BAKER CASE CONVICTION

*BREAKING*

EDRICK LAMONT FAUST FOUND GUILTY ON ALL CHARGES in the 2001 murder of Tara Louise Baker, bringing a landmark Georgia cold case to conviction after 25 years.

Tara is one namesake in the Coleman-Baker Act, also including Rhonda Sue Coleman (hear Rhonda's story in FOX HUNTER )

What The Jury Decided

Jurors convicted Faust of 12 felonies, including malice murder, multiple counts of felony murder, aggravated assault, aggravated sodomy, burglary, tampering with evidence, and first‑degree arson. The verdict means the panel unanimously rejected the defense’s alternative‑suspect theory and accepted prosecutors’ narrative that Faust killed Baker and set her Athens apartment on fire to destroy evidence.

How the 2001 Cold Case Broke Open

Baker, a first‑year University of Georgia law student, was found dead in her burning off‑campus home on January 19, 2001, one day before her 24th birthday. Investigators determined she had been sexually assaulted and killed, and that the fire was intentionally set, but for more than two decades no suspect was charged and the case became one of Athens’ most haunting unsolved crimes.​

DNA, The Cold Case Unit, And The Arrest

The breakthrough came after Georgia created a specialized GBI cold case unit focused on advanced DNA technology under the Coleman-Baker Act. Re‑testing old evidence linked Faust—who had prior criminal history and had been incarcerated around the time of the killing—to DNA from the crime scene, prompting his 2024 arrest and eventual trial.

I hope Tara's family find peace in getting at least some closure to their daughter's tragic death.

Now, we focus on the same closure for the Coleman family.