Former Baptist minister Matt Baker, arrested Sept. 21 in Kerrville in the death of his wife, has been returned to McLennan County today by sheriff’s deputies.

Baker had been held in the Kerr County jail in lieu of $200,000 bail after his arrest in the April 2006 death of his 31-year-old wife, Kari Lynn Baker, the mother of his two daughters.

Because Baker was unable to make bail in Kerrville, where he had been working as a substitute teacher, he was transferred back to the McLennan County Jail. His bond status was unclear late Monday, but one of his attorneys, Gerald Villarrial, said a new bond likely will be set by a McLennan County magistrate.

The death of Kari Baker, a teacher at Spring Valley Elementary School, initially was ruled a suicide, although her parents, friends and colleagues have said they never believed she killed herself.

Kari Baker’s parents, Linda and James Dulin, have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against their son-in-law, alleging he killed his wife and made her death appear to be a suicide.

Authorities reopened the investigation and exhumed Kari Baker’s body for autopsy. An arrest warrant complaint against Matt Baker alleges that he drugged her with sleeping pills and then suffocated her with a pillow or other object.