The Tara Baker murder: Two Years Later

JAN. 19, 2001: At 11:30 on a drizzly Friday morning, Athens-Clarke firefighters are called to a
burning home at 160 Fawn Drive. Firefighters found the front door, rear bedroom door and bathroom
door all locked. In the kitchen, all four burners on an electric stove are turned on high. After kicking
in the doors and extinguishing the fire, firefighters find the lifeless body of Tara Baker on the
floor of the bedroom.
JAN. 24, 2001: In a funeral service attended by then-Athens-Clarke Mayor Doc Eldridge and
Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Buddy Nix, Baker is lain to rest in Fayetteville, near her
home of Lovejoy.
MARCH 2, 2001: A news conference is held with family members in attendance to announce that
the reward from private and public sources for information about Baker's murder has grown to $26,000.
APRIL 2001: Billboards bearing Baker's image and touting the reward for information sprout up in
the Athens area.
APRIL 22, 2001: Classmates and acquaintances pack a law school memorial service for Baker,
in which plans for a scholarship in her name are announced.
JAN. 5, 2002: A grave marker dedication ceremony is attended by about 75 people at Baker's
Fayetteville grave site. Members of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution
and representatives of Georgia College and State University attend.
MARCH 2002: A group of seasoned GBI homicide investigators from across the state convene in
Athens to discuss the case and share ideas.
NOV. 8, 2002: Police disclose for the first time that Baker's laptop computer -- a Compaq Presario
Model 1200 XL 118 -- was stolen from the home. They also reveal that a witness spotted a person described
as a white male wearing jeans and a T-shirt running from the area about 7 the morning of the murder.
JAN. 19, 2003: On the second anniversary of Baker's death, a 3 p.m. vigil is held on the
steps of the UGA Chapel.

Published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Sunday, January 19, 2003. Stephen Gurr

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