011: Appellate opinion in the Tenth Court of Appeals documents the conviction and sentence.


Sources used for this podcast:





DISCLAIMER OF LIABILITY

All information contained in this audio podcast or video presentation is provided for entertainment purposes only. The authors leave any and all conclusions to individual members of the audience. The author offers no statements of fact beyond those available through diligent private research or through information freely available in the public record. To the extent that pending or settled criminal matters or crime or possible crimes, are discussed in this audio podcast or video presentation, all parties or defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law. To the extent that any pending or settled civil matters are discussed in this video presentation, all parties or defendants are presumed not liable unless proven liable in a court of law. Copyright for material incorporated and presented under Fair Use is retained by the original author or copyright holder where applicable. Our cases are researched using open source and archive materials, and the subjects are real crimes and people. We strive to produce each episode with respect to the victims, their families and loved ones. At Hitched 2 Homicide we are committed to always discussing how victims lived, and not just how they died. All podcast information is gleaned from sources given. All opinions in the podcast are solely of Hitched 2 Homicide and are for entertainment purposes only. All suspects are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Copyright & OwnershipThis podcast episode, including all audio, video, and written content, is the property of Hitched 2 Homicide and its creators, © 2025 Kris Calvert & Rob Pottorf of RP Music, Inc. All rights reserved.

Do not copy, reproduce, or distribute any part of this content without express written permission.For licensing, press inquiries, or collaboration requests, contact: kris@hitched2homicide.comFor more true crime episodes, visit: www.Hitched2Homicide.com Thanks for listening and remember… Southern charm won’t save you from true crime.

THIS PODCAST IS FILMED AT RP STUDIOS, INC.© 2025 RP MUSIC, INC. FOR HITCHED 2 HOMICIDE

Comments

bottom of page