Preacher love triangle murder: 65 years

The final scene in a quintessential tabloid murder story was played out when Matt Baker, the Baptist preacher from Waco, Texas, was sentenced to 65 years in prison for murdering his wife by drugging her and smothering her with a pillow while their two daughters slept in a nearby bedroom.

The "murdering minister" was having an affair with the daughter of the choirmaster when he handcuffed with wife Kari to the bed and given her capsules of Ambien he told her were "sex enhancement pills." The death in 2006 was originally ruled as suicide by sleeping pills, but after cops learned of the affair they exhumed the body and took a second look.

The jury returned the sentence yesterday after deliberating about two hours after an eight day trial. The guilty verdict took them about seven hours. Baker is 37. He must serve thirty years before he's considered for parole.

Tabloid Justice: "Murdering minister" guilty

A jury found former Baptist minister Matt Baker found guilty last night of murdering his wife by smothering with a pillow after handcuffing her to the bed and drugging her with what he told her were "sexual enhancement pills" but actually turned to be Ambien.

We told you the other day about the trial playing out in Waco, Texas, and called it "a classic tabloid love triangle murder trial in a classic tabloid town: a preacher is on trial for murdering his wife because he was having an affair with the choir director's daughter."

The local press got on board, dubbing the 38-year-old Baker "the murdering minister" Baker's 27-year-old girlfriend Vanessa Bulls took the stand Tuesday and claimed Baker had talked about killing his wife and making it appear to a suicide (suicide was the original police finding). Bulls denied having anything to do with the plot. Nevertheless, after the stepped down from the witness stand, she was suspended from her teaching job.

The trial lasted six days. Prosecutors called 28 witnesses. The defense called one, an expert who discussed DNA evidence. Matt Baker gave several high-profile media interviews before the trial to proclaim his innocence but did not testify in his own defense. The jury deliberated around seven hours. The penalty phase of the trial is underway right now. Already, several women have testified about aggressive sexual encounters with the convicted man who faces life behind bars.

Justice moves swiftly, if not hastily, in Texas.

The Other Woman testifies in classic tabloid love triangle sex murder trial in Texas

A classic tabloid love triangle murder trial is playing out in a courtroom in a classic tabloid town: in Waco, Texas, a preacher is on trial for murdering his wife because he was having an affair with the choir director's daughter.

Former Baptist minister Matt Baker is charged with killing his wife Kari in 2006 during what he he'd told her was going to be a romantic and frisky evening. He allegedly gave her some "sexual enhancement pills" that were actually capsules filled with Ambien, handcuffed the drugged woman her to the bed on the pretense of "spicing things up," and then smothered her with a pillow until she was lifeless and dead.


The Other Woman was on the witness stand today Twenty-seven year-old Vanessa Bulls said she started seeing the 38-year-old preacher about two months before the death of his wife. She denied any involvement in the killing, but said Baker had talked about offing the missus and making it look like a suicide. Bulls said she never went to police because she was afraid of exposing the affair, afraid of getting in trouble and afraid of him.

She continued dating Baker for several months afterwards, and testified that when she broke up with Baker and urged him to turn himself in, "He became irate... He said, 'I killed my wife for you and now you're leaving?'"

Vanessa Bulls testified with immunity.

The death was originally ruled a suicide. Baker's attorney says it only became a murder when prosecutors learned of the love affair. The former minister faces life in prison.