2001 The Year The World Lost Tara Louise Baker

JANUARY 24, 2001: Our family does the unthinkable - We bury our beloved Tara.




APRIL 22, 2001: Classmates and acquaintances pack a memorial service for Baker
under the dome at UGA LAw School.

Remembering Tara Baker

Gus Suarez last saw his good friend Tara Baker in their contracts class. He had a strange
feeling that he should tell her goodbye, but he didn't. "There has not been a day that I haven't
regretted my decision," he said at her law school memorial service in April.

Tara Louise Baker of Lovejoy, Georgia, was murdered in her off-campus apartment on Friday, January
19, 2001, just hours before her 24th birthday. The killer then set a fire in her bedroom to
conceal the crime. No arrests have been made.

"The death of a student represents a loss to each and every member of her class and section," said
Associate Dean Paul Kurtz, who taught Miss Baker as a student in his first-year criminal law course.
"The class is simply not quite as full as it should have been. There is a sense of loss and anger."

The law school brought in grief counselors for students in the days following the tragedy, and
professors in Section Z canceled classes so Miss Baker's classmates could attend her funeral.
Dean David Shipley sent a letter to the families of all UGA law students to advise them of the
situation and of the steps being taken to provide reassurance and support, particularly to the 70
members of Section Z. Several personal safety seminars were held over the semester, which were
well attended by students, faculty and staff.

Police conducted interviews with students, and the law school cooperated fully with all aspects of
the investigation. A reward in the case now stands at $26,000, and a billboard in east Athens
bearing her photgraph and the words, "Who Murdered Tara Louise Baker?," reminds the community of
the heinous crime. The Student Bar Association also collected reward money from students, as well
as a generous donation from the Troutman Sanders law firm; if the reward is unclaimed, the
contributions will be added to the scholarship fund established in Miss Baker's memory.

"She was a remarkable woman," recalled Eric Mueller, another member of Miss Baker's study group.
"She was probably the only person I knew who definately knew what she wanted to do." And that goal,
without a doubt, said her friends and family, was to study law at the University of Georgia and
become a real estate attorney.

"We went to a chinese resturant one time and her fortune said, 'You'll make a great lawyer.' Tara
was thrilled," her college roommate Ashley Peevy recalled. "She put that note on her bulletin board
and later in her scrapbook. She always thought it was her fate to be a lawyer."

Miss Baker was remembered as a radiant young woman with a beautiful smile, great attitude and strong
commitment to service. "She had an unbelievable desire to learn," said Jack Hancock (J.D.'76), who
was Miss Baker's first law firm employer. "When she walked in the door, you knew she was special.
There was a glow about her, a smile on her face everywhere you saw her."

Miss Baker graduated cum laude from Georgia College in Milledgeville in 1998, earning dual
degrees in political science and paralegal studies in three years. She first worked for
Hancock & Echols in Forest Park, then served a year as a real estate legal assistant at
Fortson, Bentley & Griffin in Athens. Her former supervisor, Pam Dillard (J.D.'88), described
Miss Baker as an intelligent, motivated person who was always diligent, attentive, patient and
professional. "She didn't talk about what she was going to do," said Dillard.
"She just did it in a quiet way."

Miss Baker was an active and popular law student who served as a first-year SBA senator.
Her devotion to family and friends, as well as her gracious manner and hospitality, were traits
warmly remembered by those close to her. Suarez and Mueller both expressed their glee when
Miss Baker invited them to join her study group - not just because she was smart, but also because
she was a motherly figure who prepared fresh cookies or muffins as well as "the most perfect
Southern sweet tea" for every study session.

"Tara treated everyone as welcome and special. That was just her way," said Suarez. "She was the
quintessential Southern belle - what Margaret Mithcell must have had in mind when she named the
quintessential Southern plantation 'Tara'."

Miss Baker's father, Lindsay, fought back tears as he shared rememberances and thanked the law
school community for its outpouring of love.
"Remember as you practice, you are living Tara's dream," he told her classmates.
"And as long as you practice, she will practice law too. As long as you remember her,
she will forever live in our hearts."

-From the publication Georgia Law Advocate Spring 2001 Vol. 35, No.2-